5/15/92
OPR - Assistant Director for Intergovernmental Affairs
1. Purpose. This Chapter establishes policies and requirements governing release of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) information, including proprietary information received from private sources.
2. Authority. Survey Order No. 202, issued on September 25, 1950.
3. References:
Survey Manual Chapter:
A. 318.1 Freedom of Information Act
B. 500.5 Policy of Release of Written Information to the News Media
C. 500.9 Approval by the Director for Publication and Oral Presentation
D. 500.10 Exchange of Unclassified Scientific and Technical Information
E. 500.24 Policy for Release of Computer Databases and Computer Programs
F. 503.1 Criteria Defining Use of Geological Survey Publications Series and of Outside Publications
G. 503.2 Credits and Acknowledgements in Reports by USGS Authors
4. Policy. It is the policy of the USGS to conduct its activities and to make the results of its scientific and engineering investigations available in a manner that will best serve the whole public, rather than the interest or benefit of any special group, corporation, or individual.
5. Safeguarding of Unpublished USGS Information. All data and information gathered through investigations and observations by the staff of the USGS and by its contractors, while on official duty, must not be disclosed to others until the information is made available to all, impartially and simultaneously through Director-approved formal publication or other approved means of public release, except to the extent that such release is mandated by law.
The phrase "disclosed to others," as used in this chapter, does not include Federal, State, and local governmental agencies and their staffs, to whom, under joint funding agreement or other cooperative arrangements, the observations and results of the investigations must be made available. However, it is important that when the results of an investigation are made available to such an agency prior to general release to the public, the USGS will make it a condition of the release to the other agency that the report must not be released to the public in any form until the report has been released by the USGS or until the Director has authorized release by the other agency.
A. Exclusions. With approval of the Director, the following types of information have been excluded or excepted from restraints imposed by this chapter upon unpublished information:
(1) Water Resources Division. Hydrologic measurements resulting from field observations and laboratory analyses, after they have been reviewed for accuracy by designated Water Resources Division personnel.
(2) National Mapping Division. Copies of unpublished or partially completed topographic maps, image products, and associated cartographic data in graphic and digital form including geodetic control survey data, elevation data, reproductions of space and aerial photographs, and copies of color feature separates.
To satisfy the public need for timely information, formal publication or other approved methods of release should be accomplished as promptly as possible. When there is an immediate demand for USGS data and prompt publication is impossible or unlikely, the material should be released in open-file format, including appropriate announcements, and where applicable, the reports thus released should contain an adequate statement of their preliminary nature and that the information may be subject to change.
B. Oral Communications. USGS employees may communicate orally with the owner or manager of a property during the progress of an investigation, provided that the information relates simply to scientific results and observations and not recommendations or advocacy positions; moreover, written statements must be avoided, lest they be used for promoting or unduly enhancing values. The propriety of disclosing any such information orally must, of course, be appraised while considering local conditions and the possibility of misuse of information; no data that might be detrimental to a neighboring property owner should be released under this authorization. Individual USGS employees must not leave with the owner notes or sketches of their fieldwork that could be used for promotional or other purposes that could be judged unethical.
U.S. Geological Survey policy precludes the making of any promise to the owner or lessee of any property, as a condition under which he/she will permit access to and study of that property, or that the written report of the observations and conclusions reached about the property will be submitted to the landowner or lease holder, nor will the owner or lessee be given any control over the content of the published document. As an impartial fact- finding and fact-issuing agency, the USGS cannot accede to private censorship over the results of its official work.
There is no Federal law authorizing employees of the USGS to enter on private land against the wishes of the owner or his/her representatives, and only a few of the States have enacted laws giving such authority. Although fieldwork of the USGS cannot be done without entering on such land, USGS field representatives must be aware that in this regard, as well as in the use of information about private properties, the rights of the landowner must be respected. Fieldworkers should respectfully request of the property owner, or his/her representative, permission to enter on the property as representatives of the USGS to perform an investigation, the results of which are to be used in the preparation of official reports and maps to be published by the USGS for the benefit of the public. In the experience of the USGS, objection to requests for entry has been rare.
6. Safeguarding Proprietary Information Received From Private Sources. Proprietary information such as geological and geophysical data, property maps, drill records, estimates of reserves, and figures on various categories of production and use of water is supplied by private persons and corporations to the USGS through the following procedures:
A. Voluntarily,
B. In accordance with proprietary terms of contracts, and
C. In fulfillment of submittal requirements set forth in the authorizing legislation of the USGS, and related regulations.
This information to the extent it may be exempted from disclosure by law must be carefully safeguarded in accordance with USGS standards for the transmittal and storage of proprietary data. Proprietary information supplied voluntarily, and information acquired through regulations and contracts, must not be disclosed to other Federal agencies except according to established standards. Proprietary information offered voluntarily should not be accepted if such information is not required to satisfy USGS needs. Proprietary information must not be published or otherwise disclosed outside of the Federal Government unless specific written permission is obtained from the person or organization that furnished the information or unless specific statutes require disclosure. If proprietary information is supplied, it is desirable to simultaneously obtain a statement of agreement explicitly describing the material and the nature of its permissible use. Written requests to any supplier of proprietary information for permission to include or use that information in a report to be published or otherwise released, should follow similar procedures. USGS representatives may not submit to any person or organization the written text of a report, in whole or in part, based on the information supplied by that person or organization prior to public release of the report, without specific prior approval of the Director.