Here are just ten of our favorite things:
- Keeps our air clean! ...
- Keeps our water clean too! ...
- Helps states keep their environments safe and healthy! ...
- Maintains the Superfund program, which helps communities reclaim and put back to use the land that the fossil fuel industry has contaminated.
- Ensures that every company in America follows the law to protect our clean air and water. ...
Why is the EPA so important?
The EPA is a real champion when it comes to holding polluters accountable for making communities sick that are historically disadvantaged. Reduces waste and helps clean up when harmful substances pollute our land! That includes waste from landfills, fossil fuel power plants, and so much more.
How does the EPA inform the public?
Through written materials and this website, EPA informs the public about our activities. Some problems that seem like something we would handle are actually the responsibility of other federal, tribal, state or local agencies.
What does the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do?
Maintains the Superfund program, which helps communities reclaim and put back to use the land that the fossil fuel industry has contaminated. Ensures that every company in America follows the law to protect our clean air and water.
What has the EPA done to reduce environmental toxins?
The EPA has worked to reduce levels of other environmental toxins, too. Some of these—such as lead and mercury—occur naturally, but are dangerous in high doses. Lead was used as an additive in paint, gasoline, pipes, and other materials, and causes brain damage, developmental delays, and even death in high doses in both people and birds.
What is the mission of the EPA?
What is the responsibility of protecting the environment?
What are the parts of society that have access to accurate information?
Who manages the Endangered Species Act?
Do we protect the environment?
See more
About this website
Why is EPA important to society?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) creates and enforces laws designed to protect the environment and human health. 4 As part of their mission, they seek to ensure that Americans have a clean environment, including the air, water, and land they use and enjoy.
How does the EPA benefit the public?
The Environmental Protection Agency protects people and the environment from significant health risks, sponsors and conducts research, and develops and enforces environmental regulations.
How does EPA help the environment?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for the protection of human health and the environment. EPA: Provides technical assistance to support recovery planning of public health and infrastructure, such as waste water treatment plants.
Is the EPA beneficial?
The EPA is a real champion when it comes to holding polluters accountable for making communities sick that are historically disadvantaged. Reduces waste and helps clean up when harmful substances pollute our land! That includes waste from landfills, fossil fuel power plants, and so much more.
How does the EPA impact our lives?
The EPA sets health-based standards, limiting contaminants in drinking water. It provides billions of dollars to communities to deliver safe drinking water and improve water quality. The EPA can also step in and measure safety of drinking water sources threatened by oil and gas operations when states refuse to act.
What are three major responsibilities of the EPA?
EPA works to ensure that:Americans have clean air, land and water;National efforts to reduce environmental risks are based on the best available scientific information;Federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, effectively and as Congress intended;More items...
What are some benefits of the Clean Air Act?
Today, as in the past, the Clean Air Act continues to cut pollution and protect the health of American families and workers. Fewer premature deaths and illnesses means Americans experience longer lives, better quality of life, lower medical expenses, fewer school absences, and better worker productivity.
Is environmental protection good?
Instead, a large majority of Americans (60%) say that in the long run, protecting the environment actually improves economic growth and provides new jobs, while another 22% say that protecting the environment has no impact on economic growth or jobs.
How many lives has the EPA saved?
The Clean Air Act saved 160,000 lives last year, and the number of lives saved annually is expected to top 230,000 by 2020, according to a report released by the Environmental Protection Agency in March.
EPA Mission Statement 2022 | EPA Mission & Vision Analysis
Introduction. The United States Environmental Protection Agency dubbed EPA is a national body that has demonstrated its commitment to its mission and vision statements ever since its establishment following President Nixon’s proposition in 1970.
EPA Organization Chart | US EPA
Organization chart, showing how the different Headquarters offices and Regional offices of the EPA are structured, & providing contact information
What is the function of the EPA? | Socratic
(see below) The main function of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and environment.
What is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in December of 1970, after Congress ratified an executive order by President Richard Nixon. The mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment.
Why is the EPA important?
The EPA works hard to make sure that low-income communities and communities of color are given a voice and put before polluter profits. The EPA is a real champion when it comes to holding polluters accountable for making communities sick that are historically disadvantaged.
