The Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC) is nearing completion of its draft “Implementation Plan for Phase 2 of the Exchange Network.” The Plan sets goals and priorities to guide the Network’s growth and expansion in the coming years. The ENLC will share the Plan with the entire Network community in the coming days and we welcome your feedback and questions.

On February 20, 2013, from 2:00-3:30pm ET, the ENLC will sponsor an Open Conference Call to review the Plan and discuss your thoughts and questions about our proposed activities. To register and participate, please visit: 

Andrew Battin
EPA ENLC Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.2140
E: battin.andrew [at] epa.gov

Andrew Putnam
State ENLC Co-Chair
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
P: 303.692.3579
E: andrew.putnam [at] state.co.us

I am excited to announce that the newest version of EPA’s NetDMR, the internet-based Discharge Monitoring Report electronic reporting tool (NetDMR v1.5), went into production on January 25, 2013.

Version 1.5 includes a significant number of enhancements and problem fixes. These changes include solutions to the highest priority issues identified by the States, EPA Regions, and EPA Headquarters.

If you have any questions regarding this release, please contact the NetDMR Customer Support Staff by email at netdmr[at]epa.gov or by phone at 202.564.7756.

John Dombrowski
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0742
E: dombrowski.john[at]epa.gov

To promote greater awareness of Exchange Network Governance activities, important discussions and action items from EN Governance meetings, conference calls, and events are consolidated into monthly activity summaries and posted to the Exchange Network website.

The December 2012 EN Governance Activity Summary is available here.

The schedule of upcoming Governance calls and meetings is available here.

The storage-related issues at EPA’s National Computer Center have been corrected. All NCC-hosted Agency systems should now be available. If you are experiencing any ongoing issues,please contact the Node Help Desk at 888.890.1995 or nodehelpdesk [at] epacdx.net.

Tina Chen
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0248
E: chen.tina [at] epa.gov

The EPA’s National Computer Center (NCC) is experiencing a major outage of its storage systems. Numerous NCC-hosted Agency systems are currently unavailable. The NCC is working to restore service as quickly as possible. Additional information will be distributed as soon as it is available.

If your system and/or application is affected, please contact the Node Help Desk at 888.890.1995 or nodehelpdesk [at] epacdx.net.

Tina Chen
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0248
E: chen.tina [at] epa.gov

The EPA’s Tribal Identification data standard specifies the Tribal names and codes needed for identification of Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native entities. Implementing the Tribal Identification standard helps to ensure consistency in the names and codes for Tribal entities and facilitates exchange and integration of Tribal information. To support implementation of this standard, EPA’s Office of Environmental Information has developed the TRIBES Web Services to allow systems to consume the current list of political (i.e., non-geographic) Tribal names and codes, as well as EPA Internal Identifiers to ensure unambiguous identification of Tribal entities.

The TRIBES Data Exchange is available here.

Michael Pendleton
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1658
E: pendleton.michael [at] epa.gov

EPA’s Office of Environmental Information has released an updated Exchange Network Glossary. The Glossary, which builds upon previous work conducted by a range of Partners, provides a single point of reference for understanding terms that are relevant to the Exchange Network. There are more than one hundred definitions available, ranging from “Node Client” to “Flow Configuration Document” to “Integrated Project Team.”

This glossary is one of many that are cataloged in EPA’s Terminology Services (www.epa.gov/ts), a repository of environmental and other terms and definitions in use by EPA and other organizations. States, Territories, Tribes, and other Network Partners can create direct links from their web pages to the EN Glossary.

The Exchange Network Glossary is available in the Knowledge Base.

Angelina Hurst
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0701
E: hurst.angelina [at] epa.gov

The Exchange Network Leadership Council is excited to announce that EN2014, the 2014 Exchange Network National Meeting, will be held February 25-27, 2014, at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel in Philadelphia. A Welcome Reception will be held the evening of February 24.

