{
  "id": "1996-october-environmental-sites-that-cook",
  "slug": "1996-october-environmental-sites-that-cook",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-october-environmental-sites-that-cook.html",
  "year": 1996,
  "month": "October",
  "monthNum": 10,
  "headline": "Environmental sites that cook",
  "kicker": "On the Internet",
  "author_name": "Russell Clemings",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "The Fresno Bee",
  "summary": "This article provides a comprehensive guide to online environmental resources and databases, including government agencies like the EPA, nonprofit organizations like CNIE, and specialized databases for environmental journalists and researchers seeking information on environmental issues and regulatory documents.",
  "keywords": [
    "environment",
    "resources",
    "databases"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Health & Environment",
    "Technology",
    "Data & Databases"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Internet",
    "World Wide Web",
    "Telnet"
  ],
  "full_text": "National Library for the Environment: A project of the nonprofit Committee for the National Institute for the Environment (CNIE). At present, the library includes more than 100 reports from the Congressional Research Service (a branch of the Library of Congress) on the environment, agriculture, and natural resources. Eventually, it is supposed to include two other on-line components: \"An Encyclopedia of the Environment,\" and \"In Depth Issues in the Environment.\"\n\nhttp://www.cnie.org/nle/index.shtml\n\nEnvironmental Health Center: Part of the National Safety Council. Including a number of publications aimed specifically at environmental journalists, including the Environment Writer newsletter, \"Chemical backgrounders,\" and TipSheet, an alert to upcoming environmental news (produced in cooperation with the Radio and TV News Directors Foundation and the Society of Environmental Journalists).\n\nhttp://www.cais.com/nsc/ehc/ehc.html\n\nConsortium for International Earth Science Information Network: A nonprofit established in 1989 by universities and other research organizations in response to a directive by Congress. Includes thematic guides to key environmental issues (including agriculture, human health, land use, and ozone depletion) and the full text of more than 140 international environmental agreements, plus a searchable catalog of other Internet environmental data.\n\nhttp://www.ciesin.org/\n\nEnvironmental Protection Agency: On the whole, EPA's server is a mess. It's disorganized, and the search engine tends to return lots of trivial regulatory documents with little value. But at this URL, labeled \"Finding EPA Information,\" there are links to the catalog for EPA's library system, the full text of the agency information guide \"Access EPA,\" and other useful resources.\n\nhttp://www.epa.gov/epahome/finding.htm\n\nEnvirolink: A Yahoo for the environment. Contains hundreds of links to sites operated by environmental groups, with a brief summary of each group's purpose. Also has links to environmental news briefs and a large collection of links to environmental sites of varying worth.\n\nhttp://envirolink.org/orgs/\n\nGPO Access: While strictly speaking it's not an environmental site, this Government Printing Office service is extremely useful for retrieving documents generated by the environmental bureaucracy, including Federal Register notices, congressional bills and General Accounting Office reports.\n\nhttp://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces004.html\n\nSecurities and Exchange Commission EDGAR: The same is true of this site; it's not just environmental, but it contains plenty of data on publicly traded corporations that may be involved in environmental stories.\n\nhttp://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm\n\nOn-line environmental databases\n\nenvirofacts: EPA's effort to put five of its major environmental databases, including the Toxic Release Inventory, on-line in searchable form. Difficult to use, but improving.\n\nhttp://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/ef_query.html\n\nRTK-Net: A telnet site where an environmental group has mounted the Toxic Release Inventory and other databases (including some non-environmental ones, such as the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act) in searchable form.\n\ntelnet://rtk.net\n\nChemicals and toxicology\n\nExtension Toxicology Network: Peer-reviewed information about toxic chemicals, including pesticides. Includes contributions from the University of California-Davis, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, and Cornell University. Searchable.\n\nhttp://ace.ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/\n\nAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Includes HazDat (a database of contaminants found at Superfund sites, searchable by geographical area), plus toxicological profiles of hazardous substances, public health statements concerning hazardous substances, and Frequently Asked Questions about chemicals and pesticides.\n\nhttp://atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/atsdrhome.htm\n\nNational Toxicology Program: From the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This agency produces toxicological data for use by other federal agencies. The site includes searchable lists of known and anticipated carcinogens and processes, and other health and safety data on chemicals.\n\nhttp://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/\n\nOther topics\n\nUniversities Water Information Network: Includes a database of U.S. Geological Survey water research, an experts directory, a searchable index of water-related web sites and a calendar of water events.\n\nhttp://www.uwin.siu.edu/\n\nEPA's stratospheric ozone depletion page: Contains information about the science of ozone depletion, federal regulations to protect the ozone layer, information on methyl bromide, information for the general public, links to the Montreal Protocol, and other topics.\n\nhttp://www.epa.gov/docs/ozone/index.html\n\nNuclear Regulatory Commission: Includes a variety of data on U.S. commercial nuclear power plants, including basic details about each plant and its design, SALP (for Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance) reports, and the commission's \"watch list\" of troubled plants.\n\nhttp://www.nrc.gov/\n\nGlobal Change Master Directory: From NASA, a good starting point for research on global warming. Includes highly technical data sets, but also a searchable collection of links to other servers with more easily understandable content.\n\nhttp://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/\n\nEndangered Species Homepage: From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, includes the current U.S. endangered species list, plus many candidate species, news media fact sheets, the text of the Endangered Species Act as amended, and selected articles from the official Endangered Species Bulletin.\n\nhttp://www.fws.gov/~r9endspp/endspp.html\n\nRussell Clemings can be reached at (209) 441-6371, or send e-mail to clemings@cris.com",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1998-october-society-of-environmental-journalists-notice",
      "score": 0.4
    },
    {
      "slug": "1995-january-online-environmental-info-in-canada",
      "score": 0.388
    },
    {
      "slug": "1998-october-environmental-data",
      "score": 0.348
    },
    {
      "slug": "1998-october-car-covered-planet",
      "score": 0.333
    },
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    }
  ],
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}