In My Backyard (Part 1): Locally Grown: Federal Information Sources for your Neighborhood

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Information Center http://www.weather.gov/informationcenter All-in-one current weather source Data from multiple agencies Fire Weather Hurricanes Space Aviation Marine

7. 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.

8. Integrated Map Application

10. 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.

12. Some data, like these graphs are available immediately

13. Runs of data from NCDC may take a few minutes

14. Bonus: Daily past weather by zip code

15. 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

16. Energy Savershttp://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

17. 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

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

19. 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.

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

21. I want details!

22. Water

23. 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.”

24. 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.

25. 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

26. National Polluant Discharge Elimination System Penalties: Compliance: Finally, this tiny note:

27. 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/

28. Some other hidden treasures Find this at the bottom of the compliance page (the last page we visited in the Suncor demo)

29. Overlay data on Map Superfund sites and cancer risk by tract

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

31. 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

32. State BLM Websites Arizona http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en.html Colorado http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en.html

33. State BLM Websites (cont.) New Mexico http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en.html Utah http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en.html

34. 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

35. 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

36. Science in Your Backyard http://www.usgs.gov/state/ All data for states organized similarly New releases of interest for state Real-time information for water, floods, streamflow, drought, earthquakes Highlighted state links Map with general geographic data Example of Wyoming News Release Stream-water quality changes from coalbed gas development Easily found in the Wyoming page Very difficult to find on main agency page

37. 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

38. Questions? Jennie Gerke, Lisa Nickum, and Barbara Whalen