Keep up to date on EN2014 at https://www.exchangenetwork.net/en2014/

The Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) collects environmental data on a wide variety of constituents in water, biota, sediment, and air. After these studies are completed, the data remain. Central to the data management effort is a computerized relational database system to house Lake Michigan Mass Balance and other project results. The Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA) was developed to provide data entry, storage, access and analysis capabilities to meet the needs of mass balance modelers and other potential users of Great Lakes data. The GLENDA Data Exchange provides data services that can be used by Partners to retrieve substance information from the GLNPO system based upon a variety of identifiers and substance characteristics.

The GLENDA Data Exchange is now available here.

Kenneth Klewin
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
312.886.4794
klewin.kenneth [at] epa.gov

Dear Exchange Network Friends and Partners,

As Co-Chairs of the Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC), we are excited to share an update on the state of the Exchange Network. In 2012, Network Partners reached an important milestone in the ongoing expansion of the Exchange Network. Four years ago, the ENLC set an ambitious 2012 goal to complete Phase 1 of the Network by fully implementing Exchange Network data flows for ten EPA National Systems. In 2009, senior leaders from States and EPA reaffirmed this goal and their collective commitment to the Exchange Network partnership. Since that time, Network Partners have put in tremendous efforts to achieve our goal. The Exchange Network has been working closely with EPA’s Program Offices and the Office of Environmental Information to eliminate duplicate reporting pathways and to ensure that Network data flows are ready to use. New tools such as the Exchange Network Services Center are helping more Partners participate in Network data flows. States, Tribes, Territories, and other Partners have worked diligently to switch to the Exchange Network as their primary means of sharing environmental data with EPA.

Thanks to these collective efforts, the Exchange Network is now the sole means of electronically flowing data for eight of the ten Phase 1 National System Data Flows! These flows include Facility Identification, Beach Notification, the Water Quality Exchange (WQX), the Emissions Inventory System (EIS), the Air Quality System (AQS), ICIS-NPDES, Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), and Underground Injection Controls (UIC).

The remaining Phase 1 National Systems—the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) and RCRAInfo—also have Exchange Network data flows available; however, they will continue to operate alongside other non-Exchange Network pathways in the near-term. The SDWIS user community is planning to modernize that data system in 2014. The ENLC encourages Partners to continue their current submission practices until that modernization effort is concluded, rather than force a change now and risk rework in two years’ time. In the meantime, the ENLC will be working closely with the EPA Office of Water to ensure that the modernized SDWIS takes full advantage of the Exchange Network’s data exchange capabilities. In the case of RCRAInfo, there are factors that limit the value of an Exchange Network data flow for some Partners. Most significantly, RCRAInfo has an exceptionally large number of direct users that do not need a solution for automated data submissions. Instead, many Partners will benefit from outbound data flows that give program managers easier access to their data. The ENLC looks forward to working with the RCRAInfo community to build data access solutions that will improve environmental program management and decision-making.

Network staff members are updating the Data Flow Implementation Guides for each flow. The Guides will offer Partners a detailed summary of the available options for flowing data along with updated implementation advice so Partners can more easily plan their development efforts. We will distribute an Exchange Network Alert when the updated Guides are posted to the Network website in early 2013. The ENLC will continue to work with EPA Program Offices and Regions to ensure that programmatic grant guidance includes clear expectations on use of the Exchange Network to report and share data for each of the ten Phase 1 data flows.

Otherwise, Phase 1 is now officially complete. As many of our Partners know, we have been tracking our progress in an implementation matrix, which we have shared with you throughout the years. It brings us great pleasure to share the final version of the matrix, which shows the readiness of eight National System data flows. The matrix is available at: https://www.exchangenetwork.net/about/network-management/#phase1

While we will no longer routinely produce this matrix, we anticipate that it will grow increasingly green in the coming weeks as Partners migrate to information exchange tools powered by the Network.

The end of Phase 1 hardly means that our work is done. We have established a rock-solid foundation, but we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what is possible. The Network’s approach to information sharing opens the door for us to build new tools and capabilities that enable people to find, integrate, and use data in ways that were not previously possible. The next phase of our growth will look beyond database synchronization and seek out opportunities to expand data access to improve our nation’s ability to understand, manage, and protect human health and the environment.

