A. Records or other information furnished to or obtained by the director concerning regulated substances are available to the public, except that any records and information which relate to the trade secrets, processes, operations, style of work or apparatus or confidential statistical data, amount or source of any income, profits, losses or expenditures of any person are only for the confidential use of the department in the administration of this chapter unless the owner or operator expressly agrees to their publication or availability to the public. This section does not prohibit the appropriate governmental agency from publishing quantitative and qualitative statistics pertaining to the storage of regulated substances. Notwithstanding provisions to the contrary in this section, information regarding the nature and quality of releases from underground storage tanks otherwise reportable pursuant to this chapter shall be available to the public.

B. This section does not prohibit the department from providing confidential information to a duly authorized congressional committee or the United States environmental protection agency if the information is treated as prescribed by Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 2.