EPA ECHO Enforcement Watch Scraper

Use this actor to monitor public EPA ECHO facility, compliance, and enforcement-case records for EHS and diligence review workflows. Input facility names, states, FRS IDs, case searches, or target watchlists; get source-linked digest rows for changed or action-needed records. This actor is informational only and does not provide professional advice, certification, or opaque scoring.

Store Quickstart

• Add one or more targets[] entries.
• For facility/company watches, use facilitySearch and/or complianceScreener.
• For narrow enforcement feeds, use caseSearch with a state/region and a date window.
• Keep the same snapshotKey across recurring runs so deltas remain comparable.

Key Features

• 🏛️ Government-sourced — Pulls directly from official agency feeds — no third-party aggregators
• ⏱️ Timely digests — Daily/weekly rollups of new filings, rulings, or actions
• 🔍 Keyword watchlists — Flag items matching your compliance/legal watch terms
• 📊 Structured metadata — Agency, date, docket, document type, link — all dataset-ready
• 📡 Webhook alerts — Push to legal/compliance teams the moment new items match watchlist

Use Cases

Who	Why
Developers	Automate recurring data fetches without building custom scrapers
Data teams	Pipe structured output into analytics warehouses
Ops teams	Monitor changes via webhook alerts
Product managers	Track competitor/market signals without engineering time

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
targets	array	prefilled	List of watched facilities, company footprints, or case feeds. Shared target-level selectors (frsId, facilityName, state
requestTimeoutSeconds	integer	30	Maximum time to wait for one EPA ECHO web-service request.
userAgent	string	—	Optional custom User-Agent string for public EPA ECHO requests.
delivery	string	"dataset"	dataset writes selected target rows to the dataset. webhook posts the digest JSON. email is reserved for a future path.
datasetMode	string	"changes_only"	Controls which target rows are persisted: action-needed only, changed/initial/partial/error rows, or every row.
webhookUrl	string	—	POST destination when delivery=webhook.
notifyOnNoChange	boolean	false	When true, webhook delivery still fires even when no selected target changed.
snapshotKey	string	"epa-enforcement-digest-snapshots"	Stable key used to load and save prior ECHO surface snapshots between recurring runs.

Input Example

{
  "targets": [
    {
      "id": "basf-texas",
      "name": "BASF Texas EPA Watch",
      "criticality": "high",
      "owner": "EHS / Compliance",
      "tags": ["chemical", "texas", "epa"],
      "facilityName": "BASF",
      "state": "TX",
      "facilitySearch": {
        "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS"
      },
      "complianceScreener": {
        "years": 5,
        "activeOnly": true,
        "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS",
        "evidenceLimit": 5
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "delaware-afr-feed",
      "name": "Delaware Administrative Formal Cases",
      "criticality": "high",
      "owner": "Legal / Compliance",
      "tags": ["case-feed", "delaware", "enforcement"],
      "caseSearch": {
        "state": "DE",
        "caseCategory": "AFR",
        "fromDate": "01/01/2024",
        "toDate": "12/31/2024",
        "evidenceLimit": 5
      }
    }
  ],
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "changes_only",
  "snapshotKey": "epa-enforcement-example",
  "diffMode": "line_summary",
  "summaryMaxLines": 12,
  "maxEvidenceItems": 5,
  "concurrency": 2,
  "batchDelayMs": 500,
  "dryRun": false
}

Input Examples

Example: Single-target audit

{
  "targets": [
    "example-target-1"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerTarget": 30
}

Example: Bulk portfolio

{
  "targets": [
    "target-1",
    "target-2",
    "target-3"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerTarget": 50,
  "snapshotKey": "epa-enforcement-digest-state"
}

Example: Recurring delta watch

{
  "targets": [
    "target-1"
  ],
  "snapshotKey": "epa-enforcement-digest-state",
  "emitChangedOnly": true
}

Output

Field	Type	Description
meta	object
recurringDigest	object
actionNeeded	array
results	array
actionNeeded[].targetId	string
actionNeeded[].targetName	string
actionNeeded[].owner	string
actionNeeded[].severity	string
actionNeeded[].status	string
actionNeeded[].riskScore	number
actionNeeded[].reason	string
actionNeeded[].signals	array
actionNeeded[].recommendedActions	array
actionNeeded[].executiveSummary	string