The ENLC is developing an implementation plan for Phase 2 of the Exchange Network. We will share the draft plan with the entire Network community in early 2013. We welcome your input and comments on our proposed activities. The Phase 2 Implementation Plan will be a living document that will reflect comments from the Network community and evolving Partner priorities. For example, States and EPA are beginning to discuss a new initiative called e-Enterprise for the Environment, which is geared toward automating electronic data collection and environmental monitoring. The Exchange Network is committed to aligning its Phase 2 work with the e-Enterprise initiative and to providing it with a technical platform and an existing partnership from which to build. We hope to complete the initial Phase 2 Plan in time for review at the March 2013 meeting of the Environmental Council of the States. We look forward to working with all Network Partners over the next few months to collectively define Phase 2.

In reflecting on the progress of the last four years, we both are incredibly impressed by the amount of effort that Partners have invested in the Exchange Network. What we have collectively built is a testament to your hard work and the value of the Exchange Network. We very much look forward to our continued partnership in 2013 and beyond.

Sincerely,

Karen Bassett
State Co-Chair of the Exchange Network Leadership Council
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality

Andy Battin
EPA Co-Chair of the Exchange Network Leadership Council
U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Information

ICIS Production will be unavailable on 14 December 2012 beginning at 4:00PM ET. This outage is to allow for the FRS data transfer to ICIS. There will be no access to data entry or reports.

Service will be restored by 9:00AM ET on 15 December.

Thank you for your patience during this service interruption.

Wendell Wright
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.564.4259
E: wright.wendell [at] epa.gov

This upgrade to ICIS-NPDES, known as version 4.0, adds functionality for processing 22 new data families. Users of the ICIS-NPDES data flow can now submit all of their NPDES data families to EPA’s ICIS system the same way they have done in the past.

Prior ICIS-NPDES schema versions 2.1 and 3.2 of the schema will continue to be supported as well for existing State and Tribal submissions. Note that version 2.1 only supports the flow of DMRs, while version 3.2 only supports flows of basic permit, master general permit, general permit covered facility, unpermitted facility, permit tracking event, narrative condition/permit schedule, permitted feature, limit set, limit, and DMR data.

More information on the ICIS-NPDES data flow is available here.

Alison Kittle
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.564.6233
E: kittle.alison [at] epa.gov

To promote greater awareness of Exchange Network Governance activities, important discussions and action items from EN Governance meetings, conference calls, and events are consolidated into monthly activity summaries and posted to the Exchange Network website. The October 2012 EN Governance Activity Summary is now available here.

The schedule of upcoming Governance calls and meetings is available here.

ICIS Production will be taken down at 5:00PM EST on Friday, November 30, 2012, for the implementation of ICIS v6.0 and the migration of the remaining 15 states from PCS. ICIS v6.0 implements Release 3 of NPDES Full Batch allowing for the electronic submission of enforcement action, violation, and program report data. This effectively completes the PCS Modernization project. ICIS is scheduled to be back online at 7:00AM EST on Monday, December 10, 2012.

*Please note* ICIS will be unavailable for both data entry and reports until Monday, December 10, 2012.

Of special note:

1. The Official RNC for FY2012 Q4 will be run the evening of November 30, 2012, instead of the currently scheduled date of Saturday, December 1, 2012.

2. The Official QNCR for FY2012 Q4 has been postponed one week and will be run on Saturday, December 22, 2012, instead of the scheduled date of Saturday, December 15, 2012. This will allow additional time for users to enter any necessary manual overrides especially for the migrating states.

3. Before the migration process begins, ICIS Production data will be copied to ICIS Test so that users will be able to run Business Object reports using the latest production data while ICIS Production is down. ICIS TEST URL:

4. During the ICIS downtime, both NetDMR and NeT will be available to users for data entry, but all data being submitted to or extracted from ICIS will be held in a queue awaiting processing until ICIS comes back up. All data for these tools should be processed before the morning of Monday, December 10, 2012.

5. As of November 30, 2012, PCS data will be available only for retrievals; no further data entry will be allowed. PCS data will continue to be available for retrieval during the ICIS outage.

