Environmental Protection Agency - EPA

The definition of the Environmental Protection Agency can be explained by what the agency does. This independent executive agency works for the United States federal government and is responsible for protecting the environment. The agency was founded on December 2nd, 1970 after President Richard Nixon proposed monitoring environmental protection.

Since its inception, EPA has been responsible for environmental assessments, doing the necessary research as well as educating others on the impact that natural and human made disasters have on our environment. The meaning of the Environmental Protection Agency is explained by the fact that they are also prepared for and tasked with responding and aiding federal, state, local government agencies and tribes in regards to natural and human made disasters. In real estate, EPA can help developers learn about areas that are safe to develop as they deal with many environmental threats. These environmental threats don’t only affect the US but other countries battling pollution with their own systems in place in order to limit or diminish the negative impact on the environment..

What are they monitoring?

When it comes to natural and manmade disasters that impact the environment, the list, unfortunately, is long, but we’ll try to give a few examples of the work the EPA has done over its 50 years of activity.

• Earth Day - first celebrated on April 22, 1970, this became an annual celebration worldwide, growing from 20 million American participants in 1970 to almost 1 billion across the globe every year.
• Clean Air Act - at the end of 1970, congress allowed EPA to set auto emissions and  mandatory air quality as well as anti-pollution standards across the nation, which led to a reduced lead, sulfur dioxide, and other air pollutants presence in the atmosphere and 200,000 less premature deaths from pollution. This can be seen in the cities with the best air quality in US.
• Clean Water Act - in October 1972, this act was passed through congress to ensure clean water supplies for the nation and to prevent further pollution from happening.
• Monitoring the Environment through Space Satellites - which started on March 10, 1995, and was implemented for a better understanding of the changes in the earth on a global level.

One thing to keep in mind about EPA is that it is led by an administrator who is first selected by the president and authorized by the senate. While EPA does not work as a Cabinet department, the administrator usually receives a cabinet rank. This means that the administrator is politically assigned and can be influenced politically by the country’s administration. The reason why we mention this is because while the agency can and does good work for the environment, there have been several controversies in regards to decisions made by the agency. Political powers can and did influence the agency in the past to disregard some of its core principles (climate change - as an environmental issue; wastewater spills - as an ecological issue, and others).