MassDEP Web Site Policies

Accessibility Statement

MassDEP is committed to achieving meaningful accessibility to this online environment for all users, including users with disabilities. We follow specific Commonwealth enterprise standards designed to meet the needs of our citizens with disabilities. The Commonwealth enterprise standards are generally based on standards used by the Federal government for technology accessibility for people with disabilities, and web content accessibility guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). For more information about the Federal standards, please visit the Section 508 web site (http://www.section508.gov) or the Federal Access Board web site (http://www.access-board.gov). For more information about the W3C guidelines, please visit their web site (http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT). The MassDEP web site is regularly tested using leading web accessibility technologies and reviewed by users to verify that this web site is compliant with applicable standards.

About Portable Document Format (PDF)

Some documents on this web site are produced in Portable Document Format (PDF). Efforts are currently underway to ensure that all files are produced using the latest version of Acrobat (file conversion software for PDFs), which is the most accessible technology currently available for these types of files. In order to improve viewing of these files, please download the latest version of Adobe Reader^TM, which is available for free at the Adobe web site (http://www.adobe.com).

However, recognizing that even this version does not always work for all users, efforts are also underway to ensure that PDF files are supplemented with alternative accessible formats and, wherever possible, that these formats include a text or an HTML file.

Contact Information

If any file format prevents you from accessing the information, please contact us for assistance. In order to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please note the nature of your accessibility concern, the format in which you prefer to receive the material, the web page address of the requested material, and the best way to contact you.

In addition, MassDEP also uses third-party sites for communicating via social media. These sites are governed by separate policies. Please see Social Media Usage and Policies for more information.

We also welcome your questions about this accessibility statement and comments on how to improve the site's accessibility.

Please contact us at MassDEP Internet Strategy Unit, 2nd Floor, One Winter Street, Boston, MA 02018, 617-292-5744, or by email at dep.www@state.ma.us

Privacy Policy

Welcome to mass.gov/dep, the official Web site of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). Your privacy is one of our top priorities. The following policy applies only to the use of MassDEP's Web site, which includes on-line submittals. Other Web sites operated by state agencies have different policies. In addition, MassDEP also uses third-party sites for communicating via social media. These sites are governed by separate policies. Please see Social Media Usage and Policies for more information.

We strongly suggest that you read the privacy policies for each Commonwealth Web site that you visit, and any external site that you visit through a link appearing on this site.

Our Privacy Partnership With You

Your privacy with respect to the use of this Web site results from a partnership between the Commonwealth and you, the user. At this Web site, we attempt to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. However, because the information that we receive through this Web site is subject to Public Records Law, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66, Section 10, we cannot ensure absolute privacy. Information that you provide to us through this site, even personally identifiable information contained in a public record, may be made available to members of the public under this law. This policy informs you of the information that we collect from you at this site, what we do with it, how secure it is, to whom it may be disseminated, and how you can access it. The policy also informs you about our process for making changes to this policy, provides you with contact information, and defines terms used in this policy. Based on this information, you can make an informed choice about your use of this site. You can maximize the benefits of your privacy partnership with the Commonwealth by making informed choices about whether to share personally identifiable information with us through this site.

Information Automatically Collected On The Site

The Web site (hosted at http://mass.gov/dep) does not collect "cookies" but it does collect and store indefinitely your Internet Protocol ("IP") address (which does not identify you as an individual), as well as information about the date and time of your visit, whether a file you have requested exists, and how many "bytes" of information were transmitted to you over the Web from this site. We use your IP address to assess the frequency of visits to this site and the popularity of its various pages and functions. We will not attempt to match any personally identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal investigation.

Certain Web applications (hosted at http://db.state.ma.us/dep/ or http://public.dep.state.ma.us) that are accessible through this Web site may automatically set temporary "session cookies" to faciliate visitors interacting with the Web application. "Session cookies" do not personally identify a visitor. These cookies are stored only in memory and are deleted when the user's browser is shut down.

