Print this page Environmental Information About YOUR Facility
Jane Showalter Thomas, P.E., CPEA
Course Outline
This two-hour course leads you through some of the publicly available, Internet-accessible sources of environmental information about facilities and communities. This course will show you how to access facility-specific environmental information and information on environmental conditions of a community or region.
Websites with environmental
information on the following topics will be addressed:
- Compliance and Enforcement;
- Water Quality;
- Air Quality;
- Chemicals;
- Climate Information; and
- Multi-database
Sites.
The course includes
an exercise to gather environmental information about a facility of your choice
as you investigate the websites discussed.
The course includes
a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding
of the course materials.
Learning Objective
At the conclusion of this two-hour course, the student will be familiar with:
- Some of the sources of environmental information available to the general public via the Internet;
- How to access sources of environmental information such as permits and violations for specific facilities;
- How to access sources of information about the environmental condition of communities;
- Generally what the information means;
- Some of the important environmental information about the facility of their choice that is readily available from Internet sources; and
- The process
to report any errors observed in the online information and request corrections.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for the following:
- Engineers and managers of industrial facilities who what to know what environmental information about their facilities is readily available to the public;
- Engineers and others who want to know more about the environmental status of their neighbors, suppliers, or competitors;
- Suppliers and clients of companies with environmental regulatory obligations; and
- Citizens interested
in knowing more about the environmental status of companies in their community.
Benefit to Attendees
Attendees of this
course will be able to access publicly available, Internet-accessible environmental
information about facilities and communities. This will allow them to know what
environmental information the press, non-government organizations, competitors,
and others can access with just a few clicks of a mouse. If incorrect information
is found, they can begin the process of getting it corrected. Additionally these
readily available sources of information can be mined to better understand the
environmental issues of the attendees' neighbors, suppliers, clients, and competitors.
Course
Introduction
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, some state environmental regulatory agencies, and other organization
have established Internet-accessible databases that make environmental information
about companies and individual facilities readily available to the public. In
the next two hours, you will learn about some of that information and how to
access it.
Course Content
The course content is in a PDF file (5 MB) Environmental Information About YOUR Facility. You need to open or download this document to study this course.
Course Summary
Many environmental regulatory agencies and organizations have made a significant amount of environmental information readily available to the public. This course provided direction to many of the Internet-accessible sources of such information, summarized what information was available at each site, and provided guidance on how to request corrections, if needed. Engineers and managers should be aware of the environmental information about their facilities that is readily available to the public.
The items discussed
in this course included: website addresses, summary of the information contained
there, how to access the information for a specific facility or community, and
guidance on requesting corrections, where needed.
Related Links
For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Homepage
Major Environmental
Laws
Right-to-Know Homepage
Toxic
Release Inventory Homepage
Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act
USEPA Programs
with a Geographic Focus
Climate Change
Water Quality
- What You Can Do
USEPA Industry
Partnerships
USEPA Hotlines
and Clearinghouses
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
