[Federal Register: November 20, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 224)]
[Notices]
[Page 70079-70080]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20no02-68]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7410-5]
Notice of Availability of Enforcement and Compliance History
Online Web Site for 60-Day Comment Period
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of information availability and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Office of Compliance (OC), within EPA's Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), announces the availability
of and invites comments on its new Web site, Enforcement and Compliance
History Online (ECHO), which contains searchable, facility-level
enforcement and compliance information.
DATES: Comments must be submitted no later than January 21, 2003.
ADDRESSES: The Web site is available at http://www.epa.gov/echo.
Comments may be submitted to echo@epa.gov as a Word or WordPerfect file
or mailed to Rebecca Kane, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, MC 2222A, 1200 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460. Specific data errors should be
submitted using the error correction process on the ECHO site.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rebecca Kane at kane.rebecca@epa.gov
or (202) 564-5960.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. ECHO Background
EPA is committed to public access to environmental information and
has worked to develop a format for providing Internet access to
facility-level compliance and enforcement information contained in core
EPA data systems. Though the data included within ECHO previously were
available to the public primarily through Freedom of Information Act
requests, the information was not available in a searchable Web format.
This new e-government initiative makes it much easier for the public to
obtain these data records on the Internet.
EPA has worked with State governments to develop the content of the
site and ensure accurate data and has pilot tested Internet access. A
Joint EPA-State Enforcement and Compliance Public Access Workgroup
developed the template for the type, sources, and amount of data to be
included within ECHO. This workgroup, developed in partnership with the
Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), made its recommendations in
June 2000. EPA has field tested the approach and the data through: the
Sector Facility Indexing Project (http://www.epa.gov/sfipmtn1/), which
shows data for a limited number of industrial sectors, and a four-State
pilot in the Pacific Northwest (http://www.epa.gov/idea/region10).
Public feedback and lessons learned from these projects contributed to
the development of the ECHO site.
To prepare for launch of ECHO, EPA and the States conducted a
comprehensive data review to ensure high quality information. ECHO also
includes on the site an online error reporting process that allows
users to alert EPA and the States to possible errors. This notice
announces a 60-day comment period, which is being provided to give
interested parties, particularly those responsible for facilities
included within the database, the opportunity to review ECHO's content,
design, and accuracy of data.
II. ECHO Data
ECHO provides integrated compliance and enforcement information for
approximately 800,000 regulated facilities nationwide. The site allows
users to find facility-level inspection, violation, enforcement action,
and penalty information for the past two years. Facilities regulated
under the Clean Air Act (CAA) Stationary Source Program, Clean Water
Act (CWA) National Pollutant Elimination Discharge System (NPDES), and
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) are included. ECHO
reports provide a snapshot of a facility's environmental record,
showing dates and types of violations, as well as the State or Federal
government's response.
[[Page 70080]]
ECHO reports also contain demographic information from the National
Census.
Data included are drawn from the Aerometric Information Retrieval
System (AIRS) Facility Subsystem (AFS), Permit Compliance System (PCS),
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information System (RCRAInfo),
and, for Federal enforcement actions, the Integrated Compliance
Information System (ICIS), as well as Facility Registry System (FRS)
and U.S. Census data. EPA, State, and local environmental agencies and
the facilities collect/report the data that are submitted to these
Agency databases.
III. Specific Questions for Consideration
EPA is soliciting comments on the usability of the site as well as
the accuracy of the data. EPA is specifically asking for responses to
the following questions:
(1) Does the site provide meaningful and useful information about
the compliance and enforcement program?
(2) Is the site easy to navigate?
(3) Does the help text adequately explain the data?
(4) What additional features, content, and/or modifications would
improve the site?
(5) For members of the regulated community:
A. Were your facility reports accurate?
B. If you did need to submit an online error report, was the error
reporting process easy to use?
Please note that comments are requested for the project in general;
specific data errors should be reported through the error correction
process on ECHO. (This feature is on every facility report--click on
the red button on the top right of the page.) Also, please include
question numbers in responses.
IV. Response to Comments
EPA will analyze comments received and will use these to guide any
modifications to this site.
Dated: November 13, 2002.
Michael M. Stahl,
Director, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 02-29471 Filed 11-19-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P