Information Voluntarily Provided By You

This site allows you to voluntarily provide some personally identifiable information to MassDEP. If you subscribe to a mailing list or send us an e-mail message, you will submit your e-mail address to MassDEP. If you fill out an online form to provide feedback, to register for an event, to make a file review request, or to submit public comment, you will be asked by MassDEP to provide some or all of the following personally identifiable information:

Name
Occupation
Affiliation/Company
City/Town
State/Province
Country
Telephone Number
Fax Number
E-mail address

If you file a submittal on-line (e.g., permit, certification or compliance report), MassDEP will collect and store all that data, including any personal data reported in the submittal.

As a general matter, the above referenced personally identifiable information is subject to disclosure, upon request, under the public records law. However, certain personal information provided to or held by MassDEP constitutes "personal data" that must be kept confidential by MassDEP in accordance with the Fair Information Practices Act (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66A), including:

medical information;
personnel information that is evaluative in nature;
any data of a highly personal nature that would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy if disclosed (e.g., marital status, paternity, substance abuse, etc.); or
enforcement-sensitive information on individuals (e.g., the identity of persons reporting violations).

MassDEP's Web site will not be used to collect the types of personal data identified in categories 1 - 3 above. However, you are allowed to submit enforcement sensitive information to MassDEP via its Web site, such as e-mailing MassDEP to report an environmental violation. If you chose to send an e-mail to MassDEP notifying us of an environmental violation, your e-mail address and any other personally identifiable information will be protected as confidential personal data and will not be disclosed under a public records request. If MassDEP is directed to release such personal data in response to a subpoena or other compulsory legal action, MassDEP will use its best efforts to provide advance notice to you of the release.

How We Use Your Personally Identifiable Information

MassDEP will use your e-mail address to send you a 'confirmation' of a submittal, or include you on a mailing list you subscribed to or to respond to an e-mail message you sent. When you submit information via an online form, we will use that information for the purpose stated on the form that you submit. MassDEP will not sell any personally identifiable information collected through e-mail or online forms.

Security Of Your Personally Identifiable Information

You should be aware that this site does not encrypt communications through incoming e-mail or online forms; however, this site DOES encrypt any on-line submittals (e.g., permits, certifications or compliance reports). Therefore, you should not send information that you consider highly sensitive via e-mail or through a form on this Web site except for an on-line submittal, which uses 128-bit encryption. We use software programs to monitor network traffic and to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

Dissemination Of Your Personally Identifiable Information

The information that you voluntarily submit will be disclosed to Commonwealth employees or officials with a "need to know" for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. They will use this information to process your submittal, answer your questions, respond to any requests for assistance, and fulfill the Commonwealth's legal obligations. In order to answer your questions or fulfill your requests for assistance, we may provide the information submitted by you to a specific person or to the government agency responsible for the matters referred to in your communication.

You should be aware that anytime you fill out a submittal, or submit personally identifiable information to us through an e-mail or a form, the dissemination of that information within or outside of MassDEP is ultimately governed by the Public Records Law, the Fair Information Practices Act (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66A), Executive Order 412, and other applicable laws and regulations. For example, as a general rule, personally identifiable information contained in a public record is subject to disclosure, upon request, under the public records law. For this reason, part or all of the information you send us may be provided to a member of the public in response to a public records request.

Your Access And Opportunity To Correct Personally Identifiable Information

You have the right to access and the opportunity to correct information that you submit to MassDEP. The Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act outline your rights to get information about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances under which you can get and correct this information, please click on the above references to these laws.

Changes To This Policy

We will post any changes to this policy on this Web page at least 30 days before they take effect. Any information we collect under the current privacy policy will remain subject to the terms of this policy. Any new information we collect under a changed policy will be subject to that new policy.

Contact Information

For questions about your privacy while using this Web site, please contact Anthony Abruzese via e-mail at Anthony.Abruzese@state.ma.us or by phone at 617-556-1136.