Output Example

{
  "meta": {
    "generatedAt": "2026-04-06T11:39:15.914Z",
    "now": "2026-04-05T12:00:00.000Z",
    "input": {
      "targetCount": 1,
      "surfaceCount": 3,
      "delivery": "dataset",
      "datasetMode": "changes_only",
      "diffMode": "line_summary",
      "summaryMaxLines": 10,
      "maxEvidenceItems": 5,
      "concurrency": 2,
      "batchDelayMs": 0,
      "dryRun": false
    },
    "snapshot": {
      "key": "epa-enforcement-local-proof",
      "loadedFrom": "local",
      "savedTo": "local"
    },
    "warnings": [
      "surface(basf-texas-facility-search): fixture data is set; live EPA ECHO requests will be skipped",
      "surface(basf-texas-compliance-screener): fixture data is set; live EPA ECHO requests will be skipped",
      "surface(basf-texas-case-search): fixture data is set; live EPA ECHO requests will be skipped"
    ],
    "totals": {
      "targets": 1,
      "monitoredSurfaces": 3,
      "changedTargets": 1,
      "initialTargets": 0,
      "unchangedTargets": 0,
      "partialTargets": 0,
      "errorTargets": 0,
      "actionNeededTargets": 1,
      "changedSurfaces": 3,
      "initialSurfaces": 0,
      "unchangedSurfaces": 0,
      "errorSurfaces": 0
    },

API Usage

Run this actor programmatically using the Apify API. Replace YOUR_API_TOKEN with your token from Apify Console → Settings → Integrations.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/taroyamada~epa-enforcement-digest/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "targets": [ { "id": "basf-texas", "name": "BASF Texas EPA Watch", "criticality": "high", "owner": "EHS / Compliance", "tags": ["chemical", "texas", "epa"], "facilityName": "BASF", "state": "TX", "facilitySearch": { "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS" }, "complianceScreener": { "years": 5, "activeOnly": true, "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS", "evidenceLimit": 5 } }, { "id": "delaware-afr-feed", "name": "Delaware Administrative Formal Cases", "criticality": "high", "owner": "Legal / Compliance", "tags": ["case-feed", "delaware", "enforcement"], "caseSearch": { "state": "DE", "caseCategory": "AFR", "fromDate": "01/01/2024", "toDate": "12/31/2024", "evidenceLimit": 5 } } ], "delivery": "dataset", "datasetMode": "changes_only", "snapshotKey": "epa-enforcement-example", "diffMode": "line_summary", "summaryMaxLines": 12, "maxEvidenceItems": 5, "concurrency": 2, "batchDelayMs": 500, "dryRun": false }'

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("taroyamada/epa-enforcement-digest").call(run_input={
  "targets": [
    {
      "id": "basf-texas",
      "name": "BASF Texas EPA Watch",
      "criticality": "high",
      "owner": "EHS / Compliance",
      "tags": ["chemical", "texas", "epa"],
      "facilityName": "BASF",
      "state": "TX",
      "facilitySearch": {
        "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS"
      },
      "complianceScreener": {
        "years": 5,
        "activeOnly": true,
        "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS",
        "evidenceLimit": 5
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "delaware-afr-feed",
      "name": "Delaware Administrative Formal Cases",
      "criticality": "high",
      "owner": "Legal / Compliance",
      "tags": ["case-feed", "delaware", "enforcement"],
      "caseSearch": {
        "state": "DE",
        "caseCategory": "AFR",
        "fromDate": "01/01/2024",
        "toDate": "12/31/2024",
        "evidenceLimit": 5
      }
    }
  ],
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "changes_only",
  "snapshotKey": "epa-enforcement-example",
  "diffMode": "line_summary",
  "summaryMaxLines": 12,
  "maxEvidenceItems": 5,
  "concurrency": 2,
  "batchDelayMs": 500,
  "dryRun": false
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