Wendell Wright
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.564.4259
E: wright.wendell@epa.gov

During the period 8:00AM to 2:00PM ET on 17 November, the CDX Pre-Production Environment may experience intermittent outages due to scheduled database maintenance.

During the period 6:00AM to 12:00PM ET on 1 December, CDX and the Exchange Network may experience intermittent outages due to scheduled database maintenance.

Please contact the Node Help Desk at nodehelpdesk [at] epacdx.net for further information.

Christopher Kilgore
CGI Federal
P: 276.889.8658
E: christopher.kilgore [at] cgifederal.com

To promote greater awareness of Exchange Network Governance activities, important discussions and action items from EN Governance meetings, conference calls, and events are consolidated into monthly activity summaries and posted to the Exchange Network website. The summaries cover the Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC), Network Operations Board (NOB), Network Technology Group (NTG), Network Partnership and Resources Group (NPRG), Integrated Project Teams, Task Forces, Open Calls, and Regional and National Meetings.

The September 2012 EN Governance Activity Summary is available here.

On October 1, 2012, the Central Data Exchange (CDX) concluded Phase II of the CDX Modernization project. This Phase included deploying user interface changes to the account pages and implementing a new registration process. These changes will affect the way Exchange Network (EN) grant recipients use CDX to submit semi-annual progress reports to EPA. Electronic progress reports have been required for all EN grants since FY 2008.

EPA will be providing training to grant recipients on the updated semi-annual reporting process via live webinar. To ensure the greatest number of State, Territorial, and Tribal Partners are able to participate, EPA will host four training sessions. Each session is identical, and Partners only need to attend one.

Grantees may participate in one of the following sessions through Adobe Connect at the link provided:

• October 17, 2:00-3:00 PM ET )
• October 18, 1:00-2:00 PM ET )
• October 24, 1:00-2:00 PM ET )
• October 25, 1:00-2:00 PM ET )

To participate in any of the sessions, dial: 1.866.299.3188, and enter conference code: 202.564.4499#.

Participants who would like to review the materials beforehand may access the presentation here.

Michael Kaufman
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.564.4499
E: kaufman.michael [at] epa.gov

An upgrade to the ICIS-NPDES data flow is now available. This upgrade to version 3.2 involves the addition of a “Copy Master General Permit Limit Set” web service that will allow EPA’s new electronic notice of intent tool named “NeT” to populate a general permit record with limits from its corresponding master general permit. Partners can continue to submit NPDES permit, DMR, and compliance monitoring inspection data to EPA’s ICIS system the same way they have done in the past.

Version 2 of the schema will continue to support transfer of basic permit, master general permit, general permit covered facility, unpermitted facility, permit tracking event, narrative condition/permit schedule, permitted feature, limit set, limit, and DMR data to EPA’s ICIS system.

Alison Kittle
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.564.6233
E: kittle.alison [at] epa.gov

To promote greater awareness of Exchange Network Governance activities, important discussions and action items from EN Governance meetings, conference calls, and events are consolidated into monthly activity summaries and posted to the Exchange Network website. The summaries cover the Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC), Network Operations Board (NOB), Network Technology Group (NTG), Network Partnership and Resources Group (NPRG), Integrated Project Teams, Task Forces, Open Calls, Regional and National Meeting, etc.

The July and August 2012 EN Governance Activity Summaries are now available here.

For the schedule of upcoming calls and meetings, visit Network Goverance.

This Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Position is for a State government employee to serve as a member of EPA OGWDW’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) Database Team for one year. The UIC Database provides data to support EPA’s management and oversight of the UIC program. It is populated through data submissions via the Exchange Network by 69 State primacy and EPA Region direct implementation programs.

The IPA duties will include management of the UIC Database Change Control Board and administration of the quarterly submission process (including troubleshooting, technical support, and training) to assure successful and customer friendly support to the State and EPA submitters. An understanding of and experience with the UIC Dataflow and EPA’s UIC relational database are qualifying factors for potential candidates.

For more information, please contact:
Carl Reeverts
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.564.4632
E: reeverts.carl [at] epa.gov