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High and Dry in the Smoggy Skies...?
Overcoming the Challenges in Capturing Air Toxics 411!

February 2004

ONLINE AIR POLLUTION DATABASES: COMPLIANCE & ENFORCEMENT DATA

The Environmental Protection Agency Databases - Below are two compliance and enforcement databases run by EPA: ECHO, and ICIS. But ICIS is still in being developed. It is not a database to store new kinds of information, but rather, a single user-friendly database where data from several different existing EPA databases (including data in ECHO) are combined - a part of EPA's attempt at systems modernization. If ICIS contains data matching your search, it will appear in the results page on ECHO.

Sector Facility Indexing Project (http://www.epa.gov/sfipmtn1/)
This is an EPA database with compliance and inspection records for five industries (auto assembly, pulp manufacturing, iron/steel production, petroleum refining, nonferrous metals refining and smelting, and some major federal facilities). Includes information on chemical releases, spills, production capacity and demographics of the surrounding population.

Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) (http://www.epa.gov/echo/index.html)
This tool provides the public with compliance, permit, and demographic data from approximately 800,000 facilities regulated under the Clean Air Act stationary source program, the Clean Water Act direct discharge program and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste facilities with violations. Integrated reports present inspections, violations, enforcement actions, penalties, and locate facilities on demographic maps. The results page features formal enforcement actions according to the ICIS and ECHO databases with direct hyperlinks to more case details.

On report, click on formal compliance action, for more details such as specific violation; total fine amount plus the total amt of compliance action (how much it cost facility to achieve and maintain compliance, eg. purchase a cleaner burning machine, etc.); and the type of compliance action; information on pollutant reduction (pollutant and amount reduced/year as a result of the compliance), etc. The case records also have the name(s) of owners of the facility. Some violations records can be for a different facility (branch) owned by the same company other than the one listed, which can be confirmed usually by looking in the corresponding ICIS data (click on hyperlinked case number under "Formal Enforcement Actions-ICIS."

DOCKET (http://www.rtknet.org/doc/)
A database of civil cases filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of EPA. A database of RTKNET, drawing from data in EPA's DOCKET database. Can search the database by facility, defendant name, or cases (specific law, violation or docket number).

A project of the DataCenter's Environmental Justice Program.

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CONTENTS

Introduction
Measuring Air Pollution
Types of Air Pollutants
Research Tips

Online Pollution Databases
Non-Governmental Databases
Governmental Databases
Compliance & Enforcement Data

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