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EPA/State Comparative Maps Help
The EPA/State State Comparative Maps provide a quick interactive way to review national trends and compare states and territories. This help page describes the meaning of the filters in the left navigation bar and information presented on the map.
To download state performance data similar to what is displayed on these maps, use the EPA/State Dashboards.
On this page:
Air Maps
The data on the EPA/State Air Comparative Maps originate from the EPA national system for the Clean Air Act, the Air Facility System (AFS). The information presented on the map is a combination of frozen data that has been reviewed by State Environmental Agencies and EPA Regions as part of an annual Data Verification process and production data. All Air Maps can be delineated by the universe of federally-reportable facilities into four categories: all, major facilities, synthetic minor facilities, and minor/other facilities. A user may also specify the "Agency" because EPA may be responsible for permitting, compliance and enforcement under the Clean Air Act at some facilities although geographically located within a state. These facilities are identified by EPA using certain CMS source category codes in AFS. All of the Air Maps can also be viewed as a count of activities in a state and many of the maps can be viewed as a percentage of the activities in the state compared to the applicable universe. The year selection slider at the top of the map will enable a user to see multiple years of data chronologically for each map.
Federally Reportable Sources
Total Facilities
This map shows the number of federally-reportable facilities for the universe selected. A facility's default classification is used to determine in which category a facility is included. The default classification reflects a facility's greatest emission potential. The category of minor/other facilities includes minor facilities subject to 40 C.F.R. Part 61 (NESHAP); and minor and facilities with an unknown classification that are part of a Compliance Monitoring Strategy (CMS) inspection plan, have an unresolved high priority violation, or were subject to a formal enforcement action within the last three years. Only facilities that are currently active in AFS or were active when the data was frozen are counted. An operating status of operating, temporarily closed, or seasonal qualifies as active.
Inspections/Compliance Monitoring
Facilities with a Full Compliance Evaluation
This map shows the number or percentage of federally-reportable facilities with a full compliance evaluation (FCE) completed during the fiscal year identified. Some facilities may have multiple evaluations in one year. This map shows all facilities that have had at least one evaluation during the fiscal year identified.
Full Compliance Evaluations
This map shows the number of full compliance evaluations (FCE) completed during the fiscal year identified. Some facilities may have multiple evaluations in one year. This map shows all facilities that have had at least one evaluation during the fiscal year identified.
Violations
Facilities with Violations
This map shows the number or percentage of federally-reportable facilities with an alleged violation during the fiscal year identified. Alleged violations are reported to the Air Facility System (AFS) as the data element, Compliance Status. When a violation is alleged the agency that identified the violation is required to update the compliance status appropriately. Each month, AFS then captures the worst-case compliance status for each facility and stores it as a historical record. The map uses the historical monthly compliance status to determine if noncompliance was identified or a violation was alleged during the fiscal year specified.
Facilities with High Priority Violations
This map shows the number or percentage of federally-reportable facilities with a high priority violation during the fiscal year identified. A high priority violation (HPV) is an alleged violation that warrants priority under the Clean Air Act enforcement program. An alleged violation is compared to an established set of criteria to determine if it is an HPV.
Enforcement Actions
Facilities with Formal Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of federally-reportable facilities with a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. An example of a formal enforcement action is a consent decree or an administrative order. Activities that are deemed sensitive are not included in the counts.
Facilities with Informal Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of federally-reportable facilities with an informal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Informal enforcement actions are actions that are intended to only notify a facility that an agency is alleging a violation.
Facilities with Any Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of federally-reportable facilities with an informal or formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Informal enforcement actions are actions that are intended to only notify a facility that an agency is alleging a violation. An example of a formal enforcement action is a consent decree or an administrative order.
The full formal and informal enforcement action definitions are provided in the Detailed Facility Report Data Dictionary.
Penalties
Total Penalties Assessed
This map shows the total penalty assessed (as a dollar amount) against each federally-reportable facility that was subject to a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified where a penalty was assessed. These actions include, for example, a state court consent decree, an administrative order, or an administrative penalty order.
