Spilling Secrets: Trade Secret Disclosure and Takings in Offshore Drilling Regulation

This Article will explore whether the law may require the disclosure of adequate proprietary information to enable effective regulation. Part II will discuss the settled law regarding the property status of trade secrets, the regulatory takings doctrine, the applicability of the Takings Clause of the United States Constitution to proprietary data, and the exactions doctrine. Part III will explore the validity of the mandatory submission of proprietary health, safety, and environmental data to government regulators, with the guarantee that such data will be kept secret from competitors and the public. Part IV will then explore the validity of regulation mandating public disclosure of such proprietary information, and will discuss the implications for regulation of deepwater drilling.

Finally, Part V will discuss the implications of the exactions doctrine for the validity of regulation requiring public disclosure of proprietary health, safety, and environmental data, as viewed through the lens of land use.