EPA ECHO Environmental Compliance Scraper

Scrape EPA ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online) facility data from the EPA ECHO REST API. Search for facilities regulated under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and other environmental programs. Completely free — no API key required.

What data can you scrape?

• EPA-regulated facilities across all 50 US states and DC
• Compliance status for air, water, and greenhouse gas programs
• Enforcement history: inspection counts, formal enforcement actions, penalty amounts
• Facility details: name, address, county, GPS coordinates, NAICS/SIC codes, permit IDs
• Direct link to each facility's full ECHO profile

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
mode	Select	searchFacilities, searchByNAICS, searchByState, violatorsOnly
facilityName	Text	Facility or company name (partial match)
state	Select	2-letter US state code (all 50 states + DC)
city	Text	City name filter
zipCode	Text	ZIP code filter
naicsCode	Text	5-6 digit NAICS industry code
violatorsOnly	Boolean	If true, only return facilities with violations/enforcement actions
maxItems	Integer	Maximum records to return (default: 50, max: 2000)

Search Modes

• searchFacilities — General search using name, location, or other filters. At least one filter required.
• searchByNAICS — Find all EPA-regulated facilities in a specific industry (e.g., NAICS 311111 for dog/cat food manufacturing).
• searchByState — Browse all EPA-registered facilities in a state (paginates automatically).
• violatorsOnly — Return only facilities currently in violation or with recent enforcement actions.

Output Fields

Field	Description
facility_name	Name of the regulated facility
registry_id	EPA Facility Registry Service (FRS) identifier
city, state, zip_code	Location details
county_name	County of the facility
latitude, longitude	GPS coordinates
naics_codes	Industry classification codes
sic_codes	Standard Industrial Classification codes
air_compliance_status	Clean Air Act compliance status
water_compliance_status	Clean Water Act compliance status
ghg_compliance_status	Greenhouse Gas compliance status
inspection_count_5yr	Number of inspections in last 5 years
formal_enforcement_actions	Count of formal enforcement actions
current_penalties	Current assessed penalties (USD)
penalty_3yr	Penalties in past 3 years (USD)
last_inspection_date	Most recent inspection date
permit_ids	List of environmental permits
url	Direct link to EPA ECHO facility page

Example Use Cases

1. Environmental due diligence — Check compliance history before acquiring or partnering with a facility
2. ESG research — Screen companies for environmental violations
3. Investigative journalism — Find facilities with chronic compliance issues
4. Industry analysis — Compare compliance rates across NAICS sectors
5. Geographic compliance mapping — Identify environmental violations by state/region

Sample Input

{
  "mode": "searchByState",
  "state": "CA",
  "maxItems": 50
}

FAQs

Q: Does this require an API key? A: No. EPA ECHO is a public government database, freely accessible without registration.

Q: How current is the data? A: EPA ECHO data is updated regularly from agency enforcement systems. Most data is current within weeks.

Q: What is the difference between compliance statuses? A: "In Compliance" = no known violations. "Significant Violation" = serious non-compliance. "Violation Identified" = minor or administrative violation. "No Data" = insufficient information.

Q: Can I search all states at once? A: Use searchFacilities mode without specifying a state, combined with a facilityName or naicsCode filter. For full national pulls, set maxItems high (up to 2000).

Q: Why are some numeric fields missing? A: Fields like inspection_count_5yr or current_penalties are omitted when the EPA has no recorded data for that facility.