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EPA Awards Oklahoma Half-Million Dollar Grant

Release Date: 9/22/1998
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

    Oklahoma is one of eight states to receive a $500,000 grant to help make environmental information more easily available to the public. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant will allow the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) to reduce the paperwork needed to gather required environmental data and to enhance the information available on their outstanding Internet web site.

     "This grant highlights EPA's commitment to making important environmental information readily available to citizens. People need and have the right to the best information possible so they can make informed decisions about their communities," EPA Regional Administrator Gregg Cooke said.

     Environmental agencies use their technical expertise to collect and to analyze a broad variety of complex data. Providing this information in an accessible and understandable format allows citizens to effectively evaluate and improve environments in individual neighborhoods.

     This grant will allow ODEQ to develop and to install computer software that allows more efficient electronic reporting of environmental data as well as improving public access to the varied information the Agency collects. These upgrades will allow the State's vast store of environmental  information to be more easily understood and used, as well as easier to find.

     ODEQ Executive Director Mark Coleman said, "The ability to make more environmental information more readily available to the public goes hand-in-hand with the very reason the Oklahoma Legislature created an environmental agency. This grant will help us expand our mission of serving the environmental needs of Oklahomans in every corner of our state."