Your EnviroStor

EnviroStor is DTSC’s online data management system for tracking our cleanup, permitting, enforcement, and investigation efforts at hazardous waste facilities and sites with known or suspected contamination issues.

DTSC is a public agency, so EnviroStor is also your tool for learning about those topics. It’s a tremendously useful tool, and it’s incredibly easy to use. Learn more about the following EnviroStor topics:

• Why You Want to Use EnviroStor
• Take a Tour
• Tools
• Reports and More
• Community Involvement - and Engagement
• Public Participation, Environmental Justice & News

 

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Why You Would Want to Use EnviroStor

WHO	WHAT	WHY
Residents, neighbors and property owners – and those considering a new residence or business location	Their own addresses, their neighborhoods, and their communities	Check land use restrictions, previous permitted land uses, cleanups, and enforcement actions; see where Hazardous Waste Facility permits have been granted or are under consideration Get involved – public participation
Businesses		Due diligence; business prospects and competition
Responsible parties	Get informed about individual properties, neighborhoods, subdivisions, legislative and congressional districts – areas up to and including the entire state	Review regulations and requirements; submit reports via a secure online portal
Stakeholders
Community groups		Keep informed
Other government agencies
Media		Research and keep tabs on permitted activities, applications, regulatory actions and cleanups

Knowledge is power, and EnviroStor helps empower communities, businesses, and consumers with knowledge they can use to keep informed about hazardous waste issues affecting them. That builds confidence in DTSC’s commitment to protect California’s people and environment from harmful effects of toxic substances.

EnviroStor is available 24/7, 365 days a year. The data reflects the latest updates as they are entered in the system. Access it from your computer or smartphone, the local library – anywhere Internet access is available. Just go to www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov. You'll find a step-by-step tour of EnviroStor under the How to Use EnviroStor menu on the website.

Take a Tour

Take a Tour gives you a full picture of all the site’s functions, with information on some 13,000 sites, facilities, and reports. Other helpful links include:

• Guidance to help you find documents on a particular cleanup site or hazardous waste facility, even if all you know is a company name or the street you’re interested in
  
  
• FAQs and a glossary defining terms you’ll see used in the database
  
  
• Email Alert signups, so you’ll know when new information is available about any site you’re interested in

Tools

The Tools menu lets you search for a specific site or facility. You can also download extensive data files on thousands of cleanup sites, hazardous waste facilities, and inspection, compliance, and enforcement records. For example:

• Are you interested in a particular ZIP code or Census tract (generally the smallest geographical subdivision around)?
  
  
• Or want to see locations throughout California affected by arsenic, asbestos, or other potential contaminants of concern?
  
  
• Or maybe you want to learn about all 142 California sites on the federal Superfund cleanup list?
  
  

The Advanced Search tool can help. Just type in your criteria, and instantly you’ll get a detailed report with links to even more information.

Do you want us to notify you when new documents on a project or site become available? Click on “Subscribe to Email Alerts” on the Reports tab to get updates delivered to you automatically.

Reports and More That You Can Find on EnviroStor

The reports section reflects DTSC’s commitment to connect the public to information in a transparent and accessible way. EnviroStor gives you access to reports on:

• Some 3,400 inspections that DTSC has done to verify proper treatment, storage, recycling, disposal, recordkeeping, post-closure, or other operations conducted under permit
  
  
• More than 100 hazardous waste facilities that are authorized by permit to operate in California, and dozens more with pending applications in the pipeline
  
  
• Hundreds of corrective actions, consent orders, civil or criminal justice proceedings, including restrictions on allowable land uses
  
  

Site history, interactive maps, related documents, and more resources are available with just a mouse click or screen tap, and they’re easy to download or print. You can even view information on multiple sites by legislative and congressional district, and you can view district maps with all those sites included.

California covers nearly 165,000 square miles – and EnviroStor lets you zero in on every inch of it. A map tour shows you how to find your house, the factory down the street, your old school, or anyplace else in the state you might want to see.

Even better, DTSC’s EnviroStor is tied into two other agencies’ tremendously helpful resources:

• The State Water Resources Control Board’s GeoTracker: GeoTracker is a searchable database like EnviroStor, but it focuses on water quality, especially groundwater.
  
  
  



• The Cal EPA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s CalEnviroScreen: CalEnviroScreen provides community-level data on air quality, exposure to pesticides and other hazards, drinking water quality, and information on sensitive population indicators from asthma and low birth weights to education, poverty and unemployment levels, and more.
  
  
  

 

Community Involvement – and Engagement

On EnviroStor’s Community Involvement tab, users can find DTSC Community Updates, public notices on sites or facilities, fact sheets, and related documents released for public review and comment. Many are available in Spanish and other languages.

Public notices, with details on projects or proposals affecting local communities, are typically published in the classified ad sections of local newspapers. Related documents may be made available in the local public library or other community centers. Through EnviroStor, DTSC gathers those announcements and resources in one handy electronic database, while also making them available in hard copy through newspapers and libraries.

Public Participation, Environmental Justice, and News You Can Use

We believe the best decisions are made with a fully informed public that has been engaged throughout the decision-making process. That’s why we aim to go beyond the letter of the law to reach out and provide a forum for affected communities through our Office of Public Participation. Our Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Affairs works to enhance protections for vulnerable communities by promoting equitable data collection and improving community access to technical resources.

As a practical matter, you can also use EnviroStor to find facilities in your area that accept hazardous waste such as:

• Batteries
• Used oil
• Plastic
• Fluorescent lights
• Metal, and more

Check out EnviroStor for yourself. Then, if you have any questions, please contact the EnviroStor Help Desk (envirostor@dtsc.ca.gov) or call 877-7TOXICS (877-786-9427).