GIS / spatial Environmental justice mapper

[el Guapo]

Would you like information on where the toxic waste sites in your neighborhood are located? Yes, I said in your neighborhood. I say this because I just viewed a map from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and these sites are everywhere.

Go here. You will have to turn the listings to the right on an off in the legend to see what you are looking for, but after you mess with the map a few times it gets easier. Click on the map to zoom in and out. It took me a few tried to zoom in to a level where the streets in my city became visible.

Don't give up, seeing where the toxins are buried is really eye-opening. When you want to see what a specific source of contamination in your neighborhood is, select identify feature. Compare it to the map and select the correct type of feature from the legend and then click on it. The name of the company pops up. Then below the map is a link to much more information on that particular polluter.

If you really want to see a mess, go look at Detroit.

This is a great tool and the government should be commended for putting this kind of information on the web. Polluters can't hide with this tool available to the common citizen and thier crack planning staffs.

 

[SGB]

I'd recommend adding a county subdivision (aka town) political boundard layer.

That would help us rural regional planning folks a lot.

 

[kms]

Calling up some of the reports took awhile, but it can be useful. It kept my attention for a while. Most of the identified sites around here are service stations.

 

[nerudite]

It seems like an okay tool. I did a test of Vancouver, and there were some places I knew of that didn't show on the maps (probably because the licensing for some septic and oil tanks systems are through the State and so remediation plans aren't in the Federal system. So even though it's a good tool, it still isn't complete and would take other research to find all hazardous sites within an area.

 

[SkeLeton]

I tested it in the town where I lived.. so I had a dry cleaning near my apartment... so that's hazardous waste? Anyways.. I don't have 6 fingers or 3 arms... so I guess it's not that bad

 

[el Guapo]

...I did a test of Vancouver, and there were some places I knew of that didn't show on the maps (probably because the licensing for some septic and oil tanks systems are through the State and so remediation plans aren't in the Federal system.

Say again, over?

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada didn't show up on the US EPA web site?

Am I missing something here?

 

[Tranplanner]

Am I missing something here?

Yeah - I'm pretty sure Nerudite was searching Vancouver, WA

 

[Rem]

FYI in NSW, local government is required to record, map and provide on property certificates, information about contaminated and potentially contaminated sites.