Formal Enforcement Actions with a Penalty
This map shows the number or percentage of federally-reportable facilities with a formal enforcement action that had a penalty associated with it during the fiscal year identified. An example of a formal enforcement action is a consent decree or an administrative order. Activities that are deemed sensitive are not included in the counts.
More Views
Evaluated Facilities Where a Violation Was Found
This map shows the number or percentage of major facilities or synthetic minor facilities with a full compliance evaluation (FCE) completed during the fiscal year identified where noncompliance was reported.
Facilities in Violation with a HPV
This map shows the number or percentage of major facilities or synthetic minor facilities where noncompliance was identified with a high priority violation (HPV) reported during the fiscal year identified. An HPV is an alleged violation that warrants priority under the Clean Air Act enforcement program. An alleged violation is compared to an established set of criteria to determine if it is an HPV.
Facilities in Violation with an Informal Enforcement Action
This map shows the number or percentage of major facilities or synthetic minor facilities where noncompliance was identified that were issued an informal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Alleged violations are reported to the Air Facility System (AFS) as the data element, Compliance Status. When a violation is alleged the agency that identified the violation is required to update the compliance status appropriately.
Facilities in Violation with a Formal Enforcement Action
This map shows the number or percentage of major facilities or synthetic minor facilities where noncompliance was identified that were subject to a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Alleged violations are reported to the Air Facility System (AFS) as the data element, Compliance Status. When a violation is alleged the agency that identified the violation is required to update the compliance status appropriately.
Facilities with a HPV Having a Formal Enforcement Action
This map shows the number or percentage of major facilities or synthetic minor facilities with a high priority violation reported that were subject to a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. A high priority violation (HPV) is an alleged violation that warrants priority under the Clean Air Act enforcement program. An alleged violation is compared to an established set of criteria to determine if it is an HPV. An example of a formal enforcement action is a consent decree or an administrative order.
Hazardous Waste Maps
The data on the EPA/State Hazardous Waste Comparative Maps originate from RCRAInfo, the EPA national system for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The Hazardous Waste Maps focus on the hazardous waste facilities regulated under Subtitle C of RCRA. The information presented on the map is a combination of frozen data that has been reviewed by State Environmental Agencies and EPA Regions as part of an annual Data Verification process and production data. All Hazardous Waste Maps can be delineated by the universe of RCRA Subtitle C facilities into three categories (types): all, large facilities, and other facilities (see note below for details). A user may also specify the "Agency" because EPA may be responsible for permitting, compliance and enforcement under the RCRA Subtitle C at some facilities although geographically located within a state. The Hazardous Waste Maps can be viewed as a count of activities in a state, and many of the maps can be viewed as a percentage of the activities in the state compared to the applicable universe. The year selection slider at the top of the map will enable a user to see multiple years of data chronologically for each map.
Note on facility types: RCRA facilities have been categorized for purposes of these maps as "All", "Large", and "Other". The map defaults to the "Large" view, but the boxes that appear after clicking on a state display the totals for all facility types. The All view includes all active facilities regulated under RCRA Subtitle C that are included in RCRAInfo. The Large view includes operating Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) and active Large Quantity Generators (LQGs). The Other view includes all other facilities [active Small Quantity Generators (SQGs), active Very Small Quantity Generator (VSQGs), active transporters, and others].
Establishing a definitive regulated universe of facilities under the RCRA program is difficult and dependent on a number of factors. Because the quality of the universe information varies, it is not appropriate to compare one state's data with another without knowing the accuracy of the data and details of the compliance monitoring program in each state. Although these numbers represent the active universe in the national database, RCRAInfo, the states may have more current information. Links to state environmental agency websites may be found in the Other Resources box below each state dashboard.
Regulated Facilities
Total Facilities
This map shows the number of facilities regulated under Subtitle C of RCRA for the universe selected. Please see the above note on facility types for details.
Inspections
Facilities with Inspections
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities under Subtitle C of RCRA with an inspection completed during the fiscal year identified. Some facilities may have multiple inspections in one year. This map shows all facilities that have had at least one inspection during the fiscal year identified.
