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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Open Government Plan 1.1
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Nothing in this plan shall be construed to supersede existing requirements for review and
clearance of pre-decisional information by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget,
relating to legislative, budgetary, administrative, and regulatory materials. Moreover, nothing in
this plan shall be construed to suggest that the presumption of openness precludes the
legitimate protection of information whose release would threaten national security, invade
personal privacy, breach confidentiality, or damage other genuinely compelling interests.
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Open Government Plan 1.1
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OneEPA
Community Engagement
"The success of our environmental efforts depends on earning and maintaining the trust of the
public we serve. The American people will not trust us to protect their health or their environment
if they do not trust us to be transparent and inclusive in our decision-making. To earn this trust,
we must conduct business with the public openly and fairly. ...In short, we will let more sunlight
into our Agency."
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, April 2009
A Message from the EPA Open Government Team
The Environmental Protection Agency is pleased to present the EPA Open Government Plan
1.1. With 40 years of experience in protecting the health of humans and the environment, EPA
is more committed than ever to expanding the conversation on environmentalism, engaging
communities, improving regulatory involvement, and continuing a "OneEPA" approach to
accomplishing our environmental protection mission. Our Open Government Plan provides the
details of these efforts and seeks continued engagement to evolve the EPA cultural legacy of
transparency, collaboration and participation. Our definition of success for the EPA Open
Government Plan is simple - we want to ensure that you are informed about information we
have on environmental protection as well as ensuring that your voice is heard as we move
forward in implementing our mission "to protect human health and to safeguard the natural
environment - air, water, and land-upon which life depends."
The very nature of this mission requires us to work effectively with our partners (state, local, and
tribal governments) and a diverse group of stakeholders including the public, interest groups,
industry, and Congress. EPA is unique - we simply cannot fully achieve our mission without the
participation of all of you - our partners and stakeholders.
Consequently, this plan represents a response to a synthesis of issues and advice the Agency
has heard from its stakeholders in the past and recently through our open government dialogue
(www.epa.qov/open).This plan reflects our OpenEPA vision - to continue improving the health of
humans and the environment though a significant broadening of dialogue with an ever-
expanding community. We intend to actively pursue this dialogue with you; embracing the
principle that it will lead to improvements in our nation's environmental decision-making through
enhanced transparency, participation, and collaboration.
We are particularly proud to present in our plan EPA's Community Engagement Flagship
Initiative. Although we introduce and continue numerous innovative actions in this plan to
promote transparency, participation and collaboration, our Community Engagement Flagship
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Initiative highlights activities that directly respond to our mission priorities and your comments.
This includes efforts such as:
• Expanding the Environmental Conversation with Communities: Urban Waters Information
Sharing, Simplifying Scientific Language, Improving Communication with Disadvantaged
and At-Risk Communities, Sponsoring a Faces of the Grassroots Video Contest
• Expanding Public Awareness and Involvement in the Development of Rules and
Regulations: Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Webinar Series, NPDES
pre-proposal involvement, Rulemaking Gateway
• Developing EPA Mobile Applications to Empower Citizen's Environmental Decisions: Human
Health Advisories Mobile Application, Easy-to-Find Consumer Product Information
Each project is focused on actively working with communities in a new way, with the goal of
sharing best practices and lessons learned for future efforts. The details of the Flagship Initiative
and our other innovations are more fully described in our plan.
We continue to welcome your thoughts on our Open Government Plan and projects at
www.epa.gov/open, on the EPA Greenversations Blog, or via email at opengov@epa.gov. We
want to specifically hear from you on how our plan can be improved, and on what data and
information you want to see from EPA. We also encourage you to think of innovative ways to
use the data we have provided in this document, on EPA.gov, and on Data.gov, and to provide
us feedback on these innovations.
The EPA Open Government Team, represented by offices listed below, thanks everyone who
participated in the effort to produce the EPA Open Government Plan 1.1, and we look forward to
providing quarterly updates on our progress in implementing your ideas. EPA will also review
our Open Government Plan every 180 days to assess our progress. Monitor our progress at
www.epa.gov/open.
Open Government Executive: Linda Travers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator I
Office of Air and Radiation
Office of Policy, Economics,
and Innovation
(Office of the Administrator)
Office of Environmental
Information
Office of Public Affairs
(Office of the Administrator)
Office of the Chief
Financial Officer
Office of Water
Office of Research
and Development
Office of Administration
and Resource Management
Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
Office of General
Counsel
Region 2 (Coordinating
for all Regions)
Office of Prevention, Pesticides
and Toxic Substances
Sincerely,
Linda A. Travers
Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator
Office of Environmental Information
on behalf of EPA's Open Government Team
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Table of Contents
B.
C.
D.
E.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
F.
G.
A Message from the EPA Open Government Team
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
A. Purpose of the Plan
Administrator's Commitment to Open Government Principles
Integration of Agency's Current Mission, Goals and Priorities
Leadership, Governance, and Measurement
Accountable Officials
Open Government Governance Structure
How We Will Measure the Success of Open Government at EPA
Leadership and Cultural Change - History and Path Forward
Changes to Internal Management and Administrative Policies
Challenges and How the Public Can Help
Open Approach to Expand the Conversation on Environmentalism
Stakeholder Engagement in Plan Development
Electronic Outreach
Non-Electronic Outreach
Ongoing Open Government Efforts and Plan Updates
EPA Communications Regarding the Open Government Directive
Flagship Initiative - Community Engagement
Protecting the Privacy of Those Who Participate
II. Transparency
A. Transparency History and Baseline
Increasing and Improving EPA Information on Data.gov
Identification and Publication of High-Value Information
Timely Publication of Open Formatted Data
Governmentwide Initiatives and Requirements
Governmentwide Transparency Initiatives
Compliance with Records Management and Information Requests
Transparency Innovations
i
1.
2.
3.
4.
H.
I.
B.
C.
1.
2.
1.
2.
D.
III. Participation
A. Participation History and Baseline
1
1
2
3
3
4
4
6
7
8
9
9
10
10
11
1 1
1 1
11
12
13
15
15
16
17
18
18
20
23
25
25
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B. Participation Innovations 26
1. Examples of How Targeted Groups Get Informed 27
2. Links and Websites for Public Participation and Engagement 27
3. Partner and Stakeholder Feedback Methods 28
IV. Collaboration 30
A. Collaboration History and Baseline 31
B. Collaboration Innovations 32
Collaboration Actions and Mechanisms 32
Sample Projects 34
How the Public Uses EPA Data 36
Input from the Public on Ways EPA Can Increase Openness and Transparency37
V. Flagship Initiative - Community Engagement 39
A. Expanding the Environmental Conversation with Communities 40
B. Expanding Public Awareness and Involvement in the Development of Rules and
Regulations 40
C. EPA Mobile Applications (apps) to Empower Citizen's Environmental Decisions .... 41
VI. Evolution - The Open Road Ahead 43
Appendix A-Milestones 44
Appendix B- Open Government Plan Development Outreach Timeline and Plan 45
Appendix C - Preview of Transparency Innovation: GeoData Gateway 46
1.
2.
3.
4.
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I. Introduction
Since our creation 40 years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has embraced the
basic tenets of open government - transparency, participation and collaboration. EPA was
established and charged with the mission "to protect human health and to safeguard the natural
environment—air, water and land—upon which life depends." And the nature of the Agency's
mission and statutory responsibilities require collaboration and effective working relationships
with our stakeholders (the public, non-governmental organizations and industry), our partners
(federal agencies, states and tribes) and others such as local governments and Congress. EPA
has a solid foundation of effective working relationships to build upon, and we are now focusing
on:
Broadening our effort to include more stakeholders.
Encouraging more two-way communication.
Improving the EPA decision-making process.
Providing citizens with better information.
How to get involved:
Learn more about Open
Government at EPA and provide
comments at www.epa.qov/open
• Expanding ways to collaborate with our partners and stakeholders.
We are committed to being open, fair and inclusive in conducting our daily business, leading to
better decisions and greater collaboration to address today's environmental challenges.
A. Purpose of the Plan
We created this plan to respond to the Administration's Open Government Directive (OGD)
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive). While developing our
plan, we incorporated public input, examined recent efforts that embody Open Government and
identified new opportunities and innovations to further meet this challenge. We will measure and
evaluate how our open government activities foster our mission and meet our strategic goals.
This plan is a step in the process as the Agency continues to institutionalize a culture of
transparency, participation and collaboration.
We will use this Open Government Plan to emphasize and expand on EPA's culture of
openness within a mission-focused framework for engaging our stakeholders, especially the
public. In many cases, EPA is leveraging technology to help us meet the principles of open
government, but we recognize the existence of a digital divide that hinders communication with
some stakeholder groups, particularly those who lack access to new and emerging
technologies. We are committed to implementing multiple methods of engagement to bridge the
digital divide. In this plan, we describe specific projects, both seasoned and new, that add to
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EPA's experience in engaging with the public to accomplish our tasks. We expect to share this
knowledge throughout the Agency, and we plan to make it available to other government
entities for their use and application in joint efforts. Our plan also focuses on expanding the
conversation on environmentalism to a broader audience.
Because we are evolving and plan to adapt to feedback, technology innovations and other
influences, EPA's Open Government Plan will be a living document, published in an open
format on our Web site, which we intend to update regularly to keep it current and relevant.
B. Administrator's Commitment to Open Government Principles
In her first communication to EPA employees, Administrator Lisa P. Jackson encouraged staff to
adopt openness in all aspects of EPA's strategy and operations. In her January 2009
memorandum, she stated:
"Public trust in the Agency demands that we reach out to all stakeholders fairly and impartially, ...
consider the views and data presented carefully and objectively, and ... fully disclose the
information that forms the basis for our decisions. I pledge that we will carry out the work of the
Agency in public view so that the door is open to all interested parties and that there is no doubt
why we are acting and how we arrived at our decisions."
Under this Administration, EPA is an active collaborator in advancing the Administration's open
government direction.
• EPA is the federal co-lead for the Data.gov initiative. Data.gov (www.data.gov) provides the
public one place to access, download and reuse federal government data. To date, we have
posted over 500 data sets. Most importantly, outside organizations such as Forbes.com are
using and leveraging these data for analyses.
• Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), federal agencies launched an
effort in early 2009 to strengthen the American economy. We assisted the Recovery
Accountability and Transparency Board by adapting an existing EPA solution to implement
FederalReporting.gov, a tool for funding recipients to report on the status of their contracts,
grants and loans (e.g., award amount, number of jobs created or retained). Ultimately, this
information makes the ARRA process transparent and accessible to the public
(www.federalreporting.gov).
• EPA is the managing partner for the eRulemaking program, a federal government-wide
effort that developed and operates Regulations.gov. This site (www.regulations.gov)
provides the public with one-stop access to find, view and comment on all federal
rulemakings and notices seeking public input. Currently, the public can access more than
2.2 million documents, including rules and proposed rules, Agency scientific studies and
reports, and public comments.
Our legacy, recent accomplishments and the new actions included in this plan demonstrate that
EPA is positioned to strengthen a culture where open government is part of our daily business.
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C. Integration of Agency's Current Mission, Goals and Priorities
Today it is increasingly important that we collect and share reliable, quality data to help us carry
out the Agency's mission. Our strategic plan (www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/plan.htm) guides us and
defines our five mission goals and three cross-goal strategies:
• Goal 1: Clean Air and Global Climate Change
• Goal 2: Clean and Safe Water
• Goal 3: Land Preservation and Restoration
• Goal 4: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems
• Goal 5: Compliance and Environmental Stewardship
• Cross-Goal Strategy 1: Results and Accountability
• Cross-Goal Strategy 2: Innovation and Collaboration
• Cross-Goal Strategy 3: Best Available Science
The cross-goal strategy of Innovation and Collaboration has contributed to a culture of
openness as evidenced in our strategic plan update process. In the past year, Administrator
Jackson worked with the senior policy team and listened to staff and stakeholder feedback to
strengthen how we carry out our mission and incorporate relevant feedback into the formal
revision of the Agency's strategic plan (to be issued by September 30, 2010). The Open
Government Plan will be used to inform our strategic plan, and will be updated to help ensure
open government principles continue to support our ongoing mission and goals.
The Administrator set seven priorities as part of this overall process, and these priorities have
been factored into the new strategic plan and our Open Government Plan. Additional
information on the priorities and a video message from Administrator Jackson can be found at
(blog.epa.gov/administrator/2010/01/12/seven-priorities-for-epas-future/).
