A. The director or any authorized representative, employee or agent of the division:

(1) may enter any solid waste facility at any reasonable time for the purpose of making an inspection or investigation of solid waste management practices;

(2) may at any reasonable time, enter, inspect and monitor any solid waste compaction facilities that compact solid waste for disposal in a solid waste district different from the district in which the compaction facility is located;

(3) may take samples of the waste, soil, air or water and analyze samples of that waste, soil, air or water in order to detect the nature and concentration of contaminants, including those produced by leaching, natural decomposition, gas production or hazardous products in the solid waste facility. The owner or operator shall have the right to split the sample and conduct his own analysis;

(4) may, for the purposes of developing or assisting in the development of any regulation, conducting any study, taking corrective action or enforcing the provisions of the Solid Waste Act conduct monitoring or testing of the equipment, contents or surrounding soils, air, surface water or ground water at a solid waste facility; and

(5) shall make reasonable periodic inspections without prior notice at every solid waste facility in order to implement effectively and enforce the requirements of the Solid Waste Act or the solid waste facility regulations and may, in coordination with the secretary of highway and transportation, conduct at weigh stations, or any other adequate site or facility, inspections of solid waste in transit.

B. Any commercial hauler that disposes of solid waste in a solid waste facility shall allow inspection of its vehicles, transfer stations, collection facilities or any other facilities designed for the collection or transportation of solid waste under the same conditions and circumstances as outlined in Subsection A of this section.

C. Any records, reports or information obtained by the division under this section shall be available to the public, except that upon a showing satisfactory to the division that records, reports or information, or a particular part thereof, to which the director or his authorized representatives have access under this section, if made public, would divulge information entitled to protection under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Section 1905, such information or particular portion thereof shall be considered confidential, except that such record, report, document or information may be disclosed to officers, employees or authorized representatives of the United States concerned with carrying out the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq., or when relevant in any proceedings under the Solid Waste Act.

D. Any person not subject to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Section 1905 who knowingly and willfully divulges or discloses any information entitled to protection under Subsection C of this section shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or to imprisonment not to exceed one year or both.

E. In submitting data under the Solid Waste Act, a person required to provide such data may:

(1) designate the data the person believes is entitled to protection under Subsection C of this section; and

(2) submit such designated data separately from other data submitted under the Solid Waste Act. A designation under Paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be made in writing and in such manner as the director may prescribe.

History: Laws 1990, ch. 99, § 33.