AMADOR COUNTY AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

RULE 514 - PUBLIC RECORDS AND TRADE SECRETS
(Last Revised 09/12/96)

A. All information, analysis, plans, or specifications that disclose the nature, extent, quantity, or degree of air contaminants or other pollution which will be produced by any source which the District requires any applicant to provide before such applicant builds, alters, replaces, operates, sells, rents, or uses such source, are public records.

B. All air quality or other pollution monitoring data, including data compiled from stationary sources, are public records.

C. Except as otherwise provided in Section D below, trade secrets are not public records under this Rule. Trade secrets, as used in this Rule, may include, but are not limited to, any formula, plan, process, tool mechanism, compound, procedure, production rate, or compilation of information which is known only to certain individuals within a commercial concern who are using it to fabricate, produce, or compound an article of trade, ,or a service having commercial value and which gives its user an opportunity to obtain a business advantage over competitors who do not know or use it. The owner or operator shall state in writing his justification for claiming material as trade secrets and such justification shall be public record. The Air Pollution Control Officer shall rule on the validity of trade secret claims. Requests from the public for records shall be specific and in sufficient detail to enable the Air Pollution Control Officer to readily identify the information requested.

D. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, all air pollution emission data, including those emission data which constitute trade secrets as defined in Section C above, are public records. Production data used to calculate emission data are not emission data for purposes of this subdivision and data which constitute trade secrets and which are used to calculate emission data are not public records.