Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool

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Data Download | Data Vintage | Maps | Data Sources | Map Layers | Change Log

Data Download

Data Vintage

2022 power plant characteristics, operation, and emissions data from the Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID2022) (accessed on 5/29/2024).
Socioeconomic indicators are from Census Bureau’s ACS 2018-2022 5-year Summary (ACS 2022) (accessed via EJScreen on 7/23/2024).

Maps

Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool

The Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool (PPNC) is an interactive map that displays socioeconomic information of communities, along with the location and operating information for fossil fuel-fired power plants. 

Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Web Map

The Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Web Map is used in the Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool and is available on EPA's GeoPlatform. 

Data Sources

The Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool combines power plant data with demographic data from the U. S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) that is processed and aggregated in EJScreen. The power plant data is from the following two data sets available from EPA's Clean Power Air Power Sector Programs (CAPD):

Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID)

The data include emissions, emission rates, generation, heat input (e.g. energy from combustion), and many other attributes for all grid-connected electric generating units (EGUs) at facilities that have a nameplate generating capacity of at least 1 Megawatt (MW).

Power Sector Emissions Data

The data include annual emissions and heat input. The data are collected by EPA under the regulations in 40 CFR Part 75. Other available data includes hourly emissions and operating parameters plus facility information and quality assurance test results.

EJScreen

The data provide a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and socioeconomic indicators.

Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 2018-2022 5-year Summary

The ACS 2022 5-Year Summary (2018-2022) provides detailed demographic, social, economic, and housing data for communities across the United States.

EPA's Power Plant Proximity and Downwind Analysis

EPA's Power Plant Proximity and Downwind Analysis identifies census block groups that are potentially exposed to air pollution from each power plant.

Map Layers

The Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool is an ESRI Experience Builder application. It includes ArcGIS Dashboards comprised of the three Web Maps (Uniform Buffers, Plant-Specific Buffers, and Long-Range Downwind Areas). Each Web Map consists of several unique Feature Service layers and several common Feature Service layers.

The following list details the unique Feature Service layers for each Web Map:

Uniform Buffers Web Map
This Web Map contains two Feature Service layers (Uniform Points and Uniform Buffers) used in the Uniform Buffers. The Power Plants layer displays power plants that burn fossil fuels with the markers color-coded according to the national percentile of the supplemental demographic index. This layer contains power plant and population summaries for the 3-mile buffers. The 3-Mile Buffers layer displays a circle representing the uniform 3-mile buffer around power plants.
Plant-Specific Buffers Web Map
This Web Map contains two Feature Service layers (Plant-Specific Points and Plant-Specific Buffers) used in the Plant-Specific Buffers dashboard. The Power Plants layer displays power plants that burn fossil fuels with the markers color-coded according to the national percentile of the supplemental demographic index. This layer contains power plant and population summaries for the plant-specific buffers. The Plant-Specific Buffers layer displays a circle representing the plant-specific buffer around power plants.
Long-Range Downwind Areas
This Web Map contains two Feature Service layers (Plant-Specific Points and Plant-Specific Buffers) used in the Long-Range Downwind Areas dashboard. The Power Plants layer displays power plants that burn fossil fuels with the markers color-coded according to the national percentile of the supplemental demographic index. This layer contains power plant and population summaries for the Long-Range Downwind Areas of power plants. The Long-Range Downwind Areas layer displays a polygon representing the Long-Range Downwind Area from power plants.

The following list details the common layers in all three Web Maps:

Plants by Fuel Type is a feature layer with color-coded markers according to fuel type from the Power Plants layer.
Plant by Emission Levels group layer includes symbols for SO₂, NO_X, CO₂, and PM_2.5 from the Power Plants layer.
Disadvantaged Communities is a layer that presents US census tracts classified as disadvantaged by CEJST Justice40 Disadvantaged Communities and EPA IRA Disadvantaged Communities.
Tribal Area Proximity group layer includes American Indian reservations and distance to plants within 50 miles of the power plant feature layers.
Block Group Boundaries is a feature layer that displays U.S. Census block group boundaries from the EJ Screen Socioeconomic Indicators layer.
EJScreen Socioeconomic Indicators group layer is a map image layer that includes block group boundaries, Socioeconomic Indicators, EJ Indices, and demographic categories from EJ Screen.
State Boundaries is a feature layer that displays U.S. Census State boundaries.

All Feature Service layers can be accessed in EPA's Geoplatform Online through the Web Map links above.

Change Log

January 15, 2025 - Version 4.0
- This release introduces updates to the Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool offering new features, data, and new views of communities potentially impacted by power plants.
- The Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool now includes four distinct views and a revamped home page, designed to present various screening approaches for visualizing and mapping potential power plant impacts on neighborhoods:
  1. Uniform Buffers (the Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool classic view of 3-mile buffers)
  2. Plant-Specific Buffers
  3. Long-Range Downwind Areas
  4. Upwind Plants
- For the buffer (Uniform and Plant-Specific) and the Long-Range Downwind Areas views, the socioeconomic summaries are histograms of age, household income, educational level, race, household language, and employment status rather than the previous national percentile histograms of the EJScreen socioeconomic indicators.
- For the Upwind Plants view, aggregated emissions data are shown including total emissions by SO₂, CO₂, NO_X, and PM_2.5.
September 30, 2024 - Version 3.0
- New data
  - Added "Supplemental Demographic Index" and "Unemployment Rate" (see EJScreen's Overview of Socioeconomic Indicators).
  - Added flags for geographic areas overlapping with tribes, disadvantaged communities, and non-attainment areas in the dataset.
- Updated data
  - All socioeconomic indicators are from the US Census Bureau’s ACS 2018-2022 5-year Summary (ACS 2022) (accessed via EJScreen).
  - Updated Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) power plant data to data year 2022.
  - Updated Clean Air Power Sector Programs (CAPD) power plant data to year 2023.
  - Updated to latest power plant retirement data (data is updated on a monthly basis and is available here).
- Updated map layers
- Methodological changes
  - The combustion fuel with the highest amount of annual heat input determines the plant fuel type. In previous versions, if a plant burned any amount of coal, the plant fuel type was set to coal.
- Interface changes
  - Changed initial view from demographic index to supplemental demographic index.
  - Added additional filters to incorporate new data.
  - Replaced “Linguistically isolated” with “Limited English Speaking” to align with the most recent nomenclature used by the U.S. Census. This dataset remains the same, but the name has been changed.
  - Changed the name of the “EPA Clean Air Markets Plants” filter to “EPA Clean Power Sector Plants” to reflect organizational name change.
October 12, 2023 - Version 2.2
- Added interactive bar charts, KPIs, and tables.
July 18, 2023 - Version 2.1
- Updated the Census Block Group data to ACS 2017-2021 5-year Summary (ACS 2021).
June 25, 2023 - Version 2.0
- Updated to 2021/2022 data power plant data with demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 2016-2020 5-year summary file data.
July 29, 2021 - Version 1.0
- Initial release with 2019/2020 power plant data with demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 2014-2018 5-year summary file data.

More Information

More information can be found on the Frequent Questions about Power Plants and Neighboring Communities page.

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