E-Government
Accelerating Our Progress
Using New
Information Technology
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E-Government @ EPA:
Accelerating Our Progress Using
New Information Technologies
EPA245-R-04-002
June 2004
Prepared by
Office of Environmental Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
For further information, please see:
www.epa.gov/oei
www.egov.gov
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Contents
Statement from EPA's Administrator i
Message from EPA's AA/CIO iii
Introduction 1
Clean Air and Global Climate Change 11
Clean and Safe Water 17
Land Preservation and Restoration 23
Healthy Communities and Ecosystems 27
Compliance and Environmental Stewardship 33
The Future . ..37
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'In less than a decade, the
Environmental Protection
Agency has made a significant
shift away from a 'paper-only'
world. We now utilize the
incredible power of today's information technology
as part of our comprehensive effort to protect
human health and the environment."
-Mike Leavitt
EPA Administrator
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Messaae from
EPA's Assistant Administrator
for Environmental Information
and Chief Information Officer
As EPA's Chief Information Officer, I am proud to provide
this report on EPA's E-Government initiatives. We have
made great strides in using information technology to
improve our nation's ability to protect human health and the
environment. This report highlights some of the progress and
results we have achieved.
EPA, along with our federal, state, tribal partners and stakehold-
ers, views information as a strategic resource—one that is vital to
protecting the health and environment of people and communi-
ties. We are committed to expanding E-Government now and in
the years to come as EPA strives to enhance the way that we col-
lect, manage, disseminate, and use our information resources.
This leadership will help provide government and individuals with high-quality, accessi-
ble, relevant, scientifically sound, and integrated information so that we all can become
more informed about the environment around us, make better decisions that will help
protect the environment in which we live, and ultimately ensure a safer, healthier future
for our families and our nation.
Kimberly T. Nelson
Assistant Administrator and Chief Information Officer
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Introduction
At the dawn of the 21st century, Americans are part of an emerging
knowledge-based economy, where global competitiveness and the
health of our environment require constant innovation. The Internet and
advanced information technology are fueling this change at a phenome-
nal rate. We are seeing the challenges and benefits of new high-tech
equipment capable of processing and distributing electronic information
from the Internet and the data networks that support us. These
developments enable us to act with an ease and speed that were
not possible before.
We live in an increasingly interconnected society,
where the Internet, wireless telecommunications,
and other information-based technologies have
spawned tremendous improvements in efficiency,
customer service, and our expectations. The
Information Age has changed the way we acquire,
share, and communicate information. We now
expect to conduct business, seek entertainment,
and acquire knowledge 24 hours a day, seven days
a week, essentially at a time and from a place of
our choice.
These changes have also increased our expectation
that the business of government—whether providing
services (such as issuing or renewing a driver's
license), protecting our national security, or deciding
how best to protect the environment—should be
conducted with the same level of innovation, effi-
ciency, and effectiveness.
E-Gowernment: A flfew
Way of Doing Business
Rapid, sweeping, and profound information technol-
ogy (IT) advances offer substantial opportunities for
EPA to conduct our business differently. At the same
time, they generate public demand for electronic
information, online transactions, and new informa-
tion management capabilities.
This electronic and high-tech transformation has
spawned a concept known as "E-Government" and
is leading to important new ways for EPA to achieve
our mission. In addition to our traditional tools—reg-
ulation, permitting, and enforcement—we have
many new, innovative, and cooperative mechanisms
that will substantially improve how our Agency,
states, and the American people protect our shared
health and environment.
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Some of our efforts are as simple as making docu-
ments publicly available via the Internet—something
many people have become accustomed to searching
every day. Since EPA's Web site was launched in the
mid 1990s, individuals have been accessing services
and information in minutes or hours, instead of days
or weeks. People have access to easy-to-find, one-
stop shopping for the environmental information
and services most relevant to their family or commu-
nity. Our efforts also include installing complex new
Ensuring Privacy
epa.gov/privacy
The Privacy Act of 1974 mandates how federal
agencies maintain information about individu-
als. The law strikes a balance between the gov-
ernment's need to maintain these records and
individuals' rights to protection from unwarrant-
ed invasions of their personal privacy. Recent
guidance interpreting the "E-Government Act of
2002" provides new privacy regulations and
requires officials to plan strong privacy protec-
tions in advance, as they develop information
technology systems and before they begin to
collect new information.
The Privacy Act requires federal agencies to
collect only the personal information necessary
to perform agency functions and to provide
safeguards that protect records from unautho-
rized access and disclosure. EPA's Privacy Act
Web site allows people to submit requests to
view or correct inaccuracies in their government
records.
computer networks and technology that will allow us
to do things we never dreamed of only 10 years ago.
These new E-Governmenttools are designed to pro-
vide compliance assistance, consolidate reporting
requirements, devise strategies for preventing pollu-
tion, and help local governments and businesses
better comply with laws and regulations and act as
responsible environmental stewards.
EPA is committed to several key actions that support
our transition to E-Government:
• Partnering with other federal, state, and local
agencies and many of our stakeholders.
• Harnessing the power and capacity of new
information technologies.
• Providing secure, reliable access to scientifically-
sound data and information.
• Integrating data that pertains to the same topic,
facility, place, ecosystem, or environmental
resource.
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egov
^^F My Governmen
i
My Government. My Terms.
The President's
Management Agenda
for E-Gowernmentz
Citizen-centered, Results-
oriented, Market-based.
Achieving our mission to protect human health and
the environment requires EPA to work with many
other federal agencies. Led by the "E-Government
Act of 2002" and the President's Management
Agenda (PMA), EPA is expanding our collaborative
efforts to include a wide range of E-Government
issues and opportunities.
Components of the President's
Management Agenda
V Strategic Management of Human Capital
V Competitive Sourcing
V Improved Financial Performance
V Budget and Performance Integration
,/ Expanded Electronic Government
The PMAand EPA's 2003-2008 Strategic Plan aim
to ensure that EPA and the federal government
are more:
• Citizen-centric: Ensuring what we do is focused
on what individuals need and doing it in a way
they can understand.
Results-oriented: Ensuring what we do to protect
human health and the environment is focused on
real results, such as healthier children and thriving
fish in rivers, not just on how much money we
spend.
Market-based: Using commercially-available
software and technologies used around the world,
not "old fashioned" custom-designed software
that no one else can use and that becomes quickly
outdated.
Under the PMA, and leadership of the President's
Management Council, federal agencies are partici-
pating in 25 major E-Government initiatives
(egov.gov). EPA is involved in 14 of these projects
(see pages 4-5). These initiatives are designed to
help the Agency achieve real environmental results
by simplifying and unifying common work process-
es across federal agencies, providing individuals
with one-stop access to services, and helping
reduce redundant information collection, ensuring
that data and information are collected online
once, shared, and updated as needed.
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Federal E-Gowernment Initiatives under the
President's Management Agenda
I USA Services
Develop and deploy governmentwide citizen
customer service using industry best practices
that will provide citizens with timely, consistent
responses about government information and
services. (Agency lead: General Services
Administration. Customers: members of the
interested public.)
I E-Rulemaking
Enables citizens to easily access and participate in
federal rulemaking. Improves access to, and quali-
ty of, the rulemaking process for individuals, busi-
nesses, and other government entities while
streamlining and increasing the efficiency of inter-
nal agency processes. (Agency lead: Environ-
mental Protection Agency. Customers: the public,
the regulated community, businesses, state and
local regulatory agencies, academia, public admin-
istrators, anyone interested in or with a need to
know about federal regulations.)
I Business Gateway
Enhances the operations of federal agencies and
reduces the burden on businesses by making it
easy to find, complete, and submit electronic
forms. (Agency lead: Small Business Admin-
istration. Customers: the regulated community,
businesses, state and local regulatory agencies.)
I Geospatial One-Stop
Provides federal and state agencies with a single
electronic point of access, making it easier to find
map-related data, reduce duplicative spending,
and consolidate redundant data. (Agency lead:
Department of the Interior. Customers: anyone
who is interested in using electronic geographic
data and information.)