D. Leadership, Governance, and Measurement
Open government is about transformation and cultural change, which takes leadership above all
else. EPA's leadership commitment to open government is unquestioned, as evidenced by
Administrator Jackson's actions in April 2009 -when she issued a Transparency Memorandum
to all Employees - and by integrating open government's most fundamental concept in our core
values, which are science, transparency, and the rule of law. In response to the OGD, EPA
swiftly took action to establish a governance structure to:
• Guide and conduct immediate activities.
• Capitalize on and enhance existing Agency policies and management controls.
• Look for ways to institutionalize open government within EPA's organizational structure.
We are also focused on evaluating the Agency's progress in meeting OGD mandates, as well
as establishing measures of our progress and performance for EPA-specific initiatives and
projects. We will evaluate how to best incorporate open government tenets into Agency
processes, including Capital Planning and Investment Control, Budget Formulation, and
Strategic Planning and our Enterprise Architecture. For example, we will work to tie our
Strategic Data Action Plan to these processes.
We will review our Open Government Plan every 180 days and assess our progress.
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1. Accountable Officials
Administrator Jackson charged Linda Travers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator of the
Office of Environmental Information (OEI), with leading the Open Government Executive
Steering Committee. Ms. Travers also serves as the Agency's Deputy Chief Information Officer,
and her office manages the lifecycle of information that supports mission objectives. OEI's
responsibilities cut across the Agency, and OEI also supports many of the functions necessary
to execute, monitor and report progress in meeting open government principles. More
information on OEI, what it does, and how the office is organized is located at
(www. e pa. g ov/oe i/).
Administrator Jackson charged Barbara Bennett, the Agency's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), as
the Senior Accountable Official responsible for assuring the quality and objectivity of, and
internal controls over, publicly disseminated federal spending information. Ms. Bennett directs
the work of the Open Government Spending Information Quality Work Group. OCFO's
responsibilities are integral to ensure accountability and integrity - key tenets to EPA's approach
to open government. For more information on OCFO, visit (www.epa.gov/ocfo).
2. Open Government Governance Structure
EPA established a governance structure with work groups and teams representing offices
across the Agency to get the right experts in the room to figure out how to instill open
government throughout the Agency. A diagram of our governance structure is shown in Figure
1-1, and the work groups and teams are further described in the remainder of this section.
EPA Administrator and
Deputy Administrator
Open Government
Executive Steering
Committee
Open Government
Management Work Group
Open Government
Project Teams
(Web site.
High-value datasets,
Open Government plan)
Open Government
Spending Information
Quality Work Group
Figure 1-1: EPA's Open Government Governance
a) Open Government Executive Steering Committee
The Open Government Executive Steering Committee is made up of Senior Executive Service
employees from key responsible offices within the Agency. This group is charged with setting
policy and direction while meeting legal requirements. The group also works to secure
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resources in support of the Agency's plan and associated projects. The following offices are
represented on the committee:
• Office of the Administrator (OA)
Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation (OPEI)
• Office of Administration and Resources Management (OARM)
• Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)
• Office of General Counsel (OGC)
• Office of Environmental Information (OEI)
• Office of Air and Radiation (OAR)
• Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA)
• Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS)
• Office of Research and Development (ORD)
• Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER)
• Office of Water (OW)
• Regional Offices
The Open Government Executive Steering Committee regularly reports to the Deputy
Administrator, the Deputy Assistant Administrators and the Regional Administrators of most
offices within the Agency.
The work groups and teams described below support the Open Government Executive Steering
Committee in meeting its charge.
b) Open Government Management Work Group
This work group consists of senior managers and staff from across the Agency, including
regional representation. This group meets on a weekly basis to develop actions, provide input
and track progress.
c) Open Government Project Teams
Three project teams currently operate as a subset of the management work group. Each team
has a specific task that supports open government.
• Web site Team: Charged with maintaining EPA's Open Government Web site.
• High Value Datasets Team: Charged with identifying and prioritizing high-value datasets
for future addition to Data.gov, incorporating public feedback.
• Open Government Plan Team: Charged with coordinating Open Government Plan
development, managing public input to the plan, monitoring plan progress, and coordinating
updates to the plan.
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d) Open Government Spending Information Quality Work Group
The Open Government Spending Information Quality Work Group is charged with developing a
plan to assure the quality and integrity of our high-value Federal spending information. This
work group will also work towards integrating the quality plan into a long-term Agency strategy
that ensures the integrity of all federal spending information.
3. How We Will Measure the Success of Open Government at EPA
EPA is evaluating our progress with open government in two ways: government-wide measures
and EPA-specific measures. For government-wide measures, the OGD established deadlines
for action for each federal agency. Information about how EPA is progressing to meet those
deadlines is available at the following link: (www.epa.gov/open/evaluate.html).
For EPA-specific measures, we are setting milestones and performance measures for both the
overall open government initiative and for targeted projects. The public will be able to track the
progress of our projects from EPA's Open Government Web site (www.epa.gov/open). We are
currently evaluating methods for individual project leads to update and maintain their information
and will begin posting updates once we have determined the best update method for project
use.
We anticipate a progression over time in how we measure the success of open government at
EPA.
Initially, that measurement will be qualitative - i.e., how well we execute on this plan. We will
report progress with respect to execution of the plan to the public on our Open Government
Web site (www.epa.gov/open) on a quarterly basis, in the "Evaluating Our Progress" area.
One of our key actions is to develop the right quantitative metrics for the success of open
government at EPA. Our initial metrics, which will be refined through our governance process,
are relatively basic:
Transparency:
• Number of high value data and geospatial sets and tools published
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) backlog, time to respond, and total requests processed
Participation and Collaboration:
• Number of opportunities for the public to provide input into EPA's work
• Number of EPA electronic town hall meetings
Flagship Initiative(s)
• Detailed milestone plan developed
• Actions met in accordance with Plan
These metrics will need to be refined and others added via the governance process as our work
progresses. We will also look to the public to help us define relevant measures. We will be
developing standard metrics for measuring the success of efforts to engage the public. These
metrics will go beyond volume of participation (e.g., number of comments received) to the
impact of participation (e.g., number of ideas from the public that are adopted and what impact
they have on results delivered by EPA).
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This points to the ultimate measure of success of open government at EPA: We want to ensure
that our stakeholders are informed about information we have on environmental protection, and
we want to ensure that their voice is heard as we move forward in implementing our mission "to
protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment - air, water, and land-upon
which life depends." In our quarterly reports on our open government execution, we will describe
the qualitative and quantitative impact that open government is having on EPA performance, as
part of an ongoing evaluation of our open government programs and policies.
E. Leadership and Cultural Change - History and Path Forward
Again, EPA leadership is committed to encouraging the adoption of open government principles
in all aspects of our operations and employee performance. EPA has and will continue to
reward employees who make significant contributions to enhancing the Agency's transparency,
participation, and collaboration. We will encourage designated employees to incorporate at least
one new media and Web training into their individual development plans.
At EPA, we have an established policy (www.epa.qov/publicinvolvement/pdf/policy2003.pdf)
with a variety of tools to help our staff reach out to and involve the public
(www.epa.gov/publicinvolvement/index.htm). We strive to:
• Involve the public early and often throughout a decision-making process.
• Identify, inform and listen to the affected public (providing extra encouragement and
technical or financial resources, where possible, to support public participation).
• Involve the public in developing options and alternatives when possible and, before making
decisions, seek the public's opinion on options or alternatives.
• Use public input to develop options that resolve differing points of view.
• Tailor public involvement efforts based upon many factors.
• Work in partnership with state, local and tribal governments, community groups,
associations, and other organizations to enhance and promote public involvement.
Our current policy calls for Agency staff to strive for the most meaningful public involvement
opportunities appropriate to each situation. In addition, we have established an interim policy on
the use of social media platforms that offer us the chance to engage with guidance to
employees on the use of these tools. EPA has identified a range of possible levels of public
involvement, shown in Figure 1-2.
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Outreach
Purpose: Provide
information
Information [Recommendations! Agreements
Exchange
Purpose: Provide
and exchange
data, opinions,
and options
Purpose: Provide
non-binding, but
influential advice
or comments
Purpose: Reach
workable
agreement
or settlement
Stakeholder
Action
Purpose: Empower
stakeholders to
take action
Participant
satisfaction
Creative
options
\oc
Commitment
to action
Available
information
Collaborative
behavior
Time and
resources of
participants
Interaction
among
stakeholders
Figure 1-2: EPA Public Involvement Spectrum
Every day individuals in all offices, regions, and laboratories seek to effectively engage people
in the work of EPA at all five levels of the public involvement spectrum. For example, EPA has
staff dedicated to support effective and meaningful public involvement in the Superfund
Program, the Office of Policy Economics and Innovation, and the Conflict Prevention and
Resolution Center.
1. Changes to Internal Management and Administrative Policies
The Agency is taking longer-term action intended to create lasting benefits through culture and
process changes. In essence, EPA is breaking down internal and external barriers to be more
open, fair and inclusive. We have policies in place promoting use of social media, as previously
described, and are reviewing ways to share successes and challenges. We are looking to
collect and share best practices and lessons learned on open government efforts across the
Agency.
In an example of a policy shift, we recently identified a creative solution to involve the public
earlier in the process of revising a rule. Legally mandated, public involvement begins when a
draft rule or rule revision is published for public comment. We have a proposed change that will
require regulated entities to electronically report their data in support of the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Moving from a paper reporting method to electronic
created a great deal of interest within and outside the Agency, so we established a cross-
Agency rulemaking work group for the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule to keep the public
informed and involved. The work group recommended a dedicated Web page, and we decided
to use Regulations.gov as an existing application and technology to meet the need. We are now
poised to launch the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule Web page, which will host a discussion
forum as well as provide public meeting information and rulemaking progress - all well in
advance of the legal requirement for public comment.
In addition, we will identify other management and administrative policies such as data
priori tization.
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2. Challenges and How the Public Can Help
EPA Headquarters offices, regions, and laboratories have each advanced innovative
approaches to engage our stakeholders. Our challenge is to create a more cohesive and agile
set of approaches, in close coordination with our state government partners, without disrupting
existing processes that work. The initiatives outlined in our Flagship Initiative, along with
continued feedback from the public, will help us to overcome this challenge.
We have received over 200 ideas, 360 comments, and 3,700 votes on OpenEPA (EPA's Public
Engagement site based on IdeaScale), www.openepa.ideascale.com. As of the publication of
this plan, we have implemented some of the most critical suggestions including keeping our
OpenEPA Forum open indefinitely and posting our Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)
inventory. However, many of the suggestions require additional analysis and collaboration
across our communities of interest. We ask that all contributors continue to provide us feedback,
and we will respond and keep you up to date as we move forward.
EPA has provided a significant amount of data to Data.gov. However, we recognize that we
need to continue to provide high-value data, and that we need to provide context to describe the
value of these data in the future. We ask for your help in giving us ideas on what additional data
we can provide, and to share with us innovative uses of EPA data at
(www.openepa.ideascale.com).
Many of the activities EPA is pursuing have resulted from prior experience or from public
suggestion. To realize the full potential of our new efforts, we need insights and reactions from
the public. This is certainly true in cases where we are testing new strategies, and for processes
that are repeated frequently or have lasting consequences (e.g., regulatory development or
standards for citizen-collected data).
F. Open Approach to Expand the Conversation on Environmentalism
Over the last year, EPA's leaders have embraced openness in a variety of ways. The
Administrator began holding Internet video press conferences and town hall meetings and
recording other important events, both with staff and external groups, on key environmental
issues (see various videos from the Administrator and other EPA leaders at:
www.epa.gov/multimedia/mm-video.htm. Other senior managers also began holding Internet
video meetings on critical environmental issues involving water, waste and pesticides. The
public can watch these live webcasts at http://www.epa.qov/live and join video town halls at
http://www.epa.gov/oswer/videotownhall.htm. We also publish general-interest videos on
YouTube at http://youtube.com/usepagov. In addition to our use of Internet video, we
dramatically expanded our use of podcasts, Twitter, blogs and Facebook over the last year to
engage the American people. To promote the Administration's OGD internally and externally,
EPA launched our Open Government Web site (www.epa.gov/open) on February 4, 2010,
providing several tools for the public and EPA staff to submit ideas. This unprecedented
outreach provided the Agency with hundreds of ideas from EPA staff and the public on how to
expand our openness.
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Reaching out in Many
Languages:
Because EPA's mission depends
on an informed public, and America
is a diverse country, we translate
many materials and our main web
pages into languages other than
English. We want people to
recognize that we all need to do our
part, no matter what language we
use to communicate
Administrator Jackson has also taken other actions toward an
open environment such as tweeting regularly on her Twitter
account http://twitter.com/lisapiackson. She also opened her
calendar, posting public appearances and meetings with
external parties on EPA's public Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/lisa). In fact, appointed senior staff
members who head major headquarters and regional offices
have also opened their calendars
(http://vosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/Calendars7OpenVi
ew). The Administrator, other EPA staff and guest bloggers
keep EPA's Greenversations blog active (http://blog.epa.gov).
