(a) Definitions. As used in the section:

(1) Act means the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended by the Act of August 4, 1976, Pub. L. 94-377, 90 Stat. 1083 (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), and the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands, as amended (30 U.S.C. 351 et seq.)

(2) Exploration license means a license issued by the Secretary of the Interior to conduct coal exploration operations on land subject to the Act pursuant to the authority in section 2(b) of the Act, as amended (30 U.S.C. 201(b)).

(3) Fair-market value of coal to be leased means the minimum amount of a bid the Secretary has determined he is willing to accept in leasing coal within leasing tracts offered in general lease sales or reserved and offered for lease to public bodies, including Federal agencies, rural electric cooperatives, or non-profit corporations, controlled by any of such entities pursuant to section 2(a) of the Act (30 U.S.C. 201(a)(1)).

(4) Information means data, statistics, samples and other facts, whether analyzed or processed or not, pertaining to Federal coal resources, which fit within an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b).

(b) Applicability. This section applies to the following categories of information:

(1) Category A. Information provided to or obtained by a bureau under section 2(b)(3) of the Act from the holder of an exploration license;

(2) Category B. Information acquired from commercial or other sources under service contract with Geological Survey pursuant to section 8A(b) of the Act, and information developed by the Geological Survey under an exploratory program authorized by section 8A of the Act;

(3) Category C. Information obtained from commercial sources which the commercial source acquired while not under contract with the United States Government;

(4) Category D. Information provided to the Secretary by a federal department or agency pursuant to section 8A(e) of the Act; and

(5) Category E. The fair-market value of coal to be leased and comments received by the Secretary with respect to such value.

(c) Availability of information. Information obtained by the Department from various sources will be made available to the public as follows:

(1) Category A—Information. Category A information shall not be disclosed to the public until after the areas to which the information pertains have been leased by the Department, or until the Secretary determines that release of the information to the public would not damage the competitive position of the holder of the exploration license, whichever comes first.

(2) Category B—Information. Category B information shall not be withheld from the public; it will be made available by means of and at the time of open filing or publication by Geological Survey.

(3) Category C—Information. Category C information shall not be made available to the public until after the areas to which the information pertains have been leased by the Department.

(4) Category D—Information. Category D information shall be made available to the public under the terms and conditions to which, at the time he or she acquired it, the head of the department or agency from whom the Secretary later obtained the information agreed.

(5) Category E—Information. Category E information shall not be made public until the lands to which the information pertains have been leased, or until the Secretary has determined that its release prior to the issuance of a lease is in the public interest.