Priority Area 13:
Clean Air Act (CAA) National Emissions Inventory (NEI) Reporting

 

Five states – Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Utah – recommended ways to streamline National Emissions Inventory (NEI) reporting.  EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS), within the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), is developing a new reporting database that will meet the states’ recommendations.  This database is called the Emissions Inventory System (EIS) and will be available via the Internet so that EIS stakeholders (i.e., states, local government, and tribes) can enter and access data online.  Eventually, the public will be able to view NEI data using EIS also.

There are four components to EIS:

• The EIS Gateway.
• Submission access through EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX).  CDX is the point of entry for environmental data exchanges to EPA. CDX enables EPA to work with stakeholders - including state, tribal, and local governments and regulated industries - to enable streamlined, electronic submission of data via the Internet.
• Public access to data.
• Tools and resources.

The EIS Gateway, which is a secure Web site for EIS stakeholders, is the first component under development. Parts of OAR, EPA Regions, and EIS stakeholders will be able to use the EIS Gateway. From the Gateway, stakeholders will be able to:

• Add, view, and edit facility inventory data.
• Gain access to all EIS data.
• Access emissions inventory resources (e.g., reporting instructions, reporting format, reporting code tables).

OAQPS expects to launch the EIS Gateway in October 2008 and distribute user guides at the same time.  OAQPS is planning to launch the second component of EIS – submission access through CDX – in time for the 2008 inventory cycle.  In other words, OAQPS plans to launch EIS by June 2009, and states will have a year to enter data for the 2008 report, which is due in June 2010.  This second component also includes populating EIS with historic inventory data. 

States serve on ongoing work groups to define EIS requirements and enhancements.  Interested individuals may learn more at the EIS Web site. Further details about how EPA met each state’s recommendations are available under the recommendations related to this priority area.  Go to Recommendation A1 for details about Maryland’s recommendation, and go to Recommendation A12 for details about the other states’ recommendations.