Who’s polluting my neighborhood?
New database makes searching for chemical, climate data faster, easier.
APRIL 4, 2024 – A revolutionary tool unveiled today will make it easier to find data on companies that release harmful chemicals into the environment and contribute to climate change. FencelineData.org provides facility-level information about environmental violations and toxic-chemical and greenhouse-gas pollution at 21,000 facilities that report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
FencelineData, a project of DataKind, Until Justice Data Partners, Material Research L3C and Public Health Watch, represents a major advance in data accessibility: it makes multiple federal databases available in one place, allowing users to avoid government websites that can be difficult to navigate and interpret.
The tool allows users – including journalists, advocates, researchers and members of the public – to do the following:
Find data from the EPA’s Toxics Inventory Releases (TRI), Greenhouse Gas Reporting System (GHGRP) and Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) programs
Search for facilities by ZIP code, substance or parent company
Discover top-polluting companies and facilities for each TRI chemical
Learn the potential health effects of each chemical Future versions of the tool will include community-gathered data, weather-pattern datasets, data visualizations and maps, and will capture emissions from companies outside the U.S.
Contacts:
For questions about data sources and technical capabilities of the tool: Larry Kilroy larry [at] datakind.org
For questions about how FencelineData.org can help journalists: Savanna Strott, sstrott [at] publichealthwatch.org
For questions about how FencelineData.org works with and helps communities: Monica E. Unseld, Ph.D, MPH monica [at] untiljusticedatapartners.org
For questions about how FencelineData.org can help researchers: Selena Sillari, ssillari [at] materialresearch.org
About the partners:
DataKind tackles the world’s toughest challenges with data science and AI to improve the capabilities, reach, and scale of social impact organizations.
Public Health Watch is a nonprofit investigative news organization with a specialty in environmental health. Based in Texas, it is national in scope.
Leaders in data science and data justice, with a focus on equity and accessibility, Until Justice facilitates cross training and user experience testing with community leaders, partners with communities to develop or sustain their research programs, including offering assistance with using research and data advocacy and aligns FencelineData.org with like-minded communities, programs and projects.
An educational service company with a global vision, Material Research serves the FencelineData.org governing partners and researchers worldwide.