These actions not only open EPA to the public, they give EPA
staff at all levels of the organization insight into their senior leadership. This helps all EPA staff
stay connected to the mission. We connect to the public through Twitter
(http://twitter.com/epagov) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/epa), and several offices
maintain more subject-specific accounts (http://www.epa.gov/epahome/socialmedia.html).
EPA's open government groups are actively investigating other means to continue expanding
the conversation at EPA, including incentives/recognition, financial awards, training and the
development of a communication plan.
G. Stakeholder Engagement in Plan Development
EPA stakeholders are a broad and diverse cross-section of organizations and individuals,
including our partners (federal agencies, states and tribes), local government, the general
public, regulated businesses, scientists and Congress. To reach out to this large and varied
group, we used a number of methods to solicit and receive public input on suggestions for our
Open Government Plan.
1. Electronic Outreach
To collect input from the public electronically, we relied on OpenEPA - available from EPA's
Open Government Web site (www.epa.gov/open): blog entries from Greenversations
(blog.epa.gov/blog/): and input received from Twitter, Facebook and e-mail. EPA sent
notifications to over 135,000 individuals and organizational stakeholders to request their
participation. To identify and reach these stakeholders, we used EPA listservs, Twitter feeds,
Facebook fans and other similar electronic methods. Our broad outreach most likely contributed
to the number of entries we received. EPA had the third highest level of activity for those
agencies using the IdeaScale tool—the primary mechanism used by most agencies to solicit
public input. Public feedback provided via OpenEPA focused on the Agency's mission,
operational activities, and areas where we should consider in developing this plan.
As another method to encourage the public, we will conduct a virtual town hall meeting
announcing the publication of the Agency's Open Government Plan. This meeting is tentatively
set for Q3/2010, providing the public time to review the plan. We will answer questions and
solicit suggestions that will be considered for future versions of the plan.
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2. Non-Electronic Outreach
EPA also reached out in more traditional ways. We invited stakeholders to attend a face-to-face
meeting to solicit ideas for our plan. A summary of the meeting can be found at
www.epa.gov/open or by sending a letter to the address listed below.
US EPA / MC: 2822T
Attention: Open Government
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
Printed copies of the Plan are available upon request. We welcome your comments on the plan,
and you can provide them by visiting OpenEPA at www.epa.gov/open or by sending a letter to
the address provided above.
3. Ongoing Open Government Efforts and Plan Updates
EPA expects to gain experience while executing this plan and to apply resulting best practices
and lessons learned to existing and future activities. We also plan to share our experiences with
other agencies and to solicit feedback on their successes and challenges. EPA will provide
project-specific updates on components of the plan, and we expect to update our Open
Government Plan more often than the recommended two-year cycle. We will review the plan
every 180 days, and it will be a living document. Notifications of any planned revisions and
revised documents will be available on our Open Government Web site.
EPA continues to operate the OpenEPA tool in response to requests by the public. The
OneEPA tool is primarily suited for initiating a discussion, capturing suggestions and collecting
reactions either in support or opposition. Since the publication of EPA's Open Government Plan
1.0 on April 7, 2010, few plan related comments have been received through this tool. In order
to optimize the features of the OneEPA tool, EPA will reconfigured it to support more focused
efforts that can benefit from solicitation of proposed ideas. For purposes of gathering comments
and reaction to EPA's Open Government Plan 1.1 and other efforts, EPA will rely on the blog
located at: http://www.openepa.ideascale.com/. For non-open government comments or
suggestions, the public is encouraged to use http://www.epa.gov/epahome/comments3.htm.
4. EPA Communications Regarding the Open Government Directive
In developing our Open Government Plan, we actively sought public and EPA employee input.
We established an Open Government Web site (www.epa.gov/open) and used many Web 2.0
applications to communicate and engage with the public and EPA employees.
As we implement and refine the Open Government Plan and activities, we will communicate
changes and updates via our Open Government Web site. We will also rely on this Web site to
advertise the release of upcoming data sets.
We also plan to develop an Agencywide strategy that includes how and when to use outreach
events such as public meetings, electronic town hall meetings and/or webcasts.
H. Flagship Initiative - Community Engagement
"Flagship" is a term that commonly means the most important or leading member of a group.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requested that each federal department or
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agency describe at least one specific new transparency, participation or collaboration initiative
(a flagship) currently being implemented or planned. At EPA, we asked experts across the
Agency to share new or proposed projects that promote EPA's environmental protection
mission, embrace the Administration's principle of openness, have real impact and benefit, are
feasible and likely to succeed, and have transformative value.
We received and reviewed many individual projects and organized them into three themes:
• Community Engagement
• Regulatory Involvement
• OneEPA
EPA selected Community Engagement as our Flagship because of its wide applicability—
promoting a greater understanding of, participation in, and contribution by individuals regarding
the environmental issues that affect or interest them most. This flagship initiative offers EPA
many opportunities to learn from individual projects and apply these lessons as we consider
actions to ensure continued improvement. The anticipated benefits from this initiative are
described in greater detail in Section V of this plan.
The other two initiatives, Regulatory Involvement and OneEPA, represent additional areas
where the Agency is committed to making improvements. A number of projects within these
themes are planned or currently underway and also support the open government principles of
transparency, participation and collaboration.
Additional information on our Flagship initiative can be found in Section V of this document, and
further detail is provided at http://www.epa.gov/open/flagship/index.html.
I. Protecting the Privacy of Those Who Participate
EPA is encouraging our partners, the public and other stakeholders to actively participate in our
mission by posting to blogs, the OpenEPA Web site, Twitter and Facebook. Our Open
Government Plan includes multiple channels for us to gain feedback, and we will analyze each
feedback method to identify and mitigate any potential security, privacy or confidentiality risks in
accordance with federal and Agency security and privacy guidelines.
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II. Transparency
Transparency is the foundation of open government. Transparency allows the public and all
stakeholders to know what you are doing, and more importantly, how and why you are doing it.
EPA's commitment to transparency is not new. In 1983, Administrator Ruckelshaus promised
that EPA would operate "in a fishbowl" and "attempt to communicate with everyone from
environmentalists to those we regulate...as openly as possible." Upon being sworn in last year,
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson pledged in her first memorandum to EPA employees to "uphold
the values of scientific integrity, rule of law and transparency every day." What is new is our
commitment to reach out to more stakeholders, especially those historically underrepresented in
EPA decision making.
Since the Open Government Directive was issued in December of 2009, we have taken a
number of actions to promote transparency, as detailed in this section. Of particular note, we
are developing a plan to streamline and simplify how the public asks for, tracks and receives
information subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and we have posted more than
500 data sets on Data.gov.
Empowering our stakeholders with more information is not helpful if the data are not current or
of high quality. We address this challenge in two ways. First, EPA established a governance
structure, described in Section I.D.2 above, to ensure progress in open government initiatives
and find ways to further open EPA's culture. Second, we are developing a clear process for data
posted on Data.gov and EPA.gov to balance the need for relevant and current information with
our commitment to meet or exceed EPA's established standards for high quality data.
The availability of high quality data has led to innovative EPA mechanisms to give individuals
the ability to discover important information about the state of their local environment. For
example, did you know that you can discover what is happening in your community related to
your air and water quality, and cancer and mortality rates by visiting EPA's My Environment
Web site (www.epa.qov/myenvironment)?
The image below shows an example of what you can find out about your community by taking
advantage of this innovative use of high quality data available to the public.
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ter («olctv n»m«
MI-. and facilities by:
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A. Transparency History and Baseline
Each year EPA takes concrete steps to function more transparently to support our effort to be
fair, open and inclusive. We leverage emerging and proven
technologies and were early adopters of the Internet, creating
the first EPA home page (www.epa.gov) in 1994.
Protection through
Disclosure: Since 1986, more
than 20,000 manufacturing facilities
annually report releases of
chemicals into the air, water and
ground; the information is made
public in the Toxics Release
Inventory (TRI). Researchers credit
the TRI with a 65% reduction of
chemical releases from all sources
since 1989.
One of the cornerstone laws compelling EPA's early campaign
of openness was the 1986 Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), the primary purpose
of which was to make environmental data available to the
public and local communities. One program established by
EPCRA is the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), which requires
EPA to provide the public with information about releases and
waste management of over 600 toxic chemicals. EPCRA also
requires that industrial plants provide important information to
local firefighters and emergency responders so they are better prepared if an emergency arises
at their plants. Our experience with the success of EPCRA prompted us to work internationally
to promote transparency. The result is that countries around the world began to promote public
access and adopt systems like TRI. The success of EPCRA underscores how transparency and
public access empowers communities to take action to protect their local environment.
As part of EPA's overall effort to make our data more accessible to the public, we created a
variety of online search tools. For example, we have worked to make data available online,
including Surf Your Watershed (http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm), which allows the
public to find their community's watershed profiles. The EPA's National Library Network also
provides public access to environmental information for decision making and environmental
awareness (www.epa.gov/libraries/). We have developed an
online search tool that allows citizens to search for reported
releases by ZIP code, year, state, etc.
(www.epa.gov/triexplorer).
Clean Air Markets Data and
Maps is a searchable collection of
reports, data sets and maps of
emissions and allowance data
collected as part of EPA's
emissions trading programs
3dm/index.cfm?useaction=iss.issho
EPA has also taken the next step in transparency by creating
search tools that bring together data from multiple data
sources. The intent of these integrated search tools is to make
sure citizens have a more comprehensive picture of the
environmental issues in their community. The Envirofacts
website search tools (http://www.epa.gov/enviro/), and the
underlying database warehouse, provide the public with a single point of access to a diverse set
of EPA information about environmental activities that may affect air, water, and land anywhere
in the United States. MyEnvironment (www.epa.gov/myenvironment/) is an application that pulls
data stored in Envirofacts as well as other sources. Cleanups in My Community
(http://iaspub.epa.gov/Cleanups/) allows users to map or list cleanups for EPA's cleanup
programs, with a link to additional data.
B. Increasing and Improving EPA Information on Data.gov
The OGD sharpens the focus on public access to data, making data sets from across the
federal government available to the public. To improve the public's ability to discover, access
and use data sets, the White House launched Data.gov, which provides links to data sets and
data tools from multiple departments and agencies. The evolution of the Internet and its ability
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to reach a wider audience means that federal agencies have an opportunity to reach many more
people. In conjunction with the Data.gov launch, EPA began making high-value data sets
available to the public via www.Geodata.gov and through EPA's DataFinder tool
(www.epa.gov/datafinder).
EPA has strategically provided data sets to non-governmental groups since the 1980s. An
example is the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET), a regional long-term
environmental monitoring program that assesses trends in acidic deposition due to emission
reduction regulations, such as the Acid Rain Program and the NOx Budget Trading Program.
Data from CASTNET can be downloaded from (www.epa.gov/CASTNET/data.html).
In addition to making more data available to more people, we are increasing the speed at which
we make data available. In response to stakeholder needs for earlier availability of
environmental data, the TRI program processed and posted 88,000 toxic chemical reports
within 49 days of collection in an easy-to-use downloadable file format on our Web site,
publishing data before we completed our analysis in an effort to increase transparency. This
encouraged outside stakeholders to conduct their own analyses within weeks of data collection.
We set a record with the 2009 data by publishing it in the same year it was collected for the first
time ever.
To inventory all data sets for future inclusion on Data.gov, we have identified the following
principles to prioritize data. Our highest priority will be data which:
• Advances one or more of the Agency's strategic goals/priorities
• Responds to the feedback received on www.epa.gov/open and www.data.gov, and inspires
new forms of community engagement.
• Enables third party innovation by conforming to established best practices for data:
Primary—exposes the underlying source data not aggregate statistics.
Structured—available in a machine-processable format such as XML, CSV or other.
Timely—includes the most recent data available and is updated on a regular basis.
Usable—provides an understandable description of the dataset, its context and makes
available the data schema and other relevant metadata.
Complete—includes all collected data of this type as described, except where
constrained by privacy or legal barriers.
• Quality—of appropriate and well-described quality for informed use by other parties
Sections IV.B.3 and IV.B.4 provide details on how EPA data is already being used in innovative
ways by the public, and how we have responded to recent data requests.
1. Identification and Publication of High-Value Information
EPA has taken full advantage of Data.gov, linking to more than 500 data sets and data tools to
date that can be accessed on EPA's Web site.
We are developing a Strategic Data Action Plan to establish and implement EPA's processes to
increase transparency by more systematically managing and disseminating information. The
plan will establish governance mechanisms, processes and technologies to institutionalize the
requirements of the OGD and this plan as they pertain to our data sets and tools.