Inspections
This map shows the total number of RCRA Subtitle C inspections that took place during the fiscal year identified. Since some facilities may have multiple inspections in one year, the number of inspections in a state on this map may be larger than the number of facilities with inspections.
Violations
Facilities with New Violations
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities under Subtitle C of RCRA with new violations during the fiscal year selected. A violation at a facility means the facility has been noted as out of compliance with an environmental requirement set forth by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and its respective regulations.
Facilities with New Significant Noncompliance
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities under Subtitle C of RCRA with a new significant noncompliance status during the fiscal year selected. The RCRA program uses the term Significant Noncompliance (SNC). Any determination to classify a site as a SNC is made using the guidelines set forth in the December 2003 Hazardous Waste Civil Enforcement Response Policy. A site can be designated as a SNC if any of the following are found to exist: the site has been determined to cause actual exposure or has a substantial likelihood of causing exposure to a hazardous waste or constituent; is a chronic or recalcitrant violator; or deviates substantially from the terms of a permit, order or agreement, or from RCRA statutory or regulatory requirements. Under the RCRA program, the SNC designation is removed for a given site when the site is in full physical compliance with statutory and/or regulatory requirements.
Enforcement Actions
Facilities with Formal Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of facilities with a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Facilities with significant noncompliance and have serious or continuing violations that are not corrected quickly by the facility may warrant a formal enforcement action. This could include administrative orders, administrative penalty orders, or civil judicial cases filed in Federal court. Activities that are deemed sensitive are not included in the counts.
Facilities with Informal Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of facilities with an informal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Facilities that have violations may require an "informal" notice to the facility that an enforcement proceeding may occur if the violation is not quickly resolved.
Facilities with Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of facilities with either an informal enforcement action or a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified.
Penalties
Total Penalties Assessed
This map shows the total penalty assessed (as a dollar amount) against each facility that was subject to a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified where a penalty was assessed. These actions include, for example, a state court consent decree, an administrative order, or an administrative penalty order. EPA or the state often requires injunctive relief (actions needed to return to compliance and correct environmental damage) and the payment of penalties. Settlements also may include Supplemental Environmental Projects, which are environmentally beneficial projects which a defendant/respondent agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action, but which the defendant/respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform.
More Views
Final Formal Enforcement Actions with Penalties
This map shows the number of final formal enforcement actions that contain penalties and have been issued in the fiscal year identified. Since not all formal enforcement actions contain penalties, the percentage view of this map is designed to show the percentage of final formal enforcement actions issued that have penalties compared to the total number of final formal enforcement actions issued.
Ratio of Facilities with Formal Enforcement Actions to Serious Violators
This map shows the ratio of facilities with formal enforcement actions to serious violators. Typically, there are more serious violators than facilities with formal enforcement actions.
Rate Inspections Find Violations
This map shows the percentage of RCRA Subtitle C inspections that identified violations during the inspection.
Rate Significant Noncompliance is Identified after Comprehensive Inspections
This map shows the percentage of facilities identified in significant noncompliance following the completion of a RCRA Subtitle C inspection.
Water Maps
The data on the EPA/State Water Comparative Maps originate from the EPA national systems for the Clean Water Act, the Integrated Compliance Information System - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (ICIS-NPDES) and the Permit Compliance System (PCS). The information presented on the map is a combination of frozen data, that have been reviewed by State Environmental Agencies and EPA Regions as part of an annual Data Verification process, and production data.
All Water Maps can be delineated by the universe of CWA facilities into three categories: all, major facilities, and non-major facilities. Under the CWA, a major municipal facility has the design flow to discharge one million or more gallons per day. A user may also specify the "Agency" because states, tribes, and territories may be authorized by EPA to administer the NPDES program. A state may receive authorization for one or more of the NPDES Program components. All of the Water Maps can also be viewed as a count of activities in a state and many of the maps can be viewed as a percentage of the activities in the state compared to the applicable universe. The year selection slider at the top of the map will enable a user to see multiple years of data chronologically for each map.