I Disaster Management
Provides federal, state, and local emergency
managers online access to disaster management-
related information, planning, and response tools.
(Agency lead: Federal Emergency Management
Agency. Customers: the national security and
emergency response community; federal, state,
regional and local agencies; members of the public
affected by disasters.)
I Grants.gov
Creates a single Web site for all federal grant
customers, making it easier for potential recipients
to find information about and apply for federal
grants. (Agency lead: Department of Health and
Human Services. Customers: all participants in the
federal procurement marketplace, businesses,
agencies, and potential grant applicants.)
I E-Training
Supports federal workforce development through
simplified and one-stop access to high quality
online training, enabling agencies and depart-
ments to skillfully accomplish their missions.
(Agency lead: Office of Personnel Management.
Customers: federal employees and others inter-
ested in federal human capital development pro-
grams and strategies.)
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I Recruitment One-Stop
Provides state-of-the-art, online recruitment
services to job seekers, including intuitive job
searching, online resume submission, applicant
data mining, and online feedback on status and
eligibility. (Agency lead: Office of Personnel
Management Customers: federal employers
and anyone interested in working for the federal
government.)
I Enterprise Human Resources Integration
Streamlines and automates the electronic exchange
of standardized employee records across the
Executive Branch. Also provides comprehensive
knowledge management, workforce analysis, fore-
casting, and reporting. (Agency lead: Office of
Personnel Management. Customers: federal work-
force, human resources personnel and
records/archives officials.)
I E-Payroll
Consolidates dozens of federal payroll systems
to reduce spending on redundant systems and
better integrate payroll, human resources, and
financial functions. (Agency lead: Office of
Personnel Management. Customers: federal
employees and their families, human resources
and finance personnel.)
I E-Travel
Provides a governmentwide, Web-based service
that applies world-class travel management prac-
tices to consolidate internal federal travel servic-
es, minimize cost, and produce superior customer
satisfaction. (Agency lead: General Services
Administration. Customers: federal employees
and travel managers.)
• Integrated Acquisition Environment
Creates a secure business environment that will
facilitate and support cost-effective acquisition of
goods and services by agencies while eliminating
inefficiencies in the current acquisition process.
(Agency lead: General Services Administration.
Customers: federal government vendors and sup-
pliers, federal procurement personnel, federal gov-
ernment vendors' and suppliers' customers.)
• E-Records Management
Provides policy guidance to help agencies better
manage their electronic records, allowing records
information to be effectively used to support time-
ly and effective decisionmaking, enhance service
delivery, and ensure accountability. (Agency lead:
National Archives and Records Administration.
Customers: federal communications and records
management personnel; members of the public
with a need to know about federal archives
and records.)
• E-Authentication
Minimizes the burden on businesses, the public,
and the government when they are obtaining serv-
ices online by providing a secure infrastructure for
online transactions and eliminating the need for
separate processes for the verification of identity
and electronic signatures. (Agency lead: General
Services Administration. Customers: anyone doing
business with the federal government who needs
to authenticate their identity for security purposes).
For more information on these initiatives, visit
.
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Advanced Information
Technology: Better Health
and Environmental Protection
Information technology and service delivery
advances—coupled with the recognition that quality
environmental information can be used to enhance
decisionmaking at all levels—are driving a new
information management approach for EPA and our
partners. Increasingly, our ability to implement
EPA's Strategic Plan and achieve our goals and
objectives depends on enhancing the Agency's
information infrastructure, building a new enter-
prise IT architecture, expanding the Environmental
Information Exchange Network, improving our
operations, and the security, collection, and
exchange of information.
EPA's Strategic Plan sets forth five national goals:
•g Clean Air and Global Climate Change
Clean and Safe Water
Land Preservation and Restoration
Healthy Communities and Ecosystems
Compliance and
S Environmental Stewardship
Organized by each of these goals, this report contains
examples of where the transition to E-Government
is facilitating EPA's ability to set priorities, make
decisions based on the best scientific and economic
information available, and better achieve true envi-
ronmental results.
Public Information: More
Informed and Involved Citizens
At home, work, or play, we make decisions every day
that require information about the world around us
or affect the quality of our common environment.
Access to quality environmental information that is
easy to find, understand, and use helps us make
more informed decisions about our individual
actions and the needs of our communities. EPA—
working in partnership with state, tribal, and local
governments—provides tools and services that par-
ents, teachers, students, older Americans, and other
members of the public can use to monitor their local
environment and determine how it might impact
their health and their family's health.
Examples of these tools and services include:
• EPA's AIR/Voiv Web site (epa.gov/airnow), which
allows parents and civic leaders to monitor the
quality of local air resources on any given day.
Based on information from the site, they can plan
outdoor activities or provide guidance on the level
of activity recommended, depending on prevailing
air quality conditions.
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I EPA's Ground Water and Drinking Water Web
site (epa.gov/ogwdw/dwinfo.htm), which enables
individuals concerned about drinking-water safety
to obtain a Consumer Confidence Report from
their local drinking-water provider. Most drinking-
water providers are required to send their cus-
tomers an annual report on the quality of the
water they supply.
I Window to My Environment (epa.gov/enviro/
wme), which allows individuals and community
leaders concerned about environmental conditions
in their area to obtain information. Window to My
Environment (WME) provides a "geographic por-
tal" to community-based environmental informa-
tion. It answers popular questions about a commu-
nity's air, land, and water resources, as well as
actions being taken locally to protect public health
and the environment. Developed in partnership
with federal, state, tribal, and local governments,
as well as other organizations, WME offers a new
approach to integrating, managing, and providing
comprehensive community-based environmental
information.
I An Environmental Information Exchange
Network (www.exchangenetwork.net), which EPA
and state partners are developing to provide seam-
less integration and transfer of environmental infor-
mation from a variety of federal and state sources.
The Network has been in operation since Fall 2003.
Through the creation of the Exchange Network, EPA
has committed to developing a flexible and secure
network that supports federal and state access to
environmental data and information. As the
Internet matures and security exchange protocols
are developed to better support complex net-
works, government agencies have shifted from
uploading batches of data to real-time Internet-
based sharing. This shift, paired with changes in
Sharing Information
epa.gov/cdx
An essential part of the Exchange Network is
the Central Data Exchange (CDX)—a central
point within EPA for collecting, exchanging, and
streamlining many distinct air, water, and waste
data collection processes. CDX will consolidate
EPA's data collection function with that of the
states and also provide assistance through tech-
nical guidance, applying Extensible Mark-up
Language (XML), and Web services. The CDX:
Serves as the EPA node, or point of
exchange, on the Network.
Provides technical guidance and support
to EPA partners.
Creates a paperless option for environ-
mental reporting—sharing information
between various data systems.
By the end of FY2005, the CDX infrastructure
will support real-time data exchanges between
EPA and at least 49 states, nine tribes, and Puerto
Rico for the major state/EPA air quality, water
quality, and waste management data sets.
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technology, makes the Exchange Network a vital
component of information sharing between EPA
and the public, as well as among federal, state,
and local agencies. It will improve the quality of
environmental data, provide regulatory agencies
and the public ready access to data, and increase
their ability to use this information to protect
human health and the environment.
Integrating Quality
National Information
and Data: Getting From Here
to There
In June 2003, EPA released a Draft Report on the
Environment, which provides baseline data for
measuring the results our nation has achieved in
improving human health and environmental condi-
tions. The Draft Report uses a set of environmental
indicators that help answer important questions
environmental managers, policy experts, and the
public have about the state of our national environ-
ment. These indicators also help EPA, our partners,
and other stakeholders focus on the data and infor-
mation that are needed to make important deci-
sions and to manage for results in the future.
The Draft Report provides insight into what is
known—and unknown—about the nation's current
environmental condition and highlights the
progress we have made toward protecting our nat-
ural resources. EPA developed the Draft Report to
address three primary questions:
I What is happening?
I Why is it happening?
