Keeping trade secrets private while allowing public access to pollution data

(a) With respect to trade secrets, it is determined that the public interest served by not making the records public clearly outweighs the public interest served by the disclosure of the records. Accordingly, any trade secrets acquired by the department in the course of implementation or enforcement of this chapter shall be confidential information and shall not be made public, except to that extent necessary to enforce this chapter. Effluent data, however, are not confidential information and shall always be made available to the public. (b) Whenever the director makes a written request or issues an order for an industrial user to furnish information, the request or order may contain, in addition to the required information, the following: (1) That the industrial user may assert a confidential claim, including but not limited to a trade secret claim covering specified information; and (2) That if no such claim accompanies the information received by the director, the industrial user is deemed to have waived all confidential claims that may exist, and the information may be made available to the public without further notice to the industrial user. (c) For purposes of this section in determining confidential information, the director shall determine whether the information is entitled by statute, judicial order, or law to the confidential treatment as claimed by the industrial user. In the absence of such finding, the director shall make the information available for public disclosure. ; Sec. 14-5.8, R.O. 1990)