PEER: Platform for Exploring Environmental Records
What is PEER?
The Community Lattice Platform for Exploring Environmental Records (PEER) is an interactive, open-source data tool that informs brownfields redevelopment and planning decisions. The tool aggregates and displays publicly-available environmental records in an easy-to-use, accessible way.
While environmental data is currently available, it is often very difficult to find and understand. Consequently, communities must seek professional services to conduct site research, which creates an unnecessary barrier at the early stages of a project or community visioning.
By using PEER, communities can immediately find critical site data to help them begin assessment, save time and money, and draw in the right professionals, partners, and resources to move forward.
For each environmental record, PEER provides a Revitalization Risk Rating (RRR), which indicates the likelihood of encountering a release of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant on the associated property.
How to use PEER
PEER is designed for area-wide research, grant preparation, pre-screening for eligibility determination for EPA funding, and community engagement and education. It should be used as an initial screening tool and does not replace standard environmental due diligence.
PEER contains select public data sources provided by the EPA, and we’re continuing to add records and improve PEER. Our research shows that at this time, these data sources do have gaps and inconsistencies. For example, environmental reporting to the EPA varies drastically by state.
Therefore, we recommend that users supplement PEER with data from state or local databases or contact their state agency for more information. Additionally, users should seek advice from qualified environmental professionals, state environmental agencies, and the U.S. EPA to fully evaluate property conditions relative to environmental risk and liability.
For each environmental record, PEER provides a Revitalization Risk Rating (RRR), which indicates the likelihood of encountering a release of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant on the associated property.
As laid out in the table below, the 0 to 5 rating scale is based on the likelihood and severity of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant on a property.
RRRs have been categorized through subjective interpretation on a broad scale by environmental professionals, are based on limited information, and are subject to bias and error inherent to public records. As such, they only provide general guidance and are not an accurate or complete assessment of any particular property.
It should also be noted that environmental records are not always indicative of on-site contamination, so further investigation will be required to determine risk related to individual projects.
What is a Revitalization Risk Rating (RRR)?
Why do we need PEER?
We believe that environmental data should be both publicly available and accessible. Communities should be able to find the critical data they need to make brownfields redevelopment and planning decisions without needing to engage an environmental professional during initial due diligence.
PEER meets this need by providing publicly-available EPA data in an easy-to-use, accessible way, so that communities can immediately begin assessing a site and draw in the right professionals, partners, and resources to move forward.