NAC445A.237. Public access to information; confidentiality.

     1. The Director shall ensure that any application, reporting or related forms, including the draft permits prepared pursuant to subsection 1 of NAC 445A.233, or any public comment upon those forms pursuant to subsection 3 of NAC 445A.234 are available to the public for inspection and copying. The Director may also make available to the public any other records, reports, plan or information obtained by the State pursuant to its participation in the permit program.

     2. The Director shall protect any information, other than effluent data, contained in such forms or other records, reports or plans as confidential upon a showing by any person that such information, if made public, would divulge methods or processes entitled to protection as trade secrets of that person. If, however, the information being considered for confidential treatment is contained in any NPDES form, the Director shall forward the information to the Regional Administrator for his or her concurrence in any determination of confidentiality. If the Regional Administrator issues a decision to the Department that the information is not entitled to protection as a trade secret, the information must be made available to the public by the Department.

     3. Any information accorded confidential status, whether or not contained in any NPDES form, must be disclosed, upon request, to the Regional Administrator or the authorized representative of the Regional Administrator, who shall maintain the disclosed information as confidential.

     4. The Director shall provide facilities for the inspection of information relating to application, reporting and permit forms and shall ensure that state employees honor requests for such inspection promptly without undue restrictions. The Director shall either:

     (a) Ensure that copying machines are available for a reasonable fee; or

     (b) Otherwise provide for copying services so that requests for copies of nonconfidential documents may be honored promptly.

     [Environmental Comm’n, Water Pollution Control Reg. §§ 4.5.1-4.5.4, eff. 2-26-75]—(Substituted in revision for NAC 445.149)