I What are the effects?
Highlights from EPA's
Draft Report on the Environment 2003
Findings of the Draft Report indicate that:
" Our air is cleaner. Air pollution has declined 25
percent over the past 30 years, while the
United States experienced large increases in
population, gross domestic product, and vehi-
cle miles traveled.
Our drinking water is safer. In 2002, 94 per-
cent of the population served by community
water systems received water that met all
health-based standards—an increase of 15
percent in the last decade.
Our land is better protected. Toxic chemical
releases have declined by 48 percent since
1988, and we have significantly improved the
way we manage our wastes.
" The health of the American public is general-
ly good and improving. People are living
longer, and U.S. mortality rates have dropped
to the lowest level ever recorded.
Copies of the Draft Report are available
online at .
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These questions and related indicators are impor-
tant in assessing national environmental quality
and human health—"where we are"—and deter-
mining how EPA and others will use that knowledge
to better achieve measurable environmental
results—"where we need to go."
E-Government is an inherent part of EPA's plan to
use the Draft Report's environmental indicators to
guide future decisionmaking. Collecting, storing,
and sharing the information with states and other
partners across EPA's programs requires complex
information technology and networks. Under-
standing and using the information requires
advanced software models and decisionmaking
tools, as well as the hardware to display results.
All of these efforts are part of EPA's E-Government
efforts, aimed at helping people make better-
environmental decisions, enhancing our ability
to achieve the Agency's mission of protecting
human health and the environment and ultimately,
ensuring a safer, healthier world now and for future
generations.
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Clean
Over the past 3O years, our nation's economy has grown rapidly.
At the same time, we have made substantial improvements in air
quality. Americans, however, continue to be exposed to air pollution
from a variety of sources—requiring us to find new, innovative, and
better ways of reducing it.
Environmental impacts from outdoor air pollution
include reduced visibility (e.g., smog); damage to
crops, forests, and buildings; acidification of lakes
and streams; and depletion of the protective ozone
layer around the Earth. Indoor and outdoor air pollu-
tion also affect human health—they can cause or
exacerbate breathing difficulties or respiratory prob-
lems (e.g., asthma or emphysema) and contribute to
other ailments or premature death.
EPA is using E-Governmenttools to track and quanti-
fy air emissions that pose potential harm to the
environment and human health—particularly chil-
dren and the elderly. To increase the public's under-
standing of and reduce the risks associated with air
pollution, EPA has also developed a suite of tools
and Web sites that assist state, local, and tribal part-
ners and individuals.
The following examples demonstrate how EPA pro-
vides Internet users with the information they need
to determine outdoor activity levels (e.g., air action
days), reduce children's exposure to diesel exhaust,
or decide which motor vehicle to purchase, based
on various environmental attributes.
EPA also has established a very different type of
E-Government tool—a market-based mechanism
known as "emissions trading"—to more quickly and
efficiently reduce certain air emissions.
AIRNow
epa.gov/airnow
For millions of Americans with respiratory and
other health-related problems, knowing the air
quality on any given day is essential to planning
their daily activities. In the past, most individuals
did not have ready access to air quality information
and might have experienced breathing difficulties
on days when air quality was significantly impaired.
EPA now works with state and local governments to
monitor daily concentrations of major pollutants at
more than a thousand locations across the country.
The results are calculated and reported in the Air
Quality Index (AQI), a uniform index that lets you
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Global Climate
What is EPA's Air Quality Index?
EPA created the Air Quality Index (AQI) to advise
the public when air pollution has reached an
unhealthy level, allowing people to decide what
personal action to take (e.g., limit outdoor activ-
ities or refuel vehicles after dusk). During the
summer months, meteorologists in nearly 300
U.S. cities use the AQI to provide daily ozone
forecasts as part of their local weather broad-
casts. As of October 2003, the AQI was expand-
ed to include year-round daily forecasts for par-
ticle pollution in more than 100 cities.
Air Quality Index
Levels of Health Concern
Numerical
Value
Unhealthy for
Sensitive Groups
Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution
poses little or no risk
Air quality is acceptable; however, for some
pollutants there may be a moderate health concern
for a very small number of people who are unusually
sensitive to air pollution
Members of sensitive groups may experience health
effects The general public is not likely to be affected
Very Unhealthy
Everyone may begin to experience health effects;
members of sensitive groups may experience more
serious health effects.
Health alert everyone may experience more serious
heath effects.
Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire
population is more likely to be affected.
know how clean the air is and how it might affect
your health.
EPA developed the AIRNow Web site, which houses
the AQI, so the public could access daily air quality
forecasts and make informed decisions about under-
taking outdoor activities. To provide access to nation-
al air quality information in a user-friendly format, the
site relies on visual charts and maps, which convey
air quality status. To make the AQI as easy to under-
stand as possible, EPA divided the AQI scale into six
categories and assigned each a corresponding color:
good (green), moderate (yellow), unhealthy for sensi-
tive groups (orange), unhealthy (red), very unhealthy
(purple), and hazardous (maroon). These categories
are often reported in the newspaper or referenced on
the radio or television. The colors can help the public
quickly determine whether air pollutants are reaching
unhealthy levels in their area. When the AQI is "mod-
erate," for example, the local air quality is acceptable;
however, for some pollutants (e.g., ozone) there
might be a moderate health concern for people who
are unusually sensitive, and they might experience
respiratory symptoms when working or exercising
outdoors.
The AIRNow Web site is a compilation of air quality
information from a multitude of sources, including
stationary and mobile air monitoring stations across
the country. The Web site allows users to view com-
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prehensive, daily air quality maps and forecasts pro-
vide real-time air quality data for nearly 300 cities
across the United States and visibility images via
Web cams. The Web site also contains links to more
detailed state and local air quality Web sites and pro-
vides recommendations on what you can do to
change your household, transportation, and con-
sumer habits to help reduce air pollution and
improve air quality where you live, work, or play. The
AIRNow Web site represents a joint partnership
between EPA and state and local air quality agencies.
S" Clean School Bus USA
=£ epa.gov/cleanschoolbus
Watching a child at play reinforces everyone's com-
mitment to protect our nation's most precious
resource—children. Unfortunately, because they are
active outdoors and their lungs are still developing,
children are at greater risk of suffering from health
effects associated with poor air quality than most
adults. EPA has developed Web sites to help educate
parents and consumers about ways to reduce air pol-
lution exposure to their families, thereby helping to
protect their health.
Children are more likely than adults to be exposed to
exhaust from diesel school buses—a major source of
air pollution. More than 24 million children ride
school buses daily, and they spend an average of 90
minutes each weekday in a bus. The goals of EPA's
Clean School Bus USA initiative are to reduce the
amount of air pollution created by diesel school
buses and reduce children's exposure to harmful
diesel exhaust. While buses are the safest way for
children to travel to and from school, exhaust from
diesel vehicles has health implications for everyone.
By working with business, education, transportation,
and public health organization partners, Clean
School Bus USA hopes to reduce pollution from
public school buses by:
• Discouraging unnecessary school bus idling.
• Retrofitting school buses with better emission
control technologies and/or fueling them with
cleaner fuels.
• Replacing older school buses with new, less
polluting buses.
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Green Vehicle Guide
epa.gov/greenvehicles
Under a similar effort to reduce air pollution, EPA's
Green Vehicle Guide provides consumers with a
simple, online tool to help them make the link
between vehicles and their impact on the environ-
ment (e.g., emissions and fuel economy) and influ-
ence vehicle purchasing decisions. The guide pro-
vides valuable information for consumers searching
for the least polluting, most efficient vehicle that
meets their needs. The online tool allows users to
look up specific vehicles by year, make, and model
or retrieve results based on type of vehicle (e.g.,
small cars, pickups, sport utility vehicles).
5gg Emissions Trading
^£ epa.gov/airmarkets
To reduce the emissions that cause acid rain and
ozone, EPA has implemented "cap and trade"
or "allowance trading" programs, which have proven
to be effective, low cost, and efficient. These success-
ful programs rely heavily on electronic information
technology; in fact, these programs could not oper-
ate without the speed and transparency provided
by data systems.
