ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online)

Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) is a web tool that EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance maintains, with compliance and enforcement information on more than one million regulated facilities, drawn mainly from EPA's national databases (EPA, Frequently Asked Questions; EPA, About the Data).

What puts a property on this record

ECHO covers four programs: Clean Air Act stationary sources, direct dischargers holding Clean Water Act permits (NPDES Permits), hazardous waste generators and other handlers, and public water systems, plus EPA cases under other statutes. EPA says every direct discharger, hazardous waste handler and public water system should be listed; small air facilities need not be entered, though a state may regulate them (EPA, Frequently Asked Questions).

What a listing shows, and what it does not

By EPA's account ECHO holds permit data, inspection and compliance evaluation dates and findings, violations, enforcement actions and penalties assessed (EPA, About the Data).

Years. Facility searches show five years of inspections and enforcement, the Detailed Facility Report ten, and EPA's case search its formal enforcement cases of every year (EPA, About the Data).
Currency. The data are snapshots of the source databases, and a week to three months can pass between entry in a source database and display in ECHO (EPA, About the Data).
A violation shown. EPA says the status terms ECHO uses, from violation to serious violator, often record a determination by EPA or a state that is not necessarily a final adjudication, and are then to be read as alleged; a case can end with no violation found. A violation can be an excess release of pollutants, a missed hazardous waste handling requirement or a report not filed (EPA, Frequently Asked Questions).
No violation shown. EPA cannot say such a facility is fully compliant: violations may be undiscovered, many facilities, smaller ones especially, may lack a recent inspection, and some violations at smaller ones need not be reported to EPA (EPA, Frequently Asked Questions). Enforcement actions not yet concluded are not shown (EPA, About the Data).
Left out. EPA counts most violations at non-major direct dischargers, and Superfund violations, among data not generally in ECHO; the state enforcement actions shown cover only the four programs, the federal ones every environmental statute (EPA, Frequently Asked Questions). For hazardous waste handlers, ECHO carries the compliance and enforcement part of EPA's hazardous waste system, which also holds cleanup activities; EPA points to another platform for the rest (EPA, About the Data).

In a Phase I ESA

ECHO is not a standard source of Table 2, and Table 3, the standard's examples of additional records, does not name it (E1527-21, 8.2.2, Table 2, Table 3). Additional records are checked when the environmental professional judges them reasonably ascertainable, useful, accurate and complete enough for the purpose of the records review, and generally obtained in initial site assessments for the type of transaction involved, under local good commercial and customary practice (E1527-21, 8.2.4). As a supplement to a Table 2 record type, such as hazardous waste generators, its search distance should not be shorter than Table 2's, as adjusted (E1527-21, 8.2.4, Table 2); see RCRA Generators.

The standard puts regulatory compliance outside its scope (E1527-21, 13.1.5.14). For an entry at the subject property, the answer turns on the facts behind it: what the violation or action concerned, which substance, where on the property, whether anything reached soil or water, and what was done. For those facts EPA suggests asking the agency that reported the violation or issued the permit, most likely a state agency or an EPA regional office (EPA, Frequently Asked Questions). Before the site visit, the owner, the key site manager if one is identified, and the user if not the owner are asked whether agency notices of violations exist and what they know of proceedings and notices involving hazardous substances or petroleum products (E1527-21, 10.8, 10.8.1, 10.9). See hazardous waste generator listing with no violations.

Where the file shows a release that left hazardous substances or petroleum products present or likely present at the subject property, the condition is listed in the Conclusions as a recognized environmental condition (REC) unless judged a de minimis condition or a historical REC, and the professional should give an opinion on additional investigation, if any (E1527-21, 3.2.20, 3.2.39, 3.2.73, 12.7, 12.8). A listing of the subject property, or of another site inside the approximate minimum search distance, gets the professional's judgment on its significance (E1527-21, 8.1.10). See adjoining or nearby property.

EPA lists the date ECHO last extracted each data set, for several not the date the source system was updated (EPA, About the Data); the report documents the dates the source and the original source last updated the information (E1527-21, 8.1.9).

What the federal rule says

The inquiry rule does not name ECHO. Its list for the subject property includes:

Records of activities, conditions, or incidents likely to cause or contribute to releases or threatened releases as defined in § 312.1(c)

40 CFR 312.26(b)(2), edition revised as of July 1, 2025

Its examples include records and permits of hazardous waste handlers and generators, and spill reporting records (40 CFR 312.26(b)(2)). The rule lets the procedures of E1527-21 be used to comply with its sections 312.23 through 312.31 (40 CFR 312.11(a)).

Where the record is kept

The records come mainly from EPA's program systems, into most of which EPA, state and local agencies and the facilities feed data (EPA, Frequently Asked Questions).

EPA pages read: Frequently Asked Questions, last updated October 10, 2023; About the Data, last updated September 28, 2026. Each was read October 16, 2026.

This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not classify any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here; the judgment of the environmental professional on the facts governs.