Environmental Protection Agency

The mission of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment: air, water, and land. The EPA began operation on December 2, 1970. The EPA is not a cabinet agency, but its administrator is normally given cabinet rank.

Christine Todd-Whitman is its current Administrator.

The EPA comprises 18,000 people in Headquarters program offices, 10 regional offices, and 17 labs across the country, EPA employs a highly educated, technically trained staff, more than half of whom are engineers, scientists, and environmental protection specialists. A large number of employees are legal, public affairs, financial, and computer specialists. EPA is led by the Administrator who is appointed by the President of the United States.

EPA provides leadership in the nation's environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. EPA works closely with other federal agencies, state and local governments, and Indian tribes to develop and enforce regulations under existing environmental laws. EPA is responsible for researching and setting national standards for a variety of environmental programs and delegates to states and tribes responsibility for issuing permits, and monitoring and enforcing compliance. Where national standards are not met, EPA can issue sanctions and take other steps to assist the states and tribes in reaching the desired levels of environmental quality. The Agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.

In July of 1970, the law that established the EPA was passed in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air and land. Prior to the establishment of the EPA, the national government was not structured to make a coordinated attack on the pollutants which harm human health and degrade the environment. The EPA was assigned the task of repairing the damage already done to the natural environment and to establish new criteria to guide Americans in making a cleaner environment a reality.

Table of contents 1 Operating Units 2 Related Legislation 2.1 Air 2.2 Water 2.3 Land 2.4 Endangered Species 2.5 Hazardous Waste 3 EPA Regional Offices 4 External Links

Operating Units

Related Legislation

The legislation here is general environmental protection legislation, and may also apply to other units of the government, including the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Air

• 1955 - Air Pollution Control Act[?] PL 84-159
• 1963 - Clean Air Act PL 88-206
• 1965 - Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act[?] PL 89-272
• 1966 - Clean Air Act Amendments[?] PL 89-675
• 1967 - Air Quality Act[?] PL 90-148
• 1969 - National Environmental Policy Act[?] PL 91-190
• 1970 - Clean Air Act Extension[?] PL 91-604
• 1976 - Toxic Substances Control Act[?] PL 94-469
• 1977 - Clean Air Act Amendments[?] PL 95-95  
• 1990 - Clean Air Act Amendments[?] PL 101-549

Water

• 1948 - Water Pollution Control Act[?] PL 80-845
• 1965 - Water Quality Act[?] PL 89-234
• 1966 - Clean Waters Restoration Act[?] PL 89-753
• 1969 - National Environmental Policy Act[?] PL 91-190    
• 1970 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created           
• 1970 - Water Quality Improvement Act[?] PL 91-224
• 1972 - Water Pollution Control Act[?] PL 92-500
• 1974 - Safe Drinking Water Act[?] PL 93-523
• 1976 - Toxic Substances Control Act[?] PL 94-469
• 1977 - Clean Water Act[?] PL 95-217
• 1987 - Water Quality Act[?] PL 100-4  

Land

• 1964 - Wilderness Act[?] PL 88-577
• 1968 - Scenic Rivers Preservation Act[?] PL 90-542
• 1969 - National Environmental Policy Act[?] PL 91-190
• 1970 - Environmental Protection Agency established            
• 1970 - Wilderness Act[?] PL 91-504
• 1977 - Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act[?] PL 95-87  
• 1978 - Wilderness Act[?] PL 98-625
• 1980 - Alaska Land Protection Act[?] PL 96-487
• 1994 - California Desert Protection Act[?] PL 103-433

Endangered Species

• 1946 - Coordination Act[?] PL 79-732
• 1966 - Endangered Species Preservation Act[?] PL 89-669
• 1969 - Endangered Species Conservation Act[?] PL 91-135
• 1972 - Marine Mammal Protection Act[?] PL 92-522
• 1973 - Endangered Species Act[?] PL 93-205

Hazardous Waste

• 1965 - Solid Waste Disposal Act[?] PL 89-272
• 1969 - National Environmental Policy Act[?] PL 91-190
• 1970 - Resource Recovery Act[?] PL 91-512
• 1976 - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act[?] PL 94-580
• 1980 - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act[?] ("Superfund[?]") PL 96-510
• 1982 - Nuclear Waste Repository Act[?] PL 97-425
• 1986 - Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act[?] PL 99-499

EPA Regional Offices

Each EPA Regional Office is responsible within its states for the execution of the Agency's programs.

Region 1 - responsible within the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Region 2 - responsible within the states of New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Region 3 - responsible within the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Region 4 - responsible within the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Region 5 - responsible within the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Region 6 - responsible within the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Region 7 - responsible within the states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Region 8 - responsible within the states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Region 9 - responsible within the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the territories of Guam and American Samoa.

Region 10 - responsible within the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

External Links

• http://www.epa.gov/