A cap and trade program is a fundamentally differ-
ent approach to reducing pollution than traditional
command and control programs. Instead of requir-
ing companies to uniformly apply a certain technol-
ogy at a certain time, regardless of circumstances,
this mechanism sets a limit on aggregate emissions
and allows companies to determine the best way to
make the reductions and meet the deadline. This
market-based approach provides more certainty,
encourages innovation, and significantly reduces
costs, while allowing facilities to make additional
reductions.
Allowance trading enables regulated sources, such as
power plants, to buy and sell "allowances." Each
allowance is an authorization to emit a ton of emis-
sions. The number of allowances available is capped
at a level that will result in significant emissions
reductions to ensure environmental benefits are
achieved and maintained. Sources can choose to
reduce emissions beyond what they would otherwise
be required to do and then sell excess allowances
that are not needed for compliance. Alternatively,
they can buy another source's surplus allowances if
their emissions exceed the number of allowances
they were allocated. Overall, emissions go down.
Regulated sources are required to track emissions,
using continuous emissions monitors, and submit
quarterly reports of their hourly emissions to EPA. To
assist with emissions tracking and reporting, EPA
developed standard reporting procedures and soft-
ware for participants in emissions trading programs.
Emissions data are submitted to EPA's Emissions
Tracking System (ETS) via File Transfer Protocol (FTP),
using quarterly report submission software. This soft-
ware submits the quarterly reports to EPA's main-
frame computer and then retrieves the resulting feed-
back reports via the Internet. It is designed to take full
advantage of Internet technology—in conjunction
with SecuRemote security software—to seamlessly
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interface with existing security requirements for pri-
vate entities accessing EPA's computer resources.
EPA's Web site provides general software require-
ments and links for users to download the ETS-FTP
and SecuRemote software. It also provides related
documentation and guidance. The Agency accepts
e-mail submissions of quarterly reports from users
that are unable to successfully use the software due
to internal firewall restrictions.
Both regulated sources and others who participate in
the program, such as allowance brokers and traders,
have accounts established in the Allowance Tracking
System (ATS). ATS holds the official records, which
show the serial numbers of the allowances that are
held in each account. At the end of each year, a regu-
lated source must hold enough allowances to cover
its emissions that year.
Allowance market participants can submit allowance
transfers, compliance forms, and updated account infor-
mation online using an Internet-based program that
replaces many paper forms and uses a central database
that is shared by several of EPA's data systems. Access
to the program is limited to registered EPA, state, and
industry users, who undergo employment verification
before user IDs and passwords are issued. After a user
logs in, a Secure Socket Layer connection is established
and all communications are encrypted. Approximately
80 percent of all allowance transfers are now completed
online using this Internet-based program, improving
EPA's ability to do our job while saving industry partici-
pants time and money.
To meet 2003-2008 Strategic Plan goals, EPA is using
E-Government practices to help reduce transaction
costs and further increase efficiencies for market-
based emissions trading programs. By 2007, EPA
plans to reduce annual emissions and monitoring cer-
tification data reporting costs by 50 percent per unit
(from a 2000 baseline year) by shifting much of the
emissions data checking burden from the mainframe
to the submitter's personal computer.
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Water is essential to all forms of life. Maintaining clean surface
waters and safe drinking water helps ensure the health and well-
being of the American public and our environment. Clean and
safe waters are also critical to our nation's economy and support
a thriving recreational industry. EPA's Office of Water and its
stakeholders used the principles of E-Government to
develop new, innovative ways of meeting the Agency's clean
and safe water goals.
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Prior to passage of the Clean Water and
Safe Drinking Water acts 30 years ago,
drinking-water safety was not closely moni-
tored and lakes, rivers, and coastal waters
were often polluted. While potentially
threatening to us all, infants, children, per-
sons with weakened immune systems, and
populations that rely on subsistence fishing
were particularly at risk. But waterborne
health threats have been and continue to
be substantially reduced, and we have a
better understanding of the relationship
between contaminated source water and
potential health effects. As a result, our
nation's waters are cleaner and the
American public enjoys safer drinking water.
To keep members of the public apprised of
water issues that might affect their activities,
EPA developed several useful online
resources to inform the public about the
safety of their drinking-water supplies and
the cleanliness of nearby beaches, lakes,
and rivers. Armed with this type of informa-
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tion, residents can influence local efforts to bring
about change when local waters are impaired.
Safe Drinking Water Information
System (SDWIS)
epa.gov/enviro/htm/sdwis/
sdwis_query.html
Public drinking-water systems provide drinking
water to 90 percent of Americans. To ensure water
provided to customers is safe for human consump-
tion, EPA tracks system compliance with federal
drinking-water regulations (e.g., maximum contami-
nant levels, treatment techniques, and monitoring
and reporting requirements).
EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System
(SDWIS) contains compliance data submitted by the
drinking-water systems to states and EPA regions in
accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act require-
ments. To provide public accountability for drinking-
water systems, EPA developed a portal on the
Envirofacts Web site that provides public access to
the SDWIS data. Users can locate their drinking-
water supplier either by geographic area (e.g., state
and county) or the water system's identification
number (commonly found on a water or sewer bill).
If a public drinking-water system has reported to
the state AND if the state has submitted a summary
of that reported data to EPA, then a user can view
its violations and enforcement history for the last
decade. This information is particularly important for
people with compromised immune systems, preg-
nant women, or others more susceptible to low lev-
els of drinking-water contaminants than the general
population.
Beaches Environmental Assessment
and Coastal Health Program
epa.gov/waterscience/beaches
Each year, millions of Americans visit the beach.
When beach water becomes contaminated, swim-
mers can contract gastrointestinal and other illnesses.
In 2000, Congress passed the BEACH (Beaches
Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health) Act.
The Act requires EPA to maintain a national coastal
recreation water pollution occurrence database and
display the information to the public. The goal of
EPA's BEACH Program is to reduce health risks by
minimizing exposure to disease causing microorgan-
isms in beach water and ensuring public access to
information about the quality of beach water.
To reduce the public's risk of getting sick when
swimming, EPA displays beach water quality data on
the Beach Watch Web site. Since 1998, the Web site
has posted beach data that was voluntarily submit-
ted by state, territorial, and local environmental
and public health agencies via the annual National
Beach Health Survey. To meet new data collection
goals set by Congress, EPA changed the voluntary
survey into a requirement through BEACH Act grants.
States must submit their beach monitoring and
notification data to EPA as a condition of the grant.
To meet the BEACH Act requirements, EPA con-
structed new databases, creating a national beach
water quality repository. EPA also developed a
faster and easier method for states to submit data
via our new Exchange Network. Beginning Summer
2004, a new Internet application called BEACON
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(Beach Advisory Online Notification system) will
display location, monitoring, and notification data
in one place. This new electronic data reporting
system will make state data reporting faster and
easier, help the public make informed decisions
before going to the beach, and ultimately improve
beach water quality.
National Listing of Fish and Wildlife
Advisories
epa.gov/waterscience/fish
The National Listing of Fish and Wildlife Advisories
(NLFWA) online database includes all available
information on state, tribal, and federally-issued
fish consumption advisories in the United States,
including the District of Columbia and four U.S. ter-
ritories. It also includes information on Canada's 12
provinces and territories.
Now citizens concerned about the potential health
effects of eating contaminated fish can get the
information they are looking for online. EPA plans
to transition to more real-time reporting of these
advisories in the near future. Additional information
on fish consumption advisories is available via the
NLFWA Web site.
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NPDES Stormwater Notice of Intent
Online Application (eNOI)
EPA has developed the first fully electronic, entirely
paperless permit application for the National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
Stormwater program. The Clean Water Act requires
"point sources" of pollution (such as a factory) to
obtain NPDES permits that limit the discharge of pol-
lutants into the nation's waterways. The new elec-
tronic application is designed for use by construction
site operators seeking a Stormwater Construction
General Permit.