What is the EPA?
The EPA is hard at work collecting carbon pollution data, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, advancing climate science, partnering with states and other countries, and helping communities adapt to changing environments.
How many people died from the Clean Air Act in 2020?
Keeps our air clean! For the past 50 years, by enforcing the Clean Air Act, the EPA has worked to protect public health and welfare, and by 2020, it will have prevented 230,000 early deaths.
What does the EPA do?
The EPA prepares for and responds to emergencies involving radioactive materials, deploying response team to work with agencies at all levels, monitoring radioactivity, and providing guidelines on how to protect people from unhealthy levels of radiation.
What does the EPA do to protect the environment?
Protecting fish and fishing jobs – The EPA sets surface water standards that protect fish and shellfish, and related fishing jobs, from toxic pollution. Beachgoer Protection – The EPA protects beachgoers from pollution by establishing minimum national water quality standards and guidelines for swimming.
What is the EPA responsible for?
CFCs and Ozone Depleting Chemicals – The EPA is responsible for saving the ozone layer and preventing millions of cases of skin cancer by eliminating CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals. Pollution Reporting – The EPA puts out a report each year called the Toxics Release Inventory, supporting the public’s Right to Know about air ...
How does the EPA protect water?
Clean Water/Safe Drinking Water 1 The EPA can also step in and measure safety of drinking water sources threatened by oil and gas operations when states refuse to act. 2 After disasters, the EPA provides resources to get drinking water and sewage treatments back online quickly.
How much does the EPA spend on water infrastructure?
State/Local Drinking Water & Wastewater Infrastructure – The EPA spends about $860 million a year funding states/localities to improve drinking water infrastructure and about $1.4 billion per year funding states/localities ...
What does the EPA do about pesticides?
Pesticides. The EPA reviews the safety of pesticides and herbicides sprayed on food crops, golf courses, public rights-of-way, etc. It can limit or prohibit uses when it determines a chemical isn’t safe for human health or the environment.
What was the EPA responsible for?
The EPA was also responsible for regulating city sewer systems so they didn’t overflow, spilling sewage into the streets during heavy rains. This made a big difference in America’s cities. New York brought a large, new sewage treatment plant online in 1986, solving Manhattan’s dumping problem.
What is the role of the EPA in the food industry?
7. Controlling Pesticides . The EPA has also played a role in regulating pesticides, which helps keep our food safe. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, a law that dates back to the Progressive Era, was put under EPA’s responsibility in 1972.
How much did the EPA reduce lead?
The EPA also reduced the amount of lead that could be emitted by smelters, mines and other industrial operations, leading to an 85 percent decrease in the amount of airborne lead pollution between 1990 and 2015. The effort, of course, was imperfect.
How long has the EPA been in existence?
So, given that some in Congress might be deciding if and when to take a stand, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back at some of what the EPA has accomplished over the last 46 years since Richard Nixon signed an executive order in 1970 bringing the agency into existence.
What is the EPA's greatest resource?
One of the EPA’s greatest resources is the vast supply of information it has collected over four decades, some of which is available to the public through the internet. This data provides excellent documentation of the threat posed by climate change, but it isn’t limited to that. Spread across dozens of databases, the numbers include such information as the chemical compositions of various toxic pollutants and the locations in the US that those pollutants affect. The databases document the trends in air and water pollution, acid rain and the health of beaches and watersheds. It tracks which companies have been inspected and cited for enforcement.
What was the purpose of the Safe Drinking Water Act?
Making Water Safe to Drink. In 1974, Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act, giving the EPA the ability to regulate the water that came out of Americans’ taps. The agency ended up banning more than 90 contaminants from the water supply and cracking down on companies whose business practices poisoned Americans.
When was the EPA created?
When the EPA was created in 1970, the water around America’s cities was in a notably different state than it is today. Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River was, famously, so thick with combustible industrial chemicals that it often caught fire.
Why do people like the Environmental Protection Agency?
5 Reasons to Like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It keeps a lot of dangerous stuff from being dumped in our air, water, and land. President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, established the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December 1970. Forty eight years later, Donald J. Trump made abolishing the agency a talking point in his ...