Regulated Facilities
Total Facilities
This map shows the number of facilities regulated under the Clean Water Act for the universe and year selected. Regulated facilities under the CWA may be classified as either major or non-major. A facility can be designated as a major by an EPA Regional Administrator in conjunction with the State Director. Major municipal dischargers include all facilities with design flows of greater than one million gallons per day and facilities with EPA/State approved industrial pretreatment programs. Major industrial facilities are determined based on specific ratings criteria developed by EPA/State.
Facilities Reporting Discharge Monitoring Reports
This map shows the percentage of CWA NPDES facilities that reported discharge monitoring reports during the fiscal year identified. This map is not available as a number view but may be viewed as a percentage.
Inspections
Facilities with Inspections
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities under the CWA with an inspection completed during the fiscal year identified. Some facilities may have multiple inspections in one year. This map shows all facilities that have had at least one inspection during the fiscal year identified.
Facilities Reviewed for Violations
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities reviewed for violations during the fiscal year identified. This map is only available for the ANCR Non-Majors facility type.
Inspections
This map shows the number or percentage of total inspections complete in a state for the fiscal year identified. This map is different from the map titled "Facilities with Inspections" because some facilities may receive multiple inspections during one fiscal year.
Violations
Facilities in Noncompliance
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities in noncompliance during the fiscal year identified. This map does not distinguish the severity or seriousness of a facility in noncompliance.
Facilities in New Significant Noncompliance/Category 1 Noncompliance
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities in significant noncompliance or category 1 noncompliance during the fiscal year identified. EPA splits violations of NPDES permits into two categories: Category 1 [a.k.a. Significant Noncompliance (SNC) for permittees designated as majors] and Category 2. Facilities identified as in Category 1 noncompliance are typically those facilities with the most serious violations of their permit effluent limits in terms of duration, frequency, and magnitude, other permit requirements (e.g., failure of a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) to enforce its approved pretreatment program), or enforcement order (e.g., failure to meet an enforcement order's compliance deadline to build an improved wastewater treatment system). This map identifies the facilities that have more serious violations during the fiscal year identified.
Facilities with Effluent Violations
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities with effluent violations during the fiscal year identified.
Facilities with Single Event Violations
This map shows the number or percentage of regulated facilities with single event violations during the fiscal year identified.
Facilities Reviewed with Serious Violations
This map shows the number or percentage of Annual Noncompliance Report (ANCR) non-majors that were reviewed for compliance and had serious violations in the fiscal year identified. This map is only available for the ANCR Non-Majors facility type.
Enforcement Actions
Facilities with Formal Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of facilities with a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Facilities with significant noncompliance and have serious or continuing violations that are not corrected quickly by the facility may warrant a formal enforcement action. This could include administrative orders, administrative penalty orders, or civil judicial cases filed in Federal court. Activities that are deemed sensitive are not included in the counts.
Facilities with Informal Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of facilities with an informal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified. Facilities that have violations may require an "informal" notice to the facility that an enforcement proceeding may occur if the violation is not quickly resolved.
Violating Facilities with Enforcement Actions
This map shows the number or percentage of facilities with current violations that also received an enforcement action in the fiscal year identified. This map shows where violations are being addressed through enforcement.
Facilities with Formal Enforcement Actions/Facilities in SNC
This map shows the number of facilities with formal enforcement actions compared to the number of facilities in significant noncompliance during the fiscal year identified. Typically, many facilities in significant noncompliance receive some form of enforcement.
Penalties
Total Penalties Assessed
This map shows the total penalty assessed (as a dollar amount) against each facility that was subject to a formal enforcement action during the fiscal year identified where a penalty was assessed. These actions include, for example, a state court consent decree, an administrative order, or an administrative penalty order. EPA or the state often requires injunctive relief (actions needed to return to compliance and correct environmental damage) and the payment of penalties. Settlements also may include Supplemental Environmental Projects, which are environmentally beneficial projects which a defendant/respondent agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action, but which the defendant/respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform.
Formal Enforcement Actions with Penalties
This map shows the number of formal enforcement actions that contain penalties and have been issued in the fiscal year identified. Since not all formal enforcement actions contain penalties, the percentage view of this map is designed to show the percentage of formal enforcement actions issued that have penalties compared to the total number of formal enforcement actions issued.