United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-06-25 monographic deposited born digital 30 p. GA 1.13:RCED-99-156 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156 P0b002ee180374de9 f:rc99156 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156 RCED-99-156 Reporting requirements Environmental impact statements Government information dissemination Proprietary data Economic espionage Competition Freedom of information EPA Toxic Release Inventory Chapter Report RCED Since the mid-1980s, the federal government and several states have introduced public "right-to-know" initiatives on environmental issues. These initiatives require industries to report on their use and discharge of potentially harmful substances and require government agencies to make this information available to the public. Companies, however, have questioned the appropriateness of publicly disclosing increasingly detailed facility-level information. Specifically, they are concerned that their submissions contain "sensitive business information" that, if released, could harm their competitiveness. This concern is heightened because companies around the world are increasingly hiring "competitive intelligence" professionals to collect and analyze legally obtained information to glean insight into their competitors' operations. This report (1) provides information on the usefulness of publicly available information to competitive intelligence professionals and (2) assesses EPA's efforts to address industry concerns about providing the public with access to sensitive business information. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156.pdf GAO/RCED-99-156 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-156 Chapter Report GAO/RCED-99-156; Environmental Information: EPA Could Better Address; Reporting requirements Environmental impact statements Government information dissemination Proprietary data Economic espionage Competition Freedom of information EPA Toxic Release Inventory