Eyes on Environmental Enforcement Provides Online Access to EPA Enforcement Records

On October 15, 2026, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI), and ToxicDocs.org launched Eyes on Environmental Enforcement, “a new online search portal that gives the public direct access to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement records that have been historically difficult to obtain and were not previously available in a searchable, centralized format.” According to PEER’s October 15, 2026, press release, the portal includes inspection reports, notices of violation, and related documents obtained by PEER from EPA through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The press release states that the website:

• Makes enforcement records about inspections and violations searchable in one place;

• Helps communities near polluting facilities understand a facility’s enforcement history; and

• Supports journalists and researchers investigating oversight and enforcement trends.

Records under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) from 2021 through 2025 are available, with some records from 2026. Additional records will be added as PEER obtains them.

The press release notes that an analysis “of just one small part of those holdings, EPA’s landfill inspections, has already turned up striking findings.” Although large landfills must control methane levels exceeding 500 parts per million (ppm), according to PEER, EPA inspectors measured methane above that limit at 677 locations at just 12 landfills, and at 200 locations within the 12 landfills, levels ran from 5,000 to over 200,000 ppm. At eight of the 12 landfills, “the largest leaks exceeded 50,000 ppm, methane’s lower explosive limit.”