United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (2223A)
&EPA
EPA305-B-98-001
May 1998
PROVIDING
GREATER
ACCESSTO
ENVIRONMENTAL
DATA:
A Guide to the
Sector Facility
Indexing Project
-------
What is the Sector Facility Indexing
Project?
EPA's Sector Facility Indexing Project (SFIP) is
a^pilot program that provides consolidated
information about the environmental track
records of many industrial facilities. SFIP
integrates and consolidates environmental
information that can be used by the public, as
well as by government organizations and indus-
try, to evaluate and compare the compliance
records and chemical emissions of individual
facilities.
What information can I find
in SFIP?
SFIP provides citizens,
government agencies, and
i
industry with comprehensive'
iniformation about the
environmental track records of
approximately 650 facilities in
five different industries
("sectors"). On the SFIP
Internet site, you can look at
recent environmental data about each facility,
including information such as the number of
inspections the facility has received, its rec'ord of
compliance with federal regulations, its chemical
releases and spills, and other related data. SFIP
also includes background data on the location
and production capacity of each facility, as well
as information on the population of the
surrounding area.
SFIP allows you to review current information
about a facility or an indui/j-y, as well as data
over the past two years.
-------
Which industries does SFIP include?
SFIP includes information on facilities in five industrii
"sectors."'These are:
• , automobile assembly
• pulp manufacturing
• petroleum refining
• iron and steel production
• : primary smelting and refining of aluminum,
copper, lead, and zinc (nonferrous metals)
What makes SFIP different?
The Freedom of Information Act
allows you to obtain most
government documents. Although
you may know what information
you are looking for, knowing how
to ask for it can be frustrating and
time-consuming. Information may
be scattered among many different
federal, state, and local agencies.
SFIP consolidates a great deal of
information in one place and thus
helps you to use it more easily and
quickly. SFIP also allows you to sort and analyze data
in many ways, according to your needs.
How do I access SFIP?
SFIP is located on the Internet, at the following website
address:,
http://www.epa.gov/oeca/sfi
Access i$ free. All you need to use SFIP online is a
computer with Internet access and a browser. Printed
summary reports also are available if you do not have
Internet access (see the last panel of this brochure for
more information).
-------
Because SFIP data will be updated periodically,
you may wish to return to the website
occasionally to ensure that you have the latest
and most complete information.
Where do the SFIP data come
from?
EPA, state and local environmental agencies,
and the facilities themselves collect
environmental data and submit it to the EPA
national databases. These data address the major
environmental statutes, such as the Clean Air
Act, the:Clean Water Act, the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, and the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-
Know Act. Although most of the information in
SFIP was already in EPA's data systems, it was
scattered among many systems in a variety of
formats.;This made it virtually impossible for
the average citizen or small organization to look
at the data in a comprehensive and organized
way. SFIP consolidated all this information in
one location and formatted it so that you can
use it.
-------
Can I trust the information in SFIP?
Yes. EPA spent three years identifying the
facilities in SFIP, integrating the data, and
verifying the quality of the information. EPA
has taken extraordinary steps to be sure the data
are as accurate as possible. Every facility
received a copy of its records and was given the
chance to submit corrections. Every state also
received the information in order to review the
data. EPA and the states modified the data as
appropriate, based on these comments. EPA
will continue taking comments as this project
evolves.
How can I use SFIP?
You can use SFIP to find many different kinds
of information. For instance:
:• You can. look up a particular facility—
'. perhaps one located in or near your
community—and check on its
compliance/enforcement history (that is,
: how it has complied with environmental
laws).
• You can compare the performance of an
individual facility against that of other
similar facilities in the same sector.
• You can look up your state and find out
how all of the SFIP facilities in the state
have performed.
-------
What can I learn about the track
records of facilities?
With SFIP;, you pick the measures you want to
check andcompare. For example, you can compare
different facilities in the same industry to see which
ones reported spills or had the best compliance
histories, you can look at (1) total pounds of
chemical releases, (2) pounds of specific chemicals
released, (3) the number of enforcement actions
taken over the past two years, (4) the number of
time periods for which a facility has been in
compliance over the past two years, and many
other measures.
I'd liike to check out SFIP! How do I
begiin?
If you have access to a computer
and Internet browser, you can go
right to the; SFIP website. The
address ishttp://www.epa.gov/
oeca/sfl.
Remembettoread
the information
about the '
limitations of SFIP
before you begin
using the software.
If you do riot have
Internet access and want hard copy summary
reports of SFIP, or if you have further questions,
call the SFIP Hotline at 617-520-3015.
------- |