A. The secretary or any authorized representative, employee or agent of the department may:

(1) enter a facility of a scrap tire generator, scrap tire hauler or tire recycling facility at any reasonable time for the purpose of making a routine inspection or investigation of scrap tire management practices based on reasonable evidence of a violation of the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act;

(2) take and analyze samples of the facility's 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 facility, and the owner or operator shall have the right to split the sample and conduct the owner or operator's own analysis;

(3) for the purposes of developing or assisting in the development of rules, conducting a study, taking corrective action or enforcing the provisions of the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act, conduct monitoring or testing of the equipment, contents or surrounding soil, air, surface water or ground water at the facility of a scrap tire generator, scrap tire hauler or tire recycling facility; and

(4) in coordination with the secretary of transportation, conduct at weigh stations or any other adequate site or facility inspections of scrap tire haulers.

B. Records, reports or information obtained by the department pursuant to this section shall be available to the public, except that information shall be treated confidentially upon a showing, satisfactory to the department, that records, reports or information or a particular part of the records, reports or information, if made public, would divulge information entitled to protection under the provisions of 18 USCA Section 1905. That record, report 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 or to officers, employees or authorized representatives of the state when relevant in any proceedings pursuant to the Solid Waste Act [74-9-1 NMSA 1978].

C. A person not subject to the provisions of 18 USCA Section 1905 who knowingly and willfully divulges or discloses information entitled to protection pursuant to 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.

D. In submitting data pursuant to the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act, a person required to provide such data may:

(1) designate, in writing and in such manner as the secretary may prescribe, the data the person believes is entitled to protection pursuant to this section; and

(2) submit the designated data separately from other data submitted pursuant to the Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act.

History: Laws 2005, ch. 171, § 5.

Effective dates. — Laws 2005, ch. 171 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 17, 2005, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature.