Our Mission
The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.
EPA works to ensure that:
- Americans have clean air, land and water;
- National efforts to reduce environmental risks are based on the best available scientific information;
- Federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, effectively and as Congress intended;
- Environmental stewardship is integral to U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy;
- All parts of society--communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments--have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks;
- Contaminated lands and toxic sites are cleaned up by potentially responsible parties and revitalized; and
- Chemicals in the marketplace are reviewed for safety.
To accomplish this mission, we:
Develop and enforce regulations
When Congress writes an environmental law, we implement it by writing regulations. Often, we set national standards that states and tribes enforce through their own regulations. If they fail to meet the national standards, we can help them. We also enforce our regulations, and help companies understand the requirements.
Learn more:
Give grants
Nearly half of our budget goes into grants to state environmental programs, non-profits, educational institutions, and others. They use the money for a wide variety of projects, from scientific studies that help us make decisions to community cleanups. Overall, grants help us achieve our overall mission: protect human health and the environment.
Learn more:
Study environmental issues
At laboratories located throughout the nation, we identify and try to solve environmental problems. To learn even more, we share information with other countries, private sector organizations, academic institutions, and other agencies.
Learn more:
Sponsor partnerships
We don't protect the environment on our own. We work with businesses, non-profit organizations, and state and local governments through dozens of partnerships. A few examples include conserving water and energy, minimizing greenhouse gases, re-using solid waste, and getting a handle on pesticide risks. In return, we share information and publicly recognize our partners.
Teach people about the environment
Protecting the environment is everyone's responsibility, and starts with understanding the issues. The basics include reducing how much energy and materials you use, reusing what you can and recycling the rest. There's a lot more about that to learn!
Publish information
Through written materials and this website, EPA informs the public about our activities.
What we don't do
Some problems that seem like something we would handle are actually the responsibility of other federal, tribal, state or local agencies. It may be most appropriate for you to contact your city, county, or state environmental or health agency, or another federal agency, rather than EPA.For example:
Read more about environmental concerns we don't handle, and suggestions for who might be able to help
FAQs
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protects people and the environment from significant health risks, sponsors and conducts research, and develops and enforces environmental regulations.
What is the mission of the EPA quizlet? ›
The environmental protection agency is an individual agency in the United States that aims to protect the health of humans from the harmful effects of the environment, to protect the environment from the harmful effect of human actions and making the ecosystem sustainable and productive for the economy.
What is the EPA response? ›
EPA prepares for, prevents, and responds to oil spills, chemical, biological, radiological releases, and large-scale national emergencies. The agency also provides additional response assistance when state and local first responder capabilities have been exhausted or when additional support is requested.
What issue was the EPA trying to solve? ›
EPA's Clean Air Act protections for the oil and natural gas industry help combat climate change and reduce emissions of other harmful air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds that contribute to ground-level ozone (“smog”) and hazardous air pollutants such as benzene.
What are the objectives of the EPA? ›
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) creates and enforces laws designed to protect the environment and human health. 4 As part of their mission, they seek to ensure that Americans have a clean environment, including the air, water, and land they use and enjoy.
What is the aim act of the EPA? ›
The American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, enacted by Congress in 2020, authorizes EPA to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs by 85 percent in a stepwise manner by 2036 through an allowance allocation and trading program.
What is the goal of the EPA? ›
The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.
What purpose was the EPA created for? ›
EPA was created on December 2, 1970, by President Richard Nixon to protect human health and the environment.
What was the EPA responsible for? ›
Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA supplied paid jobs to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States, while building up the public infrastructure of the US, such as parks, schools, and roads.
Why is the EPA so important? ›
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for the protection of human health and the environment. EPA: Provides technical assistance to support recovery planning of public health and infrastructure, such as waste water treatment plants.
Understanding and addressing climate change is critical to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA tracks and reports greenhouse gas emissions, leverages sound science, and invests in America to combat climate change.
What are the 3 R's of the U.S. EPA? ›
By practicing the "3 R's" of waste reduction—reduce, reuse, and recycle—we can all do our part.
What was the mission of the EPA? ›
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) mission is to protect human health and the environment.
Is the EPA good or bad? ›
Since then, guided by a framework of national laws, the EPA has led national progress in improving air quality, cleaning up our waterways, reducing harmful pesticide exposures and industrial emissions, and providing support for states and communities to advance environmental health.
Do we still need the EPA? ›
There's still much more to be done on lead, air pollution, toxic chemicals, and especially climate change. We need a strong EPA to do those things. We must give the EPA the support it needs to keep our air, water, and climate clean and healthy.
What has the EPA helped with? ›
Since 1970, EPA has set and implemented emissions standards to control pollution from everything from passenger vehicles, heavy duty trucks and buses, construction and farm equipment, locomotive and marine engine and even lawn and garden equipment.
What is the role of the EPA in the economy? ›
EPA strives to improve the environment without imposing unreasonable costs on society by grounding its policy proposals in sound economic analysis. Cost-effectiveness and market-based incentives are critical when developing regulations and policies.
How the EPA helped the environment? ›
CEPA provides for the assessment of new and existing substances to determine and reduce their potential risk to the environment and human health.
How can we help the EPA? ›
Dispose of hazardous household products properly.
Contact your local public works, sanitation, or environmental health department and find out if your city has a hazardous waste collection day. If your city doesn't have a local program, ask them to start one.
