Upon hearing the news some months ago that each federal agency has been mandated to create an open portal to their data, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the sites from several key agencies with strong geospatial and sustainability ties. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now among the list to have a portal, and it can be accessed at http://epa.gov/open/ (news lead found via Twitter @druidsmith).

One data set that is now freely downloadable from the site is the  Emission & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID). The eGRID data includes environmental characteristics of electric power generation, with air emission and resource mix information for thousands of power plants and generating companies. eGRID allows direct comparison of the environmental attributes of electricity from different plants, companies, States, or regions of the power grid.

Among the mapping-oriented features of this site is the EPA’s mapping tool for enforcement cases that allows you to view facilities in the United States where EPA has conducted environmental enforcement actions.

This new site has a wealth of data, and the public is encouraged to provide feedback and help the agency develop their Open Government Plan.

Give the wealth of available online data, one can’t help but think about the possible applications that citizens will be able to create with this information. In light of the decreasing investigative power of the press due to the economic pressures on that medium, these open data initiatives can serve to act as a watchdog for environmental and economic justice issues.

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