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DHEC keeping secrets

By SAMMY FRETWELL and JOHN MONK The State Landfill operator Chem-Nuclear had persuaded regulators to withhold many of the files, arguing the information included trade secrets. Without the records, Guild lost a court case that could have forced tougher disposal practices at the 37-year-old landfill. Columbia lawyer Bob Guild says DHEC denied access to records showing the magnitude of pollution at a nuclear waste landfill near Barnwell. "To say contamination records are trade secrets is just an outrage," said Guild, who has appealed the court's decision. Guild's troubles highlight a recurring complaint about the state Department of Health and Environmental Control: that it doesn't inform the public well enough and, in some cases, deliberately withholds information that's important to the public. It's a complaint that spans the agency's 35-year history.

Full post as published by The Trade Secrets Vault on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).