1. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

2. Outlines Overview of the history of EPA
American Environmentalism History
Early Conservation Movements
Government Response
Agency for the Environment
First Administrator
Overview of what the agency does
Mission Statement
Overall purpose of the EPA
Why the EPA exists
How the EPA is divided
How EPA affects regulatory compliance at the base level technician.
Limitations

3. American Environmentalism History
American revolution
American’s railroad expansion effected frontier settlement pattern
Ill-effects of expanding urbanization in Midwest and West.
Solid waste removal challenging urban areas.
Dangerous impurities in urban water supplies

4. Continue…. Nineteenth century industrialism impact:
Stench of sewage in near-by rivers
Environmental degradation and city air deterioration
Wasteful energy consumption.

5. Early Conservation Movements
1652: The city of Boston established a public water supply
1800: 17 municipalities protected their citizens against unfit drinking sources.
1837: Naturalist, Johon Bourroughs
27 volumes of intimate experimental nature essays.
1892: Sierra club study and preserve of Sierra Nevada.
Club study and preserve of Sierra Nevada
Dedicated to exploration and preservation of American wilderness and wildlife .
Ability to shape American environmental policy.

6. Continue….
30 years later
Izaak Walton League
combat water
pollution

7. Continue ….
1962: Naturalist Rachel Carson’s book: “ Classic silent spring”
Shocking tale about the widespread synthetic pesticide DDT and other chemical compounds in America.
Causing harm on wildlife: poisoning man, insects, animals, and nature.

8. Continue…..

9. Government Response
1903: Theodor Roosevelt symbolized the campaign for conservation
Retention of natural resources became a preoccupation of government.
Franklin Roosevelt’s New deal
Enacted a number of natural resources measures.
Pittman-Robinson Act: fund for state fish and wildlife programs
: President Nixon
Appointed a national pollution control consul.
Vetoed second clean water act.
Expanded the federal regulatory protections afforded the environment.
Established the environmental quality council.
Complimentary Citizens ‘Advisory Committee on Environment Quality.

10. An Agency for the Environment
1969: congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Government as conservator of wilderness.
Establishment of an autonomous regulatory body to oversee the enforcement of environmental policy.
President Nixon: “become further convinced that the 1970s must absolutely be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment.

11. The First Administrator
November6, 1970, President Nixon nominated William. D Ruckelshaus, first Administrator of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA).
“I think that enforcement is a very important function of this new Agency. Obviously, if we are to make progress in pollution abatement, we must have a firm enforcement policy at the federal level. That does not mean that this policy will be unfair, that it will not be evenhanded, but it does mean that it will be firm…”

12. Overview
“Our mission is to protect human health and the environment. “ (epa.gov)
The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for maintaining the best available health and environmental wellness in society.
EPA enforces regulations, sets standards in environmental and human health, and educates the public.
The EPA offers grants to state environmental programs, projects, and studies toward the benefit of the community.

13. Overview (cont.) The EPA is a diverse organization:
Business/retail, factories, research laboratories, clinical laboratories, ecology, bio./chem. Sciences, etc.
Studies the environment to remain consistently updated on environmental issues and development.
Cooperates and shares information with other countries, organizations, businesses, agencies, and academic institutions.
EPA has expanded into diverse, specialized branches in overall universal health.

14. Overview (cont.) The EPA encompasses: Three Pillars of Sustainability:
Air
Climate change
Emergencies
Green Living
Health and Public Safety
Environmental sciences and Ecological maintenance.
Pesticides, chemicals, and toxins.
Waste
Water
Three Pillars of Sustainability:
Environment, society, and economy

15. Overview (cont.)
The EPA not only focus on ensuring the wellness of optimal human and environmental health.
Many of the branches specialize in focused research in particular areas of interest.
The agency also makes effort to keep the public informed of important matters.
Educates the public the importance of environmental health and concerns.
Teaches the public how to play their part in maintaining the overall wellness of the community.

16. Purpose of the Agency The overall purposes of the EPA:
Protection of all Americans in health and environmental wellness.
Ensures the national efforts in reducing environmental risks utilize the most up-to-date scientific information.
Ensure laws protecting human and environmental health are enforced effectively and fairly.
Ensuring the environmental protection is considered in integral national policies.

17. Purpose of the Agency(cont.)
The overall purposes of the EPA:
Provide accurate information in managing health and environmental risks to all parts of society.
Involves ensuring that environmental protection contributes to the benefit of society in communities, ecological diversity, sustainability, and productivity.
Ensures that the United States works together and/or leads with other nations to protect the global environment.
The EPA strives for a healthier, cleaner, environment.

18. Division of the EPA
EPA Organization

19. Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA)
The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) aggressively goes after pollution problems that make a difference in communities through vigorous civil and criminal enforcement that targets the most serious water, air and chemical hazards.
OECA also advances environmental justice by protecting vulnerable communities.
OECA works with EPA regional offices, and in partnership with state and tribal governments, and other federal agencies to enforce the nation’s environmental laws, including.

