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For a U.S. facility, start with the EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO). Search by facility name or ID, narrow the results to the Clean Air Act, and open the detailed facility report to review reported permits, inspections, violations, and enforcement actions. Treat ECHO as a starting point: if a permit or case document is missing, ask the agency that issued the permit or reported the violation for the underlying record.
1. Find the facility in EPA ECHO
Go to the EPA ECHO facility search. ECHO is a public tool for searching regulated facilities and reviewing environmental compliance and enforcement information.
- Search by name or ID when possible. Enter the facility name or an identifier. This is especially useful for a facility that may be inactive: ECHO’s location-based quick search excludes inactive facilities by default, while its name-or-ID quick search includes them.
- Use location search to find or distinguish a site. Search by city, state, or ZIP code if you do not know the facility’s exact name or ID. Check the address and other identifiers before deciding that a result is the right facility.
EPA’s facility search criteria help explains search options and filters.
2. Narrow the search to air records
Use ECHO’s Clean Air Act (CAA) facility search to focus on stationary air sources. Review the available air-program criteria and, if relevant, apply enforcement-related filters such as formal enforcement actions or a date range. A filter changes which results you see; an empty filtered result does not establish that no record exists outside those criteria.
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3. Review the detailed facility report
Open the detailed facility report for the matching site. EPA says ECHO can show permit information, inspection and compliance-evaluation dates and findings, violations, enforcement actions, and penalties. Identify the facility using its name, address, EPA Facility Registry Service (FRS) identifier, and any agency-specific facility or permit number. FRS helps identify facilities and link records across environmental programs.
Check the agency, record or permit identifier, dates, and record type for each item. A status label or summary entry is not the same as the issued permit, inspection record, or enforcement case file. ECHO presents a snapshot of records reported to EPA systems, so verify consequential details against the underlying agency record.
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4. Open available reports and documents
Air search results may link to a detailed facility report, an air pollutant report, or facility documents. Depending on the facility, available documents can include certain inspection and permit materials and facility-reported Clean Air Act compliance documents. The document types and date ranges vary.
Use the Air Search Results Help page to interpret the result links and identifiers. If the record you need is not linked, that absence does not show that the document or permit does not exist: EPA says publication of inspection and permit documents is not required.
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Use the detailed report to identify the agency associated with a permit or violation, then contact that agency for the source document or additional case details. EPA recommends contacting the regulatory agency that reported the violation or the agency that issued the applicable permit. Depending on the facility, that may be EPA or a state, local, or tribal environmental agency.
When you contact the agency, identify the facility as precisely as possible and specify the record type and date range you need—for example, the issued air permit, an inspection report, or an enforcement case document. If ECHO provides an agency-specific permit or facility number, include it along with the address and facility name.
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What ECHO can—and cannot—tell you
ECHO is developed and maintained by EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Its records include information reported by EPA and state, local, and tribal environmental agencies into EPA national databases. EPA describes facility searches as presenting the past five years of inspection and enforcement data based on extraction dates from the national system of record. Coverage varies by database and record type; that five-year display window is not a guarantee that every underlying document or historical event is available in ECHO.
EPA says the Clean Air Act facilities represented include Title V major permittees, synthetic minor sources, certain NESHAP minor facilities, and minor facilities with serious violations or recent enforcement actions. A facility may therefore have sparse information or no result in a particular search even when an agency holds relevant records. Use the relevant agency to verify whether a permit or enforcement record exists and to obtain source documents.
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How to compare records from different sources
If you find information in both ECHO and an agency portal or response, compare the details rather than assuming that similar-looking entries refer to the same record.
- Facility identity: Match the name and address, and compare the EPA FRS identifier and agency-specific facility or permit number.
- Agency: Note which agency issued the permit or reported the compliance or enforcement information.
- Record type: Distinguish permits, compliance evaluations, violations, informal or formal enforcement actions, penalties, emissions reports, and underlying case documents.
- Time period: Compare the dates shown in ECHO with the dates covered by the source record.
- Source level: Separate a database summary from the issued permit, inspection record, or enforcement case file.
For a legal claim or regulatory decision, verify the underlying document and its current status with the responsible agency rather than relying on an ECHO summary alone.
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