The Right-To-Know Network (RTK Net) has completed their Web site redesign, and it looks totally awesome. RTK Net is a project of OMB Watch, and they provide the public easy access to environmental and public health information such as pollution releases, chemical spills, hazardous waste generation, data that we need to know in order to keep ourselves healthy and safe.

RTK Net’s new site includes interactive maps showing pollution data for each state, graphs that chart pollution trends and lists of the top polluting power plants, refineries and other facilities. And the site provides free public access to environmental information from a number of databases managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on such things as toxic pollution, hazardous waste and spills and accidents. The site also allows users to identify specific factories and their environmental impacts, as well as what might happen if things go terribly wrong.

RTK Net is a great example of using technology to create government transparency. By giving the public easy access to this data, RTK Net is also making it possible for all of us to be involved in the government’s environmental decision making.