Some Database Resources for Environmental Reporters
Index
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Environmental Protection Agency
Envirofacts & Major Databases
TRI-Related
Search, Mapping, Visualization, & Analysis Tools
Other
Interior Department
BOEM
FWS
OSMRE
BLM
NPS
BuRec
USGS
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
Army Corps of Engineers
Centers for Disease Control
NIH
Coast Guard
Centers for Disease Control/ATSDR
Food & Drug Administration
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Agriculture Department
Federal Contracting and Spending (General)
Nongovernmental Organizations
Money & Politics
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The Best CAR How-To's
why and how
National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting
Phil Meyer -- the original guru
Precision Journalism (4th Ed.)
Wikipedia article on "Database Journalism"
Poynter Institute
A Guide to Computer Assisted Reporting, by Pat Stith
The Benefits of Computer Assisted Reporting, by Jason Method
NICAR
Computer Assisted Reporting, A Practical Guide (3rd Ed.), by Brant Houston
Computer Assisted Reporting, by Bruce Garrison
Power Reporting: College syllabi on computer-assisted reporting, precision journalism
and news research
Power Reporting: A bookshelf on computer-assisted reporting, news research & statistics
CAR HALL OF FAME
Jennifer LeFleur
Brant Houston
Sara Cohen
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Overview
Search
App
Download
Coverage
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Environmental Protection Agency
Envirofacts
Envirofacts (once Envirofacts Data Warehouse) is the single main portal for access to online EPA data. It allows you to query most of the major databases, and can report back with information from multiple databases. It is fairly easy for a beginner to use and offers lots of help to the non-geek user. It sets a standard for most other government agencies.
Overview
Multisystem Search
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Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS)
AIRS is now a somewhat obsolete name for a system that includes two largely independent databases: the Air Facility System and the Air Quality System. It does, however have a cool widget you can use to get air pollution info related to your ZIP code.
App: AIRS Widget
AIRS/Air Facility System (AFS)
The AIRS/AFS system contains records about individual stationary air pollution sources subject to Clean Air Act regulation.
Overview
Search
App: AFS Widget
Draws from National Emissions Inventory (NEI)
AIRS/Air Quality System (AQS)
The AIRS/AQS stores data about the quality of ambient air as measured by monitoring instruments. The system actually contains a large and complex array of data sets from many sources about many pollutants over a long period of time. Apart from Envirofacts, one of the best ways to interact with it is through the AQS Web Application or one of EPA's other data tools.
Overview
Search: AQS Discoverer (requires registration)
App: AIRS/AQS Web Application
Download
RCRAInfo
RCRAInfo is EPA's system containing data generated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 and the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984. RCRAInfo replaces the Resource Conservation and Recovery Information System (RCRIS) and the Biennial Reporting System (BRS).
Overview
Search
Download
Hazardous Waste Biennial Report
Brownfields
App: Brownfields Widget
CERCLIS (Hazardous Waste Sites)
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS) contains information compiled under the "Superfund" hazardous waste law (CERCLA, as amended). One way to think of much of the data in CERCLIS is as a list of hazardous waste sites (in various stages of assessment or cleanup) which may have the potential to become Superfund sites listed on the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is a subset of CERCLIS.
Overview
Search
Search: Some of this data may also be accessed via the Superfund search page
App
Download
Coverage
Cleanups in My Community
This handy page allows you to search for sites and facilities under Superfund, RCRA, or the Brownfields program, including federal facilities.
Search
Facility Registry System (most regulated facilities)
Overview
Search
App
Download
Coverage
Grants Information & Control System
Overview
Search
App
Download
Coverage
Information Collection Rule (drinking water)
Locational Reference Tables
Permit Compliance System (NPDES wastewater discharge permits)
Overview
Search
App
Download
Coverage
RADInfo (Radiation Information Database)
RadNet (radiation monitoring data)
RCRAInfo (solid and hazardous waste)
Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS)
Substance Registry Services
Toxic Substances Control Act database
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Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory
Toxics Release Inventory
TRI-CHIP
TRI-NET
TRI Comparative Analysis Tool
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ECHO-ICIS
Enforcement & Compliance History Online (ECHO)
STORET/WQX (water quality monitoring data)
[Cross reference to
USGS National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse
National Air Toxics Assessment
Mobile Source Observation Database (MSOD)
Database of Sources of Environmental Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States
Air Quality Trends Report
Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI)
MY-RTK (mobile)
EJView (Environmental Justice Mapper)
Discharge Monitoring Report/Pollutant Loading Tool (for TMDLs)
MyEnvironment
Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report
MyPropertyInfo
EPA's BP Gulf Spill Data Page
EPA Geospatial Data Access Project
EnviroMapper
Surf Your Watershed
Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI)
Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST)
List of EPA Databases and Software
Registry of EPA Applications and Databases (READ)
Emergency Management Databases and Tools
Many of the EPA-developed tools for first responders to use in hazmat incidents are freely available to journalists and the public. With CAMEO on your laptop you are ready to roll the next time a nearby refinery blows up.