Taking advantage of EPA's new Exchange Network,
the new system guides construction site operators
through the application process, utilizes "smart
forms" to minimize or eliminate common mistakes,
and allows for a completely paperless process. It
even allows applicants to use an electronic signa-
ture.
This new electronic Stormwater applica-
tion, also known as the Stormwater
Notice of Intent or eNOI, was developed
by EPA to meet the objectives of the President's
E-Government Initiative. The new eNOI system will
save construction companies time and money.
Filing a form will be:
• Easier—eNOI's online forms contain detailed
instructions, help menus, and links that explain
each step in the process.
• Faster—Using the eNOI system will eliminate
two or more weeks of processing time.
• More Accurate—eNOI's smart forms contain
automatic checks to help users avoid common
mistakes that could cause delays.
The new eNOI system is free and available to the
construction industry anywhere EPA directly issues
the permit, including: Massachusetts; New
Hampshire; New Mexico; Idaho; Alaska; Washington,
D.C.; many of the U.S. territories (e.g., Puerto Rico);
and Indian Country.
Construction companies of all sizes will benefit from
using the new eNOI system. During the coming
months, EPA plans to add additional features to the
eNOI system and make it available to states that
operate the NPDES Stormwater permitting program
under delegated authority.
EPA also provides grants to states, enabling them
to implement nonpoint source pollution reduction
programs. States electronically report information
on grant implementation via the Grants Reporting
and Tracking System, which was converted to a
Web-based system two years ago. The information
includes financial data as well as progress and
results achieved by the projects (e.g., pollutant load
reductions achieved by each project).
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Unregulated Contaminant
E-Monitoring
epa.gov/safewater/ucmr.html
EPA uses data now reported electronically by labora-
tories under the Unregulated Contaminant Moni-
toring Rule (UCMR) to evaluate and prioritize con-
taminants on the Drinking Water Contaminant
Candidate List. This list is used by EPA in determin-
ing whether to establish new drinking-water stan-
dards. The E-Monitoring system offers several
advantages over paper-based reports. It is faster,
easier, more flexible, and secure. The result is
improved data quality and cost savings. EPA uses
this high quality scientific data to make decisions
about future drinking-water standards.
Watershed Assessment, Tracking &
Environmental Results (WATERS)
epa.gov/waters
Several programs within the Office of Water collect
and maintain surface water quality information in
numerous associated databases. To help these
programs share information, EPA created the
Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental
Results (WATERS) system. It is an integrated infor-
mation resource for the nation's surface waters and
is built upon EPA's enterprise architecture.
Through WATERS, water quality databases are con-
nected to a digital network of surface water infor-
mation called the National Hydrography Dataset.
The dataset was produced through a partnership
between EPA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and
states. By linking to the dataset, one program's
database can interact with another program's data-
base, allowing information to be shared across
both programs.
Several EPA programs work together toward
achieving cleaner and safer water. WATERS helps
the managers of these programs communicate,
examine relationships between programs, perform
nationwide analysis, and investigate interstate
water quality issues. By helping improve the effi-
ciency of these programs, WATERS enables EPA to
better ensure that our nation's waters are fishable
and swimmable.
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As Americans, we possess a strong sense of pride and fondness for our
natural and built environments—vast national parks, cities with towering
skyscrapers, small town squares, and even our own homes and yards.
We must preserve, restore, and protect our lands for our families,
friends, and—most importantly—future generations.
Every year, EPA assesses, responds to, mitigates,
and cleans up thousands of releases—whether acci-
dental, intentional, or acts of nature. These inci-
dents range from small chemical spills at industrial
facilities to national disasters such as hurricanes,
the attacks on the World Trade Center and
Pentagon, and the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy.
Large or small, these incidents can significantly
affect the physical world around us. Left unchecked,
spills and releases of hazardous and nonhazardous
materials on land can migrate to air and water
resources, contaminate drinking-water supplies,
cause acute illness or chronic diseases, and threat-
en ecosystems. As part of an effort to protect and
restore our lands, EPA:
• Works with federal, state, local, and tribal govern-
ments and industry to identify cost-effective
waste management and cleanup methods for
contaminated properties.
• Encourages pollution prevention and recycling to
avoid future contamination.
• Utilizes a wide variety of high-tech and interactive
tools that provide access to local environmental
information—from individual snapshots of local,
state, or regional conditions.
I Offers a plethora of information on reclaiming
abandoned or contaminated properties through
new initiatives such as Brownfields.
Sophisticated
Instrumentation
I
Following the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in
February 2003, more than 90 federal, state, local,
and civilian agencies worked collaboratively to
recover and clean up potentially hazardous materi-
als and ensure public safety. Using sophisticated
instrumentation, EPA assisted the Federal
Emergency Management Agency and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration by conduct-
ing environmental monitoring and assisting in the
removal of hazardous materials from the space
shuttle debris.
The Agency used Environmental Photographic
Interpretation Center satellite imagery to map popu-
lations that might be at risk from shuttle debris. The
Agency also used Airborne Spectral-imagery of
Environmental Contaminants Technology
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(ASPECT)—mounted in an airplane that flew over
the debris field—to detect chemical presence and
identify the location of shuttle materials. The
ASPECT system transmitted aerial photographs
and Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping
information to emergency response crews using
hand-held GPS units on the ground. EPA's Trace
Atmospheric Gas Analyzer (TAGA) bus, a self-con-
tained mobile laboratory, collected outdoor air
quality samples while moving through the impact-
ed area. EPA typically uses TAGA to collect outdoor
air and measure the concentration of
hazardous chemicals (in real-time) during
emergencies or hazardous situations.
TRI Explorer
epa.gov/triexplorer
Do you live down the street from a facility that uses
or emits harmful chemicals? If you answered
"I don't know," how do you find out? EPA maintains
an extensive Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data-
base that contains information reported annually by
certain industrial and federal facilities on toxic
chemical releases and other waste management
activities. To provide public access to this informa-
tion, EPA developed TRI Explorer, a Web-based ana-
lytical tool that allows users to generate TRI reports
specific to their communities. TRI Explorer enables
the public to:
• Access historical or recent TRI data.
• Sort TRI by chemical.
• Identify trends in chemical releases and waste
management activities.
• Examine data for the United States as a whole
or by state, county, and ZIP Code.
• View a single facility or aggregate data to include
all facilities.
Through customized reports, TRI Explorer identifies
toxic chemicals present in a community, compares
the community's releases with those of other com-
munities, and enables the public to determine where
pollution prevention efforts should be targeted. As
these data are measured and made publicly avail-
able, they spur companies to focus on their chemical
management practices. In addition, the data serve as
an indicator of changes in environmental and human
health conditions overtime.
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Toxic Releases Continue to Decline
In June 2003, EPA released the latest TRI data for
calendar year 2001. The results show that releas-
es of toxic chemicals continue to decline, down
by more than 15 percent from the previous
reporting year. The metal mining, electric utilities,
and chemical manufacturing industry sectors
reported the following reductions in toxic chemi-
cal releases from 2000 to 2001.
Industry
Sector
Metal Mining
Electric Utilities
Pounds Percent
Reduced Reduced
603 million 19.8
98 million 8.5
Chemical Manufacturing 96 million 14.5
25?
Brownfields Program
epa.gov/brownfields
Almost every American city and rural community
has one or more abandoned tracts of land that once
served as home to commercial or industrial facili-
ties. These barren parcels of land and vacant build-
ings can be redeveloped, adding to a community's
tax base and helping to reduce urban blight. New
development on these "brownfields" sites, howev-
er, can be difficult given real or perceived environ-
mental contamination. EPA's Brownfields Program
seeks to empower states, communities, and other
economic development stakeholders to work collab-
oratively—and in a timely manner—to:
• Assess the environmental condition of existing
brownfields properties.
• Prevent further contamination via limited access
or stabilization.
• Clean up polluted properties and safely remediate
contaminants.
• Sustainably reuse these properties.