Definition of Terms

Cookies are files that a Web site can place on your computer. A cookie file contains unique information that a Web site can use to track such things as your password, lists of Web pages you have visited, and the date when you last looked at a specific Web page ("persistent cookies"), or to identify your session at a particular Web site ("session cookies"). A cookie file allows the Web site to recognize you as you click through pages on the site and when you later revisit the site. A Web site can use cookies to "remember" your preferences, and to record your browsing behavior on the Web. Although you can prevent Web sites from placing cookies on your computer by using your browser's preference menu, disabling cookies may affect your ability to view or interact with some Web sites. The MassDEP Web site hosted at http://mass.gov/dep/ does not use cookies, though some Web applications that are accessible from the site may use temporary "session cookies" which are discarded when the user closes their browser.

Executive Order 412 - In 1999, Acting Governor Swift issued Executive Order 412, which enhanced the privacy protection given to any information about you as a named individual held by the Executive Department of state government. Executive Order 412 limits the collection and dissemination of personally identifiable information within the Executive Department. This site complies with Executive Order 412, so all of the personally identifiable information that you submit to this site is given the privacy protections set forth in Executive Order 412. See the text of Executive Order 412.

"Internet Protocol Address" or "IP Address" is a series of numbers that identifies each computer and machine connected to the Internet. An IP address enables a server on a computer network to send you the file that you have requested on the Internet. The IP address disclosed to us may identify the computer from which you are accessing the Internet, or a server owned by your Internet Service Provider. Because it is machine-specific, rather than person-specific, an IP address is not, in and of itself, personally identifiable information.

Personally Identifiable Information - We use the term "personally identifiable information" to mean any information that could reasonably be used to identify you, including your name, address, e-mail address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of information that could be used to identify you.

Personal Data - We use the term "personal data" to mean any information that can be readily associated with a person because of name, identifying number, mark or description, and that is NOT contained in a public record. As a general rule the following types of personal information are "personal data" and exempt from public disclosure:

medical information;
personnel information that is evaluative in nature;
any data of a highly personal nature that would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy if disclosed (e.g., marital status, paternity, substance abuse, etc.); or
enforcement-sensitive information on individuals (e.g., the identity of persons reporting violations).

Social Media Usage and Policies

Staying Informed and Involved Online

To highlight our commitment to transparency in government, MassDEP is using additional Web-based tools for outreach, education and information. These tools are not intended to replace the channels currently in place for press and constituent communication. Rather, these tools are meant to enhance our ability to educate, empower, and inform the residents of Massachusetts. Press inquiries or complaints regarding agency services should be directed to Ed Coletta at edmund.coletta@state.ma.us or 617-292-5737, and questions or complaints regarding agency services should be directed to MassDEP at 617-292-5500 or dep.www@state.ma.us.

Please note that the Records Retention Law of the Commonwealth requires MassDEP to preserve records created or received by a state employee. Pursuant to this retention requirement, comments posted or messages received via an official state agency page on a third-party web-site will be treated as state governmental records and may be permanently archived. Information that you submit voluntarily through social media sites associated with this agency where such information is publically available, including your name, city or town, and the substance of anything that you post, may be disseminated further by being posted online at this website or be publicly discussed by a member of the administration.

Comments and Appropriate Use of Social Media

We want to retain posts of the comments that you make, so we ask that your comments and your use of our sites generally be courteous, on topic, and appropriate to the purpose of the site. The purpose of the social media site should be considered in your use and in your comments. Posts to a MassDEP social media site should NOT contain any of the following, and it is within MassDEP’s discretion to remove posts of this type:

copyrighted and other proprietary material, in any form, unless proper permission is clearly indicated. In posting comments or other work, a commenter grants MassDEP and anyone viewing the MassDEP site irrevocable permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display or perform the commenter's work publicly and free-of-charge.
unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.
reports of criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact your local police agency. To report environmental crime, please contact the MassDEP Environmental Strike Force.

In addition, it is MassDEP's policy to remove comments posted to the agency's social media site that:

contain obscene, indecent, or profane language;
contain threats or defamatory statements;
contain hate speech directed at race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, or disability; or
promote or endorse services or products. (Note that non-commercial links that are relevant to the topic or another comment are acceptable.)

Furthermore, for the benefit of robust discussion appropriate for social media, it is within MassDEP's discretion to remove comments that:

contain subjects that are off-topic. To ensure that your comments on other topics reach the right program for follow-up and response, please contact the appropriate MassDEP program directly or call MassDEP at 617-292-5500.
contain identical posts by the same user or multiple users sending identical messages or one person submitting under different aliases. In the case of such identical posts, we will retain or post the first submission.

