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Homepage » Lesson 7 » Lesson 7.1
The NEI is a national emissions data set compiled by the U.S. EPA and maintained by their Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. The NEI covers all areas of U.S. It is a national database of air emissions information with input from numerous State and local air agencies, from tribes, and from industry. These data are used for air dispersion modeling, regional strategy development, setting regulations, air toxics risk assessment, and tracking trends in emissions over time. The NEI is THE source for emissions data in the U.S. If someone wants to know how much of a certain kind of air pollutant is coming from what kind of sources, the NEI is their first stop for that information. The NEI is updated every 3 years. The most current years for the NEI have been 1999, 2002 and 2005.
The NEI requires an approach that includes data from sources on tribal lands, but does not double-count them. Double-counting occurs when, for example, a state reports unpaved road PM2.5 emissions for all of its counties and a tribe also reports unpaved road dust emissions. The people at EPA who maintain the NEI have no way of knowing if the state did or did not include roads on trial lands in their estimates or not. If the state accidentally (or otherwise) included roads on tribal lands when they made their unpaved road dust estimate PM2.5 and then the tribe completes and inventory of that source as well, if both report the data to the NEI, road PM2.5 would be counted twice (double-counted) in the NEI. At this time, OAQPS does not have a procedure for dealing with these possible double-counts of data.
What tribal data is currently in the NEI?
OAQPS has received data in recent years for a number of sources in Indian country.
It includes approximately 100 major sources and covers criteria and HAP emissions. Some of this data came from state/local air agencies. As of December 2005, 35 tribes have released their EI data to the NEI. Because the NEI does not currently have a method for reconciling double-counts on area, non-road and on-road data, the publicly available NEI database only contains tribal data on point sources.
What role can tribes play in the development of the NEI?
If you complete an EI for your reservation, consider submitting the data to the NEI. Although only your point sources will show up in the NEI as it currently works, both OAQPS and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) keep the area, non-road and on-road data on file. This is important on a national basis, such as when EPA or others ask questions about what sources of air pollution exist in Indian Country.
The NEI is open for submittals on a schedule that can vary. The next opportunity to submit data to the NEI is estimated to occur by June 1, 2006, for 2005 NEI. You can coordinate data transfer through EPA Regional offices and/or ITEP.
If you use TEISS to complete your EI, and you supply all the mandatory information that the NEI requires, you can have TEISS automatically prepare a database file in the proper format for submission to the NEI. TEISS alerts you to what information is mandatory for the NEI by the color shading in the data input boxes as shown below.
Mandatory Fields: 
Mandatory for inventory. It designates a data element that EPA and most other data users require to be present in order to consider an inventory useful.
Necessary Fields: 
Necessary fields are also important to NEI data users, but for which reasonable defaulting schemes may be applied by EPA if the value is not reported.
Optional Fields: 
These fields need only be filled in if they provide information that will be helpful to you.
If there is emission information that your tribe does not want to submit to the publicly accessible NEI for any reason, you can work with EPA so that the data does not become accessible.
What are the benefits to a tribe of supplying data to the NEI?
There are several reasons why a tribe should consider releasing data to the NEI:
- Quality emissions data are key to accurate assessments by tribes & EPA
- Develops expertise within tribes for future environmental planning and assessment
- Ensures good coverage of emissions on tribal lands for efforts by regional planning organizations
- Puts the tribe "on the map" for air quality. When your data is in the NEI, it is a heads up to EPA and the states that your tribe has taken responsibility for your reservation air quality.
What are the possible positive aspects of supplying tribal data to the NEI?
- Recognizes validity, sovereignty, expertise of tribal data collection efforts
- Ensures accurate representation of tribal data
- Tribal data becomes represented in regional and national processes and modeling
What are the possible negative aspects of supplying tribal data to the NEI?
- Conflicts with adjacent landowners or facilities
- General tribal policy of not releasing data
- Uncomfortable with accuracy of existing EI data
 Questions or concerns about releasing data to the NEI? Post them to the Bulletin Board for discussion. Go to Bulletin Board.
Other Sources of EI Data
While the NEI is the most commonly used source of emissions data, there are several other sources that are worth checking as well. Some tribes have found the state air quality departments in their area to be helpful. Once you have examined the NEI data for your area, it is a good idea to search the state air quality website for emission inventory data. The state of California has a particularly good link. Some regional planning organizations (RPOs) have emissions data that is generally based on the NEI, but is often improved or modified in some way.
If you have local air pollution control agencies in your area, it is a good idea to contact them also to see if they have any information on sources you can use.
The Bishop Paiute Tribe's EI is an example of working with a local air agency to get information. You can obtain a copy of Bishop Paiute's "Air Quality on the Bishop Paiute Reservation, Source and Emissions Inventory" document by visiting ITEP's Resource Information Center (RIC), click on Search by Tribal Documents, then click on Emissions Inventories.
End of Lesson 7.1
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