EPA Calls Some Greenhouse Gas Data Confidential

WASHINGTON (CN) - Some of the data greenhouse gas emitters must report to the Environmental Protection Agency will be considered confidential business information, and not be made available to the public, according to a new EPA rule.

Businesses had been concerned that proprietary information about their industrial processes could be discerned from the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule reports, which require them to disclose the concentrations of 11 different categories of greenhouse gas pollutants.

The agency will treat some data elements for 9 of the 11 categories as confidential.

The agency had contemplated requiring greenhouse gas emitters to make case-specific arguments for data that they considered to be confidential business information, but decided that such a process would be too great a burden for small emitters.

In addition, emitters had argued that having to make case-by-case arguments might reveal information they considered proprietary.

The reporting rule also requires chemical suppliers to disclose the quantities of compounds that contribute to greenhouse gases that they have provided to emitters during the reporting period. The agency will treat 9 of the 11 supplier data categories as confidential.

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