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Home › Best Practices ›  EH&S, Green Compliance

Environmental Protection Agency and its Regulation

  • Date: May 08, 2011
  • Source: Admin
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 3, 1970, after Nixon submitted a reorganization plan to Congress. It was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its Administrator, who is appointed by the President and approved by Congress. The current administrator is Lisa P. Jackson. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank. The agency has approximately 18,000 full-time employees.

 Responsibilities of the EPA:
The EPA is responsible for preventing and detecting environmental crimes, informing the public of environmental enforcement, and setting and monitoring standards of air pollution, water pollution, hazardous wastes and chemicals. While the EPA aids in preventing and identifying hazardous situations, it is hard to construct a specific mission statement given its wide range of responsibilities. It is impossible to address every environmental crime adequately or efficiently if there is no specific mission statement to refer to. The EPA answers to various groups, competes for resources, and confronts a wide array of harms to the environment. All of these present challenges, including a lack of resources, its self-policing policy, and a broadly defined legislation that creates too much discretion for EPA officers.
 
Environmental laws enforced by EPA:
The following are the environmental laws enforced by EPA:

 

Air
Water

Land
 1970 - Wilderness Act
Endangered species
Hazardous waste

Environmental Justice:

Localization:
 
Many issues of environmental justice are localized, and are therefore hard to be addressed by federal agencies such as the EPA. Without significant media attention, political interest, or ‘crisis’ status, local issues are less likely to be addressed on local or federal level. With a still developing sector of environmental justice under the EPA, small, local incidents are unlikely to be solved compared to larger, well publicized incidents.
Conflicting political powers
The White House maintains direct control over the EPA, and its enforcements are subject to the political agenda of who is in power. Republicans and Democrats differ in their approaches to, and perceived concerns of, environmental justice. While President Bill Clinton signed the executive order 12898, the Bush administration did not develop a clear plan or establish goals for integrating environmental justice into everyday practices, which in turn affected the motivation for environmental enforcement.
Authority of the EPA
Under different circumstances, the EPA faces many limitations to enforcing environmental justice. It does not have the authority or resources to address injustices without an increase in federal mandates requiring private industries to consider the environmental ramifications of their activities.
Programs and Initiatives launched by the EPA
The following are the programs and initiatives launched by the EPA. 
 
Program

 

Purpose
Energy Star In 1992 the EPA launched the Energy Star program, a voluntary program that fosters energy efficiency.
Pesticide EPA administers the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) (which is much older than the agency) and registers all pesticides legally sold in the United States
Environmental Impact Statement Review EPA is responsible for reviewing Environmental Impact Statements of other federal agencies' projects, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative Through the Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative (SDSI), EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) recognizes environmental leaders who voluntarily commit to the use of safer surfactants. Safer surfactants are surfactants that break down quickly to non-polluting compounds and help protect aquatic life in both fresh and salt water. These safer alternatives are comparable in cost and are readily available
Fuel economy Manufacturers selling automobiles in the USA are required to provide EPA fuel economy test results for their vehicles. They are not allowed to provide results from alternate sources. The fuel economy is calculated using the emissions data collected during two of the vehicle's Clean Air Act certification tests by measuring the total volume of carbon captured from the exhaust during the tests.
Air quality The Air Quality Modeling Group (AQMG) is in the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) and provides leadership and direction on the full range of air quality models, air pollution dispersion models and other mathematical simulation techniques used in assessing pollution control strategies and the impacts of air pollution sources.
SPCC - Spill Prevention Containment and Counter Measures This program is dedicated to containing oil spills. As per SPCC, Secondary Containment is mandatory at oil storage facilities and An oil release containment facility is a prerequisite at oil development sites.
WaterSense The WaterSense program is designed to encourage water efficiency through the use of a special label on consumer products. Products include high-efficiency toilets (HETs), bathroom sink faucets (and accessories), and irrigation equipment. WaterSense is a voluntary program, with EPA developing specifications for water-efficient products through a public process and product testing by independent laboratories. The program was launched in 2006.
Drinking water EPA ensures safe drinking water for the public, by setting standards for more than 160,000 public water systems throughout the United States. The program includes regulation of injection wells in order to protect underground sources of drinking water.
Research vessel On March 3, 2004 the United States Navy transferred USNS Bold, a Stalwart class ocean surveillance ship, to the EPA. It is now known as OSV Bold. The ship, previously used in anti-submarine operations during the Cold War, is equipped with sidescan sonar, underwater video, water and sediment sampling instruments, used in study of ocean and coastline. One of the major missions of Bold is to monitor sites where materials are dumped from dredging operations in U.S. ports, for ecological impact.
Advance identification
 Advance identification, or ADID, is a planning process used by the EPA to identify wetlands and other bodies of water and their respective suitability for the discharge of dredged and fill material. The EPA conducts the process in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local states or Native American Tribes.
 

 

Sources:
1.       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Environmental_Protection_Agency
2.        http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/

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