As more brownfields are cleaned up and redevel-
oped, the surrounding communities benefit from
improved economic conditions, more functional
space, and reduced health and environmental risks.
The Brownfields Web site contains a wealth of
resources regarding these sites, including grant
information, pilot project descriptions, and success
stories that help communities and developers
understand what might be involved in brownfields
redevelopment.
In the future, additional E-Government benefits will
be derived from making the brownfields community
grant and property-specific information within the
Brownfields Management System publicly available
through EPA's Envirofacts data warehouse and the
EnviroMapper CIS interface, in an interactive "in
my community" format. Brownfields grants will
also be integrated with the federal E-Grant Initiative
to aid grant applicants. An extended community-
based reporting tool, the Brownfields
Redevelopment Information Management Systems
(BRIMS), is being developed to allow grantees to
electronically report information. BRIMS also has a
Web-based component that allows the grantees to
involve their communities in important brownfields
decisions.
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Communities
and Ecosystems
Building people's ability to make informed decisions about the world
around them is at the heart of EPA's goals. Preparing and protecting a
community in the 21st century requires coordination and a catalyst to
make things happen across public and private sectors. That's where
E-Government comes in. EPA is working with other government agencies
to build the infrastructure necessary for sharing environmental and health
information and providing tools for making sound decisions.
This collaboration also makes it easier for the pub-
lic to interact with the Agency and improves access
to quality information resources. The following
examples highlight some of the high-tech research
and interactive Web sites that help improve the
quality of life in our communities.
Window to My Environment
epa.gov/enviro/wme
Window to My Environment (WME) combines state-
of-the-art interactive maps with links to federal,
state, and local data to give the public access to a
wide spectrum of environmental information about
any location—from air quality and watershed data
to the status of Superfund sites and cleanups.
WME has three major components:
• "Your Map" allows users to select a geographic
area and maps the location of regulated facilities,
monitoring sites, and water bodies and water-
sheds. Your Map also displays demographics with
traditional geographic designations, such as
counties, streets, and schools. The interactive
maps include zoom, pan, and three-dimensional
functions.
• "Your Window" provides facts about users'
selected communities, including the population
and local watershed boundaries, and links directly
to regulated facility profiles and information con-
cerning specific watersheds.
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I "Your Environment" answers important questions
about the local environment by linking users to
data from dozens of government and nongovern-
mental organizations and contacts. It provides
daily UV Index readings, advice on health effects
of exposure to sunlight, reports from local air and
water quality monitoring sites, land cover charac-
teristics, and more.
"Window to My Environment
is a one-stop shop
of environmental information
for the public."
— Kim Nelson
EPA's Chief Information Officer
Environmental data are most meaningful when
examined from a holistic perspective—when users
are able to examine all of the data about a particu-
lar situation, location, or source at the same time.
WME's one-stop service is a prime example of the
power of information technology, harnessed to
meet individuals' needs. Previously, the public
could only obtain a comprehensive collection of
environmental information by searching individual
Web sites. By giving the public consolidated envi-
ronmental information from a single application,
WME ensures that all Americans will have the data
they need to make informed decisions about their
families' and communities' environmental health.
Children's Health and the
Environmental Kids Club
epa.gov/kids
EPA has dedicated a section of its Web site to help-
ing kids understand the environment around them
and learn how to protect it. The Environmental Kids
Club includes activity books, games, puzzles, sto-
ries, and other fun things to engage elementary
school children and covers a range of topics that
interest kids—air, water, plants, and animals, as
well as garbage and recycling. The Web site pro-
vides a link to the EPA Student Center, which con-
tains environmental information directed toward
older students (i.e., middle and high school stu-
dents). The "Teachers" page provides educators
with useful information (e.g., curriculum resources,
community service projects, grant opportunities).
v®
E-Rulemaking Initiative
www.regulations.gov
"Government of the people, by the people, and for
the people" means more than voting for elected
officials or referendums—most Americans do not
realize that they can also play a role in the regula-
tory process.
Federal regulations, or rules, establish the obliga-
tion of the public and government to meet certain
specified requirements. For example, EPA uses reg-
ulations to set enforceable and environmental stan-
dards. During the development of a new regulation
or the revision of an existing one, the public has
the opportunity to express its views on the
Agency's proposed action. The ability to comment
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on proposed rules is important because regulations
affect virtually all aspects of our lives.
As with many of the other E-Government innova-
tions being undertaken as part of the President's
Management Agenda, E-Rulemaking will expand
electronic government services to individuals and
businesses. EPA is leading an inter-agency team that
is developing a federal governmentwide system to
provide "one-stop" access to the federal regulatory
process through a single, Internet-based system.
Regulations.gov, the first milestone of the E-Rule-
making Initiative, was launched in January 2003. It
enables the public to search, view, and comment on
hundreds of proposed federal regulations from
approximately 160 federal agencies through a single
Web site. This award-winning Web site is the result
of a collaborative effort by six federal agencies and
contracting companies. Regulations.gov received the
Robert J. Colborn, Jr. Innovation Award from the
National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS)
for creativity and innovation in providing public
access to the rulemaking process. Regulations.gov
also received the E-Gov 2003 Pioneer Award.
The E-Rulemaking team is currently working to
enhance Regulations.govand create a federal gov-
ernmentwide system that will contain all publicly
available regulatory documents.1 EPA's electronic
' Documents include all information considered by federal agen-
cies in drafting a proposed or final rule, including data, analyses,
reports, and minutes; summaries and transcripts of public meet-
ings and hearings; records of ex parts communications, including
telephone calls, memoranda, and letters; and public statements
made by agency employees in their official capacities.
Documents also include comments (e.g., written opinions, data,
and other information) submitted to an agency that agree, dis-
agree, and/or suggest alternatives to the proposed action.
docket (EDOCKET, www.epa.gov/edocket) is an
example of such a system. The EDOCKET Web site
features a variety of search capabilities that allow
the public to easily find materials such as Federal
Register notices, support documents, and public
comments for regulations the Agency publishes as
well as various nonregulatory activities. Through
EDOCKET, users can search, download, and print
E-Rulemaking and E-Democracy
As a cornerstone of democracy, the voice of the
people is as important as it is powerful. With the
emergence of the Internet, individuals are going
online to reach their representatives and more
fully participate in the American democratic
process. Now, through Regulations.gov, the pub-
lic can also have a larger hand in the regulatory
process. From this federal regulatory clearing-
house, the public can view a description of every
proposed rule currently open for comment, read
full texts of these documents, and electronically
submit comments to the federal agencies that
have created them.
To implement laws passed by Congress, more
than 4,000 new rules are created each year by
federal agencies. Before a federal agency may
adopt new regulations, it is required to notify
the public about its intentions and solicit com-
ments on proposed rules. According to the
Office of Management and Budget, as many as
500 rules can be open for comment at any given
time. In 2001, more than 23 million people sub-
mitted comments on rules.
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the documents related to a particular Agency rule-
making or action and submit comments online.
Another objective of the E-Rulemaking initiative is to
develop a host of electronic tools to assist regulation
writers in all phases of the rulemaking process and
allow regulators to arrive at better decisions faster.
Electronic Grants (E-Grants)
Initiative
www. grants.gov
As part of the President's Management Agenda to
reduce the expense and difficulty of doing business
with the government, EPA is participating in a
GeoSpatial Data One-Stop Shopping
www.geodata.gov
The Geospatial One-Stop Initiative is another project being undertaken as part of the President's
Management Agenda. It helps to improve the public's and the government's ability to access and use
geospatial information to support and facilitate decisionmaking. Geospatial information includes geo-
graphical or spatial data that references a specific location, such as a county, street, or ZIP code.
Geospatial One-Stop also serves as an Internet-based organizational umbrella for federal, state, local, and
tribal geospatial activities. Benefits of the initiative include:
One-Stop Web access to geospatial information, maps, and other geospatial data increases analytical and
decisionmaking capabilities.