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Since the publication of EPA's Open Government Plan 1.0, we have created an inventory of
data sets currently available in Data.gov. The inventory has a separate section/tab with the data
sets that will be available in the future and are under review and/or staged for submission. For
each current data set, we include the target audiences and mission-related priorities the data
set supports. The data set inventory can be found at
http://www.epa.gov/open/Data Set Inventory0625.pdf.
Components of the action plan will include:
• Identifying high-value information not available for
download that should be considered for dissemination.
• Prioritizing and scheduling new high-value information to
post for download.
• Soliciting ongoing public suggestions and feedback.
• Improving the presentation of data in open formats to
improve the public's ability to use the data.
• Improving the use of additional approaches such as web
services, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs),
linked open data/semantics and descriptive metadata to
improve service to the public.
• Identifying key information gaps where useable
information is not available.
• In addition, we want your input to drive our next set of
releases - please go to www.epa.gov/open and provide
us with your feedback. We will review these requests and will publish additional data sets on
a quarterly basis. We want you to drive our priorities.
We will examine how to use or adapt existing mechanisms such as the EPA Science Inventory
and the EPA Data Finder to identify and manage high-value information. Where appropriate, the
Strategic Data Action Plan will be integrated with EPA's Strategic Plan, capital investment
planning process and budget formulation process.
2. Timely Publication of Open Formatted Data
Since publication of the EPA's Open Government Plan 1.0, we have published several new data
sets to Data.gov. Nearly all of the data sets identified in the previous plan for publication by
Q42010 have been posted, submitted for posting, or are being staged for submittal. Data sets
considered for future posting are being evaluated based on their support of key EPA priorities
and/or usefulness to our stakeholders. The data set inventory can be found at
http://www.epa.qov/open/Data Set Inventory0625.pdf.
And to continue expanding what is available on Data.gov, our Strategic Data Action Plan will
address how we will evaluate and select the underlying (supporting) data that will be made
publicly available in downloadable, open formats and catalogued in Data.gov. The plan will
explain the process we will develop for making those data sets available. For example, we will
improve our data management through a publicly accessible data set catalogue that will support
Data.gov as well as any other sources for accessing the data sets, such as Data Finder. We will
make other information available to increase the usability of our data sets, including definitions
EPA is Already a Leader in
High Value Data Release
• You asked for our Toxic
Substance Release Inventory -
we posted it on Data.gov in
March 2010
• Citizens want to know what is
happening in their community -
we provide that data in an easy-
to-use tool -
www.epa.gov/myenvironment
• The Clean Air Status and Trends
Network and Toxic Release
Inventory Data released by EPA
is Five Star - check it out
htto://www. data, aov/cataloa/raw/c
ateaorv/0/aaencv/0/filter//tvDe//so
rt/ratina desc/oaae/l/count/25
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for the fields in the data sets and information about services, such as APIs, that can be used on
the data sets. This plan will be available in FY2011. Specific milestones include the following:
• Make 5 additional high value data sets available (Q3/Q4, FY 2010)
• Publish the Strategic Data Action Plan (Q2, FY2011)
• Make 5 additional high value data sets available (Q3/Q4, FY 2011)
• Define processes to identify innovative uses of data (Q4, FY2010 & Q1 FY2011)
C. Governmentwide Initiatives and Requirements
The OGD requested that we provide an update on governmentwide initiatives and requirements;
this section provides the requested information as it relates to EPA's activities and actions.
1. Governmentwide Transparency Initiatives
a) Data.gov
As described earlier in this document, we have posted over 500 data sets on Data.gov in
compliance with the OGD. EPA analyzes metrics from Data.gov and EPA's Open Government
Web site and uses these metrics to identify the EPA data sets most requested from that site.
EPA's future process for opening data through the Data.gov Web site will factor in items that
most interest our stakeholders and the public. We will focus on keeping EPA's holdings current
and populated with the most accurate and desirable data available.
Many of the data sets published to date are national TRI data, with individual sets for a year and
by state and territory. We also published three new data sets after the OGD:
• Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) data set, which has never before been made publicly
accessible, is the list of chemical substances subject to TSCA reporting requirements.
• Chesapeake Bay Program Water Quality Database, which includes monitoring data about
environmental conditions in the Chesapeake Bay.
• ToxCast Phase I data set, which provides information about chemical toxicity testing for over
300 chemicals.
Visit our open government web site (www.epa.qov/open) to monitor our progress and make
suggestions on future data sets to add.
b) Regulations.gov
As a user of www.requlations.qov, EPA provides access to more than 12,000 proposed
rulemakings, including those that are still open for public comment. EPA has received and
posted approximately 280,000 public comments and 200,000 Agency scientific, legal and
technical analyses related to rulemakings and notices on the Web site.
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As managing partner of the eRulemaking Program and Regulations.gov, EPA continues to
improve the usefulness and experience of the rulemaking tools we offer to the public. In May
2009, EPA and our partner agencies launched the
Regulations.gov/Exchange, an online forum for the public to
explore proposed new changes to Regulations.gov and to
post their own suggestions and ideas. The Regulations.gov
Exchange uses new social media tools to obtain feedback
and create a dialogue among visitors. The site enables
visitors to:
Rulemaking Matters! Video
Contest:
• Register and track discussion topics
• Rate features using a five-star system
• Join the discussion by posting opinions and ideas
• Export data and content
• Share discussion topics with others using social
bookmarking tools
In January 2010, new social media tools were incorporated
into Regulations.gov. These tools are specifically tailored to
provide EPA and all other partner agencies a platform to
more directly engage the public to expand their participation
in regulatory and non-regulatory actions underway and to
continue public collaboration on setting the direction of the
eRulemaking Program. Please visit
www.regulations.gov/exchange to provide us feedback on
regulations.gov.
Let your voice be heard! EPA and
the eRulemaking Program have
partnered to sponsor the
Rulemaking Matters! Video Contest
to highlight the significance of
federal regulations and change the
public's perception about the
rulemaking process.
With a short 60-90 second video,
citizens can capture public
imagination and use creativity,
artistic expression and innovation to
explain why regulations are
important to everyone and motivate
others to participate in the
rulemaking process.
Individuals and groups of all ages
may participate, and entries must
be received between April 14-
May17, 2010. EPA and the
eRulemaking program will award
$2,500 to the winner and post their
video on Regulations.gov, as well
as the EPA web site
httD://www. eoa. aov/lawsreas/.
c) IT Dashboard
On June 30, 2009, OMB launched the Information Technology (IT) Dashboard
(it.usaspending.gov/), which gives agencies and the public the opportunity to view details of
federal IT Investments online and track their progress over time. This initiative was launched in
the spirit of the Administration's shift toward transparency in all aspects of government, including
IT capital assets. To comply with this initiative, we provide monthly updates to the IT Dashboard
for cost, schedule and Chief Information Officer (CIO) investment evaluations. EPA currently
has 21 projects on the IT Dashboard, representing the majority of our IT portfolio.
d) Recovery.gov
Recovery.gov is the vehicle used by the Recovery, Accountability and Transparency Board
(RATE) to share ARRA progress information with the public. There are two significant
compliance requirements. One is met by agencies and departments, and the second is met by
recipients of ARRA resources.
EPA meets our direct Recovery.gov transparency compliance requirement by providing
authoritative financial information from our Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS)
through a weekly financial activity report. EPA compiles this information, has it endorsed by the
ARRA Senior Accountable Official, and then transmits the information to Recovery.gov. This
process ensures EPA's obligations and outlays are accurately and regularly provided to the
public through Recovery.gov.
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Recipients of ARRA resources report quarterly on progress associated with their funded
projects and activities. Section 1512 of ARRA specifies required information from recipients.
The reported information helps define each project and progress made. Reported information
includes who is receiving ARRA dollars and in what amount, what projects are being funded, the
completion status of projects, and the impact the projects have on job creation and retention.
Federal agencies and departments do not directly receive this information, nor are they
responsible for posting the quarterly reported information to Recovery.gov.
While recipients are responsible for the quality of the data they submit, federal agencies and
departments review recipients' reports. (Generally, federal reviews begin on day 11 of each
reporting cycle and are completed by day 29, prior to public posting of recipient information on
day 30.) Federal agency reviews are an important accountability component of the process.
e) USASpending.gov
EPA provides the public information on each contract, grant and award the Agency has
awarded through the Web site USASpending.gov, a re-launch of (www.usaspending.gov). The
data are largely from the Federal Procurement Data System, which contains information about
federal contracts, and the Federal Assistance Award Data System, which contains information
about federal financial assistance such as grants, loans, insurance and direct subsidies such as
Social Security. EPA is proceeding as planned with all USASpending.gov requirements. The
Data Quality Plan, due to OMB on May 14, 2010, will document our steps to comply with all
requirements of USASpending.gov.
f) Data Quality Plan
The OGD also requires the completion of a Data Quality Plan to ensure that all the data made
available to the public is of the highest integrity.
EPA's commitment to Data Quality is not new. In 1979, Administrator Costle initiated the first
Agencywide quality management system for data and information. Furthermore, EPA's
leadership, in implementing the Information Quality Act of 2001, issued the Agency's Quality
Policy (CIO Policy 2106) to expand the quality management of data, information, products, and
services to meet the challenges of openness and transparency in agency operations.
Under the direction of the agency Senior Accountable Official, EPA is using and enhancing our
current processes in accordance with OMB Circular A-123 to satisfy the provisions of OMB's
February 8, 2010 framework guidance that requires the Agency to separately address the types
of risks associated with federal spending information.
EPA established an Open Government Spending Information Quality Work Group consisting of
representatives from the Office of Grants and Debarment within OARM, Office of Financial
Management (OFM) within OCFO, Office of Acquisition Management (OAM) within OARM, and
the Quality Staff within OEI. The work group is being led by OFM and has met on a bi-weekly
basis since February 4, 2010 to draft the Data Quality Plan. The plan will build upon the
Agency's management integrity experience to provide a framework for ensuring the quality of
EPA spending information. It will specifically assess the risks to, and control environment over,
Agency data submitted to USASpending.gov, and recommend improvements as necessary.
2. Compliance with Records Management and Information Requests
All federal agencies have legal requirements on records retention, responding to requests for
information from the public and Congress, and on declassifying information to respond to such
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requests. Brief descriptions and links to the appropriate EPA Web pages for Agency procedures
to meet these requirements are provided below.
a) Web Links to EPA's Records Management Program
Information about EPA's records management program, which includes approved record
schedules and a description of how we meet record responsibilities, can be accessed at
(www.epa.qov/records/).
EPA reduced its overdue backlog
from 23,514 in 2001 to 332 in 2009.
In fiscal year 2009, 96% of all new
requests were responded to within
the 20-day statutory deadlines. We
centralized FOIA processes to
improve application of statutory
criteria and response rates.
b) EPA's FOIA Program
EPA is committed to the letter and spirit of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). The Agency's CIO is the Chief FOIA
Officer responsible for EPAwide FOIA policy and
administration. EPA's FOIA Public Liaison assists with
resolving disputes between requesters and the Agency. The
Public Liaison facilitates timely FOIA responses, provides
information on the status of requests, and fosters greater
openness and transparency in the Agency's FOIA
administration activities. The national FOIA staff, under the leadership of the Agency FOIA
Officer, provide national oversight and manage FOIA processing activities, including training,
developing policies and procedures, overseeing Agencywide FOIA responses, operating an
electronic tracking system and managing the Agency's FOIA Web site. The national FOIA staff
report to the FOIA Public Liaison.
The Agency continues to proactively ensure that the presumption of openness is applied to its
FOIA decisions and administrative appeal processes. To ensure Agency awareness of the
President's FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines, Administrator
Jackson issued a memorandum, "Transparency in EPA's Operations," to all employees on April
23, 2009, that communicates the Agency's full
commitment to these policies
(www.epa.gov/Administrator/operationsmemo.ht
ml).
FOIA Backlog
1000
,800
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EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs completely redesigned its electronic FOIA reading room to
make thousands of highly sought after pesticide science data and regulatory records available
without filing a FOIA request (www.epa.gov/pesticides/foia/reading room.htm). The reading
room provides access to a database of 13,000 scientific reviews and 300 pesticide active
ingredients. In addition, the public can find 800 pesticide product registrations containing
150,000 pages at the Regulations.gov Web site (www.regulations.gov). Since making the
database and documents available online, FOIA requests to this office have decreased by 17%.