Social Media Sites, Your Privacy and Related Policies

The Records Retention Law of the Commonwealth requires MassDEP to preserve records created or received by the Department. Pursuant to this retention requirement, comments posted or messages received via an official state agency page on a third-party web-site (such as an official agency profile on a micro-blog such as Twitter) will be treated as state governmental records and may be permanently archived. Accordingly, information that you submit through social media sites associated with MassDEP become subject to Public Records Law.

To protect your privacy, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as Social Security number, phone numbers or email addresses in your public comments. In some cases, to facilitate direct communication between MassDEP and you, we may ask you to provide your name and contact information, although providing either is optional.

Also please note that when you visit a MassDEP social media site, you are visiting the site of a third-party provider and are therefore subject to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for that site. In your use of and comments to MassDEP on that social media site, you are also subject to the MassDEP Website Policies, including the Social Media Usage and Policies herein described.

Response to Comments

We recognize that the internet is a medium unbound by regular business hours and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage resources, addressing comments will generally occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted at other times will be addressed as soon as possible.

In addition, while MassDEP's use of social media is for interaction between MassDEP and the public, it is not a substitute channel for our services or assistance. For assistance, please visit our Contact Page for information on contacting MassDEP.

MassDEP on Flickr

Flickr is an image and video hosting social networking site. We post a wide range of photos to Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/massdep/collections/.

MassDEP is responsible solely for the content uploaded to the official Flickr site, and not for any related videos or linked photos linked from other users, nor for any advertising or other content contained on the Flickr website.

If you'd like to use any of our photos for a story, blog post, printing, etc., we ask that you credit, "Photo Courtesy of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection."

Also note that this photo share is hosted by Flickr and is governed by Flickr's separate website policies, including its Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. These policies apply to your use of Flickr. For questions, please contact Kellie Ingram at kellie.ingram@state.ma.us or 617-292-5744.

MassDEP on Twitter

Twitter is a free social networking site that allows users to send and read other users' updates of up to 140 characters in length. While people use Twitter in many different ways for both personal and professional reasons, MassDEP is using Twitter as another way to engage with citizens and to keep them informed about what we're doing.

You can follow Commissioner Ken Kimmell and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MassDEP. Please note:

The account is maintained and monitored by MassDEP staff.
Tweets marked with the signature K are sent by Commissioner Kimmell.
While we may follow people who follow us, a follow does not constitute a formal endorsement or approval of opinions or ideas expressed by the followed account holder.
While we may retweet other content, a retweet does not constitute a formal endorsement.
While we are interested in engaging with our followers on Twitter, please contact MassDEP by other means for comments or issues that don't fit very well in 140 characters. Twitter is not an appropriate method to provide formal public comments. MassDEP continues to accept formal public comment via email and postal mail for regulatory, permitting and other matters.
While MassDEP staff tweet directly and the Commissioner and staff watch and update Twitter as much as possible, please recognize that we also monitor and maintain many other channels of feedback, outreach and engagement, both in-person and online.
Unless you protect your updates, messages you post on Twitter are public. Because not everyone knows that we are on Twitter, we occasionally search for "tweets" that talk about energy or environmental issues but don't reference our account, "@MassDEP", and let that user know about our account. We periodically perform these searches to enable us to more effectively listen to and engage with constituents.
MassDEP will not respond via Twitter to press inquiries, resident questions or complaints, or other constituent matters. To contact MassDEP for these purposes, please see Contacts on the MassDEP Web site.
Your use of and comments to MassDEP on Twitter are governed by MassDEP's Social Media Usage and Polices herein described.
In addition, MassDEP on Twitter is a micro-blog hosted by Twitter and is also governed by Twitter's separate policies, including its Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. These policies apply to your use of Twitter as well.

Terms of Use for Sites Maintained by MassDEP

Thank you for using MassDEP sites that are part of the official online presence of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). We hope these sites will make your dealings with your state government easier and more efficient.