Intergovernmental and interagency data and application partnerships help leverage investments, reduce
costs, and prevent duplication of efforts.
Consensus standards that ensure consistency among data sets allow governments to share data and inte-
grate multiple sources of information for improved decisions.
All levels of government—local, state, and federal—and their stakeholders/clients will benefit from this
effort as most organizational missions have a geographic component. At EPA, for example:
Most public health and environmental protection programs (e.g., permitting, source management,
cleanups, compliance assurance, emergency response) are tied to specific locations (i.e., facility, water
intake, waste site).
Factors such as geospatial characteristics (e.g., demography, topography, hydrography, geology, ecology)
are routinely factored into program decisions affecting a location.
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multi-agency effort to make applying for and
obtaining federal grants easier. The federal govern-
ment awards more than $350 billion in grants
annually through more than 600 programs within
26 agencies. The E-Grants Initiative seeks to pro-
vide a simple, unified electronic storefront for the
public's use.
grantees and simplify the review process for feder-
al agencies. E-Grants will make obtaining financial
assistance from the government easier, cheaper,
and quicker. E-Grants also will leverage the techno-
logical capabilities commonly available today (e.g.,
online submittal, electronic payment) to transform
the federal grants process.
Data standardization is also part of the project. It
will help reduce the administrative burden on
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'Environmental stewardship"—self-motivated action that
seeks to protect human health and the environment—
has a long history in our nation. Good environmental
stewards meet—and often exceed—compliance require-
ments by reducing or eliminating waste, maximizing
recycling, and using energy and natural resources
efficiently to reduce adverse environmental impacts.
Together, with a strong enforcement program, EPA
strives to protect human health and the environment
by encouraging better environmental behavior and stew-
ardship through regulatory and nonregulatory means.
These efforts satisfy both EPA objectives and the
President's Management Agenda, reducing the expense
and difficulty of doing business with the government.
To help ensure compliance with envi-
ronmental regulations, EPA has devel-
oped a mix of tools and strategies that
provide communities, regulated enti-
ties, and investors with important
enforcement and compliance informa-
tion. EPA also provides a suite of
incentives to encourage government,
industry, and other facilities to evalu-
ate their overall environmental com-
pliance and voluntarily correct and
report any problems.
Compliance Assistance
Centers
http://cfpub.epa.gov/
clearinghouse
To assist facilities with environmental
regulation compliance, EPA created a
National Compliance Assistance
Clearinghouse—an innovative tool
that provides quick and easy access to
environmental requirements and com-
pliance assistance. Assistance might
be statute-specific (e.g., air, solid and
hazardous waste, water) or sector-ori-
ented (e.g., dry cleaning, metal finish-
ing, furniture manufacturing). In part-
nership with industry, academic institu-
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tions, environmental groups, and other agencies, EPA
also launched sector-specific Compliance Assistance
Centers. Through Web sites, telephone assistance
lines, fax-back systems, and e-mail discussion
groups, these centers help regulated facilities under-
stand federal environmental requirements and save
money through pollution prevention techniques.
EPA's 13 virtual centers also provide direct assistance
to the regulated community through training, onsite
visits, and workshops.
Growing Compliance Assistance
epa.gov/agriculture
The National Agriculture Compliance Assistance
Center (Ag Center) is the first stop for informa-
tion about environmental requirements that
affect the agricultural community. The Ag
Center was created by EPA with the support of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Ag Center offers comprehensive, easy-to-
understand information about compliance—
common-sense, flexible approaches that are
both environmentally protective and agricul-
turally sound. The Ag Center also provides infor-
mation on reducing pollution and making good
use of the latest pollution prevention technolo-
gies. The Ag Center Web site is a gateway to a
large library of compliance information, as well
as up-to-date news about agriculture-related
EPA programs and proposals.
Enforcement and Compliance History
Online
epa.gov/echo.html
In the past, the public—including families, teachers,
interested citizen groups, and many government
officials—had a hard time finding out whether a
regulated facility located in their community was in
compliance with environmental regulations. Now,
with EPA's new Enforcement and Compliance
History Online (ECHO), a Web-based tool that pro-
vides public access to compliance and enforcement
information for nearly 1 million EPA-regulated facili-
ties, the public can find and retrieve compliance
information quickly and easily.
ECHO allows users to locate facility information
including permits, inspections, violations, enforce-
ment actions, and penalties during the past two
years. Previously, much of these data were not
accessible or organized in an easily understandable
and searchable format. ECHO integrates informa-
tion about facilities from separate media-specific
data systems, and users can now view these data in
a comprehensive and organized manner. ECHO also
allows users to sort and analyze data according to
their needs.
With ECHO, the public can monitor environmental
compliance within their communities, corporations
can monitor compliance across their facilities, and
investors can more easily factor environmental per-
formance into their decisionmaking.
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Sector Facility Indexing Project
epa.gov/sifpmtn1/
The Sector Facility Indexing Project (SFIP) Web site
brings together environmental and other informa-
tion from various data systems to produce facility-
level profiles for five industry sectors (petroleum
refining, iron and steel production, primary nonfer-
rous metal refining and smelting, pulp manufactur-
ing, and automobile assembly) as well as a subset
of major federal facilities.
SFIP relates each facility's compliance and inspec-
tion history, chemical releases and pollutant spills,
and production and production capacity data to
demographics of the surrounding population. The
data can be accessed by facility or sector, and users
can obtain standardized reports, construct custom
queries, or download data for future use. Users also
can review "Status and History" documents related
to recent activities and SFIP development, including
facility data updates, a project fact sheet, frequently
asked questions, the SFIP Evaluation Report, and a
historical archive of project development materials.
EPA is exploring ways to incorporate SFIP into the
ECHO site.
TRI-Made Easy (TRI-ME)
$O& Software
epa.gov/tri/report/trime/index.htm
EPA is making it easier for the regulated community
to fulfill their reporting requirements under the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know
Debugging E-Commerce
epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/ppdc/2002
/pestsales.htm
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) regulates pesticides,
including germ-killing substances (antimicro-
bials). In recent years, EPA and state pesticide
regulatory agencies have received an increasing
number of tips, complaints, and questions
about pesticide sales and pesticidal services via
the Internet. The expansion of E-Commerce cre-
ates numerous opportunities for unknowing or
unscrupulous vendors to sell consumers unreg-
istered and restricted-use pesticides. Such sales
could pose significant risks to human health
and the environment.
In response to environmental, consumer protec-
tion, and compliance concerns, EPA issued the
"Integrated Compliance and Enforcement
Strategy for Pesticide E-Commerce" in 2002.
Act. This information is used by EPA to create the
Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). EPA's "TRI-Made
Easy" software, orTRI-ME, is interactive, user-friend-
ly software that guides facility managers and their
data reporters through the TRI reporting process. It
asks a series of questions that help determine if a
facility needs to comply with the TRI reporting
requirements. For facilities that determine they are
required to report, the software provides guidance
for each data element on the reporting forms. For
reporting year 2002, more than 92 percent of the
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Reducing Information Reporting Burdens
The Business Gateway/E-Forms Project is another federal governmentwide effort under the President's
Management Agenda. It is intended to reduce the burdens associated with finding and submitting
forms. The initiative's short-term goal is to enhance the ability of the nation's 22.4 million small busi-
nesses—the initiative's priority target customer segment—to access, complete, and submit the more
than 4,500 forms they are required to file. The project's long-term goal is to provide the same benefit to
all businesses, individual, and government organizations. These goals will be achieved by combining
technical standardization and harmonization with electronic compliance and Web-based tools.
facilities that reported used TRI-ME to complete their
submissions. Facilities also took advantage of the
new electronic signature feature of TRI-ME that
allows them to submit forms and certification state-
ments via the Internet. Electronic submittal of TRI
chemical reports via EPA's new CDX rose from 7,846
in reporting year 2001 to 22,666 in reporting year
2002—an increase of 288 percent.