In addition, EPA streamlined the process by which the public electronically files FOIA requests
by providing an online form for request submission (www.epa.gov/foia/requestform.html). In
March 2009, we launched a Web page that allows the public to track the status of their FOIA
requests (www.epa.gov/foia/foia request status.html). Finally, EPA increased transparency and
access to information by posting frequently requested information online. For example, an
individual who would like to export a vehicle has to produce a certificate issued by EPA. In the
past, the individual would make a FOIA request for the certificate which might take days or
weeks to receive. Now, anyone can go online to EPA's FOIA site and print the certificate from
the database. In recognition that not all stakeholders have access to new and emerging
technologies, EPA continues to support FOIA requests in non-electronic form at the following
address:
National Freedom of Information Officer,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code2822T
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
The National FOIA Office, in partnership with the Office of General Counsel, conducts a variety
of FOIA training sessions at EPA headquarters and in the Agency's 10 regional offices. EPA
sponsors national training for employees and contractors. The Agency holds bi-weekly
conference calls with regional FOIA Officers; monthly meetings with FOIA contacts in the
headquarters program offices; and semi-annual meetings with regional FOIA Officers. All of
these meetings involve - and some are entirely focused on - educating, informing and training
employees who support FOIA activities in diverse ways on new developments in the FOIA
program, including Administration policies.
EPA continues to look for ways to increase transparency and provide more information online
for public access. EPA is collaborating with other agencies (e.g., the Department of Justice,
National Archives and Records Administration) to explore how to provide the public with one-
stop access to submit and track FOIA requests. More information on EPA's FOIA program is
available at our FOIA Web page (www.epa.gov/foia).
c) EPA's Congressional Requests Process
Information about EPA's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations (OCIR)
operations including organizational structure, staffing, and workflow process that the Agency
relies on to respond to Congressional and Gubernatorial requests can be found at
(http://www.epa.gov/ocir/).
d) EPA's Declassification Process
EPA's declassification process follows Executive Order 12958, as amended, Part 3
Declassification and Downgrading. Any individual or organization may request a review of
classified information for declassification, and the Agency will ensure that requests for
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Web site Restructuring: The
public and our partners suggested
we change our Web site to make it
easier to find information. We are
actively working to revamp our Web
site, presenting information based
on a topic or audience.
As a first step, we reworked our
home page. We provided the public
a "sneak peek" of the EPA home
page
(httrj://www eoa aov/erjahome/snea
k.html). invited their input by posting
a blog, and addressed initial
feedback. The new EPA home
page was unveiled April 6, 2010.
declassification are processed in accordance with the provisions of law. See www.epa.gov/open
for EPA's declassification procedures.
D. Transparency Innovations
EPA is always in search of ways to be more open to our partners and the public. In particular,
we look for technology as a vehicle to help us broaden our reach and share more information.
We are also investing in changes to increase transparency on
EPA's Web site. To get feedback on our Web site, we employ
the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to measure
online transparency regarding how thoroughly a particular Web
page discloses information about what EPA is doing; how
quickly Agency information is made available on the Web site;
and how easily the public can access information about EPA's
actions. We also created an EPA Search Strategy to identify
areas for enhancement, and we are researching new tools to
help the public more easily find information via the search
function on the EPA home page—the most commonly
suggested improvement raised during the 2008 National
Dialogue on Access to Environmental Information
(www.epa.gov/nationaldialogue), described in more detail in
Section III. We are tagging and categorizing our Web pages
with keywords so that any time a public user searches on a
particular term, such as "global warming," he or she will find Web pages that use that word in
addition to documents.
Other examples of innovation include:
• Opening up EPA's research work: A recent addition to the transparency toolbox is a new
searchable database - Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO)
(www.epa.gov/hero) - that allows the public to find key studies used by the Agency to
develop environmental risk assessment documents. We also operate the Science Inventory
(www.epa.gov/si), a searchable database of EPA research activities and scientific and
technical products produced or funded by EPA.
• Not all of our data are in formats that lend to searchable databases. We are, therefore,
pushing to present useful information in reports that the public can access. In 2009, EPA
issued the first Vehicle and Engine Compliance Activity Report
(www.epa.gov/otag/about/420r08011 .pdf), which summarizes a large volume of
environmental data on mobile sources of pollution, including automobiles, engines and other
motorized equipment that produce exhaust.
• EPA frequently uses Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to provide information and data
to our stakeholders, and our Central Data Exchange (CDX) (www.epa.gov/cdx) can
accommodate live streams of data. Through CDX RSS feeds, the public can subscribe to
news updates or data for a particular system or program at EPA
(https://nodewebrss.epa.gov/user/RSSChannels.aspx). This capability provides a foundation
for the Agency and our partners on the Exchange Network to create new feeds as well as
automated feeds for submitting data to EPA from other points on the Exchange Network.
The feeds can be secure if necessary and can also be configured in minutes with built-in
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workflow tools that permit content approval. The CDX program is working across EPA's
program offices to incorporate this powerful new service into Agency business processes.
EPA began using Web 2.0 tools in 2007. We engage the public through blogs, discussion
forums, and podcasts. We also go where the public is, using sites such as Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr. We make it easy for people to share our information
through widgets, RSS feeds, and social bookmarks. See
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/socialmedia.html for more details and links.
One example of a unified Web 2.0 strategy is our AIRNow program, which uses Facebook
and Twitter. In addition, AIRNow's EnviroFlash is a free e-mail alert system that delivers air
quality information to subscribers.
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Search: 'JAN EPA •>'Compliance and Enforcement
Map of All Enforcement Actions
This interactive map shows information on enforcement actions and cases from 2009. They include civil enforcement actions taken at facilities, criminal cases
prosecuted under federal statutes and the U.S. Criminal Code, and cases in which EPA provided significant support to cases prosecuted under state criminal laws
4dd locations for air, water, land and criminal enforcement actions to the map. Then zoom in a few times to pin point an exact location. Click on the indicator to obtain
additional information on the environmental enforcement case. See "Questions About the Mans" for additional information and needs accommodations due to a
disability.
Figure 11-3: Enforcement Actions by Map
Using an interactive map, the public can find facilities with environmental violations (open enforcement actions) geographically.
http://www. epa. gov/compliance/resources/endofyear/eoy2009/2009-map-allactions. html
• EPA will publically release our GeoData Gateway (GDG), a central access point for EPA's
geospatial resources in Q3/Q4 of 2010. The GDG, which will also feed data to Data.gov, is
described in Appendix C.
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. Participation
Transparency informs the public, and participation informs the government.
EPA has historically engaged our federal, state, tribal and local partners, the public and other
stakeholders. We are striving to reach a broader range of groups (especially those historically
underrepresented) and understand their views. In order to hear from more diverse groups, EPA
is using more diverse methods to receive input.
For example, EPA reached out to stakeholders using a variety
of tools to develop this Open Government Plan. We provided a
means to accept comments via our Open Government Web
site, conducted a stakeholder meeting, and used the
Greenversations blog, Twitter and Facebook (links provided in
Section III.B.2).
Because EPA is a regulatory agency, enabling participation in
the rulemaking process has a large impact on the public and is
one of our top priorities. We have a number of active and
successful public participation efforts in rulemaking and other
areas, described below.
Superfund Community
Involvement: Since the 1980s,
EPA has actively promoted early
and meaningful community
participation during Superfund
cleanups. Members of the public
affected by a Superfund site have a
right to know what the Agency is
doing in their community and a say
in the decision-making process. Our
Community Involvement
Coordinators go to communities to
meet and talk directly to citizens.
The remainder of this section provides information about the Agency's:
• Participation history and baseline.
• Participation Innovations.
A. Participation History and Baseline
At EPA, we leverage technology as one tool to help us identify what information our partners
and stakeholders would like to receive. In 2008 EPA held a National Dialogue on Access to
Environmental Information (www.epa.gov/nationaldialogue) to determine the information needs
of our stakeholders. The dialogue used blogs and wikis, as well as face-to-face meetings, to
gather public input. This effort advanced the use of blogs and wikis at EPA as we found that
they are secure and easy to set up. What we heard from most of our stakeholders is they
cannot always find EPA information, even information they know exists, which is why we
initiated the web site restructuring.
A compilation of all the recommendations from each group we met with during the National
Dialogue can be found at http://www.epa.gov/open/NationalDialogue.pdf. We captured
comments and suggestions during the dialog sessions and are currently reviewing any
suggestions not already addressed to determine if we can feasibly and legally address them.
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EPA has many active efforts to encourage and enable public participation. Several of these
efforts are operational and have been previously noted, including our Open Government Web
site (www.epa.gov/open), Regulations.gov Exchange (www.regulations.gov/) and a variety of
social media technologies. These tools enable our partners and the public to provide input to
EPA.
We also use Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committees to obtain input on decisions;
these committees include representation from academia, industry, the public and health
professionals (www.epa.gov/ocem/faca). EPA also has the ability to charter new committees, as
we did for a negotiated rulemaking on Airline Drinking Water
(http://www.epa.gov/safewater/airlinewater/index.html).
Rulemaking provides a good example of EPA's continued innovation in enabling public
participation. As a regulatory agency, we developed an automated tool to manage the public
comment process mandated in the rulemaking process. That automated tool became the
foundation of Regulations.gov, now used across the federal government to allow the public to
track, review and comment on proposed regulations.
Many of our efforts and tools that provide transparency also have mechanisms for feedback and
participation. Since we described these efforts and tools in Section II, we focus on
improvements and new activities in the remainder of this section.
B. Participation Innovations
Although you can still send a letter to EPA or call us, EPA has
launched several efforts to further public participation. We
described several of these efforts in Section II, since many of
our projects that foster participation also promote transparency.
Some of the new ways we are enabling partners and
stakeholders to participate in carrying out our mission include:
National Lakes
Assessment Report: We are
working with partners to survey the
nation's waters, report on
conditions, improve monitoring and
assessment, and apply technology
to educate the public on the state of
their waterways.
Video contests, leveraging YouTube and the public to
educate others on environmental issues and successes: We have launched a series of
contests and envision continuing them indefinitely. As this report is being published, we
currently have one video contest and one participatory video project running.
Town hall meetings
Greenversations blog at (http://blog.epa.gov)
• The MyEnvironment Web page
(www.epa.gov/myenvironment/) features environmental
shout outs, which give the public the opportunity to
publicize good-for-the-environment activities that are
happening within their communities, such as river cleanups
and volunteer monitoring or e-cycling efforts, using
MyEnvironment's mapping interface.
Within the Agency, we are identifying ways to coordinate and
organize a formal network of EPA staff experts to connect and
respond to public inquiries, encourage public participation and
provide consistent service.
Faces of the Grassroots
Video Contest: We are
sponsoring a video contest asking
the public to highlight an
environmental justice activity, issue
or topic. Submissions via YouTube
of public service announcements or
short documentaries may be used
in future outreach and education.
(httD://www.eDa.aov/comDliance/en
vironmentaliustice/events/video-
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1. Examples of How Targeted Groups Get Informed
In addition to providing information geared to the public, we offer many ways for groups and
communities with specific interests or concerns (target groups) to become informed and share
ideas.
• EPA and the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) developed a forum
(www.ChemicalRight2Know.net) to provide access for communities, industry and interested
stakeholders to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and other environmental data.
• EPA is holding a conference, the 2010 National Training Conference on the TRI and
Environmental Conditions in Communities, to support
environmentally-informed decision making in communities.
Pet Spot-On Products
Webinar: An increase in the
number of reporting incidents for
pesticides in pet spot-on products
led EPA to evaluate the incidents
and products. This free public
webinar is a way to educate
consumers and answer their
questions.
• In the area of waste management and cleanup, EPA has
held two video town halls targeted to citizens. These
videos are described and viewable at:
(www.epa.gov/oswer/videotownhall.htm). The first town hall
was on the Superfund program, and the second focused
on environmental justice as well as how citizens can
reduce their carbon footprints through reducing, reusing
and recycling.
• One EPA office posts a question for discussion at least
once a month on their blog (http://blog.epa.gov/oswerforum/). A recent question was: How
would you grade EPA's role in addressing environmental justice issues in disadvantaged
communities?
2. Links and Websites for Public Participation and Engagement
EPA will rely on several sites to announce opportunities for our partners and the public to
participate in accomplishing our mission. For simplicity, the primary site for learning about these
opportunities is (www.epa.gov/open). EPA is committed to keeping this site as current as
possible and will strive to provide ample advance notice for upcoming activities. This site is also
available from EPA's home page (www.epa.gov) by clicking on the OpenGov icon.
The advent of Web 2.0 offers new ways for the public to participate. For that reason, EPA is
pursuing a variety of Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs and wikis. Currently, EPA is hosting more
than 140 applications on the Internet and EPA's internal Web site. Some examples include:
• Metal Mining (https://blog.epa.gov/metalminingblog): A blog to obtain public and industry
comments on pre-regulatory rulemaking related to the Metal Mining Industry.
