Welcome to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office (MEPA)Web site. Your privacy is one of our top priorities. The following policy applies only to the use of MEPA’s Web site. Other web sites operated by state agencies have different policies. We 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 at this site.  We also recommend that you read the “disclaimer” that appears on this web site as the MEPA Office cannot provide any warranty or knowledge as to the privacy policy of, or the use of personal information gathered at, a website that you may visit through a link appearing at this site.

A Privacy Relationship. Your privacy with respect to the use of this web site results from a relationship between the MEPA Office and you, the user. At this web site, we attempt to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. However, because some of the information that we receive through this web site is subject to the Public Records Law, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66, Section 10 and Chapter 4, Section 7(26), we cannot ensure absolute privacy. Information that you provide to us through this site may be made available to members of the public under that law. This policy informs you of the information that we collect from you at this site, what we do with it, to whom it may be disseminated, and how you can access it. Based on this information, you can make an informed choice about your use of this site. You can maximize the benefits of using this web site by making informed choices about whether to share personally identifiable information with us through this site.

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, mailing address, e-mail address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of similar information that could be reasonably used to identify you.

Information Voluntarily Provided by You. This site collects voluntary information from you only through the e-mails and/or forms that you send through this site. E-mails and/or forms sent by you to this site will contain personally identifiable information.

Information Collected and Stored by this Site. This site does not collect "cookies", but may 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 can 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 may provide information that is relevant to or necessary as part of an investigation concerning the violation of a law.

Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information. We do not sell any personally identifiable information collected through this web site. However, once you voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to us through an e-mail or a form submittal, its dissemination is governed by the Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66A, and other applicable laws and regulations. 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.

In addition, the information that you voluntarily submit will be disclosed only to Commonwealth employees or officials with a "need to know" for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. These individuals will only use the information to answer your questions, respond to any requests for assistance, and fulfill the Commonwealth's legal obligations. Where appropriate, we may provide the information submitted by you to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a government agency responsible for the matters referred to in your communication.

Your Access and Opportunity to Correct. The Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act provide you certain 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.

Security. Because this site does not encrypt incoming e-mail, you should not send information that you consider highly sensitive through this web site. We use standard security measures to ensure that your personally identifiable information is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. The Commonwealth also uses software programs to monitor network traffic 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.

Special Protections Against Misuse Of Personally Identifiable Information Within Commonwealth Offices. In 1999, then-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 handled consistent with Executive Order 412.

Policy changes. We will post changes to this policy 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, consistent with the Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act. After any changes take effect, all new information we collect, if any, will be subject to the new policy.

Contact Information. For questions about your privacy while using this Web site, please contact  EOEA’s Secretariat Information Officer Robert Wilbur at robert.wilbur@state.ma.us.

Definitions:   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, or to identify your session at a particular web site. 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.

An "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.