Draft FY 2011–2015 EPA Strategic Plan

June 18, 2010

For Public Review June 18 - July 30, 2010

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Washington, DC 20460

Table of Contents

  TOC \o "1-3" \u  Table of Contents	  PAGEREF _Toc262651799 \h  i 

Administrator’s Message	  PAGEREF _Toc262651801 \h  1 

Introduction	4

Strategic Goals	.7

Goal 1: Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality	 
PAGEREF _Toc262651804 \h  7 

Goal 2: Protecting America’s Waters	  PAGEREF _Toc262651806 \h  11 

Goal 3: Cleaning Up Our Communities	  PAGEREF _Toc262651808 \h  15 

Goal 4: Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution	 
PAGEREF _Toc262651810 \h  19 

Goal 5: Enforcing Environmental Laws	  PAGEREF _Toc262651812 \h  22 

 External Factors and Emerging Issues	  PAGEREF _Toc262651813 \h  24 

 Summary of Program Evaluation	  PAGEREF _Toc262651814 \h  26 

Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategies	  PAGEREF _Toc262651815 \h  27 

Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism	  PAGEREF _Toc262651817
\h  28 

Working for Environmental Justice and Children’s Health	  PAGEREF
_Toc262651819 \h  29 

Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation	  PAGEREF
_Toc262651821 \h  31 

Strengthening State, Tribal, and International Partnerships	  PAGEREF
_Toc262651823 \h  32 

Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities	  PAGEREF _Toc262651825
\h  34 

Strategic Measurement Framework	  PAGEREF _Toc262651826 \h  35 

Goal 1:  Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality	 
PAGEREF _Toc262651827 \h  39 

Goal 2:  Protecting America’s Waters	  PAGEREF _Toc262651828 \h  42 

Goal 3:  Cleaning Up Our Communities.	  PAGEREF _Toc262651829 \h  46 

Goal 4:  Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution.	 
PAGEREF _Toc262651830 \h  50 

Goal 5:  Enforcing Environmental Laws.	  PAGEREF _Toc262651831 \h  53 

 

 

Administrator’s Message

In the time since I began my tenure as Administrator of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency I have been both challenged and inspired
by the difficult issues we face and the talent and dedication of our
extraordinary work force.  There is no doubt the EPA is back on the job.
 We have made exceptional progress in protecting the environment of
American communities and restoring the trust of the American people. 
And we have made a number of historic environmental advances along the
way.  The year 2010 marks the EPA’s 40th anniversary.  It is a moment
of celebration but also a moment when we face some of the most complex
and far-reaching environmental challenges in the history of our agency,
our nation and our planet.  It is critical that we work harder and
smarter and look further ahead.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s FY 2011-2015 Strategic Plan
provides a blueprint for accomplishing our priorities for the next five
years.  This plan presents five strategic goals for advancing our
environmental and human-health mission outcomes, accompanied by five
cross-cutting fundamental strategies that seek to adapt the EPA’s work
inside and outside of the agency and meet the growing environmental
protection needs of the day.  To follow the Administration’s focus on
strengthening programs and achieving results, EPA is implementing High
Priority Performance Goals to advance progress towards our five
strategic goals.  We will continue to affirm the core values of science,
transparency and the rule of law in addressing these priorities, many of
which we have served in the last two years and will continue to work
toward in the future.  These are the most urgent issues we must confront
between 2010 and 2015. 

As we prepare this plan, we are in the midst of one of the worst
environmental disasters this country has experienced, the Deepwater BP
oil spill.  This spill has devastated the ecological and economic health
of the Gulf Coast communities.  Following the emergency response with a
sustained, effective recovery and rebuilding effort will require
significant commitments of resources, scientific and technical
expertise, and coordination with a range of partners in the months and
years ahead.  This Strategic Plan offers a solid foundation for EPA’s
long-term response to the impacts of the Deepwater BP oil spill.  As
President Obama has said, the government is “going to do everything in
our power to protect our natural resources, compensate those who have
been harmed, rebuild what has been damaged, and help this region
persevere like it has done so many times before.”  The EPA will work
tirelessly to address the environmental and human-health effects and set
the Gulf Coast back on the path to recovery.  

