Web Policies Accessibility Content inventories Links to external sites Information in Portable Document Format Privacy Security Site map and content inventory Site map Content inventory and publication schedule Contact Us

Web policies

Accessibility

Western is committed to providing access to our web pages for individuals with disabilities, both members of the public and Federal employees. In demonstrating our commitment, we strive to comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from us, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on us. Section 508 also requires us to ensure that Federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on us. (To learn more about the regulations governing the accessibility of Federal electronic information, please read the Synopsis of Section 508 Accessibility Requirements.)

If the format of any material on our Web site interferes with your ability to access the information, due to an issue with accessibility caused by a disability as defined in the Rehabilitation Act, please contact Corporate Communications for assistance.

To enable us to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which to receive the material, the Web address (URL) of the material with which you are having difficulty and your contact information.

Content inventories

Western provides a wide variety of information about its organization and business operations to the public via its Web site, www.wapa.gov . Pleas see the content inventory and publication schedule in the site map and content section of our Web site. This report summarizes the general areas of content available to users, their publication schedules and the agency’s priority in making information available as required by Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Government Act of 2002.

Links to external Web sites

Many pages on Western’s Web site provide links to additional information that may be useful or interesting. We also provide, for your convenience, a list of links to related organizations in the electric power industry. These links are provided consistent with the intended purpose of Western’s Web site, and we will notify you when a link takes you to a non-Federal site. However, Western cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided at these or any other linked site. Providing links to a non-Western Web site does not constitute an endorsement by Western or any of its employees of the sponsors of the site or the information or products presented on the site.

Western is happy to have anyone link to our site from personal or organizational Web sites, as long as Western endorsement or approval is not implied. For this same reason, we do not provide links from Western’s site back to yours unless we have a power industry-related relationship.

Also, be aware that the privacy protection (linkto: http://www.wapa.gov/privacy.htm) provided on the wapa.gov domain may not be available at other sites. Once you link to another site, that site’s security and privacy policies control what information is collected.

Information in portable document format

Some of the documents available on Western’s web site are published as p ortable document format files. A PDF file allows us to make these documents available in the same style and design as the printed version, regardless of the software application used to create the original documents. Generally, these documents are designed to be printed and not read online. It is more efficient for us to convert these large documents accurately to PDF files than to Web pages (HTML). Document file sizes are usually smaller when converted to PDF, as compared to HTML (especially if the document includes graphics), which results in quicker downloading for large files.

The Adobe Reader software program is required to view PDF files. The latest version of this software is 7.0. If you do not already have this software installed on your computer, you can download a free copy from the Adobe Reader web site.

After Adobe Reader is installed on your computer—and depending on which Web browsing software you use—you may be able to set up your browser to automatically view PDF files by launching Acrobat Reader within the browser (see installation instructions provided with Adobe Reader). If your browser has this capability, PDF files can be viewed as conveniently as Web (HTML) pages. If you experience any problems viewing a PDF file within your Web browser, you can download the file to your computer first (by clicking on the link to the file with your right mouse button and selecting "Save Target As") and then open the file with Acrobat Reader.

Privacy

We will collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us.

Information collected and stored automatically

If you do nothing during your visit but browse through our site, read pages or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:

The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain), and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our Web site

The date and time you access our site

The pages you visit

We use this information to help make our site more useful to visitors—to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We do not track or record information about individuals and their visits.

Information collected from e-mail

When inquiries or suggestions are e-mailed to us, we store the text of your message and e-mail address information so that we can respond to your request. Suggestions are used to guide the design of our Web site. Inquiries that require further actions on our part may be forwarded to various people who may be better able to help you. However, if no action is required, personal information within the inquiry is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974 which restricts our use of it and does permit certain disclosures. E-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive or includes personal information you are encouraged to send it by postal mail.

Security

This Web site is part of a Federal computer system used to accomplish Federal functions. The Department of Energy uses software programs to monitor this Web site for security purposes to ensure it remains available to all users and to protect information in the system. By accessing this Web site, you are expressly consenting to these monitoring activities.

Unauthorized attempts to defeat or circumvent security features, to use the system for other than intended purposes, to deny service to authorized users, to access, obtain, alter, damage or destroy information, or otherwise to interfere with the system or its operation is prohibited. Evidence of such acts may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities and result in criminal prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996, codified at section 1030 of Title 18 of the United States Code, or other applicable criminal laws.