Multisystem Search User Guide

Before you begin searching Envirofacts (EF), it is helpful to gather the following information about the business, chemical, or neighborhood you are researching. Although you can search with less information, the search will be faster and yield more precise results if you have the following:

• Business, city, county names, ZIP Codes, and/or state postal abbreviations.
• Facility Industrial Classification codes (SIC or NAICS) are classifications for the organizations you are researching. These codes are assigned to industries and businesses by the federal government through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Search Tips For Better Results

• Gather information about your subject ahead of time.
• Narrow your information as much as possible.
• Know what information is available in the EF database.
• Review the metadata fields.
• Understand how to limit searches.
• Review all display options.
• Save your search data and strategies.

Facility Name Search Option

Enter the complete or partial facility name to retrieve all facilities with that name. Select the "Containing" option when entering a partial name for a better retrieval.

Geography Search Option

Select from the following geographical search options: ZIP Code, Address, City, County, State, and EPA Region.

ZIP Code

The entry can be one or more digits. It allows you to enter the zip plus-4 extension as well.

Address

Enter a complete or partial street address.

City

Enter a complete or partial city name. Entering the two-character state postal abbreviation will help to narrow the search.

County

Enter a complete or partial county name and a two-character state postal abbreviation. Entering the two-character state postal abbreviation will help to narrow the search

State

Enter a two-character state postal abbreviation. A list of the postal abbreviations and the state names is provided below:

Note: We strongly recommend that you enter a small geographical area to begin the search since Envirofacts contains a large number of facilities.

Tribal Search Option

Search for facilities on or near any Tribe in the area

Use the drop down list to search for facilities near a tribe's geographic location. Use this in conjunction with other search options, such as the "Geography Search."

Search for facilities on or near a specific Tribe

Choose the radio button to search by Tribes in the continental US or Alaska Native Villages. The drop down provides a list of Tribes. Select the radio button below the box to identify the distance preference for the search.

Note: Alaska Native Villages locations are stored in the database as points, so select Tribe and 1, 3, or 10 mile surrounding area in order to obtain results for this option.

EPA makes no claims regarding the accuracy or precision of data concerning Indian country locations or boundaries on the EnviroFacts website. EPA has simply attempted to collect certain readily available information relating to Indian country locations. Questions concerning data should be referred to the originating program or Agency which can be identified in the Envirofacts tribal query metadata files Lower48 Tribal Areas, Alaska Reservation, Alaska Native Villages, or Alaska Native Allotments . The Indian country locations shown here are suitable only for general spatial reference and do not necessarily reflect EPA's position on any Indian country locations or boundaries or the land status of any specific location. The inclusion of Indian country information on the EnviroFacts website does not represent any final EPA action addressing Indian country locations or boundaries. This information cannot be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States or third parties. EPA reserves the right to change information on EnviroFacts at any time without public notice. 

EPA uses the US Census Bureau 2014 tribal boundary layer data when developing environmental data query responses for tribes in the lower 48 United States. The tribal boundary locations identified are suitable only for general spatial reference and do not necessarily reflect EPA's position on any Indian country locations or boundaries, or the land status of any specific location. EPA seeks to use the best available national federal data and may refine the tribal boundary layer in the future as more accurate national federal data becomes available.

Facility Industrial Classification Search Option

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code Search

You may enter a partial or complete SIC Code as search criteria for your search. You need to enter a search criteria for Facility or Geography in conjunction with the SIC Code to run this search. The first two digits of the code define a major business sector, and the last two digits denote a facility's specialty within the major sector. Select a search option from the drop down menu. For the "Equal to" option enter a 4-digit SIC code. For "Beginning with" or "Containing" enter up to 4 digits.

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code

You may enter a partial or complete NAICS Code as search criteria for your search. You need to enter a search criteria for Facility or Geography in conjunction with the NAICS Code to run this search.

The individual digits within the NAICS code indicate different levels of granularity in identifying a business. Here is an example of the granularity the individual digits provide:

Select a search option from the drop down menu. For the "Equal to" option enter a 4 to 6-digit NAICS code. For "Beginning with" or "Containing" enter up to 6 digits.

Pollutant Name Search Option

Pollutant Name

Enter a complete or partial pollutant (chemical) name. There can be various common names for the same chemical, so if the name you enter is not listed under that name for the facility, the search will not retrieve a facility that you might want to see.

Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) Number

Use the "Lookup Pollutant codes and CAS numbers" link to select a CAS Number, or enter the chemical's CAS Number in the field.

Note: If both a Pollutant Name and CAS Number are entered, only CAS Number will be used in the search.

Envirofacts Search Results

The search will produce a Multisystem Report for the entered location which displays:

• The location you entered
• An "API link to Report Data" URL. This feature allows you to embed the generated report in your own documents or web pages.
• A breakdown by topic of the number of facilities that report to a particular EPA program system office.
• An interactive map of the location which displays the facilities reporting to EPA.
• A table of the facilities in the location along with links to view program system detailed reports about each facility.
• Summary Report - this links to the facility detail report.
• Other Links - provides links to additional resources such as MyEnvironment and EnviroMapper for Envirofacts.

Usage Constraints

Information in the Envirofacts database can be freely accessed through the use of the searches. While the complexity of a search is up to the user, searches that return a large volume of data may terminate prematurely due to system limitations. The constraints established for the enviro user account (the search uses this to connect to the ORACLE database) are:

• Each search is limited to 2.5 minutes of Central Processing Unit (CPU) time.
• A single session can be 15 minutes in duration.
• A session may stay idle for 7.5 minutes, at which time it will be terminated.

Develop searches that return small batches of data and terminate the session as soon as the searches have been executed, so others can access the database.