The EPA’s Strategic Goals

Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality: American
communities face serious health and environmental challenges from air
pollution and the growing effects of climate change.  During my first
year as Administrator, the EPA finalized an endangerment finding on
greenhouse gases, issued the first national rules to reduce
greenhouse-gas emissions under the Clean Air Act and initiated a
national reporting system for greenhouse-gas emissions.  All of these
advances signaled historic progress in the fight against climate change.
 Climate change must be considered and integrated into all aspects of
our work.  While the EPA stands ready to help Congress craft strong,
science-based climate legislation that addresses the spectrum of issues,
we will deploy such regulatory tools as they are available and
warranted, including using the authority of the Clean Air Act. 

We have strengthened the ambient air-quality standards for nitrogen
dioxide and sulfur dioxide and proposed stronger standards for ozone,
which will help millions of Americans breathe easier and live healthier.
 We also are developing a comprehensive strategy for a cleaner and more
efficient power sector, with strong and achievable emission-reduction
goals for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other air toxics. 
Strengthening the ambient air-quality standards consistent with the
latest scientific information and gaining additional reductions in air
toxics from a range of industrial facilities will significantly improve
air quality and reduce risks to communities across the country. 
Improved monitoring, timely and thorough permitting and vigorous
enforcement are our key tools for air-quality improvement. 

Protecting America’s Waters: While much progress has been made,
America’s waters remain imperiled.  From nutrient loadings and
stormwater runoff to invasive species and drinking water contaminants,
water quality and enforcement programs face complex challenges that
demand both traditional and innovative strategies.  We will work
hand-in-hand with states and tribes to develop nutrient limits and
intensify our work to restore and protect the quality of the nation’s
streams, rivers, lakes, bays, oceans and aquifers.  The EPA also will
use our authority robustly to protect and restore threatened natural
treasures such as the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of
Mexico; to address our neglected urban rivers; to ensure safe drinking
water; and to reduce pollution from nonpoint and industrial dischargers.
 We will initiate measures to address post-construction runoff,
water-quality impairments from surface mining, and drinking-water
contamination. 

Cleaning Up Our Communities: Using all the tools at our disposal,
including targeted enforcement and compliance efforts, the EPA will
continue to make our communities safer and healthier than ever before. 
We are accelerating our actions through our Superfund program,
confronting significant local environmental challenges such as the
asbestos public-health emergency in Libby, Mont., and the collapse of
the coal-ash dam in Kingston, Tenn.  The Kingston dam collapse led the
EPA to propose the nation’s first rules to ensure the safe disposal
and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. By maximizing
the potential of our brownfields program to spur environmental cleanups
and by fostering stronger partnerships with stakeholders affected by our
cleanups, we are moving toward our goal of building sustainable,
healthy, economically vibrant communities.  And by strengthening our
work with tribal communities, we are advancing our efforts to build
environmental-management capacity and program implementation in Indian
country.

Ensuring the Safe Management of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution: One
of our highest priorities is to make long-overdue progress in ensuring
the safety of the chemicals that make up the building blocks of our
modern society.  Increasingly the chemicals used to make our products,
build our homes and support our way of life end up in the environment
and even in our bodies.  Last year, the EPA announced principles for
modernizing the law under which we regulate chemicals, Toxic Substances
Control Act, enacted more than 30 years ago by Congress.  To move
forward, we are shifting our focus to address high-concern chemicals and
filling in critical missing information on the chemicals most widely
produced and used in commerce.  The EPA will aggressively assess and
manage the risks of chemicals used in consumer products, the workplace
and the environment by revising and strengthening the EPA’s chemicals
management and risk-assessment programs through novel
chemicals-management plans.  The EPA also is taking steps to increase
transparency and public access to TSCA-related chemical information. By
encouraging pollution prevention, we will promote the use of safer
chemicals, implement conservation techniques, promote efficient reuse of
materials and make chemical-production processes greener and more
sustainable. 

