Page 276 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

eobf_E 7/5/06 3:00 PM Page 253

Environmental Protection Agency

single agency. Most of these functions were housed in the establish partners with local governments, to maximize
Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, public participation, to emphasize community-based
and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. solutions, to work with Indian tribes, and to choose cost-
The purpose of the EPA is to ensure that all Ameri- effective solutions. The EPA also is engaged in ongoing
cans and the environment in which they live are safe from educational programs, which emphasize the community’s
health hazards. The EPA has a number of goals: clean air, right to know about its environmental risks.
clean and safe water, safe food, preventing and reducing The EPA has to enforce fifteen or more statutes or
pollution, water management and restoration of waste laws, including the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act;
sites, redirection of international pollution, and credible the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; the Endan-
deterrents to pollution. Also, the EPA engages in educa- gered Species Act; the Pollution Prevention Act; and the
tion about pollution and its environmental risks. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticides Act. The
The first four goals deal with the immediate environ- EPA also enforces other laws dealing with pollution and
ment of people: clean air; clean and safe water; safe food; toxic substances.
and preventing pollution and reducing risks in our envi- The EPA has had some major successes since its
ronment. The remaining goals deal with education, the inception. In the area of air quality: (1) More than half of
clean-up of existing pollution, and efforts in the global the large cities now meet air-quality standards; (2) emis-
arena. They involve better water management, the reduc- sions of common air pollutants have dropped by an aver-
tion of cross-border environmental risks, the expansion of age of 24 percent; and (3) blood lead levels in children
Americans’ right to know about their environment, sound have declined by 75 percent. In the area of water quality:
service, improved understanding of environmental risks, (1) 60 percent of the nation’s waterways are safe for fish-
credible deterrents to pollution, and greater compliance ing and swimming; (2) ocean dumping has been banned;
with the law and effective management. and (3) standards for wastewater have been established for
In addition to these goals, the EPA has adopted a fifty industries. In the area of toxic and pesticide manage-
number of principles to guide management in establishing ment: (1) DDT has been banned; (2) safer pesticides have
priorities. These guidelines are to reduce environmental been introduced; and (3) toxic emissions have been
risks, to prevent pollution, to focus on children’s health, to reduced by 39 percent. Finally, the EPA has been able to

American Electric Power’s Muskingum River Plant, Beverly, Ohio, was named in an Environmental Protection Agency lawsuit in
1989. AP IMAGES

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION 253