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Technology has made our world a better place and will continue to play
a major role in defining our future. All across America, we see local,
state, and federal agencies using sophisticated information technology—
or E-Government—to enhance their operations, provide better services,
and help all Americans lead safer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. We
see an increasing number of online services—beyond access to electron-
ic information—helping the public actually get things done via the
Internet. We also see government agencies and their partners sharing
data and using new electronic tools to make better decisions faster.
Peering over the horizon reveals many innovations that have the poten-
tial to improve the quality of our nation's environment and help ensure a
brighter, healthier future. The following are just a few examples.
As we move forward, EPA and its partners will con-
tinuously challenge and question how we conduct
our business. Is this form or process necessary? Can
we streamline it? Can we automate it? Can we use IT
to transform it? Is there a better way? We will also
continue to learn from the efforts of others and build
upon their successes.
For many E-Government initiatives currently under-
way, we sought advice and guidance from states,
tribes, local governments, regulated businesses, envi-
ronmental groups, and the general public. Beginning
in 1999, EPA realigned our IT organizational and man-
agerial structure by creating a new Office of
Environmental Information so that EPA could become
a leader in adapting and applying IT and integrated
systems to meet rapidly changing needs.
By using integrated, results-oriented, and accessi-
ble information about environmental and public
health conditions, trends, and potential threats,
EPA, our partners, and the public will be able to
make further great strides in how we, as a nation,
go about improving human health and the environ-
ment. We also will continue to offer the public the
information it needs to make informed environ-
mental and health protection decisions. The result
of these E-Government innovations will include
improved quality of life, better human health, and
a cleaner environment for everyone.
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Nanotechnology
http://es.epa.gov/ncer/
index.html
Nanotechnology is the science of studying particles
at the nanometer—one billionth of a meter—scale.
Using scanning, tunneling, and atomic force micro-
scopes, scientists are able to detect and manipulate
tiny particles at the molecular level to create struc-
tures with fundamentally new characteristics.
Useful applications of this science might yield revo-
lutionary advances in pollution prevention, waste
treatment, remediation, monitoring, and data
reporting—a high-tech environmental toolkit for the
21st century.
EPA's Science To Achieve Results (STAR) grant
program has provided nearly $6 million to 16 uni-
versities to study this emerging technology.
Researchers are currently experimenting with
"green" nanotechnology that could be used for
environmental cleanup. Collaborative EPA/academ-
ic projects include synthesizing nano-sized parti-
cles for groundwater cleanup, developing a nano-
based sensor for remote heavy metals detection,
and studying the capacity of nanoparticles to
replace expensive metals used to treat vehicular
exhaust gas. EPA's Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) program also is financing 11 proj-
ects, providing nearly $1 million for nanotechnolo-
gy research and development by small businesses.
These SBIR projects range from a nanocomposite-
based filter for arsenic removal in drinking water to
nanofibrous manganese dioxide for volatile organ-
ic compound emission control.
High Performance Computing and
Scientific Visualization
High performance computers, sophisticated com-
puter models, and the ability to visualize the results
are helping EPA and its partners make better deci-
sions for protecting human health and the environ-
ment. They will become even more important in the
future. Modeling air flow around buildings in dense
urban environments, for example, enables decision-
makers to determine the best locations for air quali-
ty monitoring equipment. Or, in the event of toxic
release from a facility, pre-calculated simulations of
air flow can allow first responders to determine the
best paths for evacuating people and responding to
the release.
These new tools will allow EPA to examine the
complex relationship of pollution sources such as
automobiles, factories, or catastrophic natural and
man-made events such as Mt. St. Helens or the
World Trade Center collapse; the movement of
gases and particles through the atmosphere and
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their chemical and physical interactions; how the
pollutants are subsequently deposited on the land
or water; and the effect of pollutants on people and
the surrounding ecosystems.
Sound decisionmaking is based on having the right
information. Air quality modeling on high perform-
ance computers and accompanying scientific visuali-
zation provide a means for seeing the invisible and
identifying the relationships between sources, trans-
port, deposition, and effects. Using visualization pro-
vides insights into the data that would likely other-
wise go unnoticed.
As high performance computers are able to process
information faster using larger memory capacities,
air quality models will become more and more
accurate and scientists will be able to turn around
simulation results on a near real-time basis.
Recognition of EPA's E-Government Efforts
EPA has been honored by federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations for promoting and advancing
E-Government information services, as follows:
EPA was awarded the SecurE-Gov Architecture Award and SecurE-Biz Leadership Award tor efforts in promoting
enterprise architecture.
EPA was honored with the Citizen Service Team SecurE-Biz Leadership Award tor E-Rulemaking efforts.
EPA won the E-Gov 2002 Explorer Award tor online dialogue on public involvement.
EPA ranked third, along with the State Department and the Department of Treasury, out of 1,265 organizations,
in a study conducted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University evaluating the variety and
quality of electronic services offered.
EPA's Regulations.gov, part of the E-Rulemaking Initiative, was selected as one of 10 finalists for the Federal
Executive Leadership Council Showcase In Excellence Awards.
EPA was the only federal agency to receive three E-Gov Awards: two Pioneer Awards—one for Regulations.gov
and one for TRI-ME—and a Trailblazer Award for EDOCKET.
The Regulations.gov Web site was also awarded the NASS Robert J. Colborn, Jr. Innovation Award.
EPA's "Window To My Environment" and TRI-ME software received the Agency's highest honor, gold medals for
outstanding achievement.
EPA was awarded the Excellence in Enterprise Architecture Award by the Federal Enterprise Architecture
Certification Institute.
Government Executive Magazine and the Council for Excellence in Government presented Regulations.gov with
a 2003 Grace Hopper Government Technology Leadership Award.
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Cleaner Air and Reduced Global
^fi Climate Change
During the next few years, EPA will continue to
develop new strategies, tools, and implementation
approaches to help the public understand and
reduce exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollu-
tion. EPA also will enhance or expand voluntary
partnerships to inform and educate the public and
promote positive action (e.g., purchasing low emis-
sion vehicles) to help mitigate global climate
change impacts.
Cleaner and Safer Water
By providing the public with the power to query
public drinking-water systems compliance, EPA cul-
tivated a partner in the fight to ensure drinking
water is safe. EPA will assist states and tribes in
improving information collection systems that mon-
itor, analyze, and publicize water quality to provide
Americans with safe recreational choices.
Preserved and Restored Land
Communities will leverage the TRI and brownfields
resources EPA provides to identify potential risks
and/or redevelopment opportunities in their neigh-
borhoods. This insight will yield greater corporate
responsibility and economic possibilities as con-
taminated or abandoned properties are cleaned up
and put into productive use.
Healthier Communities and
Ecosystems
In the coming years, EPA will provide new data on
potential chemical risks and develop initiatives and
activities aimed at high-risk facilities and/or geo-
graphic areas. EPA also will develop new geospatial
tools that foster holistic approaches to ecosystem
management. With greater access to environmental
information, Americans will be empowered to pro-
tect, sustain, and restore the health of communities
and ecosystems.
Compliance and Environmental
Stewardship
In its Strategic Plan, EPA has committed to
strengthening scientific evidence and research to
support environmental policies and decisions on
compliance, pollution prevention, and environmen-
tal stewardship. These efforts will reduce public
risks and help preserve our valuable resources.
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As EPA looks to the future, we will continue to build upon the
foundation we have established. Improving the way we acquire,
manage, analyze, and use information is especially critical because
the environmental challenges of the 21 st century cannot be solved by
EPA acting on its own. Protecting our nation's health and environment
requires cooperation among states, tribes, local governments, business-
es, communities, and individuals. Together—with the help of advanced
information technology and E-Government—we will find and use new,
innovative solutions to the challenges we face and ultimately help
achieve our shared responsibility to ensure future generations have a
safe, healthy environment in which to live and prosper.
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Printed on 100% recycled/recyclable paper with a minimum 50% post-consumer fiber using vegetable-based ink.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Environmental Information
EPA245-R-04-002
June 2004
www.epa.gov/oei
www.egov.gov
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