2023 Idaho Code › Title 74 - TRANSPARENT AND ETHICAL GOVERNMENT › Chapter 1 - PUBLIC RECORDS ACT › Section 74-114 - ACCESS TO AIR QUALITY, WATER QUALITY AND HAZARDOUS WASTE RECORDS — PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS.

74-114. ACCESS TO AIR QUALITY, WATER QUALITY AND HAZARDOUS WASTE RECORDS — PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS. (1) To the extent required by the federal clean air act, the federal clean water act and the resource conservation and recovery act for state primacy over any delegated or authorized programs, even if the record is otherwise exempt from disclosure under this chapter, any person may inspect and copy:
(a) Air pollution emission data;
(b) The content of any title V operating permit;
(c) The name and address of any Idaho pollutant discharge elimination system (IPDES) applicant or permittee;
(d) The content of any IPDES permit;
(e) IPDES permit applications, and information required to be submitted by IPDES application forms, whether the information is submitted on the application forms themselves or in any attachments used to supply information required by the application forms;
(f) Effluent data or a standard or limitation, as defined in 40 CFR 2.302;
(g) The name and address of any applicant or permittee for a hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility permit pursuant to chapter 44, title 39, Idaho Code; and
(h) Any other record required to be provided to or obtained by the department of environmental quality pursuant to the federal clean air act, the federal clean water act and the resource conservation and recovery act, and the implementing state statutes, federal regulations and state rules, unless the record is a trade secret.
(2) For purposes of this section, a record, or a portion of the record, is a "trade secret" if the information contained in the record is a trade secret within the meaning of the Idaho trade secrets act, sections 48-801, et seq., Idaho Code, including commercial or financial information which, if disclosed, could cause substantial competitive harm to the person from whom the record was obtained.
(3) Any record, or portion of a record, provided to or obtained by the department of environmental quality and identified by the person providing the record as a trade secret shall not be disclosed to the public and shall be kept confidential according to the procedures established in this section.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the disclosure of a trade secret by the department of environmental quality:
(a) To any officer, employee, or authorized representative of the state or the United States, under a continuing claim of confidentiality, as necessary to carry out the provisions of state or federal law, or when relevant to any proceeding thereunder;
(b) As determined necessary by the director of the department of environmental quality (under a continuing confidentiality claim) to protect the public health and safety from imminent and substantial endangerment;
(c) As required by state or federal law, including section 74-115(3), Idaho Code, under a continuing claim of confidentiality and subsection (1) of this section; or
(d) With the consent of the person from whom the record is obtained.
(5) It shall be the responsibility of any person providing a record to the department of environmental quality to give notice of the existence of a trade secret on each page or other portion of information at the time of submittal, and such person shall have the burden of demonstrating that the information is a trade secret.
(6) Notwithstanding the time frames set forth in section 74-103(2), Idaho Code, when a request is made to the department of environmental quality pursuant to the provisions of this chapter for the disclosure of information for which a trade secret claim has been made, and the information has not been demonstrated to be a trade secret to the satisfaction of the director of the department of environmental quality, within three (3) working days of receipt of the request for the disclosure of the information, the department of environmental quality shall provide a written request for substantiation to the person making the confidentiality claim. A response shall be submitted to the department of environmental quality by the person claiming the trade secret protection within ten (10) working days after receipt of the request for substantiation, or the information subject to the claim shall be disclosed without further notice. Upon receipt of a timely response to the request for substantiation, the director of the department of environmental quality shall determine whether the information is a trade secret subject to protection.
(a) If it is determined that the information, or any portion of the information, is a trade secret, within three (3) working days after receipt of the response, the director of the department of environmental quality shall notify the person requesting the information that the request is denied pursuant to subsections (4) and (5) of section 74-103, Idaho Code.
(b) If it is determined that the information, or any portion of the information, is not a trade secret and is, therefore, subject to disclosure, within three (3) working days after receipt of the response, the director of the department of environmental quality shall inform the person making the confidentiality claim of the determination. The decision shall be a final agency action directly appealable, de novo, to the district court of the county where the records or some part thereof are located. An appeal contesting the decision of the director of the department of environmental quality to release information claimed to be a trade secret shall be filed within ten (10) working days from the date of receipt of the written notice of decision. The information claimed to be a trade secret shall not be disclosed until the period for appeal has expired with no appeal being taken, or a court order has been issued finding that the information is not a trade secret and all appeals of that order have been exhausted.
(7) In any appeal taken pursuant to this section, the court may award reasonable costs and attorney’s fees to the prevailing party if it finds the claim of confidentiality or the decision of the director of the department of environmental quality to provide records was frivolously pursued.
(8) The department of environmental quality shall adopt rules which include:
(a) Appropriate measures to safeguard and protect against improper disclosure of trade secrets, including procedures to train all employees on the proper handling of trade secrets; and
(b) Any other provisions necessary to carry out this section.
(9) As it relates to the department of environmental quality, or to agents, contractors, or other representatives of the department, the immunity created in section 74-118, Idaho Code, shall apply only when disclosure of a trade secret is made consistent with this section.
History:
[74-114, added 2015, ch. 140, sec. 5, p. 362; am. 2016, ch. 146, sec. 1, p. 413; am. 2022, ch. 306, sec. 8, p. 987.]