Multisystem Query User's Guide

Before you begin searching Envirofacts (EF), it is helpful to gather the following information about the business, chemical, or neighborhood you are researching. Although you can search with less information, the search will be faster and yield more precise results if you have the following:

Business, city, county names, ZIP Codes, and/or state postal abbreviations.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes are classifications for the organizations you are researching. These codes are assigned to industries and businesses by the federal government through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). We provide a link to the SIC Search capability provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. EPA regulates only a portion of all SIC Codes listed as named by the environmental area's specific regulation.

Search Tips For Better Results

Gather information about your subject ahead of time.
Narrow your information as much as possible.
Know what information is available in the EF database.
Review the metadata fields.
Understand how to limit searches.
Review all display options.
Save your search data and strategies.

Facility Name Search Option

Enter the complete or partial facility name to retrieve all facilities with that name. Select the "Containing" option when entering a partial name for a better retrieval the first time you access the data. When an "Exact Match" option is specified, do not specify another option on the query form; only one facility will be retrieved.

Geography Search Option

Select from four geographical search options: ZIP Code, City, County, and State.

ZIP Code

The ZIP Code entry can be five digits or fewer.

Address

Enter a complete or partial street address.

City

Enter a complete or partial city name and a two-character state postal abbreviation. Separate the city name from the state abbreviation with a comma (,).

County

Enter a complete or partial county name and a two-character state postal abbreviation. If your county name has an apostrophe ('), enter a partial county name with the "Containing" option; often the apostrophe has not been included in the original mainframe field entry.

State

Enter a two-character state postal abbreviation. A list of the postal abbreviations and the state names is provided below:

AK = Alaska	AL = Alabama	AR = Arkansas
AS = American Samoa	AZ = Arizona	CA = California
CN = Canada	CO = Colorado	CT = Connecticut
DC = District of Columbia	DE = Delaware	FC = Other Foreign Countries
FL = Florida	FM = Federated States of Micronesia	GA = Georgia
GU = Guam	HI = Hawaii	IA = Iowa
ID = Idaho	IL = Illinois	IN = Indiana
IQ = Misc. U.S. Pacific Islands	IT = All Indian Tribes	KS = Kansas
KY = Kentucky	LA = Louisiana	MA = Massachusetts
MD = Maryland	ME = Maine	MH = Marshall Island
MI = Michigan	MN = Minnesota	MO = Missouri
MP = Northern Mariana Islands	MQ = Midway Island	MS = Mississippi
MT = Montana	NC = North Carolina	ND = North Dakota
NE = Nebraska	NH = New Hampshire	NJ = New Jersey
NM = New Mexico	NV = Nevada	NY = New York
OH = Ohio	OK = Oklahoma	OR = Oregon
PA = Pennsylvania	PR = Puerto Rico	PW = Palau, Republic of
RI = Rhode Island	SC = South Carolina	SD = South Dakota
TN = Tennessee	TX = Texas	UT = Utah
VA = Virginia	VI = Virgin Islands	VT = Vermont
WA = Washington	WI = Wisconsin	WQ = Wake Island
WV = West Virginia	WY = Wyoming

SIC Search Option

SIC Description

Enter a complete or partial SIC code description to obtain a list of all SIC Codes that fit under the description. For example, entering "metal" will retrieve all facilities with SIC Codes that have "metal" somewhere in the SIC description. You can browse the SIC Code manual for possible descriptions by clicking on the link under SIC Description. This search is provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

SIC Code Search

Enter a four-digit SIC Code. The first two digits define a major business sector, and the last two digits denote a facility's specialty within the major sector. You can browse the SIC Code manual for possible entries by clicking on the link under SIC Description. This search is provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Pollutant Name Search Option

Pollutant Name

Enter a complete or partial pollutant (chemical) name. There can be various common names for the same chemical, so if the name you enter is not listed under that name for the facility, the query will not retrieve a facility that you might want to see.

Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) Number

Use the "Click Here" link to select a CAS Number, or enter the chemical's CAS Number in the field.

Envirofacts Query Results

EPA FACILITY ID
This identification number is a universal number for the facility in EPA.
The FACILITY NAME/ADDRESS is a combination of the following individual attributes:
The final five columns indicate the appropriate databases in which each facility has a record:
- Permitted Discharges to Water - PCS
- Toxic Release Reports - TRIS
- Hazardous Waste Handler - RCRAInfo
- Superfund Site - CERCLIS
- Air Releases Reported - AIRS/AFS

To retrieve a detailed site report, click on the facility name. The format of the report is specific to the individual data systems.

Usage Constraints

Information in the Envirofacts database can be freely accessed through the use of this query. While the complexity of the query is up to the user, queries that return a large volume of data may terminate prematurely due to system limitations. The constraints established for the enviro user account (the query uses this to connect to the ORACLE database) are:

Each query is limited to 2.5 minutes of Central Processing Unit (CPU) time.
A single session can be 15 minutes in duration.
A session may stay idle for 7.5 minutes, at which time it will be terminated.

Develop queries that return small batches of data and terminate the session as soon as the queries have been executed, so others can access the database.

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