History and Vision

In 1998 the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) and EPA committed themselves to a partnership to build locally and nationally accessible, cohesive and coherent environmental information systems. This commitment was codified in the State/EPA Information Management Workgroup (IMWG) "Vision and Operating Principles (PDF)" (2 pp, 39KB). The IMWG created action teams with State and EPA membership to explore knowledge transfer activities, information exchange technologies, various data systems and other relevant issues. The IMWG also served as a launching pad for the Information Products Bulletin. See the current activities section for more details on active action teams.

The IMWG's vision of information management becomes a reality through the forging of partnerships within the environmental information management community. Since its founding, the IMWG has brought together hundreds of representatives from this community by hosting regular forums in which participants share their knowledge and experiences to help chart the future course of environmental information management in the United States. The IMWG has also welcomed representatives from other parts of government and the news media to its meetings.

After two years of experience, the IMWG developed a more specific vision for the future in the form of a National Environmental Information Exchange Network (Network). The Network will revolutionize the management of environmental information through improving the quality of environmental data, providing regulatory agencies and eventually the public ready access to this data and increasing use of this information to protect public health and the environment. In July of 2000, the IMWG charged a team with developing the Blueprint for a National Environmental Information Exchange Network (PDF) (143 pp, 811KB). The IMWG also formed the Interim Network Steering Group (INSG), which developed the Implementation Plan for the National Environmental Information Exchange Network (PDF) (79 pp, 461KB).

In May of 2004, the IMWG formed the Network Planning Action Team (NPAT) to continue development of the strategic vision and planning for the Network. NPAT drafted the Exchange Network Business Plan (PDF) (98 pp, 665KB), which included a recommendation to restructure the Network governance. In March of 2005, the IMWG accepted the Network governance transition described in the report and chartered the Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC) to provide leadership and direction for the Network. For further information on the Exchange Network, please see the Exchange Network web site.

Currently, the IMWG is reviewing the recommendations listed in the Environmental Information Council’s Integrated Facility Identification System report. In addition, there are several IMWG action teams working to enhance environmental information sharing capabilities. See "current activities" for updated information on these activities and the "document archive" for more details on the products mentioned above.

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History and Vision

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