About the Data FINDS data is a comprehensive listing of facilities regulated under a variety of EPA programs. The FINDS database provides some basic information about each facility and a listing of its ID numbers in other EPA databases. With these ID numbers, you know where to look for more information (if you can somehow get access to the other EPA databases.) FINDS has both master records and alias records. A master record describes the most accurate information for a facility that is known to EPA. An alias record describes information for a facility as it appears in another EPA database. A single facility will have one master record and one or many alias records in FINDS. The program will search both the master and alias records, unless you search specifically using a source program type in the Area report. Low detail searches will display only the master records; High detail adds the alias records. All that will be retreived in any case is the facility's name, address, and a few other identifiers -- that is all that is in FINDS.

Metadata

"FINDS is a computerized inventory of facilities regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In its simplest sense, FINDS contains two sets of information about each facility;

1. Facility identification data - such as its unique ID number, name, and physical address; and
2. 'Pointers' to other sources of information - that is, other EPA programs and their databases which contain more detailed information about the facility, such as the Office of Water's Permit Compliance System (PCS).
With this information, FINDS may directly or indirectly answer questions such as: What is the facility's current address? Which programs are regulating or have more information about this facility? How many facilities are regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program? Because of this useful information, FINDS is a key tool for integrating data in support of building enforcement cases, targeting joint program inspections, responding to public requests for information and helping to solve other environmental issues.

FINDS is also the instrument whereby EPA assigns facilities with a unique identification number, commonly known as EPA-ID number. Through FINDS, EPA can ensure the uniqueness and consistency of the EPA-ID number and through it provide a pointer to facility data in program databases."

FINDS Data Structure (tables)

FINDS has a new data structure. It now has both master records and alias records. A master record describes the most accurate information for a facility that is known to EPA. An alias record describes information for a facility as it appears in another EPA database. A single facility will have one master record and one or many alias records in FINDS.

FINDS data on RTK NET is held in 2 data tables, or files. The "finds_alias" table holds all FINDS records, both master and alias. The "finds_master" table holds just the master records, and is used for quicker searches when only master record are wanted.

The FINDS System Code used to be known as the FINDS Source Program or record type. In any case, it is a code that tells whether each record in fin_alias is a master record or an alias record, and if it is an alias record, it tells what database it comes from. For example, a code of "02" means that the record is an alias record that was copied from the PCS database. A list of the possible codes is held in the table fin_source_cd.

Latitude and longitude data is not given in this version of FINDS. I'm not sure why, but I was told that it would re-appear in the next FINDS version 6 months from now.

Facility Name
Facility Address (street, city, state, zip)
EPA ID
System code -- tells the type of alias record
System ID- The facility's ID number in one of EPA's databases.

For instance, if the record is a PCS alias record the system_id field would hold one of the PCS NPDES ID's for the facility.


FINDS Codes


FINDS has the following code translation table:


fin_source_cd: Codes for alias record or source program types



FINDS Source Program IDs


For some queries, you may wish to add up the number of EPA IDs or source program IDs in an area as a measure of regulatory activity. Unfortunately, for some EPA programs facilities of very different types are given the same kinds of ID numbers in the same database. For example, the RCRIS database contains permits for both the largest hazardous waste incinerators in the country and for every local gas station. Therefore, simply looking at the numbers of permits/ID numbers will not be a good guide as to the amount of RCRA waste -- it may be a better guide to the numbers of gas stations in an area. Similar problems can happen with other source program IDs in FINDS, so it is good to have some familiarity with the source program that you are referring to before you attempt to interpret numbers of IDs added up in this manner.



FINDS Data Problems


One of the oddities of the current version of FINDS is that the master records do not have any of their D&B numbers or SIC codes filled in. None of the records have lat/long data.

As with most databases, the spelling of data items in FINDS is not perfectly regularized. For example, two nearby facilities in FINDS that are located in the same city may have their city names spelled ST. LOUIS and SAINT LOUIS. You can sometimes avoid problems with this by using a * as a wildcard in your searches: searching on S*LOUIS would find both city names above. Particular fields to watch out for in this respect include the facility name and city fields.

Some data elements in FINDS are not uniformly filled in for all facilities. For example, not all facilities have their SIC codes recorded in FINDS. Therefore if you search by SIC codes you can not be sure of finding all facilities that should match your search. Particular fields to watch out for in this respect are the SIC code fields, the Dun & Bradstreet number, and to some extent the lat-long coordinates. FINDS also has an Indian Land indicator which is supposed to indicate whether the facility is located on Native American-owned land. This indicator will only be filled in if the facility record was taken from the RCRIS database -- if the facility has no RCRIS permit than there will be no information or a "U" in this field.


How to get FINDS data using RTK NET


FINDS data can be accessed through a Standard Reports program, through a Form Query program, through the Easy Report Writer (IQ), and through SQL. The standard reports have the following 3 options:




1. Facility: Selects a report that will give you data on a particular facility.
   Example: You are interested in the Rhone Poulenc plant in your town.
   
   
2. Area-list: Selects a report that will give data on all plants in a geographic area, such as a state, city, or zip code.
   Example: You want to know about all facilities in College Park, MD.
   
   
3. Industry: Selects a report that will give data on all facilities that have the same primary SIC code, or industrial classification.
   Example: You want to find out which facilities are owned by the Paper industry in your state.
   

The Form Query program permits you to search on and output any FINDS field but takes a bit longer to produce output than the Standard Reports.

Summaries of the numbers of FINDS source program IDs by county and state have also been linked into RTK NET's census database. See the info file on the census database for more information about these summaries.



How to get FINDS data from sources other than RTK NET


NTIS sells a yearly subscription to FINDS on 9-track magnetic tape for approximately $2,360/year.