Why did Nixon create the EPA?
The first EPA administrator, William Ruckelshaus, a third-generation Republican lawyer and politician from Indiana, later recalled that Nixon created the EPA “because of public outrage about what was happening to the environment.
What was the goal of the Clean Water Act?
The law’s simple goal is to make every river, stream, and lake in the U.S. swimmable and fishable.
How much will the US reduce its emissions by 2030?
The goal is to reduce their emissions by 32 percent by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. The plan is a central part of the U.S. commitment to the new global agreement to limit climate change, which most of the world’s nations approved in Paris in late 2015.
Who was the first president to abolish the EPA?
President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, established the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December 1970. Forty eight years later, Donald J. Trump made abolishing the agency a talking point in his presidential campaign. His first EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, cut climate monitoring programs, proposed new rules on how science is reported ...
What did Nixon do after Earth Day?
Nixon had other things on his mind. Six days after Earth Day, he authorized American troops in Vietnam to invade Cambodia, an action that brought more demonstrators into the streets.
What is the Clean Power Plan?
The Clean Power Plan aims reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Then in 2016, the EPA passed a rule to reduce methane pollution, which is hundreds of times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of warming ability. Both rules have been challenged in the courts.
Which states have sued the EPA over the methane rule?
And more than a dozen states have sued the EPA over the methane rule, too, including—you guessed it—Oklahoma and Pruitt. Both of these rules are needed to uphold the U.S.’s pledges to the international community to reduce carbon emissions, as agreed to when the Paris Treaty was ratified in November.
How does ozone affect plants?
It hurts their habitats, too. Ground-level ozone damages trees and plant communities, while nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides mix with water in the air—better known as acid rain —and in rivers to poison environments and kill plants and animals.
When did EPA ban bald eagles?
In 1972 , the EPA banned the pesticide. And within a few decades, Bald Eagle populations (and those of other affected species, such as pelicans and falcons) recovered. The EPA has worked to reduce levels of other environmental toxins, too.
Is black smoke a pollution?
Carbon Pollution and Climate Change. While black smoke is a rarer sight today than it was in 1970, not all pollution is visible to the human eye. Fossil fuel-powered industries continue to emit colorless greenhouse gases—such as carbon dioxide and methane—into the atmosphere.
How can water and wastewater facilities reduce energy costs?
Improving the energy efficiency of equipment and operations at water and wastewater facilities can reduce energy costs, GHG emissions, and increase treatment efficiency. Non–Governmental Buildings – Government buildings typically account for a relatively small percentage of the total GHG emissions of a jurisdiction.
Why is energy efficient?
Using energy more efficiently is one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, and meet growing energy demand. The many benefits of energy efficiency include:
What are the major consumers of energy in municipal operations?
Water and Wastewater Facilities – Municipal water and wastewater facilities are typically the largest consumers of energy in municipal operations.
Why is the EPA important?
Critics argue that the EPA imposes unnecessary and large costs on corporations and strains the economy and international trade. However, the agency stands firms on its mission to create a better tomorrow for future generations by promoting a cleaner and safer environment and protecting human health.
What is the EPA responsible for?
The EPA is also responsible for the detection and prevention of environmental crimes, monitoring pollution levels, and setting standards for the handling of hazardous chemicals and waste. As part of its strategic plan, when violations occur, the EPA investigates and pursues action against violators.
What are some examples of EPA violations?
Common examples include illegal disposal of hazardous chemicals or products, illegal discharge of pollutants in bodies of water in the U.S., and tampering with water supplies. 5 .
What are the programs of the EPA?
The EPA oversees several programs intended to promote energy efficiency, environmental stewardship, sustainable growth, air and water quality, and pollution prevention. These programs include: 1 The EPA Safer Choice program —formerly Design for the Environment—a product-labeling program that allows consumers to select the chemically safest products available, without sacrificing function or quality 2 The Energy Star program, which helps consumers choose energy-efficient appliances 3 The Smart Growth program, which supports sustainable community development 4 WaterSense, which encourages efficiency in water use via high-efficiency toilets, faucets, and irrigation equipment 5 The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which regulates the discharge of pollutants into U.S. waters
How does the EPA enforce laws?