• Thorium and Uranium Milling Facilities (http://blog.epa.gov/milltailingblog) (coming soon on
the Internet): A blog to obtain public and industry comments on regulatory rulemaking action
to 40 CFR192, Thorium and Uranium Milling Facilities.
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Additional links and ways to speak out and participate include1:
• Greenversations blog: http://blog.epa.gov.
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/EPA.
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/epagov.
• Many more social media opportunities: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/socialmedia.html.
Another site where opportunities may be announced includes:
• http://yosemite.epa.gov/opei/RuleGate.nsf.
3. Partner and Stakeholder Feedback Methods
From EPA's open government Web site (www.epa.gov/open), the public can follow progress on
flagship projects, select opportunities to participate, find data sets recently made available on
Data.gov, and access the OpenEPA Web site to provide feedback. The OpenEPA Web site also
allows us to solicit comments and provides partners and stakeholders a way to comment or vote
on ideas submitted by others. In response to requests on the OpenEPA Web site, EPA plans to
keep the site active after our Open Government Plan is published, which allows the public to
continue providing feedback and learn about our progress. We will also evaluate and establish
standards for the how often EPA will engage in dialogue with submitters.
We realize the tools and methods in our current toolkit are efficient means of communication for
technology-savvy stakeholders, and we are committed to broadening our reach to involve those
who are not technology-driven or who may not have easy access to technology. Our
commitment to reach the public contributed to our selection of Community Engagement as our
Flagship initiative. We will test other participation methods through the Flagship projects and
continue adjusting the number and variety of tools we use.
In addition, we provide feedback to public comments related to open government on our
OpenEPA forum. Please visit us at www.openepa.ideascale.com to view the current status of
ideas.
Finally, we are always looking for great ideas in your community. We have established an
interactive, web-based "Shout out Feature" that allows you to provide recognition for community
efforts. The purpose of this shout out feature is to applaud the environmental efforts of local
communities, but also to make neighbors aware of all the good that is being done right in their
own backyard. We encourage you to show us where something was done to help your local
environment and provide a short description. Your local activities are a key part of keeping our
nation's water, land and air clean, and we believe in the motivational value of these actions in
spurring similar action across the nation. You can find this feature at
www.epa.gov/myenvironment by entering your zip code or location information, and then
clicking on "Give A Shout Out" icon.
1 No citation or illustration of any specific product, service or enterprise in this report should be construed as a
Government endorsement.
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1-1 EPA's My Environment Shout Out Feature
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IV. Collaboration
Collaboration is ingrained in our operations and an important part of being open, fair and
inclusive. We collaborate by working with our federal, state, tribal and local partners, with non-
governmental organizations, academia and industry and with the public. EPA's partners
implement many of the Agency's most critical environmental
programs, including protecting water quality, reducing air
pollution, safeguarding drinking water and mitigating hazardous
waste. Almost all of the environmental data EPA collects comes
from our partners and the regulated community. We collaborate
on issues as wide ranging as data collection and sharing,
enforcing regulations, setting standards of protection, voluntary
programs (e.g. EnergyStar (www.energystar.gov), a joint EPA
and Department of Energy effort), and how best to empower
local communities to tackle local issues.
Producing widespread
environmental and
economic benefits:
Redeveloped brownfields sites
reduce stormwater runoff between
44 to 88%, result in lower vehicle
miles traveled between 33 to 58%
reducing air pollutants, and return
formerly contaminated property to
re-use. Since inception, more than
61,000 jobs have been leveraged
nationwide. Residential property
values increased between 2 to 3%
once a nearby brownfield was
assessed or cleaned. Brownfield
projects leveraged $18.68 per EPA
dollar expended.
One of the most significant examples of collaboration with a
broad spectrum of partners is the Brownfields program. This
program is designed to empower states, communities and other
stakeholders to work together in a timely manner to prevent,
assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse Brownfields
(sites with the presence or potential presence of a hazardous
substance, pollutant or contaminant). The idea for the program
was presented by a state at an Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management
Officials (ASTSWMO) meeting in the early 1990s. Shortly thereafter, EPA funded Brownfields
as a pilot voluntary program, and the program evolved based on feedback and lessons learned
from early projects. Congress recognized the success and potential of the program and passed
the 2001 Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Our Brownfields
program empowers citizens to reclaim and revitalize properties in their communities.
EPA has well-established tools and procedures for collaborating with the public, and we are
exploring new ways to collaborate with our partners and other stakeholders. The remainder of
this section provides information about the Agency's:
• Collaboration history and baseline.
• Collaboration innovations.
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A. Collaboration History and Baseline
Working in partnership with states and tribes is critical to protecting human health and the
environment. Starting in 2001, we worked with states and tribes to establish the National
Environmental Information Exchange Network (NEIEN) (www.exchangenetwork.net) to share
over 240 regulatory reports. Sharing such information improves its quality, timeliness,
accessibility and transparency while lowering costs and burden. All 50 states, 9 tribes and 1
territory currently exchange data over the Network, and the volume of data, types of data being
shared, and unique ways of sharing it through cutting edge technology all grow annually. EPA
also established a grants program to help the states and tribes exchange their data across the
network. Through these grants, states and tribes are able to build the infrastructure and take
other steps to move from submitting information on paper to sharing information electronically.
The collaboration on the Network extends to the governance structure as well. Our governance
features shared ownership and responsibility among the partners and comprises EPA, state and
tribal members who collectively make decisions about Network resources, strategy and
technology. The Network's technology and approach have been so successful that we are
extending them to support other important programs nationwide. Network technology is a
backbone of the new International Trade Data System's efforts to improve the sharing of import
security information among federal agencies; the Recovery, Accountability and Transparency
Board used EPA's Network technology and approaches to develop FederalReporting.gov, which
helps the Board monitor spending progress under the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act.
Total Coliform Rule (TCR):
To involve the public and experts
earlier in the regulatory process,
EPA established an advisory
committee representing states,
environmental groups, utilities and
public health and public interest
groups to recommend revisions
before EPA started updating this
rule.
Academia is another important group with whom we
collaborate in meeting our mission. Scientists are an important
source of information, and scientific data and studies are
important as we make decisions affecting the environment.
EPA recognized the need for our scientists to collaborate more
freely with scientists in other agencies and in academia. To
meet this need, we developed the Environmental Science
Connector (ESC), a password-protected research and
collaboration center that provides the capability to customize,
coordinate and monitor the progress of science projects from a
desktop. EPA scientists can centrally manage projects; search for and download data sets,
publications and other documents; set up web conferences; track the history of their work; and
share information with other researchers within EPA and external scientists, partners and
stakeholders who are collaborating with the Agency.
(https://ssoprod.epa.gov/sso/isp/obloginESCNew.isp)
EPA often collects and makes available information that is important to other federal agencies.
For example, we hold multiple radiological emergency response exercises each year with the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Energy (DOE), as well as state and
local governments. The CDC and EPA also work together to help local health officials prepare in
case of a radiological emergency. We developed tools to assist federal, state and local agencies
with the review of Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements through a
web-based geospatial application. The NEPAssist tool automates the collection and
coordination of information needed in the environmental review process, as mandated by the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPAssist provides immediate screening of
environmental assessment indicators in accordance with regional decision rules for a user-
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defined area of interest. These features contribute to a streamlined review process that
potentially raises important environmental issues at the earliest stages of project development.
As another collaboration example, the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE)
program is a grant vehicle that empowers local communities to reduce risks from toxic pollution.
Local groups create partnerships to address issues of local concern, from reducing chemical
exposure of workers at automotive shops to addressing the presence of heavy metals in
drinking water for people living near certain mining activities. Through one CARE project, a
community discovered that a large source of mercury releases into the Great Lakes was from
dental offices, a finding that prompted the American Dental Association to call on its members to
install a low cost device that captures mercury, keeping it from going down the drain and into
our river systems.
We also foster collaboration through training. We have EPA training programs that focus on
building collaboration skills as well as programs that provide information on available tools and
resources. Our skills building training programs cover areas such as negotiation, situation
assessment and collaboration. Training is sometimes made available to EPA partners as part of
a program. And the Superfund Program has a Community Involvement University that provides
public involvement and collaboration training, including methods to help our staff manage
difficult topics and situations.
To continue and expand our collaboration with the community, EPA will analyze public feedback
from the publication of our Open Government Plan and commit to providing updates on a
periodic basis.
B. Collaboration Innovations
While technology platforms and standards adoption are key enablers for collaboration and being
more open, fair and inclusive, not all of our stakeholders have access to technology to use the
new tools. So we will continue to collaborate in more traditional ways while we leverage
technology to reach a more diverse cross-section of the public.
With technology versus traditional methods in mind, the Agency is actively pursuing initiatives
that build on our infrastructure to help us publish high value data sets, encourage innovative
collaboration with stakeholders, and encourage increased partner and stakeholder involvement.
1. Collaboration Actions and Mechanisms
a) Address Technology Platforms to Improve Collaboration
EPA's infrastructure will continue to evolve to meet the growing demands of transparency,
participation and collaboration. The Agency has a backbone of services that support our ability
to share meaningful data sets with various stakeholders. EPA's Central Data Exchange (CDX)
(www.epa.gov/cdx/) enables fast, efficient and more accurate environmental data collaboration
with state and local governments, citizens and research groups, industry and tribes and EPA
participating program offices. This infrastructure is built on shared services, open data
standards and web services that improve data quality. Our infrastructure also provides the
Agency with the ability to publish high-value data sets such as TRI data in an increasingly
efficient manner. We are committed to pairing this infrastructure with existing reporting toolsets
(e.g., Envirofacts, MyEnvironment) as shared investments in the critical infrastructure and
service oriented architecture standards. Ongoing investments in data publishing and
collaborative toolsets will be evaluated against Agency standards to ensure potential
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investments in new solutions leverage the existing architecture, are built in open formats that
have collaboration/publishing in mind, and abide by established best practices.
b) Propose Innovative Methods to Encourage and Promote Collaboration
EPA is evaluating various methods to encourage more
inclusive and effective collaboration such as creating a way to
recognize and reward collaborative projects.
WaterSense: Like EnergyStar,
WaterSense helps consumers
evaluate products for efficiency - in
this case water efficiency. This is
another way EPA is using modern
social networking technologies and
mobile applications to reach a
broad audience.
We know that increased adoption of Web 2.0 and social media
technologies place a burden on the existing infrastructure from
activities such as downloading large data sets or video
streaming open meetings. As EPA continues to incorporate
more tools to facilitate open government, we will focus on
improving infrastructure and ensuring proper security. We have
begun to improve our infrastructure performance by using virtualization and through our Wide
Area Network (WAN) 2010 Initiative. We are also evaluating recent innovations in cloud
computing.
EPA's Facility Registry System
(FRS) (found at www.data.gov and
complete universe of facilities and
places that are or might be of
environmental concern. EPA is
working with OSHA and SEC to
link facilities of environmental
interest with facilities under worker
safety regulations and financial
reporting mandates. FRS is the
linking database for Agency
mapping and GIS applications.
We will continue to expand our focus on making data sets
meaningful to various stakeholders, capitalizing on technical
frameworks that have been created and can now be expanded
for new purposes. Initiatives that highlight this focus include
making data sets geographically relevant and accessible via
MyEnvironment. This solution allows the public to search by
neighborhood to learn about local air quality, cancer risk levels,
water quality, Brownfields and other factors that determine the
overall environmental quality and livability of a community.
In an effort to improve access to services, we will create a one-
stop resource for application programming interfaces (APIs)
and other web services that could be used with data sets. This
catalog will allow users to access the web services for possible
reuse of existing code when developing new services. The
catalog will identify associated XML schema and data sets that
could be used with the services. Where appropriate, EPA will
determine how to establish a standardized format for some of
these services to facilitate public usability.
The Agency also has an ongoing initiative to centralize
information about various cross-Agency resources, from
facilities to substances to environmental terms. These catalogs act as doorways to information
across EPA. Different EPA programs may have data about a particular facility; however, that
facility may be reported to each program office using a variation of the name. The Facility
Registry System (FRS) (www.epa.qov/frs) makes it possible to link the different data about a
facility together, enabling the public to find that information. Similarly, substances can be known
by a multitude of synonyms. Toluene, phenyl methane and methyl benzene are all valid names
for the same chemical. The Substance Registry Services (SRS) (www.epa.gov/srs) has a record
for each substance tracked or regulated at EPA, which EPA program is interested in the
substance, and the name used by each program for the substance. Through these two
registries, and others which can all be found at (www.epa.gov/sor), the public can discover
where to find information throughout EPA and, in the future, in the states and tribes. EPA offices
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are taking steps to integrate these registries into their systems as a way to improve public
transparency and data quality. We are also working with our state and tribal partners to ensure
the registries support their business needs.
