EmissionsLookup

Data Sources

All data on EmissionsLookup comes directly from two EPA public datasets, downloaded in bulk and loaded without modification.

EPA ECHO — Enforcement and Compliance History Online

Facility profiles, permits, violations, inspections, and enforcement penalties

ECHO is the EPA's primary public database for regulated facility compliance data. It covers facilities regulated under three major federal environmental programs:

  • —Clean Air Act (CAA) — stationary sources with air permits, including power plants, refineries, chemical manufacturers, and other major emitters
  • —Clean Water Act (CWA / NPDES) — facilities that discharge pollutants into surface waters under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
  • —RCRA — Resource Conservation and Recovery Act — facilities that generate, transport, treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste

For each facility, ECHO provides compliance status (quarters out of compliance over the last three years), inspection history, individual violation records, and enforcement actions including penalties assessed.

Update frequency: Quarterly
Coverage: ~700,000+ facilities nationwide
Primary file: ECHO_EXPORTER.csv

EPA TRI — Toxic Release Inventory

Annual toxic chemical release quantities by facility, chemical, and release pathway

The Toxic Release Inventory requires facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use significant quantities of listed toxic chemicals to report their annual releases to the EPA. Facilities submit Form R annually, disclosing pounds of each chemical released to air, water, land, and transferred off-site.

  • —~650 chemicals tracked including carcinogens, PFAS compounds, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds
  • —Release pathways — fugitive air, stack air, surface water discharge, land disposal, and off-site transfers
  • —Historical data — TRI has been collected since 1987, making it one of the longest-running industrial pollution datasets in the world
  • —Carcinogen and PFAS flags — chemicals are marked if classified as carcinogens or PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)
Update frequency: Annually (fall, ~18 month lag)
Coverage: 1987–present
Primary files: US_1a_{YEAR}.txt

What we don't cover

These datasets have real limitations that users should understand:

  • —TRI only applies to facilities above specific chemical quantity thresholds — smaller sources are not required to report
  • —TRI data is self-reported — it reflects what facilities disclosed, not independently measured emissions
  • —Superfund / contaminated sites are tracked separately in EPA's CERCLIS database, which is not included here
  • —Agricultural sources, vehicle emissions, and small businesses are generally not covered by these programs

Questions or corrections

If you notice a data error or have a question about our methodology, contact us at contact@emissionslookup.com. For corrections to the underlying EPA data, contact the EPA directly through the ECHO portal.