The U.S. Department of the Interior has released it annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2022. Here are the highlights.

• 6407 requests received, a 1.6 percent increase from FY 2021 (6302 requests received).

• 6182 requests processed, a 7 percent increase from FY 2021 (5774 requests processed).

• Request backlog increased 7.2 percent, from 4484 in FY 2021 to 4808 in FY 2022.

• The response times for all “processed perfected requests” were highest at the Office of the Secretary, which reported taking an average of 351 days to process “simple” requests, an average of 953 days to process “complex” requests, and an average of 841 days to process “expedited” requests.

• Processing and litigation costs exceeded $18.5 million, with agency components collecting a meager total of $5,264 in fees.