Accessibility

The U.S. Department of Energy is committed to providing access to our Web pages for individuals with disabilities.  To meet this commitment, this site is built to comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from us, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on us. Section 508 also requires us to ensure that Federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on us.

If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader, a screen reader, TTY, etc.) and the format of any material on our Web sites interferes with your ability to access the information, please go to "Web Site Feedback" section of the Contact Us page. Please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which to receive the material, the Web address of the requested material, and your contact information.

Copyright, Restrictions, and Permissions Notice

Government information at DOE Web sites is in the public domain. Public domain information may be freely distributed and copied, but it is requested that in any subsequent use the Department of Energy be given appropriate acknowledgement. When using DOE Web sites, you may encounter documents, illustrations, photographs, or other information resources contributed or licensed by private individuals, companies, or organizations that may be protected by U.S. and foreign copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use (PDF) as defined in the copyright laws requires the written permission of the copyright owners.

Images on our web site which are in the public domain may be used without permission. If you use images from our web site, we ask that you credit us as the source. Please note that some images on our site may have been obtained from other organizations. Permission to use these images should be obtained directly from those organizations.

Document Inventory and Schedule

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) developed this inventory of http://www.energy.gov/ website content as required by Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Government Act of 2002. This inventory will be expanded and/or refined as needed depending on the information needs of our visitors.

In preparing this inventory, DOE has reviewed information collected as part of the redesign process for ENERGY.Gov completed in June 2003, including citizen comments via e-mail, focus groups, and usability tests; current website statistics indicating usage of existing content; and related information developed through the Information Quality Guidelines process (per Section 515 of Public Law 106-554, known as the Data Quality Act).

To provide comments or suggestions on this inventory, please send e-mail to the DOE Webmaster at DOE.Webmaster@hq.doe.gov.

For more information about the Web content inventory and the E-Gov Act, please visit these links:

• Summary of Requirements from the Federal Web Content Managers Toolkit
• Section 207 of the E-Gov Act

Linking Policy

The Department of Energy (DOE) policy for hyperlinks requires a website to be funded, sponsored, supported, or partnered by the DOE, be educational in nature, or be another Government web site.

Links may be made to our web site from other personal and organizational web pages. We request that you link to our site rather than downloading portions of it to another web server, so that our viewers will see our most up-to-date information.

The following items are mandatory links for all DOE Web sites:

• strategic plan and annual performance plans
• Descriptions of agency organizational structure, mission and statutory authority
• Information made available under the Freedom of Information Act
• Specific website privacy policies
• USA.gov
• Summary statistical data about equal employment opportunity complaints filed with the agency and written notification of “Whistleblower” rights and protections as required by the No Fear Act of 2002
• The agency point of contact for small businesses as required by the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002
• Other cross-government portals or links required by law or policy

Linking Policy

(1)               Linking Policy for External Links.

1. The ability to hyperlink to sources external to the organization is a fundamental part of the World Wide Web, and can add significant value to the functionality of publicly accessible DOE web sites. DOE Elements must establish objective and supportable criteria or guidelines for the selection and maintenance of links to external web pages. 
2.  Links to non-DOE web resources should support the organization’s mission. 
3. External links should be reviewed on an established schedule to ensure their continued suitability. If the content of a linked external site becomes questionable or objectionable, remove the link. The schedule must be included in the linking policy.
4. No product endorsements or preferential treatment must be given on publicly accessible official DOE web sites.
5. No payment of any kind must be accepted in exchange for a link placed on an organization’s publicly accessible official DOE web site.
6. Publicly accessible DOE web sites must not require or encourage users to choose any specific browser software. Only text or hyperlinked text must be used to direct visitors to software download sites. Graphics or logos depicting companies/products must not appear on publicly accessible DOE web sites.
7. When external links to non-government web sites are included, the head of the DOE Element, or the subordinate organization, is responsible for ensuring that a disclaimer is made that neither the DOE nor the organization endorses the product or organization at the destination, nor does the DOE exercise any responsibility over the content at the destination. This includes credits given to contractors who produce DOE web sites.

(2)               Notification:  DOE public web sites should notify visitors when they are leaving the web site for a non-DOE web site.  It is not mandatory for DOE public web sites to notify visitors when they are leaving the web site for another federal government web site. Options for notifying visitors that they are leaving the web site include—

1. placing an icon (not graphic or logo depicting companies/products) next to the link;
2. identifying the destination web site in the link text or description itself;
3. inserting an intercepting page that displays the notification, after the user selects the link; or
4. displaying all non-federal links in a separate listing from federal links.

(3)               Disclaimers:  Federal public web sites must disclaim responsibility for the content and privacy policies used by non-federal government web sites.  In the interest of seamless government and maintaining the general public’s trust, federal public web sites should not disclaim responsibility for the content of other federal public web sites.  A disclaimer, such as the one below, must be displayed when linking to external sites. This disclaimer may appear on the page or pages listing external links, or through an intermediate "exit notice" page generated by the server whenever a request is made for any site other than the official DOE web site.

“The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Energy of this web site or the information, products or services contained therein."

Exceptions:  Organizations are not responsible for maintaining links contained in documents or reports belonging to another organization or entity that are republished on the web site.

This policy complies with the Office of Management & Budget policy for establishing and maintaining publicly accessible information services.