[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70079-70080]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-29471]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7410-5]


Notice of Availability of Enforcement and Compliance History 
Online Web Site for 60-Day Comment Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of information availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Compliance (OC), within EPA's Office of 
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), announces the availability 
of and invites comments on its new Web site, Enforcement and Compliance 
History Online (ECHO), which contains searchable, facility-level 
enforcement and compliance information.

DATES: Comments must be submitted no later than January 21, 2003.

ADDRESSES: The Web site is available at http://www.epa.gov/echo. 
Comments may be submitted to [email protected] as a Word or WordPerfect file 
or mailed to Rebecca Kane, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of 
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, MC 2222A, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460. Specific data errors should be 
submitted using the error correction process on the ECHO site.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rebecca Kane at [email protected] 
or (202) 564-5960.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. ECHO Background

    EPA is committed to public access to environmental information and 
has worked to develop a format for providing Internet access to 
facility-level compliance and enforcement information contained in core 
EPA data systems. Though the data included within ECHO previously were 
available to the public primarily through Freedom of Information Act 
requests, the information was not available in a searchable Web format. 
This new e-government initiative makes it much easier for the public to 
obtain these data records on the Internet.
    EPA has worked with State governments to develop the content of the 
site and ensure accurate data and has pilot tested Internet access. A 
Joint EPA-State Enforcement and Compliance Public Access Workgroup 
developed the template for the type, sources, and amount of data to be 
included within ECHO. This workgroup, developed in partnership with the 
Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), made its recommendations in 
June 2000. EPA has field tested the approach and the data through: the 
Sector Facility Indexing Project (http://www.epa.gov/sfipmtn1/), which 
shows data for a limited number of industrial sectors, and a four-State 
pilot in the Pacific Northwest (http://www.epa.gov/idea/region10). 
Public feedback and lessons learned from these projects contributed to 
the development of the ECHO site.
    To prepare for launch of ECHO, EPA and the States conducted a 
comprehensive data review to ensure high quality information. ECHO also 
includes on the site an online error reporting process that allows 
users to alert EPA and the States to possible errors. This notice 
announces a 60-day comment period, which is being provided to give 
interested parties, particularly those responsible for facilities 
included within the database, the opportunity to review ECHO's content, 
design, and accuracy of data.

II. ECHO Data

    ECHO provides integrated compliance and enforcement information for 
approximately 800,000 regulated facilities nationwide. The site allows 
users to find facility-level inspection, violation, enforcement action, 
and penalty information for the past two years. Facilities regulated 
under the Clean Air Act (CAA) Stationary Source Program, Clean Water 
Act (CWA) National Pollutant Elimination Discharge System (NPDES), and 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) are included. ECHO 
reports provide a snapshot of a facility's environmental record, 
showing dates and types of violations, as well as the State or Federal 
government's response.

[[Page 70080]]

ECHO reports also contain demographic information from the National 
Census.
    Data included are drawn from the Aerometric Information Retrieval 
System (AIRS) Facility Subsystem (AFS), Permit Compliance System (PCS), 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information System (RCRAInfo), 
and, for Federal enforcement actions, the Integrated Compliance 
Information System (ICIS), as well as Facility Registry System (FRS) 
and U.S. Census data. EPA, State, and local environmental agencies and 
the facilities collect/report the data that are submitted to these 
Agency databases.

III. Specific Questions for Consideration

    EPA is soliciting comments on the usability of the site as well as 
the accuracy of the data. EPA is specifically asking for responses to 
the following questions:
    (1) Does the site provide meaningful and useful information about 
the compliance and enforcement program?
    (2) Is the site easy to navigate?
    (3) Does the help text adequately explain the data?
    (4) What additional features, content, and/or modifications would 
improve the site?
    (5) For members of the regulated community:
    A. Were your facility reports accurate?
    B. If you did need to submit an online error report, was the error 
reporting process easy to use?
    Please note that comments are requested for the project in general; 
specific data errors should be reported through the error correction 
process on ECHO. (This feature is on every facility report--click on 
the red button on the top right of the page.) Also, please include 
question numbers in responses.

IV. Response to Comments

    EPA will analyze comments received and will use these to guide any 
modifications to this site.

    Dated: November 13, 2002.
Michael M. Stahl,
Director, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 02-29471 Filed 11-19-02; 8:45 am]
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