How the EPA Enforces Laws. To protect communities and the environment, the EPA works to enforce laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the National Environmental Education Act, and the Clean Water Act, some of which predate the formation of the agency itself .
What does the EPA not do?
Because of its name, there tends to be some confusion about what the EPA does and doesn’t do. It doesn’t handle every issue or concern that affects the environment. The agency suggests contacting local, state, or other federal agencies to find out who is responsible.
What are the areas that are not covered by the EPA?
Some of the areas that aren’t covered by the EPA include wildlife, wetlands, food safety, and nuclear waste.
What is ESA in environmental science?
The Ecological Society of America (ESA), the nation's leading professional society of ecological scientists, is an essential source of information for those addressing the many complex tasks associated with watershed management. An occasional publication series, Issues in Ecology, is an especially useful resource for citizens, resource managers, policymakers, and others designing and implementing watershed approaches to environmental management. Each Issues in Ecology paper is designed to report, in language understandable by non-scientists, the consensus of a panel of scientific experts on issues relevant to the environment. Issues in Ecology reports are available on the ESA Web site :
What is Issues in Ecology?
An occasional publication series, Issues in Ecology, is an especially useful resource for citizens, resource managers, policymakers, and others designing and implementing watershed approaches to environmental management.
What is EPA in a diet?
What is EPA? EPA is a polyunsaturated fatty acid that acts as a metabolic precursor to important lipids (fats) known as prostaglandins.
Does EPA help with menopause?
Eases symptoms of menopause. While EPA’s depression-soothing properties may help women ease the low moods that can occur during menopause, this fatty acid’s real value lies in its ability to reduce the frequency of hot flashes. Hot flashes and night sweats affect up to 75 percent of all women during perimenopause.
Does EPA help with blood pressure?
Preliminary research suggests that EPA helps prevent the buildup of calcium deposits in arteries. ( 6 ) ( 7) The accumulation of calcium can narrow arteries and reduce blood flow. Clinical studies show that a daily dose of EPA also decreases systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) as much as 8.7 percent.
Is fish oil good for you?
While many studies involving fish oil focus on the benefits of either DHA or a combination of DHA and EPA, EPA—on its own—boasts some very impressive health perks. 1. Lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
Does EPA lower triglycerides?
But the biggest impact from EPA is its ability to lower triglycerides. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood that is directly linked to the food you eat. When you eat, your body converts excess calories into triglycerides and tucks them away in your fat cells for later use.
What is the mission of the EPA?
The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment. EPA works to ensure that: Americans have clean air, land and water; National efforts to reduce environmental risks are based on the best available scientific information; Federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, ...
What is the responsibility of protecting the environment?
Protecting the environment is everyone's responsibility, and starts with understanding the issues. The basics include reducing how much energy and materials you use, reusing what you can and recycling the rest. There's a lot more about that to learn!
What are the parts of society that have access to accurate information?
All parts of society--communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments --have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks;
Who manages the Endangered Species Act?
The Endangered Species Act is primarily managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management addresses the problem of nuclear waste. Read more about environmental concerns we don't handle, and suggestions for who might be able to help.
Do we protect the environment?
We don't protect the environment on our own. We work with businesses, non-profit organizations, and state and local governments through dozens of partnerships. A few examples include conserving water and energy, minimizing greenhouse gases, re-using solid waste, and getting a handle on pesticide risks. In return, we share information and publicly recognize our partners.
State Environmental Programs
Oil Spill Cleanup
Energy Efficiency
Clean Water/Safe Drinking Water
Clean Air and Climate Protection
- The EPA sets limits on dangerous air pollutants from factories, refineries, power plants, oil and gas extraction, and vehicles. These limits protect public health, helping prevent asthma attacks, birth defects, respiratory and cardiovascular disease and cancer. Greenhouse Gases, including CO2 Pollution Limits– The EPA has a critical role in limitin...
Chemical Safety
Bug Repellents
Pesticides
Oil and Gas Waste Disposal
Hazardous and Solid Waste Regulations