Transparency via the New York Times

I frequently admire graphics in the New York Times. And, I wish many times that audit reports could communicate as clearly. Sometimes I even use ideas I find in the Times to design an illustration for a report. For example this map illustrates my point. The NY Times compiled data on facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and responses from states regarding compliance and entered it into an interactive map. You can enter your zip code and learn what facilities are near you and the number of violations they have had.

There is much talk now in government about increasing transparency. The federal government has launched http://www.recovery.gov/ to track stimulus funds and we have http://www.usa.gov/ that serves as a gateway to government information including a page of links to government data sources. But flooding citizens with data is not necessarily transparency.
The EPA has a similar feature to the NY Times map that is referenced on its main page. You can enter your zip code and access "MyEnvironment." Here you will have access to information about environmental quality in your area. There is a map with sites that report to the EPA. But the only information for each site is the name and address. It lacks what is of most interest to a citizen - the number of violations. I tried to probe further to see if with more investigation I could find this out at the EPA site but it proved impenetrable to me. Maybe if I had searched more industriously I might have found the information. But you have to admit that a citizen probably would not be as determined.