ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

In December 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established as an independent agency. Reorganization Plan #3 of 1970 consolidated fifteen components from five agencies for the purpose of grouping all environmental regulatory activities under a single agency. Most of these functions were housed in the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

The purpose of the EPA is to ensure that all Americans and the environment in which they live are safe from health hazards. The EPA has a number of goals: clean air, clean and safe water, safe food, preventing and reducing pollution, water management and restoration of waste sites, redirection of international pollution, and credible deterrents to pollution. Also, the EPA engages in education about pollution and its environmental risks.

The first four goals deal with the immediate environment of people: clean air; clean and safe water; safe food; and preventing pollution and reducing risks in our environment. The remaining goals deal with education, the clean-up of existing pollution, and efforts in the global arena. They involve better water management, the reduction of cross-border environmental risks, the expansion of Americans' right to know about their environment, sound service, improved understanding of environmental risks, credible deterrents to pollution, and greater compliance with the law and effective management.

In addition to these goals, the EPA has adopted a number of principles to guide management in establishing priorities. These guidelines are to reduce environmental risks, to prevent pollution, to focus on children's health, to establish partners with local governments, to maximize public participation, to emphasize community-based solutions, to work with Indian tribes, and to choose cost-effective solutions. The EPA also is engaged in ongoing educational programs, which emphasize the community's right to know about its environmental risks.

The EPA has to enforce fifteen or more statutes or laws, including the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; the Endangered Species Act; the Pollution Prevention Act; and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticides Act. The EPA also enforces other laws dealing with pollution and toxic substances.

The EPA has had some major successes since its inception. In the area of air quality: (1) More than half of the large cities now meet air-quality standards; (2) emissions of common air pollutants have dropped by an average of 24 percent; and (3) blood lead levels in children have declined by 75 percent. In the area of water quality: (1) 60 percent of the nation's waterways are safe for fishing and swimming; (2) ocean dumping has been banned; and (3) standards for wastewater have been established for fifty industries. In the area of toxic and pesticide management: (1) DDT has been banned; (2) safer pesticides have been introduced; and (3) toxic emissions have been reduced by 39 percent. Finally, the EPA has been able to

set many standards covering a wide range of pollutants. More information is available from the EPA at Araiel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20460, (202)260-2090, or http://www.epa.gov.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

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