[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 95 (Monday, May 18, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27281-27282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13116]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6014-1]


Internet Availability of Data in the Sector Facility Indexing 
Project

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the 
Internet release of data in the Sector Facility Indexing Project 
(SFIP). The SFIP is a community-right-to-know and data integration 
pilot project that provides environmental performance data for 
facilities within five industrial sectors. The industrial sectors 
profiled within the SFIP are automobile assembly; petroleum refining; 
pulp manufacturing; iron and steel; and primary smelting and refining 
of aluminum, copper, lead, and zinc (nonferrous metals).

DATES: An Internet website containing the data in the SFIP was released 
on May 1, 1998 and is currently available to the public.

ADDRESSES: Data may be accessed electronically via the Internet at the 
following address: http://www.epa.gov/oeca/sfi

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Lischinsky, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Office of Compliance (2223-A), 401 M Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-2628, fax: (202) 564-0050; 
e-mail: [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SFIP, a pilot program developed by EPA, 
integrates and provides public access to more environmental information 
than has ever before been available to the public in one location. The 
SFIP profiles approximately 650 facilities in five industrial sectors. 
The goals of the SFIP include the following: (1) Make environmental 
information about industrial facilities and regulatory compliance more 
accessible to the public; (2) expand the comprehensiveness and improve 
the accuracy of data for analyzing the environmental track record of an 
industrial sector; (3) provide industrial and government stakeholders 
with better analytical tools for permitting, reporting, compliance, 
bench marking, self-policing, and pollution prevention purposes; and 
(4) help all stakeholders take a more holistic, multi-media approach to 
environmentally sound performance. The five industrial sectors chosen 
for the pilot stage of the SFIP are automobile assembly; pulp 
manufacturing; petroleum refining; iron and steel production; and 
primary smelting and refining of aluminum, copper, lead, and zinc 
(nonferrous metals). For each facility, the SFIP provides information 
on its location, production or production capacity, surrounding 
population, permits held under major environmental programs, the number 
of inspections received, record of compliance with federal

[[Page 27282]]

regulations, and any chemical releases, transfers, and spills. 
Facility-specific reports are available in the SFIP for viewing and 
downloading. In addition to gathering all this information into one 
location for the first time, the SFIP is unique in that it structures 
and aggregates the data so a user can easily view, compare, and analyze 
information from different facilities. The SFIP includes compliance and 
enforcement information submitted to state and federal regulators, as 
well as chemical release information submitted under the federal Toxics 
Release Inventory (TRI). The SFIP also links data submitted to state 
and federal agencies by facilities regulated under the Clean Air Act, 
the Clean Water Act, the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act, and 
the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Finally, 
statistics about the population around facilities were taken from 
census reports, and information about production was gathered from 
sources outside EPA.
    To link all these data, the SFIP uses an interactive, high-speed 
data retrieval and integration system developed by EPA, the Integrated 
Data for Enforcement Analysis (IDEA) system.
    EPA has been committed to providing all stakeholders an opportunity 
to comment formally on the SFIP in its entirety, as well as to review 
the project's underlying data. Therefore, from the onset of this 
project, the Agency embarked upon an extensive review and outreach 
process. Stakeholders, including environmental and community 
organizations, have commented on the project. Each facility included in 
the pilot project received a copy of its records and was given an 
opportunity to submit corrections. State agencies also received the 
information for review, since a large portion of the data is provided 
to EPA by state governments. EPA modified the data as appropriate, 
based on these comments. EPA will continue taking comments as this 
pilot project evolves. The Agency has set up an SFIP Hotline (617-520-
3015) and has also established a ``comment page'' on the SFIP website 
for users to submit their comments instantly.
    In addition to releasing the data electronically, EPA also will be 
providing a hard copy summary report of SFIP. The SFIP Progress Report 
is a publication that provides aggregated, pre-formatted information. A 
Notice of Availability will be placed in the Federal Register when it 
is ready for distribution.

    Dated: May 11, 1998.
Mamie Miller,
Branch Chief, Manufacturing Branch, Manufacturing Energy & 
Transportation Division, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 98-13116 Filed 5-15-98; 8:45 am]
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