20. Clean Air Act (CAA)
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is the comprehensive federal law that regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile sources. Among other things, this law authorizes EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and public welfare and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants.
One of the goals of the Act was to set and achieve NAAQS in every state by 1975 in order to address the public health and welfare risks posed by certain widespread air pollutants

21. Clean Water Act (CWA)
The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters.
The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972.
Under the CWA, EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. We have also set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters

22. Comprehensive Environmental response, Compensation and Liability Act(CERCLA) or superfund
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act -- otherwise known as CERCLA or Superfund -- provides a Federal "Superfund" to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment.
Through CERCLA, EPA was given power to seek out those parties responsible for any release and assure their cooperation in the cleanup

23. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act(EPCRA)
Authorized by Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), the Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) was enacted by Congress as the national legislation on community safety.
-This law is designed to help local communities protect public health, safety, and the environment from chemical hazards.
-Broad representation by fire fighters, health officials, government and media representatives, community groups, industrial facilities, and emergency managers ensures that all necessary elements of the planning process are represented

24. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide ad Rodenticide Act(FIFRA)
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) provides for federal regulation of pesticide distribution, sale, and use.
All pesticides distributed or sold in the United States must be registered (licensed) by EPA. Before EPA may register a pesticide under FIFRA, the applicant must show, among other things, that using the pesticide according to specifications "will not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.'‘
FIFRA defines the term ''unreasonable adverse effects on the environment'' to mean: '‘
(1) any unreasonable risk to man or the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of the use of any pesticide, or
(2) a human dietary risk from residues that result from a use of a pesticide in or on any food inconsistent with the standard under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.'

25. Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act
Titles I and II of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), also referred to as the Ocean Dumping Act, generally prohibits
(1) transportation of material from the United States for the purpose of ocean dumping;
(2) transportation of material from anywhere for the purpose of ocean dumping by U.S. agencies or U.S.-flagged vessels;
(3) dumping of material transported from outside the United States into the U.S. territorial sea. A permit is required to deviate from these prohibitions.
Under MPRSA, the standard for permit issuance is whether the dumping will "unreasonably degrade or endanger" human health, welfare, or the marine environment

26. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.
To meet NEPA requirements federal agencies prepare a detailed statement known as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). EPA reviews and comments on EISs prepared by other federal agencies, maintains a national filing system for all EISs, and assures that its own actions comply with NEPA.

27. Oil Pollution Act (OPA)
The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 streamlined and strengthened EPA's ability to prevent and respond to catastrophic oil spills. A trust fund financed by a tax on oil is available to clean up spills when the responsible party is incapable or unwilling to do so. The OPA requires oil storage facilities and vessels to submit to the Federal government plans detailing how they will respond to large discharges.
EPA has published regulations for aboveground storage facilities; the coast guard has done so for oil tankers. The OPA also requires the development of Area Contingency Plans to prepare and plan for oil spill response on a regional scale.

28. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the "cradle-to-grave." This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste.
RCRA also set forth a framework for the management of non-hazardous solid wastes. The 1986 amendments to RCRA enabled EPA to address environmental problems that could result from underground tanks storing petroleum and other hazardous substances

29. Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was established to protect the quality of drinking water in the U.S. This law focuses on all waters actually or potentially designed for drinking use, whether from above ground or underground sources.
The Act authorizes EPA to establish minimum standards to protect tap water and requires all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with these primary (health-related) standards

30. Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)
The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 provides EPA with authority to require reporting, record-keeping and testing requirements, and restrictions relating to chemical substances and/or mixtures. Certain substances are generally excluded from TSCA, including, among others, food, drugs, cosmetics and pesticides.
TSCA addresses the production, importation, use, and disposal of specific chemicals including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), asbestos, radon and lead- based paint.

31. Responsibilities
EPA responsibilities include the protection of public health and the environment by assuring compliance with federal environmental statutes and regulations

32. Authority
The EPA has primary responsibility for enforcing many of the environmental statues and regulations of the United States. The Agency is granted explicit enforcement authority in environmental statues.
The agency has the authority to further refine and implement policies and written guidance to protect human health

33. Environmental Laws and Executive Orders
Atomic Energy Act
Chemical Safety information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act
Clean Air Act
Endangered Species Act
Energy Policy Act
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
Oil Pollution Act
Noise Control Act
Nuclear Waste Policy Act
National Environmental Policy Act
Superfund – Comprehensive Environmental Liability Act
Toxic Substances Control Act

34. Does EPA handle all environmental concerns?
No – Some issues are primary concerns of other federal, state and local agencies.
Examples
Endangered Species Act is primarily managed by US Fish and Wildlife Services
Wetlands determinations/destruction is primarily managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers

35. Science and Technology
The EPA relies on sound science to safeguard both human health and the environment. The EPA constantly seeks innovative technologies to advance the agencies capabilities.

36. Agency Limitations
The more you review the more you realize that the EPA is far reaching with tremendous authority; however it is limited by its federal funding, people, policy and technology capabilities.

37. References