Sec. 26.13.01.02. Availability of Information Confidentiality of Information

A. Except in accordance with §E, the department shall protect any information contained in the application, or other records, reports, or plans as confidential upon a showing by any person that the information, if made public, would divulge methods or processes entitled to protection as trade secrets, or proprietary business information relating to processes of production, methods of manufacturing, or production volume which are of financial or commercial value.

B. Claims of confidentiality for the name and address of any permit applicant or permittee will be denied. Claims for other information shall be made and substantiated at the time the application is submitted. If substantiation is not provided, the Secretary will notify the applicant by certified mail of the requirement. If the substantiation is not provided after 10 days of receipt of the certified mail, the information in question shall be placed in the public file.

C. The Department shall insure that any permit forms or any public comment upon those forms shall be available to the public for inspection and copying. The Department shall make available to the public any other records, reports, plans, or any information obtained by the State other than that information designated as confidential.

D. The Department shall provide facilities for the inspection of information relating to permit forms and insure that State employees honor requests for inspection promptly without undue requirements or restrictions. The Department shall insure that a machine or device for the copying of papers and documents is available for a reasonable fee, or otherwise provide for coordination with copying facilities or services so that requests for copies of nonconfidential documents may be honored promptly.

E. Information that is required to be supplied to the Department contained in any application or other record that would be considered as confidential shall still be made available by the Department to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at their request or shall be included in any regular report, if the information has been submitted by the Department with this claim to the EPA. If EPA obtains from the State information that is not claimed to be confidential, that information is available for public distribution.