In My Backyard (Part 1): Locally Grown: Federal Information

Sources for your Neighborhood

Jennie Gerke, Head of White Business Library, University of Colorado at Boulder

Lisa Nickum, Government Publications Librarian, Colorado School of Mines

Barbara Whalen, Collection Specialist, Denver Public Library

Overview

• We will introduce some quick sites on local information from a variety of agencies

• We will also go more in-depth on Climate.gov and MyEnvironment from the EPA

U.S. Government and Local Data

• Federal government has been collecting data for decades in order to govern effectively

• Government lacked effective methods to distribute massive amounts of data to the public

• Technology over the past 5-10 years has allowed greater dissemination of this data, including previously hard to find local data

Weather.gov http://www.weather.gov

• Everyday weather site• Local forecast by zip

code or by city, state• Other local weather

features also available• Radar & Satellite

Images• Hourly Weather

Graph• National Digital

Forecast Database

Information Center

http://www.weather.gov/informationcenter

• All-in-one current weather source

• Data from multiple agencies

• Fire Weather• Hurricanes• Space• Aviation• Marine

What’s new?

↑Data is FREE to all—including, as of the end of the month Local Climatological Data.

↑Integrated Map Application shows weather stations and available data.

But…↓ Map interface can be daunting.↓ Data retrieval and presentation differs among

products.

Integrated Map Application

CoCoRaHS stands for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow network. It is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, snow and hail).

GHCN = Global Historical Climate Network. Most of the blue dots are NOAA cooperative observer stations which provide temperature (usually maximum and minimum) in addition to precipitation data. These include some automated stations (ASOS stations) such as official stations at airports.

Some data, like these graphs are available immediately

Runs of data from NCDC may take a few minutes

Bonus: Daily past weather by zip code

Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

• DOE initiative - encourage energy literacy to understand energy and its interaction with the economy and environment

• Help the public to discover if any energy efficient financial assistance is available locally

• Energy Savers: Rebates, Tax Credits, & Financing

Energy Savers http://www.energysavers.gov/financial/

• Valuable energy efficiency information for all types of places (home, vehicle, workplace)

• Find Incentives ….. that apply to you

• # of incentives by state• Also has free search

widget

DSIRE – Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy

http://www.dsireusa.org

• Select by state• Gives number of

incentives • List of incentives

organized by funding source

• All types of funding – Federal, state, and local

• Also has free search widget

• Beware!! – not all funding is currently available

My Environment from EPA

http://www.epa.gov/myenvironment OR Enter your location on the EPA’s home page

What will you find?

• Maps, Air, Water, Energy, Health, Land, Environmental Reports and Community Events

• Each page on the web site retains this bar each icon corresponding to one of these topics.

Commerce City, CO

Toxics from Suncor refinery spill still seeping into water; Colorado vows to "accelerate" responseDenver Post, January 21, 2012 http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19787661

I want details!

Water

Trust me…it’s on the map

Whenever you get overwhelmed, see if there is a map of the issue you are examining.

In this case “Toxic Releases to Water.”

Facility Information, Result 1

On the map you can find Suncor, this links you to information on the facility with queries from all the EPA databases.

This is not as useful as you imagine.

Note how the results are not in date order.

Facility Information, Step 2

• If you click on EPA Facility information you will get a list of all enforcement groups, as well as information on the facility such as addresses, alternative names, NAICS and contact information.

• Here you can finally get some RELEVANT data :– Toxic Release Inventory (number of toxins released

back to the 1990s)– National Polluant Discharge Elimination System

National Polluant Discharge Elimination System

Penalties:

Compliance:

Finally, this tiny note:

But…I didn’t get the actual violation!

In Colorado the agency that handles this issue is the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment. You can find more info by searching Suncor on their web site.http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/

Some other hidden treasures

Find this at the bottom of the compliance page (the last page we visited in the Suncor demo)

Overlay data on Map

Superfund sites and cancer risk by tract

Compare

Sometimes you think your area is bad, but maybe it is a statewide problem.

Bureau of Land Management

• Important agency for our six states for public land management (large parts of all 6 states)

• All 6 states have their own separate BLM page organized by the BLM state office

• Public land management includes energy, recreation, grazing, fire, wild horses, planning, etc.

• State BLM sites are a better bet for state and local information than overall BLM website

State BLM WebsitesArizonahttp://www.blm.gov/az/st/en.html

Coloradohttp://www.blm.gov/co/st/en.html

State BLM Websites (cont.)New Mexicohttp://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en.html

Utahhttp://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en.html

U.S. Geological Survey

• Not just geologic data – agency also covers science topics like climate change, invasive species, water quality, energy, and minerals

• Due to wide range of activities, U.S.G.S. often works with other agencies

• Desires to get agency data out to public and works cooperative with partners in state and local governments as well as with other entities

Science in Your Backyard

• U.S. Geological Survey database that covers geology, mineral, and water resources by state

• Allows one place to find data from an agency with such a broad mission

• Available on main U.S. Geological Survey website – hard to locate (bottom right)

• Libraries may want to highlight because of placement on website

Science in Your Backyard http://www.usgs.gov/state/

• All data for states organized similarlyo New releases of interest

for stateo Real-time information for

water, floods, streamflow, drought, earthquakes

o Highlighted state linkso Map with general

geographic data• Example of Wyoming News

Releaseo Stream-water quality

changes from coalbed gas development

o Easily found in the Wyoming page

o Very difficult to find on main agency page

Federal Cooperation on Data

• Some individual agencies worked on creative dissemination methods to distribute more of their data to citizens

• Most agencies are aware of the new demands of data, data, data by the general public

• Some projects create central repositories for data from multiple agencies

• This is a win-win situation for everyone involved

Questions?

Jennie Gerke, Lisa Nickum, andBarbara Whalen