The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is working collaboratively with a broad spectrum of
partners to increase access and use of information. Presently, there is a wealth of information
related to the Chesapeake Bay stored by state agencies in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., in non-governmental organizations, and within EPA.
To ensure better access to this information, the CBP is developing a registry, called
ChesapeakeStat, to catalog this voluminous, but dispersed information.
2. Sample Projects
In the area of collaboration, EPA is undertaking some new projects. Sample projects include:
• EPA's Watershed Central Web site (www.epa.gov/watershed) offers a wiki environment for
local watershed managers to collaborate with others, share management plans and
compare notes on tools of the trade. EPA uses this site to make managers aware of funding
and other resources. The wiki adds value to the Agency's general web presence on these
topics by enabling a dialogue and discussion among the watershed groups and by allowing
them to upload documents.
• EPA recently joined a cooperative effort called EcoCar, a consortium of government,
industry and academic leaders dedicated to advancing clean, efficient automotive
technology. The consortium hosts EcoCar, The Next Challenge, a three-year competition
among 17 universities in the United States and Canada to redesign and reengineer a 2009
Saturn VUE to minimize fuel consumption and emissions.
• Clean Energy - Clean Climate (CECC): EPA's Region 6 (located in Dallas, Texas) plans to
create an online, interactive tool to help states, local governments and tribes keep the
CECC strategy current as technological and scientific information emerges. Successes will
be shared with other regions.
• EPA will be highlighting creative uses of our data, and will establish a process to collaborate
with the community, by building a community of interest, to identify opportunities for new
innovative "mash-ups" for our data.
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• EPA works in collaboration with our state and tribal partners on the National Environmental
Information Exchange Network (NEIEN) (http://exchangenetwork.net/index.htm), discussed
above. One of the recent innovations established through this network is the Homeland
Emergency Response Exchange (HERE)
(http://www.herenetwork.org/). This capability provides a
rapid and easy way to pinpoint and assess potential
threats such as hazardous substances and vulnerable
resources. Wherever possible, explanatory information has
been included to provide some context to the variety of
data presented. HERE supports a broad assessment of
the immediate, and potential reciprocal threats that need
consideration in many emergency scenarios for
emergency responders and emergency operations
centers. Now, a "slimmed down" mobile version of
theHERE Client has been released to allow first
responders an additional way to easily access information
while in the field from their mobile telephones. The mobile
version requires no installation, and allows a responderto
access information about nearby potential threats (such as
sites with hazardous chemicals) and provides contact
information so they can click to call site representatives to
help evaluate and contain a situation. To access the
mobile version from your phone: rn.herenetwork.org/. The
HERE application is based on Exchange Network security
and exchange privileges between the current state
partners (Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois,
Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio) and is available to other regional areas. Visit the HERE site
to learn more about this capability.
• Another example of EPA-state partnership is illustrated by the creation of MassAir by the
State of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. MassAir was created
based on the principal that the public has a right to know about the environmental conditions
in their community. To reduce costs and increase efficiency, Massachusetts integrated its air
quality data internally and used the NEIEN to automate data quality assurance processes
and provide real-time air quality data to the public. This innovative solution can be seen at:
http://public.dep.state.ma.us/MassAir/.
• EPA has established an effort with NatureServe to access threatened and endangered
species and location information. NatureServe is a non-profit organization that collects
information on species, plants, and ecosystems from 50 states, Canada, and Mexico and
the Caribbean. The agency has integrated this information into a major EPA application to
support the National Environmental Policy Act and NEPAssist, an innovative tool which
facilitates place-based environmental review. We established an interagency agreement
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Interior, to provide access to this
critical data source. Other Federal agencies can also access NatureServe data and services
through our vehicle.
Of course, we could not really collaborate without a working relationship with our partners, the
public and other stakeholders. EPA regularly identifies new ways to reach out to and include the
public in our education and decision making processes. The SunWise Program, which aims to
teach children and their caregivers how to protect themselves from overexposure to the sun,
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has teamed up with the SHADE Foundation on a poster contest that asks kids to suggest ways
to prevent skin cancer and to raise sun safety awareness.
3. How the Public Uses EPA Data
EPA provides the public with a number of data sets, publications and general information
through a variety of electronic and non-electronic means. We have a web site
(http://www.epa.gov/nscep/) that provides free access EPA publications with more than 7,000
print publications in stock and over 35,000 digital titles. The public can search and retrieve,
download, print and/or order EPA publications from this site. Publications on these sites are
government material and not copyrighted; therefore, these materials can be reused for
educational or other purposes. Any materials in EPA libraries that are copyrighted are marked
accordingly.
In addition, educational materials geared to students and teachers can be found at
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/students.htm, accessible from EPA's home page and OpenGov
page; the site also provides links to training opportunities and materials for environmental
professionals. Finally, the EPA Web Site Restructuring project will address any copyright issues,
using a policy statement as necessary.
The public and other stakeholders often take EPA data to use for reports or combine with other
data for mashups to tell a story. One way to facilitate these mashups is to standardize data
elements in the data sets that EPA is making available on Data.gov and other locations. There
is a federalwide effort to standardize data elements used in information exchanges. EPA will
crosswalk the data elements in our data sets to the federalwide standards to identify
commonalities. Making the crosswalk information available to the public will facilitate easier
mashups of EPA data with data from other agencies.
Public uses of EPA data span a broad range of users and information, including2:
• Sites that provide the public with EPA data to aid understanding of the environmental
conditions in their communities include:
This We Know (www.thisweknow.org).
Data Masher (www.datamasher.org).
• Forbes magazine combined EPA data with outside data to compile an independent analysis
of toxics in urban areas for Forbes.com.
• SciScope, developed by the research office at Microsoft, is a research project to integrate
data from different sources and to provide the information on a map. SciScope brings
together water data, including EPA's STOrage and RETrieval (STORET), which collects
water quality monitoring data (www.epa.gov/storet/), water data from the U.S. Geological
Service's (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS)
(http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis) and data from several states. The integration of the data is
further supported by EPA's Substance Registry Services (SRS), which enables cross-
walking between different substance synonyms (www.epa.gov/srs).
• Oreck Corporation has created a mobile device application that provides users with the
status of their local air quality. The data in the application comes from EPA's Air Quality
'' No citation or illustration of any specific product, service or enterprise in this report should be construed as a
Government endorsement.
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Index (AQI), which provides a yardstick for determining the degree to which a geographic
area is clean or polluted for five major pollutants: ground-level ozone, particle pollution,
carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
• Since 1989, the Right-to-Know Network (www.rtknet.org) has provided free access to
numerous environmental databases and resources from EPA data sources. The information
available on RTK NET enables users to identify specific facilities and their environmental
effects, find permits issued under environmental statutes, and identify civil cases filed - all
from a single Web site.
We are maintaining our Open Government Web site (www.epa.gov/open), and by April 30,
2010, we will include a section that asks the public to share innovative ways EPA data are being
used. We intend to recognize the most innovative uses of EPA data, as determined by public
vote. EPA will work through groups such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and our
partners to reach those who do not have electronic access.
4. Input from the Public on Ways EPA Can Increase Openness and Transparency
EPA's OpenEPA public engagement Web site was one of the most active and heavily visited of
all federal agencies' sites during the development of the initial Open Government Plan 1.0. We
addressed five of the most popular suggestions within our plan 1.0. We've kept our OneEPA
site up since the plan 1.0 was published and included a blog feature to accept comments
directly on portions of the plan. All of the comments received are in the process of being
categorized and will be summarized and made available on EPA's Open web site. As
suggestions are evaluated and a response is prepared, the status of the suggestion will be
updated on the Open Web site. As follow up to the suggestions on the plan 1.0, responses to
five additional top voting ideas are provided below:
• Idea: Create a policy allowing EPA employees to speak openly about their data.
* Response: We received a recommendation to consider including a
communication policy in our plan that "clearly describes the rules governing
interactions between the public and agency staff." EPA will evaluate this
recommendation within our established Open Government Governance process
beginning in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2011, and we will provide updates on
the status in future updates.
• Idea: Live webcast of all meetings focusing on proposed regulations.
* Response: Web casts are increasingly being use for significant meetings and
notice of these are often posted through EPA news releases available from the
Agency's web site. Some projects included in EPA's Community Engagement
Flagship Initiative relate to expanding public engagement in the regulatory
process. Our Flagship teams are considering the use of various tools, including
web casts, to assist in communicating more effectively with the public.. Best
practices and lessons learned from the Flagship Initiative will be shared across
the Agency so that other efforts can more easily use proven, effective
communication tools.
• Idea: Regulate the growing use of antibiotics in farming animals.
* Response: The commenter is correct in stating that this is a complex issue
which requires coordination among multiple federal agencies and other
organizations. This comment has been shared with the EPA program office
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responsible for developing suitable regulations to ensure the proper management
of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. The most current compilation of
related documents can be found at http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/afo/info.cfm.
• Idea: Post examples of successful grant applications online.
* Response: The State Innovation Program is one among many grant programs in
the Agency. All State Innovation grant proposals - not just the successful ones -
were made available on our web site
(http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants/competitionhistory.htm) in order to
make the concepts more widely known. Potential submitters were advised of the
publication plan in the solicitation.
• Idea: Create a Bill of Rights for the environment.
* Response: EPA operates under the authorities provided by the various laws
passed by Congress. Each of these laws has come about due to the
identification of a particular need or condition that was recognized by the
legislative branch sufficient to warrant support and ultimate approval. Laws and
the corresponding regulations developed by EPA are intended to protect the
environment. Protection of the environment is central to EPA's mission, that is,
to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment- air, water
and land - upon which life depends.
All of the comments received through our OneEPA site on IdeaScale are viewable at
http://www.openepa.ideascale.com/. Comments received on our Open Government Plan blog
through Greenversations have been categorized and are available at
http://www.epa.gov/open/BlogComments.pdf. In addition to these sources, EPA has received
approximately 60 public comments through the Open Government EPA email account. Unique
comments with actionable requests have been captured and summarized in the document
http://www.epa.gov/open/public email.pdf. Please note, email names and original comment
content has been removed to protect the identity of the sender. We will continue to provide
summary and status of actions related to suggestions we've heard in our quarterly updates
available from the Open site http://www.epa.gov/open/.
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SXV
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V. Flagship Initiative - Community Engagement
Each agency was asked to select at least one Flagship initiative - a new, specific project to
promote transparency, participation or collaboration. Rather than selecting one concrete project,
EPA determined we would have more impact by defining and launching a broad Community
Engagement initiative, with many concrete projects across the Agency.
Community Engagement refers to a broad spectrum of activities intended to promote a greater
understanding of, participation in, and contribution by individuals regarding the environmental
issues that affect or interest them most. EPA considered several areas of its core mission where
improvements could be achieved by implementing open government principles. The selection of
the Community Engagement theme presents many challenges, and the Agency believes it also
offers the greatest source of growth potential by encompassing many of the elements
associated with the other themes. The broad scope of this theme also allows us to select a
range of projects, many with ties to suggestions posed during
the public participation/input process.
We selected Community Engagement by applying the following
evaluation criteria developed by the Agency's Open
Government Work Group:
• Supports the Agency's strategic goals and the
Administrator's priorities
• Degree to which the initiative supports openness principles
• Anticipated degree of impact and benefits
• Feasibility and likelihood of success
• Transformative value
To successfully accomplish our
mission, EPA needs active
participation from the public.
Effectively engaging communities
means we will need to make
information easy to understand; find
diverse ways to reach the public
(both electronically and via
traditional means); find creative
ways to hear their needs and
suggestions; and work with
partners, stakeholders and other
federal agencies to make informed
decisions and find the best
solutions.
Each Flagship candidate area (Community Engagement,
Regulatory Involvement and OneEPA) met these criteria; however, the Agency selected
Community Engagement because of its wide applicability—potentially influencing nearly every
part of the Agency. We crafted this initiative with opportunities to apply what is learned
throughout the Agency, providing a higher return on our invested effort.
To implement the Flagship initiative, EPA selected a number of projects - each designed to
involve the public and/or a particular segment of the population in greater depth than activities
typically conducted. Individually, each project varies in how it will engage the public. The
Agency expects to learn what is most effective and make use of this information as it evaluates
policies and standard practices that will be of benefit to future Agency efforts. The sections that
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follow briefly describe the selected projects, organized around various components of the
community that EPA intends to target as part of our community engagement initiative.
A. Expanding the Environmental Conversation with Communities
• Urban Waters: We are leading a federal interagency working group focused on helping
communities get educated and involved in local decision making that impacts urban waters.
