§342L-7  Authority to obtain
information and data, inspect, and require and conduct activities; penalties
for disclosure.  (a)  For the purpose of developing or assisting in the
development of any rule, conducting any study, taking any release response action,
or enforcing this chapter, any owner or operator of an underground storage tank
or tank system, and any person involved in response actions relating to any
releases from these tanks or tank systems, upon the request of any duly
authorized representative of the department, shall:



(1)  Furnish information relating to the tanks or tank
systems, including tank equipment and contents and any response actions
relating to releases from the tanks or tank systems;



(2)  Conduct monitoring or testing; and



(3)  Permit the designated representative at all
reasonable times to have access to, and to copy all records relating to the
tanks or tank systems.



(b)  For the purpose of developing or assisting
in the development of any rule, conducting any study, investigating an actual
or suspected release, monitoring for compliance or noncompliance with this
chapter, any rule or standard adopted pursuant to this chapter, or any permit
or variance issued pursuant to this chapter, taking release response action, or
enforcing this chapter, any duly authorized representative of the department
may:



(1)  Enter at reasonable times any establishment or
place;



(2)  Inspect and obtain samples from any person of any
regulated substances contained in any underground storage tank or tank system;



(3)  Conduct monitoring or testing of the tanks or
tank systems, associated equipment, contents, or soils, air, surface water, or
groundwater; and



(4)  Take release response action.



Each inspection shall be commenced and completed
with reasonable promptness.



(c)  Any records, reports, or information
obtained from any persons under this section shall be available to the public
except as provided in this subsection.  Upon a showing satisfactory to the
department that public disclosure of records, reports, or information, or a
particular part thereof, to which the department representative has access
under this section would divulge information entitled to protection under
chapter 92F, the department shall consider the information or a particular portion
thereof to be confidential.  No such confidential information secured pursuant
to this section by any official or employee of the department within the scope
and cause of the official’s or employee’s employment in the prevention,
control, or abatement of releases from underground storage tanks or tank
systems shall be disclosed by the official or employee with the following
exception:  the document or information may be disclosed to officers,
employees, or authorized representatives of the State or of the United States,
including local government entities, who have been charged with carrying out
this chapter or Subtitle I of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act, or when relevant in any proceeding under this chapter.



(d)  Any representative of the department,
acquiring confidential information pursuant to this section, who intentionally
or knowingly divulges or discloses information, upon conviction, shall be fined
not more than $5,000 or be imprisoned for a period not to exceed one year, or
both, unless the disclosure is authorized in this chapter or ordered by a court
or at an administrative hearing regarding an alleged violation of this chapter
or of any rule or standard adopted pursuant to this chapter. [L 1989, c 212, pt
of §6; am L 1992, c 259, §9]