Environmental Science Resource Guide: U.S. Government Websites

The EPA leads the country's science, research, education, and assessments efforts in the environmental protection arena. It enforces federal regulations, conducts research, furthers education, and finances various state and federal projects. The EPA deals with a broad range of environmental issues, including air, compliance, ecosystems, human health, pollutants/toxics, water, industry, and much more.

A single point of access to several EPA databases covering environmental activities that affect air, water, and land in the United States. Quick Start allows the user to retrieve information by zip code, city, state, or county, or select topics including Waste, Water, Toxics, Air, Radiation, Land, Compliance, Other, and Maps.

Features the EPA´s digital publications National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS) database. Provides over 24,000 digital EPA documents. Offers both simple and enhanced searching.

The EPA gateway to all things "Superfund," or the cleanup and enforcement of hazardous waste sites. Covers technology, costs, risk assessment, and more.

Gateway to information resources of the U.S. government science agencies. Includes authoritative science websites and databases of technical reports, journal articles, conference proceedings, and other published materials. The web pages and databases can be searched individually or simultaneously.

Includes searchable NOAA Central Library which provides extensive full-text publications from various programs. NOAA Research provides text, maps, and data pertaining to specific projects including climate monitoring, coastal management, and marine mammals.

Provides an interactive atmospheric data tool pertaining to carbon cycle greenhouse gases.

Provides global environmental data from satellites and other sources.

Contains searchable bibliographic records and energy-related scientific and technical information from the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies.

ATSDR attempts to inform and prevent harmful exposure and disease related to toxic substances. Site includes news, publications, legislation, and Congressional Testimony. Provides the Toxic Substances Portal, which offers evaluations of hazardous substances and their health effects. The Environmental Health WebMaps, is a geographic analysis tool which allows searching by location.

This is NASA's clearinghouse for earth science data. Data sets are retrievable by topic - Agriculture, Atmosphere, Biosphere, Climate Indicators, Hydrosphere, Human Dimensions, Land Surface, Oceans, Paleoclimate, Snow and Ice, Solid Earth, Spectral Engineering, and Sun Earth Interactions - or by text searching.

NREL develops renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies to address the nation's energy and environmental goals. Research areas include: photovoltaics, wind, biomass, geothermal, buildings, vehicles and fuels, electric systems, hydrogen and fuel cells, solar thermal, basic science, energy analysis, and computational sciences. Full-text research publications, data, and maps are available on the NREL site.

Managed by the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the RReDC provides information on types of renewable energy resources in the United States, in the form of publications, data, and maps. Also, includes news and a glossary of terms.

OSTI is the DOE office that collects and disseminates the outcomes of R&D projects or other activities at DOE labs and facilities nationwide. The information is largely in the form of technical documents, conference papers, articles, and software, and is collectively referred to as scientific and technical information (STI). Other sites from which STI material may be searched are Science.gov or Science Accelerator

The USGS is "an independent, fact-finding agency that collects, monitors, analyses, and provides scientific understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems." Covers broad topics, such as biology, geology, geography, natural hazards, environment, water, regional studies, wildlife, and human health. The site provides full-text publications, data, maps, photos, and news.

Provides full-text publications and real-time data collected at approximately 1.5 million sites across the country, including real-time stream flow in map form. Water condition information and data is available by site, topic, and project.

Provides full-text reports, research, and data searchable by topic, region, and/or content type. Includes an Interactive Map Server which creates maps using CMGP data and a searchable Marine Realms Information Bank.

A full-text, two-volume report covering major processes affecting national biological resources, plus regional status and trends. Includes a glossary and an appendix of scientific names.

Agricola stands for "AGRICultural OnLine Access." It is an extensive database of citations to the agricultural literature created by the National Agricultural Library and its cooperators. Coverage begins in 1970. Although much of the material included covers food production subjects like farming and fisheries, there is also coverage of earth and environmental sciences in this free database. The database does not provide full-text, but this file can be helpful in identifying citations.

The Argonne National Laboratory is a DOE research lab run by the University of Chicago. This website provides helpful web links and links to research topics. Texts of current Argonne publications are available for download.

OSHA is the federal regulatory agency charged with preventing occupational injuries and illnesses among American workers. The OSHA website includes news, "Compliance Assistance" for employers, links to state programs, and the text of applicable Laws, Regulations and Interpretations.

Reproduces letters responding to specific inquiries on the interpretation of OSHA regulations.