List of Lists (EPA database of most hazardous chemicals)
EPA AirNow Maps and Data
Daily local forecasts and readings on EPA's Air Quality Index
Air Explorer
A set of visualization tools for air quality data
EPA Clearinghouse for Inventories and Emissions Factors (CHIEF)
EPA links to more ambient air quality data sources
Data.gov entries for EPA
EPA Data Finder on Data.gov
EPA Data Finder on EPA site
Department of Interior
BOEM
EWELL
Pipeline Permits Database
Various offshore oil resources
Fish & Wildlife Service databases
National Wetlands Inventory
Threatened and Endangered Species System(TESS) database
Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS)
Includes not only endangered species, but Critical Habitat, fish migration barriers, etc.
National Wildlife Refuges Threatened and Endangered Species Database
FWS Environmental Contaminants Data Management System (ECDMS)
National Wild Fish Health Survey Database
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
Abandoned MineLand Inventory System
Bureau of Land Management
BLM Online land records systems
BLM online services (includes more land records)
BLM Geographic Coordinate Database
National Park Service
National Registry of Historic Places
National Historic Landmarks Database
Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act
NAGPRA Online Databases
National Archeological Database
NPS Media Inventory Database System
Inventories NPS interpretive materials
(May be publicly available, but accessible only via computers on NPS network)
Bureau of Reclamation
Projects and Facilities Database
US Geological Survey and others
Protected Areas Database of the United States
National Water Information System (mapper page)
USGS National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse
Earthquakes Data
NationalLand Cover Database
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Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NationalClimaticDataCenter ("World's largest archive of climate data")
NOAA Satellite and Information Service
NESDIS (multiple databases)
NOAA Coastal Legislative Atlas (which laws apply where on U.S. coasts)
NOAANationalOceanographicDataCenter (multiple databases)
Includes WorldOcean Database
NOAANationalCoastalDataDevelopmentCenter (multiple databases)
NOAAAlaskaFisheriesScienceCenter (multiple databases)
NOAANationalGeophysicalDataCenter (multiple databases)
NOAA/WDC Historical Tsunami Database
MARBID: NOAA/NMFS's (US) marine biodiversity database
location unknown
NOAA Central Library Databases Link List
National Air and Space Administration (NASA)
Global Change Master Directory ("Discover earth science data and services.")
Army Corps of Engineers
National Inventory of Dams
Navigation Data Center/U.S. Waterway Data/National Waterway Network
National Levee Database (may not be publicly available)
CorpsMap
Fed/State/Nongov Agencies
Coal Impoundment Location and Information System (LIS)
Centers for Disease Control
U.S. Cancer Statistics
NIEHS
NIH
National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Mortality Atlas
National Library of Medicine
Toxicology & Environmental Health Information Program
TOXNET (searchable online collection of 14 databases containing data on toxics and toxicity)
DHS Coast Guard
NationalResponseCenter FOIA Download and Query Page
USCGNavigationCenter
Labor Department
OSHA Workplace Safety Data (via IRE/NICAR)
MSHA
Transportation Department
National Pipeline Mapping System
NationalBridge Inventory
NBI partial disclosure policy
NBI via IRE/NICAR
Bridgehunter.com database
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Nuclear Material Events Database (available via IRE/NICAR)
Event Notifications Reports
NRC Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
This mainstay NRC records system can be searched online for documents such as those recording "Significant Enforcement Actions."
Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC)
Recall Database
CPSC data via IRE/NICAR
General Services Administration
Federal Procurement Data System
Also available via IRE/NICAR
White House Office of Management and Budget
Federal spending database (USASPENDING.gov)
OMB Watch
Federal spending database
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Non-governmental
Project on Government Oversight (POGO)
Sunlight Foundation
Lobbying Registration Tracker
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Earmarks Database
Right-to-Know Network
RTKNet is a non-profit now under the aegis of OMB Watch, which makes available a number of databases related to toxic and hazardous materials. It is the only place you can get a database on federally restricted EPCRA Risk Management Plans.
RTK-NET RMP Database
EHSO Info about RMPs
Scorecard (Green Media Toolshed)
Investigative Reporters & Editors
Follow the Money: Gulf Oil Spill
Compilation of State Lawyer Licensing Databases (LLRX.com)
Cryptome
Commercial Data Services
HIS USOffshore Lease Database
Pennwell
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Campaign Spending
Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org)
Sunlight Foundation: Follow the Unlimited Money
National Institute on Money in State Politics
Dark Money
Federal Election Commission