The CEMP is a network of 29 radiological and meteorological monitoring stations covering a 160,000 km² region around the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS)--formerly the Nevada Test Site--to help ensure stakeholders that no off-site releases of radiation are occurring from past nuclear testing. A key element in the credibility of the program is that at 23 of the stations, citizens living in the communities where the stations are located--the "Community Environmental Monitors (CEMs)"--assist with data collection from air sampling equipment on the stations and serve as lay experts to address issues of others in their communities about radiation and activities on the NTS. DRI's Western Regional Climate Center maintains an Internet site (http://www.cemp.dri.edu) that allows data to be viewed in near real-time from the majority of the stations. The CEMP has received national and international attention for the innovation in stakeholder involvement. In addition, the network has served as a platform for testing new instruments for air, radiological, and meteorological measurements in the environment.

The 29 CEMP Station are spread across a 160,000 km2 region around the Nevada National Security Site from southeastern California, southern and central Nevada, to southwest Utah.	Chris Vogel, one of the CEMs in Mesquite, Nevada introduces the town's Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) elementary students to the Mesquite CEMP station in January 2011. More than half of the CEMs are teachers, including Chris, a science teacher at Mesquite High School.