JavaScript / Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('taroyamada/epa-enforcement-digest').call({
  "targets": [
    {
      "id": "basf-texas",
      "name": "BASF Texas EPA Watch",
      "criticality": "high",
      "owner": "EHS / Compliance",
      "tags": ["chemical", "texas", "epa"],
      "facilityName": "BASF",
      "state": "TX",
      "facilitySearch": {
        "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS"
      },
      "complianceScreener": {
        "years": 5,
        "activeOnly": true,
        "nameMatchMode": "CONTAINS",
        "evidenceLimit": 5
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "delaware-afr-feed",
      "name": "Delaware Administrative Formal Cases",
      "criticality": "high",
      "owner": "Legal / Compliance",
      "tags": ["case-feed", "delaware", "enforcement"],
      "caseSearch": {
        "state": "DE",
        "caseCategory": "AFR",
        "fromDate": "01/01/2024",
        "toDate": "12/31/2024",
        "evidenceLimit": 5
      }
    }
  ],
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "changes_only",
  "snapshotKey": "epa-enforcement-example",
  "diffMode": "line_summary",
  "summaryMaxLines": 12,
  "maxEvidenceItems": 5,
  "concurrency": 2,
  "batchDelayMs": 500,
  "dryRun": false
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Tips & Limitations

• Run daily for active watchlists; weekly for passive monitoring.
• Webhook delivery works well for compliance team Slack channels — include docket URL for 1-click access.
• Use watchKeywords generously — false positives are cheap to triage, false negatives miss filings.
• Pair with regulatory-change-monitor for cross-agency coverage.
• Archive Dataset rows weekly for long-term compliance evidence retention.

FAQ

How far back does history go?

This actor monitors forward-only — new items since first run. For historical data, use the agency's own search tool.

What timezones are used?

All timestamps are UTC. Use your downstream pipeline to convert to agency-local time if needed.

Does it translate non-English content?

No — original language is preserved. Use downstream translation services if needed.

Is the data official?

Yes — sourced directly from official government websites and feeds. Not a third-party aggregator.

Can I use this for legal research?

For alerting and monitoring, yes. For litigation research, cross-verify with primary sources (agency websites) — this actor is a monitoring tool, not a legal database.

Related Actors

Government & Regulatory cluster — explore related Apify tools:

• FDA Warning Letters Digest | Summary-First Feed — Monitor public FDA warning letters with one summary-first digest row per configured feed.
• Federal Register Digest | Agency Rule & Notice Monitor — Monitor Federal Register documents — rules, proposed rules, and notices — per configured agency feed.
• Government Contract Award Monitor | Award & Competitor Watch — Monitor public-sector contract award notices for new wins, notable awardees, incumbent recompetes, and competitor signals — one digest row per configured feed without brittle broad crawling.
• Grants.gov Funding Digest | Opportunity Watch & Signal Digest — Monitor Grants.
• NHTSA Vehicle Recall Digest | Recalls + Complaints Watch — Monitor official NHTSA vehicle recall and complaint endpoints for watched model-family, VIN, and manufacturer feeds.
• Product Safety Recall Digest | CPSC + openFDA Alerts — Monitor CPSC saferproducts.
• Regulatory Change Monitor API — Monitor official regulator update feeds, government bulletin pages, and public compliance notices with one action-oriented digest row per monitored source.
• OFAC Sanctions Change Digest | SDN List Monitor — Monitor the OFAC SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) sanctions list for additions and removals.
• Tariff Trade Change Digest | Federal Register + HTS Monitor — Monitor U.
• Treasury Fiscal Data Digest | Debt, Rates & Budget Monitor — Monitor the U.
• USPTO Patent Monitor API | JSON + Webhook — Search and monitor US patent filings with multi-source fallback.
• Campaign Finance & Lobbying Digest | FEC + LDA Watch — Monitor official FEC OpenFEC committee reports and LDA.

Cost

Pay Per Event:

• actor-start: $0.01 (flat fee per run)
• dataset-item: $0.003 per output item

Example: 1,000 items = $0.01 + (1,000 × $0.003) = $3.01

No subscription required — you only pay for what you use.

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Compliance Guardrails

This actor is independently operated and has no source-agency affiliation, sponsorship, or approval. It uses public data from EPA ECHO web services and public datasets (https://echo.epa.gov/tools/web-services). Results are informational only and may be delayed, incomplete, amended, withdrawn, or superseded by the source. Verify all records with the linked official source before relying on them.

• Use EPA ECHO web services/data endpoints, not UI scraping.
• No professional advice, certification, or opaque scoring.
• Output source fields transparently with official source URLs and retrieval timestamps.