Posted by Jamie in Climate Change, Green Leaders | 0 Comments
Brush Up on the EPA
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When the first Earth Day became a huge success in 1970 and mobilized millions, it was only a matter of time before the Environmental Protection Agency was created. The EPA has since been America’s go-to entity for environmental and health concerns since Richard Nixon created it in December 2, 1970.
The EPA currently has 17,000 workers, mostly scientists, engineers and policy makers. They are headed by the Administrator, appointed by the United States President. There are ten EPA regional branches and over twelve laboratories. Its main office is in Washington, DC.
Key people:
• Stephen L. Johnson, Administrator
• Marcus Peacock, Deputy Administrator
If anything, the EPA is known for writing most of the U.S. environmental regulations. Creating laws is one thing; enforcing them is another. This is when regulations come to the table.
Laws, whether concerning the environment or not, are passed by the U.S. congress. To put them into effect, regulations are in order, and that’s where the work of congressmen stops and the EPA begins.
Sweeping statements at most, laws cannot explicitly provide all the specific provisions under it. Regulations, on the other hand, set parameters around the law. For instance, the EPA has identified the maximum allowable levels of the pollutants in question as provided in the Clean Water Act.
To create a regulation, the EPA first scrutinizes the issues at hand. The findings are then released to the public domain for their discretion.
After gathering feedback, the EPA makes the necessary revisions and issues final rules. Later the final rules are released to the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations).
As a federal agency, the EPA publishes a biannual report on upcoming and accomplished regulations. Apart from supplementing regulations to laws, EPA has sponsored government environmental programs through numerous grants. It has even awarded research grants.
Likewise, the EPA is likely to support volunteer activities and programs. While the initial collaborators provide the goals, the EPA sets incentives like disseminating information. One of its more significant programs promoted energy efficiency: the 1992 Energy Star program.
There is also much emphasis placed by the EPA on environment research. It sizes up current environment conditions across America, through laboratories scattered nationwide. With veritable research, the EPA can better make decisions on environmental issues. The EPA can also be relied on to promote environmental literacy through relevant programs.
After all is said and done, there are some things the EPA stays away from. People often fall back on the EPA more than they should on a variety of issues.
For instance, the EPA does not handle issues concerning endangered species. The go-to agency for this is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Meanwhile, one’s local wildlife authority can easily tackle concerns about fauna affected by other change drivers.
As for indoor environment concerns, such as in offices, they are best tackled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. At present, the EPA does not entertain queries about noise pollution anymore. However, large-scale environmental violations are the domain of the EPA.
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