DEQ and consultants complete second round of sampling near Pavillion

Rules and Regulations

All official Wyoming State Rules and Regulations are kept at the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. Click here to view all current Rules and Regulations.

Trade Secret Confidentiality Requests

Entities requesting permits from the DEQ are required to provide detailed descriptions of the activities or processes involved, so the DEQ may evaluate compliance with standards to protect public health and the natural resources of the state. These descriptions often include information that is considered "trade secrets" or proprietary by the entity. The DEQ must balance the obligation to keep confidential any trade secrets or proprietary information disclosed during the permitting process with the obligation to comply with the Wyoming Public Records Act (W.S. 16-4-203(d)) and Wyoming Environmental Quality Act (W.S. 35-11-1101(a)).

The following checklist has been developed for submitting requests to keep documents containing "trade secrets" confidential. The checklist summarizes the trade secret confidentiality issue in the State of Wyoming and refers to three documents that provide guidance for such requests:

  1. seminal August 29, 2011 letter from former DEQ Director John Corra to a member of industry describing the components of a trade secret confidentiality request and the extent to which the DEQ will be able to keep this information confidential. These concepts are reiterated and refined in the checklist
  2. An excerpt from the Wyoming Supreme Court’s March 2014 decision in Powder River Basin Res. Council v. Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Comm’n., 320 P.3d 222 (Wyo. 2014), adopting the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) definition of “trade secrets.” 
  3. 40 C.F.R. § 2.208 lists additional criteria that must be met in order for information to be considered a “trade secret.”

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DEQ and consultants complete second round of sampling near Pavillion

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and their consultants, Acton Mikelson Environmental (AME), completed the second round of domestic water well sampling in August.

This summer, DEQ and their consultants were in the Pavillion area sampling thirteen (13) selected wells.

According to Mark Thiesse, DEQ Groundwater Program Manager, the results of the second sampling event should be available to the well owners in late October or early November. 

“As with the first round, the results of the sampling will be reviewed and evaluated by DEQ and our consultants to identify any constituents that might cause health or palatability issues,” said Thiesse.   “The results will be shared with the well owners once the quality assurance and quality control analytical data has been completed.”

The quality assurance and quality control of the first round of sampling data results is nearing completion and will be provided to the well owners in the next few weeks.

Thiesse added that the water well downhole video work is planned for October 2014 and those results will also be shared with the well owners and incorporated into the Final Report.

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