Environmental Protection Agency, United States
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Introduction
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is one of the major environmental bodies of the United States federal government. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to "protect and safeguard human health and the environment."
Environmental Laws Administered by the EPA
The EPA administers over a dozen major environmental laws including:
- Clean Air Act
- Clean Water Act
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund) and Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
- Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act
- Environmental Research, Development & Demonstration Authorization Act
- Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)
- National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
- Ocean Dumping Act
- Oil Pollution Act of 1990
- Pollution Prevention Act of 1990
- Safe Drinking Water Act
- Solid Waste Disposal Act and Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA)
- Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
The EPA has staff of approximately 18,000 people, and a budget of approximately $7.5 billion per year. Nearly half of the EPA budget goes to support State level programs through a variety of grants. The EPA is lead by an Administrator nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The current Administrator of the EPA is Stephen L. Johnson.
History
Quoted from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Website:
"Born in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors in downtown Washington, D.C., on December 2, 1970. EPA was established to consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection. EPA's mission is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment—air, water, and land—upon which life depends. For more than 30 years, the EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people."
National Programs and Projects
- Air Projects and Programs
- Pesticides, Toxics and Chemical Projects and Programs
- Pollution Prevention Projects and Programs
- Water Projects and Programs
- Waste and Recycling Programs
- Research Programs
Office of Research and Development
The Office of Research and Development (ORD) is the principal scientific and research arm of the Environmental Protection Agency. ORD's Strategic Plan, describes its approach to fulfilling a mission to "conduct leading-edge research and foster the sound use of science and technology to fulfill EPA's mission to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment. This mission commits ORD to conduct its research in a way that will have a direct and meaningful impact on EPA's decisions and programs." ORD is organized into three national laboratories and four national centers located in a dozen facilities around the country and in Washington, DC. This includes:
- National Exposure Research Laboratory
- National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
- National Risk Management Research Laboratory
- National Center for Computational Toxicology
- National Center for Environmental Research
- National Center for Environmental Assessment
- National Homeland Security Research Center
- Office of Science Policy
- Office of the Science Advisor
- Other EPA Research Facilities
Regional Offices
The EPA is headquartered in Washington, DC and has 10 regional offices which administer its work in different parts of the United States:
- Region 1 - Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
- Region 2 - New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands
- Region 3 - Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia
- Region 4 - Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida
- Region 5 - Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana
- Region 6 - New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana
- Region 7 - Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri
- Region 8 - Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado
- Region 9 - California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, Trust Territories, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands
- Region 10 - Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska