I’ve been exploring the newly configured search portal, Firstgov.gov, a government operated site that searches state and federal websites. Your keyword searches can be restricted to a specific url or a single state.

I was looking for different information databases and discovered several at the Environmental Protection Agency site. One is the Superfund Information Systems. The Facility Registry System “identifies facilities, sites or places subject to environmental regulations or of environmental interest”, plots the selected sites and buildings on an aerial map and gives details on the company owners.

A taming feature of the Firstgov search engine is in the organization of the results, which are segmented into folders that can be arranged by topic, agency or source. Like all web search engines you don’t know what sources you might be missing, but this is a great vehicle to get you on your way finding government resources.