Confidentiality; penalty.

The provisions of any confidential contract or any other confidential information required or possessed by the energy, minerals and natural resources department shall be held confidential by the department upon written request of the party supplying it, and any employee of the department, whether temporary or permanent, who willfully violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent statistical information from being derived from the information in the hands of the department or its use in public hearings before the department or in appeals from decisions of the department for which such information is essential. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 10-15-1 through 10-15-4 NMSA 1978 or any other act requiring meetings of public bodies to be open, the department may close that part of any meeting where confidential information covered by this section is discussed by the department.