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ECHO Comments Archive |
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"This tool is very useful as long as it is kept up to date.
The information is presented in a clear and very concise format
which is helpful to informed users. Please keep it operational.
It is the best I have seen in my 10 year career as an environmental
professional." "I would like to be able to read inspection reports prepared
by the regulatory agency." "I am writing to urge you to keep the ECHO program intact.
It provides useful information for citizens to determine the status
of environmental issues." "I would like to see a more detailed search criteria. Maybe
have the option to search by company name? Some transportation facilities
are only listed by a PO Box and therefore are cannot be located.
Great website, very informative!" "Please keep this site available." "Please keep this information available. It is an extremely
valuable resource! Many thanks for your work" "...The [xxx] applauds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
for the development of a useful and informative web based tool.
The ECHO site appears to be very user friendly and will undoubtedly
benefit both the general public and the regulated community. We
are concerned however, about the accuracy of the data caused by
the apparent "disconnect" between the reporting agency
(in [xxx] it is the [xxx]), the facility and the EPA. A selective
review of the data for some members of the [xxx] indicates there
were a number of errors, or some violations were being reported
to ECHO that were never reported to the facility itself. Possible
causes of erroneous data might include— 1. Failure of [xxx]
to QA/QC the data input. 2. Failure of [xx] to notify a facility
of a violation, but said violation data is reported to ECHO. 3.
A violation may be reported by an inspector to [xxx], which in turn
contacts the facility. The facility responds in a timely and appropriate
manner, either disputing the inspection finding or providing subsequent
documentation to clear up the issue. The facility does not hear
anything else from [xxx] which may have dropped the violation finding.
Yet, without adequate internal QA/QC, the dropped inspection issue
is reported in the ECHO database as an unresolved violation, even
though a Notice of Violation may not have ever been issued. 4. Updates
of violations reported to ECHO may not be processed in a timely
manner, resulting in an inordinate number of violations reported
that may have been resolved months previously. The [xxx] respectfully
requests that EPA take measures to insure that the data provided
by the state and tribal reporting agencies is certified to be accurate
and timely. We do not believe that it is accurate to publicly report
"violations" into the ECHO database until a NOV has been
issued. Finally, we encourage EPA to include in the guidelines for
data entry a requirement that the correction of entered violation
data be completed within 30 days of a final ad judicatory decision
on the violation." "When you get into state info you need a way to correct misinformantion
that is supplied, or misposted. Also I don't understand how the
"midnight dumper" and the guy that has an accident with
some bad stuff would be distinguished! Maybe the point is not to
distinguish-just log in the numbers and everything is a Felnoy." "I am impressed! If only we could get all government agencies
to push accountability to this level! Keep it up! I beg of you!" "Took a 5 minute scan and appears intuitively helpful- if
the data is correct and you make a few minor tweaks, like optimize
the sorts and ID the law being violated. Sorts - For example, when
I clicked on the Violations ( 2 yrs) arrow, I expected that the
sort would arrange the listing alpha for all the yes, then alpha
for all the no. I did not get this and I am not sure what sort I
got other than the yes and no are segregated. You may want to allow
secondary sorting within a primary sort mechanism to facilitate
use. Law Violated - You may also wish to ID the act which is the
reason for the violation. It is not apparent from the 5 minute scan.
There are a lot more whistles and bells that can be added, but for
a urban - slanted tool, this is a nice start. I would keep it lean
with only a few bells and then only for specific purposes. It would
be nice to have a selection tool that queries a selection of a polygon,
watershed or several rural counties for the other side of urban-rural
equation. It would also be nice to have an obvious toggle to allow
the reader to easily highlight obvious BAD data back to a source
who could then plan/facilitate feedback to the originator of the
data." "... I've found ECHO to be very useful." "Re: Technical details of site (I'm a [xxx]...): 1) Using
3 and 4 letter technical and profession-based acronyms (eg "RCRA"
p1, and "SIC Code") without spelling out the term first
confuses everybody except "insiders". For example, What
is a "PDA"? (How about a patent ductus arteriosus, or
maybe a personal development account, or...: - ); 2)On the search
screen, it would be nice if, once one selects a region, then proceeds
to the address, the pick list presented for address was pruned in
software to present only the states in the selected region; 3) In
Florida, watershed address map: Most of the addresses do not have
an associated visible "hot spot" via Internet Explorer.
4)Generally a very nice site, that will be at least as good as the
FDA once the start-up techincal glitches and oversights and the
database search and access issues are cleaned up..." "Echo is a fantastic site. Finally the EPA has released this
valuable information to the public. It is easier to get around and
faster then EnviroFacts or RTKnet. Keep this site going...." "This site provides a valuable public serivce. Please keep
it up after the 60 day trial period. Thanks!" "This is a fantastic site, please keep it up after the 120-day
trial period is completed. Thank you!" "This is a valuable site that should be kept available to
the public. I have long felt that this site/service is a valuable
tool for citizens to keep and eye on the health of their communities
and do something about it if action is required to clean up pollution.
The public has a right to this information. Please, do not restrict
this information in the name of national security, for how can our
nation be secure it we do not trust our citizens; how can we be
secure if our citizens are deprived of the right of knowledge of
what kinds and amounts of pollution is released and by whom in their
communities?" "You are to be congatulated . This website must have taken
a lot of work. Thank you. This is a fabulous tool for the public
to get more involved in environmental issues in their communities.
We are often overwhelmed by issues, ECHO helps prioritize our time
and effort. Please make ECHO a permanent feature." "I would like to congratulate the team who worked on this
project for a job well done. I am impressed with the speed the query
is processed . And the information is relatively understandable.
One can easily grasp the information because of a well designed
table that has enough informations! Congratulations!" "I would like to voice my support for your new ECHO site.
It is a wonderful resource for local citizens who are concerned
about the different industries operating in their back yards. This
website is an incredible resource and can do much to increase awareness
about the state of the environment in the areas where we live. Great
job!" "The site is very good. The information provides an effective
and quick initial assessment of the site. More in depth research
will be required, however, the information is a fantastic tool to
determine next steps with a facility. Thank you." |
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