Can DEC withhold the locations of rare plant species under FOIL?

If the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has files that indicate the locations of rare plant species, does the NYS Freedom of Information Law or regulations adopted under that statute require the Department to release that information to a member of the public in response to a properly filed FOIL request?

Any record that a state agency has, the public has the right to obtain, unless there is an exemption available under the law to withhold the information.

The specific reasons records can be withheld are listed below. We are not sure if any of these exemptions would apply to your request.

No harm in filing a request and seeing what response they provide.

• (a) are specifically exempted from disclosure by state or federal statute;
• (b) if disclosed would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
• (c) if disclosed would impair present or imminent contract awards or collective bargaining negotiations;
• (d) are trade secrets or are submitted to an agency by a commercial enterprise or derived from information obtained from a commercial enterprise and which if disclosed would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of the subject enterprise;
• (e) are compiled for law enforcement purposes only to the extent that disclosure would: i. interfere with law enforcement investigations or judicial proceedings, provided however, that any agency, which is not conducting the investigation that the requested records relate to, that is considering denying access pursuant to this subparagraph shall receive confirmation from the law enforcement or investigating agency conducting the investigation that disclosure of such records will interfere with an ongoing investigation; ii. deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or impartial adjudication; iii. identify a confidential source or disclose confidential information relating to a criminal investigation; or iv. reveal criminal investigative techniques or procedures, except routine techniques and procedures;
• (f) if disclosed could endanger the life or safety of any person;
• (g) are inter-agency or intra-agency materials which are not: i. statistical or factual tabulations or data; ii. instructions to staff that affect the public; iii. final agency policy or determinations; iv. external audits, including but not limited to audits performed by the comptroller and the federal government;
• (h) are examination questions or answers which are requested prior to the final administration of such questions;
• (i) if disclosed, would jeopardize the capacity of an agency or an entity that has shared information with an agency to guarantee the security of its information technology assets, such assets encompassing both electronic information systems and infrastructures.

We hope this information is helpful.