EPA will develop new Web 2.0 tools for community-to-community information sharing, reach
out to non-digital audiences, and provide technical assistance to communities.
• Improve Communication of Sampling and Testing Results: EPA is developing a new
communication methodology to use with the public when contamination is found in their
communities. The new methodology will simplify scientific language, provide communities
with visual illustrations and clear explanations of contamination levels and associated risks,
and recommend actions that community members should take to protect themselves.
• Improve Delivery of Information to At-Risk and Remote Communities: We are
connecting with communities historically underrepresented in EPA decision making, to
enhance their abilities to be informed and meaningfully participate in EPA decisions about
land cleanup, emergency preparedness and response, and the management of hazardous
substances and waste. A national EPA work group will evaluate how information is provided
and make recommendations to improve our processes. The group will focus on electronic
access and the digital divide, and ways to provide technical information so that it is clear,
accessible and timely for use by affected communities.
• Faces of the Grassroots Video Contest: We are sponsoring a video contest asking the
public to highlight an environmental justice activity, issue or topic. Submissions via YouTube
of public service announcements or short documentaries may be used in future outreach
and education.
B. Expanding Public Awareness and Involvement in the Development of
Rules and Regulations
• Chesapeake Bay TMDL Webinar Series: EPA will conduct a series of monthly webinars to
help the public learn about the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) initiative (setting a
"pollution diet" for the bay) and share feedback with the officials designing it. We are working
with state partners to set restrictions on nutrient and sediment pollution through the TMDL.
• NPDES Pre-proposal Involvement: A future rule will require entities that have National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to report information to EPA
electronically. This change in reporting created great interest within and outside the Agency,
so we are launching the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule Web page to post public meeting
information and rulemaking progress as well as to host a discussion forum.
• Rulemaking Gateway: EPA's Rulemaking Gateway provides continual updates to the
public about the progress of priority regulations that are being developed. An important part
of the Gateway is a set of filters that help specific stakeholders understand which rules are
most likely to be of interest to them. There are filters for impacts on children's health,
environmental justice, state and local governments, tribal governments, unfunded
mandates, energy and more
(http://vosemite.epa.gov/opei/rulegate.nsf/content/about.html7opendocument).
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C. EPA Mobile Applications (apps) to Empower
Citizen's Environmental Decisions
• Human Health Advisories: EPA is leveraging
technology to push human health advisories via mobile
phone apps, providing the public with location-based
information to help them take action. The project is
cross-Agency. One example being developed is the EPA
Saves Your Skin mobile phone app, providing ZIP code-
based UV index information to help the public take action
to protect their skin. Another example of a mobile app is
the Air Quality Index (AQI) which feeds air quality
information based on zip code.
• Green Product Information: This is an Agencywide
strategy to provide a one-stop source of information to
consumers to help them consider the impacts of products
when making purchases (e.g., energy efficiency, water
conservation, chemical exposure, sustainable design). In
response to public input during the development of this
plan, EPA is developing an Internet portal that
consolidates the various Agency product information
Web sites into one Web site. Future efforts may include
ways to deliver such information through mobile
channels, either by EPA providing data that others can
incorporate into mobile applications, or direct EPA effort
such as text messages or Smartphone applications.
These projects help us meet our strategic goals through the
use of openness principles as shown in Figure V-1.
Mobile Apps
EPA saves your skin
The UV Index, developed by the
National Weather Service and
EPA, indicates the strength of
solar UV radiation on a scale
from 1 (low) to 11+ (extremely
high).
EPA's UV Index Mobile App
allows you to take appropriate
sun-protective behaviors and
avoid overexposure to UV
radiation.
Simply enter your ZIP Code or
city name and state to get the
UV Index forecast for your
community or for a place you
are visiting.
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Community Engagement Flagship Project Characteristics
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1 Flagship Project Name OG Principles Strategic Plan Goals Cross Goal Strategies 1
Urban Waters
Improve Communication
of Sampling and Testing
Results
Improve Delivery of
Information to At-Risk and
Remote Communities
Chesapeake Bay TMDL
Webinar Series
Faces of Grassroots
NPDES Pre-proposed
Involvement
Rulemaking Gateway
Health Advisories
Product Information
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Figure V-1: Community Engagement Flagship Project Characteristics
There are similarities among the projects which offer opportunities for knowledge transfer and
lessons learned we can apply to future efforts. Additional information on the Community
Engagement Flagship and individual projects will be available at our "Evaluating Our Progress"
section of OpenEPA (http://www.epa.gov/open/evaluate.html). The public can follow our
progress and find additional details about projects and how they support EPA's Community
Engagement efforts. Information for each project includes:
• How the project supports one or more of the three open government principles.
• How agency operations will be improved/benefits across the Agency.
• How we will identify affected and interested parties, engage them and maintain a dialogue.
• Identification of any external partners.
• How we will measure improvements to openness principles.
• Steps we will take to sustain the initiative and build in improvements.
Answers to the above questions for each project and activity within our initiative can be found at
http://www.epa.gov/open/flagship/index.html
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SXV
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VI. Evolution - The Open Road Ahead
EPA will learn from the activities identified in this plan and our focus on being more fair, open
and inclusive. We will capture the benefits and lessons learned for new innovations and
Flagship projects, and we will describe how lessons from those projects are being considered to
make lasting improvements in how the Agency operates. Those changes will be incorporated
into subsequent revisions of this plan.
EPA will leverage our governance structure, described in Section I, to continue to monitor
activities as they progress and to continue transforming our culture.
OEI will maintain the lead role in coordinating routine reporting activities, including updates to
Data.gov and Community Engagement flagship projects. The Office of Public Affairs (OPA) will
continue to maintain EPA's open government Web site (epa.gov/open) as the primary resource
for the public to stay informed on EPA's open government activities.
EPA will continue to operate the OpenEPA Web site to receive public input. We have taken a
"lite" moderation role in operating this site during development of this plan. Upon publication of
this plan, we will determine how our moderation role will evolve to make better use of this tool
as a source of input-potentially increasing its use for dialogue. We will track suggestions from
the site and will prepare an analysis of suggestions and make that analysis available when the
plan is revised.
In summary, we ask you to provide us feedback, and we would appreciate specific engagement
in the following areas:
• How can the EPA Open Government Plan 1.0 be improved?
• What additional data and information do you want to see from EPA?
• What are some innovative uses of EPA data that you have seen or implemented?
The success of this Open Government Plan, and of the environmental protection mission,
depends on community engagement and a continued two-way dialogue - EPA looks forward to
your participation.
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Appendix A- Milestones
OG High-level Milestones 4/7/2010 FY20IO FY20I1 FY20I2
EPA's OG Plan
Initial plan release i
Identify and share lessons
Adjust activities as needed
Develop plan addendum
Verify alignment with Agency
Strategic Plan to be released
Data Specific Activities
Publish Strategic Data Action Plan
Make 5 high-value data sets available
Define process to identify
innovative uses of data
Governance
Establish and institutionalize
sustainable governance structure
Hold quarterly governance
meetings
Update EPAs Open Government
performance metrics on
www.epa.gov/open
Policy
Promote culture change by
encouraging new media and Web
training within employee individual
development plans
Develop policy for maintenance
of Public Engagement Site
Communication
Analysis of public input
Maintain Open Government
Website
OMB Reporting
Employee Engagement Plan
Update performance measures
Post and maintain Web pages for
flagship projects
Flagship reporting
Website update i
Cross-Agency Transferability
Review and evaluate success of
ongoing efforts (e.g. Green Affinity,
NRC)
Communicate availability of
NatureServe Endangered Species
Contract
Identify, monitor, and participate
in cross agency activities
Flagship Initiative
Identify Web 2.0 strategy and tools
Implement Web 2.0 strategy and
tools
3 new programs/projects use
integrated Web 2.0 tools to engage
the public
2 new outreach events held
2 recommendations for new/
revised policies/procedures
that support Open Government
1 new program/project using
mobile application to support
citizen environmental decisions
Identify Best Practices to share
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Appendix B - Open Government Plan Development
Outreach Timeline and Plan
Key communications and the dates they were posted include:
• February 4, 2010 - Launch Open Gov Web site with link to the OpenEPA Web site
• February 8, 2010 - White House blog post
• February 10, 2010- E-mail from Linda Travers, Open Government Working Group leader, to
135,602 people - everyone who has subscribed to any EPA list managed by GovDelivery.
(This message reached a much broader list than a news release, and recipients included
reporters.)
• February 10, 2010 - posted to Facebook: (http://facebook.com/epa) and Twitter:
(http://twitter.com/epagov)
• February 16, 2010 - Greenversations blog by Jeffrey Levy - Help Us Serve You Better By
Being More Open
• February 18-19, 2010 - E-mails sent to non-governmental organizations (NGO) and industry
stakeholder groups inviting input
• February 25, 2010 - EPA programs given sample note to share with specific stakeholder
groups
• March 3, 2010 - Meeting with OMB Watch on Rulemaking and open government
• March 4, 2010 - Greenversations blog by Lisa Schlosser - What Does Open Government
Mean to You?
• March 5, 2010 - Mass mailer from Linda Travers to all EPA employees inviting input
• March 11, 2010 - Stakeholder meeting
• March 24-26, 2010 - Draft EPA Open Government Plan made available to all EPA
employees for comment
The following additional communications policies and plans were initiated February 8, 2010 and
continued throughout March:
• Additional Twitter and Facebook posts
• Additional Greenversations blog postings
• Open Government banner on our EPA home page with a link to our Open Government Web
site
• Banner on our Intranet with a link to our Open Government Web site
• Link to our Open Government Web site at the bottom of all e-mailed press announcements
EPA@40: Healthier Families, Cleaner Communities, A Stronger America
June 25, 2010
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Appendix C - Preview of Transparency Innovation:
GeoData Gateway
GeoData Gateway Overview
The Geodata Gateway (GDG) is a geospatial portal that provides a single point of access to
EPA's geospatial resources. The GDG contains metadata (information that describes data) from
EPA's regions, programs, and labs and it links to those resources. By providing this single point
of access, the GDG supports the work of environmental researchers, enforcement officers,
emergency responders, policy analysts and the general public who want access to information
about geographic sites of interest in their local community.
GDG Support to Open Government Directive
Direct Support for Data.gov Contributions:
• Data.gov and Geospatial One-Stop automatically pull data from the GDG.
Identification and Publication of High-Value Information
• The GDG enables EPA to assess and prioritize special data sets of high national interest or
data sets that are national in scale such as combined sewer overflows.
• This data can be geographically represented and integrated into reports, such as shown
below.
Enables viewers to access and use data that conforms to Open Standards
• Making data available in open standard formats supports information sharing and integration
across databases, platforms, agencies and the public.
• Data in open standards enables users to view the data in commonly available tools such as
Google Earth.
Innovations: The GDG provides access to content using some of the newest web 2.0
technologies
• RSS feeds available can inform users immediately about data updates and new data sets.
• The GDG offers other tools as well - such as a search widget that users can install within a
web page or application that will automatically search the GDG for data without having to
visit the GDG itself.
EPA@40: Healthier Families, Cleaner Communities, A Stronger America
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Using the GDG to Support the Agency's Mission
Using the GDG to Support the Agency's Mission
• The GDG connects people with the resources that support EPA's key priorities - below is an
example of the data GDG embeds to show water data directly on web pages.
EPA Priority: Protecting America's Waters
iCombined Sewer Overflow (eCSO) Image Service
The CSO image service provide combined sewer overflow data an-l
are sewers that are designed to cdect rainwater runoff, domestic
Details Preview Download Website Metadata
? Beach Feature Service
The Beach feature sen ice provide beach data and beach features r
(BEACH) Program focuses on the foiowing five areas to meet the
Details PieMfv. Do'.Miload Websae Metadata
J?J3each Image Service
The Beach image service provide beach data and beach features re
(BEACH) Program focuses on the following five areas to meet the
Details Preview Download Website Metadata
^WATERS Expert Query Tool
The Expert Query Tool is a web-based reporting tool using the EP/
Query: 1 View Selection Z ^ Choose what tvpe of information you
Details Preview Dowtiload Websrte Metadata
^Drinking Water Mapping Application (DWMA)
The Drinking Water Mapping Application (DWMA i is a web-base
identify major contaminant risks to public drinking water supplies
Detais Preview Download Vf»«~^
? National Hydrography Dataset Layers
The dataset contains water data such as streams, surface water lane
Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Reach Address Database (RAD) Tt
Detads Preview Download Metadata
Next Steps for the GDG
The GDG web application will be released to the public this spring. The GDG will align its
technologies and approaches to ensure full integration with Data.gov.
EPA@40: Healthier Families, Cleaner Communities, A Stronger America
June 25, 2010
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