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What Is a Significant Information Product?
A "significant information product" uses national or regional data to describe environmental conditions, trends, and/or the performance of companies, facilities, and communities.
Only those products currently under development that meet the definition of a significant information product are included in the IPB. These products include:
- Products that analyze and/or compare data collected by, acquired by, or directly reported to EPA or States from various agencies and organizations, including industry, and various Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies;
- Significant data collected by, acquired by, or directly reported to EPA or States from various agencies and organizations that EPA or the States have not interpreted or analyzed;
- Products produced by one or more State environmental agencies that are regional or national in scope and aggregate data from more than one State;
- Products that apply to a large segment of the population or large geographic area;
- Models used by the public to perform environmental analyses based upon data from various agencies and organizations; and
- Annual reports and other products released on a regular basis that use national or regional data to describe environmental conditions, trends, and/or the performance of companies, facilities, and communities.
Listed below are products that are not included in the IPB because they either: 1) do not meet the definition of a significant information product, 2) are used for internal purposes only, and/or 3) must be released immediately to protect human health:
- Action plans
- Analytic tools used exclusively for internal purposes by EPA
- Announcements
- Annual reports that provide only broad, general information, program descriptions and/or accomplishments
- Brochures
- Chemical alerts
- Citizen guides
- Compliance guides
- Conference summaries
- Fact sheets
- Information describing environmental threats that must be released immediately in order to protect public health
- Journal articles
- Policy statements
- Press releases
- Products produced by organizations or agencies other than EPA that are funded through EPA grants or cooperative agreements
- Rulemakings and supporting documents (including guidance, directives, studies, etc.)
- Strategies, strategic plans
- Training materials
Please see Information Sources on the EPA website for a comprehensive list of EPA products (including online ordering).