Users Agree to These Terms. This document contains terms of use for the MassDEP Web site and other sites maintained by MassDEP. By using these sites, you agree to these terms and conditions. Please note that these terms supplement the Mass.Gov Terms of Use as well as additional terms of use that may apply to other Web-based transactions accessible from MassDEP sites. You should also review the MassDEP Privacy Policy and the Mass.Gov Privacy Policy to learn about what information is collected, what it is used for, and how it may be shared. We also suggest that you review the relevant policies for third-party sites used by MassDEP for communicating via social media. These sites are governed by separate policies. Please see Social Media Usage and Policies for more information.
Other Sites Have Other Policies. For your convenience, MassDEP links to external Internet sites that are not provided or maintained by the MassDEP. Please note that MassDEP cannot guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of these external sites. While MassDEP primarily links to other government and non-profit sites, the inclusion of links is not intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites. In particular, please note that MassDEP uses various social media tools. Although some of the social media sites or identities might appear to be part of the MassDEP site, many are hosted by third party providers. Please review our Social Media Usage and Policies for more information on the terms that apply for each of these sites.
Public Record and Copyright. All of the material posted on MassDEP's Web site and accessible to the public without use of an authenticating and authorizing mechanism (such as a "PIN" or password) is public record. Most of the public record posted on MassDEP and any of the Commonwealth Web sites can be copied and used for any purpose. For example, all judicial opinions and all laws and regulations are public record. However, some of the public record posted on the Commonwealth's Web sites is also copyrighted material (for example, regulations based on technical codes developed and copyrighted by private organizations).
With respect to MassDEP, some material on the site may be copyrighted (including, but not limited to, photographs taken by third parties) and this material is subject to the same requirements as set forth in Mass.Gov's Terms of Use. Specifically,

"with respect to material copyrighted by the Commonwealth, including the design, layout, and other features of Mass.Gov, the Commonwealth forbids any copying or use other than "fair use" under the Copyright Act. "Fair use" includes activities such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, research, and other related activities. In addition, please be advised that Mass.Gov makes use of materials (including, but not limited to, photographs) in which third parties hold the copyright, which also cannot be copied or used for use other than "fair use" without permission of the copyright owner. If you want to make use other than "fair use" of any copyrighted information on this Web site, you must seek permission directly from the copyright owner."

The part of our sites to which the copyright rules stated above do not apply is on social media pages that receive comment. Content on these pages is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Content includes all materials posted by MassDEP. In addition, visitors to these pages agree to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to the rest of the world for their submissions to this site under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. A copy of this license is available online at http://creativecommons.org/licenses.

MassDEP respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask users of our sites to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, we reserve the right to terminate, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, users, subscribers, or account holders on our sites who are deemed to be repeat infringers. We may also, at our sole discretion, limit access to our sites and/or terminate the accounts of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

Notice and Procedure for Notifying Designated Agent of Claims of Copyright Infringement
If you believe that any material on MassDEP's sites infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, or that any link on these sites directs users to another site that contains material that infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may file a notification of such infringement with our Designated Agent as set forth below. Notifications of claimed copyright infringement must be sent to MassDEP's Designated Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement. Our Designated Agent may be reached by emailing Kellie.Ingram@state.ma.us.
No warranty, endorsement or liability. MassDEP makes no warranty that the materials contained on the sites are free from copyright claims, or other restrictions or limitations on free use or display. MassDEP disclaims any liability for the improper or incorrect use of information obtained from these sites.

With respect to MassDEP, any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other nongovernmental organizations or individuals that remain on the sites are provided solely for the information of individuals using the sites and are not intended to reflect the opinion of the Administration, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or its officers and employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given to any referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying official endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

MassDEP does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on the sites is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. MassDEP may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on any of MassDEP's sites by any other person. The views expressed on these sites by non-state commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the MassDEP.
No waiver; Laws, Regulations and Policies Take Precedence. The content published on these sites is subordinate to, and is not to be interpreted as an amendment to or waiver of the Federal and State laws, regulations and policies applicable to the matters addressed in the sites' content.