RE: Greetings and Question for Today: What kind and what amount of information do people need ?

[Paul Orum <paul_orum@yahoo.com>]

Re: What kind and amount of information do people need?

We usually speak of (OK, we write too) organizing environmental information according to "key identifiers," which are simply the common sense ways that people search for information.

Among these are:

1] Location (e.g., what pollution sources -- point and indirect sources -- are in my zip code, county, watershed, state, etc?).

2] Facility (e.g., what does a given factory release to the environment? What is it permitted to release? What do they do to search for safer pollution prevention alternatives? And what do they do in there?).

3] Chemical (e.g., where do they still use persistent organic pollutants -- or POPs -- the chemicals that are being eliminated worldwide under an international treaty?)

4] Industrial Sector (e.g., what impact on the environment do similar facilities have elsewhere? What opportunities exist to market pollution control or prevention technologies?)

5] Parent Company (e.g., who owns this facility? What is the environmental, labor, and human rights record of the parent company at operations in India, Italy, Indonesia, or in other countries?)

6] Regulatory Status (e.g., who regulates this facility? What do those regulations require? Is there any enforcement?)

7] Add your "key identifier" here....

In order to link information, EPA has to overcome the fragmented "stovepipe" structure of its single environmental media basis -- a challenging task, but no longer unimaginable, given modern information management tools.

Paul Orum
Working Group on Community Right-to-Know
paul_orum@yahoo.com