This section presents a variety of information on the physical environment of the United States, starting with basic area measurement data and ending with climatic data for selected weather stations around the country. The subjects covered between those points are mostly concerned with environmental trends but include related subjects such as land use, water consumption, air pollutant emissions, toxic releases, oil spills, hazardous waste sites, municipal waste and recycling, threatened and endangered wildlife, and the environmental industry.
The information in this section is selected from a wide range of federal agencies that compile the data for various administrative or regulatory purposes, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Natural Resources Conservation Service, and General Services Administration. New information on pollution abatement expenditures may be found in Tables 382 and 383 produced by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Area-For the 2000 census, area measurements were calculated by computer based on the information contained in a single, consistent geographic database, the TIGER® database, rather than relying on historical, local, and manually calculated information. Information from the 2000 census may be found in Table 359.
Geography-The U.S. Geological Survey conducts investigations, surveys, and research in the fields of geography, geology, topography, geographic information systems, mineralogy, hydrology, and geothermal energy resources as well as natural hazards. The U.S. Geological Survey provides United States cartographic data through the Earth Sciences Information Center, water resources data through the National Water Data Exchange (NAWDEX), and a variety of research and Open-File reports which are announced monthly in New Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey.
In a joint project with the U.S. Census Bureau, during the 1980s, the U.S. Geological Survey provided the basic information on geographic features for input into a national geographic and cartographic database prepared by the Census Bureau, called the TIGER® (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database. Since then, using a variety of sources, the Census Bureau has updated these features and their related attributes (names, descriptions, etc.) and inserted current information on the boundaries, names, and codes of legal and statistical geographic entities; very few of these updates added aerial water features, however. Maps prepared by the Census Bureau using the TIGER database show the names and boundaries of entites and are available on a current basis.
The Census Bureau maintains a current inventory of governmental units and their legal boundaries primary through its Boundary and Annexation Survey. The information is available to the public in the several files, all available on line: TIGER/Line®, there are also several series of maps for Census 2000: P.L. County Block Maps, Census Tract Outline Maps, and Voting District/ State Legislative District Outline Maps. These maps can be obtained online via the American Fact- Finder.
An inventory of the nation’s land resources by type of use/cover was conducted by the National Resources Inventory Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service) every 5 years beginning in 1977. The most recent survey results, which were published in the 1997 National Resources Inventory, cover all nonfederal land in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the United States except Alaska. Tables 361 and 362 provide results from the survey. Beginning with the release of 2001 estimates (tentatively scheduled for fall 2003), this program will shift to become an annual release of land use data.
Environment-The principal federal agency responsible for pollution abatement and control activities is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is responsible for establishing and monitoring national air quality standards, water quality activities, solid and hazardous waste disposal, and control of toxic substances. Many of these series now appear in the Envirofats portion of the EPA Web site at <http://www.epa.gov/enviro>.EPA released in 2003 a major compilation of environmental indicators, entitled Draft Report on the Environment: 2003, found at <http://www.epa.govindicators/>.
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for suspended particulate matter sulfur dioxide, photochemical oxidants, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide were originally set by the EPA in April 1971. Every 5 years, each of the NAAQS is reviewed and revised if new health or welfare data indicates that a change is necessary. The standard for photochemical oxidants, now called ozone, was revised in February 1979. Also, a new NAAQS for lead was promulgated in October 1978 and for suspended particulate matter in 1987. Table 371 gives some of the health related standards for the six air pollutants having NAAQS. Data gathered from state networks are periodically submitted to EPA’s National Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS) for summarization in annual reports on the nationwide status and trends in air quality; for details, see National Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report. More current information on emissions may be found on the EPA Web site at <http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/trends>.
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), published by the U.S. EPA, is a valuable source of information regarding toxic chemicals that are being used, manufactured, treated, transported, or released into the environment. Two rules, Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA) and Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA), mandate that a publicly accessible toxic chemical database be developed and maintained by U.S. EPA. This database, known as the TRI, contains information concerning waste management activities and the release of toxic chemicals by facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use said materials.
Data on the release of these chemicals are collected from manufacturing facilities and facilities added in 1998 that have the equivalent of 10 or more full-time employees and meet the established thresholds for manufacturing, processing, or ‘‘otherwise use’’ of listed chemicals. Facilities must report their releases and other waste management quantities. Federal facilities have been required to report since 1994, regardless of industry classification. In May 1997, EPA added seven new industry sectors that reported to the TRI for the first time in July 1999 for the 1998 reporting year.
Climate-NOAA, through the National Weather Service and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, is responsible for data on climate. NOAA maintains about 11,600 weather stations, of which over 3,000 produce autographic precipitation records, about 600 take hourly readings of a series of weather elements, and the remainder record data once a day. These data are reported monthly in the ClimatologicalData and Storm Data, published monthly, and annually in the Local Climatological Data (published by location for major cities).The normal climatological temperatures, precipitation, and degree days listed in this publication are derived for comparative purposes and are averages for the 30-year period, 1971-2000. For stations that did not have continuous records for the entire 30 years from the same instrument site, the normals have been adjusted to provide representative values for the current location. The information in all other tables is based on data from the beginning of the record at that location through 2001.