EPA uses blog to seek ideas on info sharing

Environmental Protection Agency officials want the public to tell them how to share information.The agency’s Environmental Information Office has asked the public as well as federal, state, local and tribal agencies to suggest best practices, tools and ideas on how the EPA can improve access to environmental information. To do so, EPA launched a blog on the office’s Web site.The agency has requested advice in five areas:The blog, which is called the Partner Blog for the National Dialogue, will be open from June 9-13. The office will release a summary of the results June 20.  It can be found at blog.epa.gov/partners/.OEI’s blog is the latest effort in the office’s National Dialogue to Enhance Information Access. The office previously conducted forums with EPA employees, educators and researchers, representatives from the news media and federal, state and local agencies through April and May. Unlike those efforts, the blog is open to the public.“There is so much information out there that navigating through it can be a challenge,” EPA Chief Information Officer and OEI Assistant Administrator Molly O’Neill said at a May 13 forum run by the agency.