Enforcing Environmental Laws: Effective, consistent enforcement is
critical to achieving the human-health and environmental benefits
expected from our environmental laws.  The EPA, through the rule of law,
will ensure compliance with environmental requirements and, as
warranted, will employ vigorous and targeted civil and criminal
enforcement.  We will achieve significant environmental results by
focusing our efforts on the most serious water, air and chemical hazards
and by working closely with states and tribes.  We will protect the
public by criminally prosecuting willful, intentional and serious
violations of federal environmental laws.

The EPA’s Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategies

As a companion to our strategic goals, which chart the agency’s
direction for achieving mission results over the next five years, the
EPA’s five cross-cutting fundamental strategies set explicit
expectations for changing the way we approach our work.  These five
points will inform the work of every program office in every region and
help us meet the challenges we face today. 

Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism: Every American has a
stake in clean air and water, chemical safety, restoring contaminated
industrial and mining sites, and strong enforcement of environmental
statutes.   And every community, whether wealthy or working class, urban
or rural, high tech or industrial, needs to be part of the conversation.
 We will take broad steps to expand the conversation on environmentalism
to communities across America: building capacity, increasing
transparency and listening to the public.  We will continue to engage
citizens to hear all the voices that must be part of our nation’s
dialogue on environmental issues. 

Working for Environmental Justice and Children’s Health: We will work
alongside communities that bear important responsibilities for the
day-to-day mission of environmental protection and support these
communities through strengthened oversight to ensure programs are
consistently delivered nationwide.  We will use a variety of approaches,
including regulations, enforcement, research, community-based programs
and outreach to protect children and low income, minority and tribal
populations disproportionately impacted by environmental and
human-health hazards. 

Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation: We will seek
to be a leader in advancing the scientific research and technological
innovation that not only enhance our abilities to protect the
environment, but promote new jobs and the sustainable growth of our
economy. 

Strengthening State, Tribal and International Partnerships: We will
strengthen partnerships with states, tribes and the international
community.  Hand in hand with these partnership efforts and through real
and inclusive environmentalism, we will address pollution problems and
protect public health.

Strengthening the EPA’s Work Force and Capabilities: We will adopt
innovative and creative management approaches and exemplify stewardship,
transparency and accountability in addressing the increasingly complex
environmental and human-health challenges before us.  We will create a
culture of excellence and provide the infrastructure, technology and
tools to support a talented, diverse and highly motivated work force. 

Forty years after the beginning of this agency, we at the EPA have a
rare opportunity to spark a new era of environmental and health
protection.  The American people and countries around the world look to
us for leadership.  It is up to us to embrace this moment, so our
children and grandchildren can have a cleaner, healthier future, and we
can look back with pride on our accomplishments.  We will face new
challenges, new opportunities and new possibilities for achieving our
vision of a cleaner, greener and more sustainable environment.  I have
unlimited confidence in the talent and spirit of our work force, and I
know we will meet our challenges head-on, as One EPA.  Fueled by our
energy, ideas and our passion, this strategic plan will help guide our
path toward success.

			

										

[Administrator’s Signature]

Introduction

Recent events in the Gulf Coast region and elsewhere have brought to the
forefront how much we value our environment.  Our homes, our
livelihoods, our health and that of our children are all dependent on
clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, and healthy ecosystems that
produce our food and the raw materials that support modern life.  The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its mission to protect human
health and the environment have never been more vital than they are
today. 

The FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan responds to this increasing degree
of environmental awareness and the challenges that lie ahead.  We have
created a streamlined, executive-level Plan that sets the Agency’s
direction, advances the Administrator’s priorities, and will be used
routinely by the Agency’s senior leadership as a management tool.  We
have sharpened our strategic goals and objectives and offer a more
focused set of strategic measures to better inform our understanding of
progress and challenges alike in managing our programs.  Our new
cross-cutting fundamental strategies are directed at refocusing and
tangibly changing the way we carry out our work.  We anticipate that
this new approach will foster a renewed commitment to accountability,
transparency, and inclusion.  

Our five strategic goals represent a simplified and meaningful approach
to our work and reflect the results we hope to achieve on behalf of the
American people:

Goal 1:  Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality

Goal 2:  Protecting America’s Waters

Goal 3:  Cleaning Up Our Communities

Goal 4:  Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution

Goal 5:  Enforcing Environmental Laws

To achieve the long-term goals and associated objectives and strategic
measures set out in this Plan, we will track progress through annual
performance measures, which are presented in the President’s Annual
Performance Plans and Budgets.  We will report on our performance
against these annual measures in our Annual Performance Reports, and use
this performance information as we establish priorities, and develop
future budget submissions, and manage programs.  Additionally, EPA
reports on High Priority Performance Goals (HPPGs), a new component of
this Administration's Performance Management Framework.  HPPGs are
specific, measurable, ambitious, near-term priority commitments that
align with our long-term strategic measures and annual measures.  The
HPPGs communicate the performance improvements we will accomplish
relative to our priorities using existing legislative authority and
resources.  The HPPGs constitute priority 18 to 24 month operational
targets the agency will work to accomplish, distinguishing the HPPGs
from the longer-term measures.  This process will come full circle as we
evaluate these performance data to develop future Strategic Plans.

Our FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan draws upon many of the indicators
contained in EPA’s 2008 Report on the Environment (ROE).[1]  The
indicators help us to monitor trends in environmental conditions and
environmental influences on human health.  Our efforts to develop the
report and regularly update the indicators have advanced our performance
measurement work by bringing together existing and new analytical
information on the environment and human health.

[Discussion of Strategic Plan consultation and coordination activities
will be included in the final FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan]

During the five-year horizon of this Plan, we know that we will face
unanticipated challenges and opportunities that will affect our ability
to achieve our objectives and the specific measurable results that we
have described.  In particular, we recognize that numerous entities
vital to our success—federal, state, tribal, and local governments,
and cooperating partners and stakeholders—are operating with
significantly reduced budgets and other resource constraints that could
impede our joint progress.  A summary of federal agencies with whom we
work to accomplish our goals can be found at:  http://www.epa.gov/xxx. 
[Reserved for final]

This FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan sets forth our vision and
commitment to preserve the environment for generations to come and to
protect the public health in the places where people live, work, learn,
and play.  It is our hope that you will join us as we undertake the
important work that lies ahead.  

End Note: 

[1]    HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/roe"  http://www.epa.gov/roe  

Goal 1:

Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop adaptation strategies to
address climate change and protect and improve air quality.

Climate change poses risks to public health, the environment, cultural
resources, the economy, and quality of life.  These changes are expected
to create further challenges to protecting public health and welfare. 
Many effects of climate change are already evident and will persist into
the future regardless of future levels of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.  Potential climate change impacts may include, for example,
increased smog levels in many regions of the country, making it more
difficult to attain or maintain clean air.  A rise in sea level or
increased precipitation intensity may increase flooding, which would
affect water quality as large volumes of water can transport
contaminants and overload storm and wastewater systems.  In order to
protect public health and the environment, EPA must recognize and
consider the challenge a changing climate poses to the environment.  

Since passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990, nationwide air
quality has improved significantly.  Despite this progress, about 127
million Americans lived in counties with air considered unhealthy in
2008.  Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause cancer and damage
to the immune, neurological, reproductive, cardiovascular, and
respiratory systems.  Because people spend much of their lives indoors,
the quality of indoor air is also a major concern.  Twenty percent of
the population spends the day indoors in elementary and secondary
schools, where problems with leaky roofs and with heating, ventilation,
and air conditioning systems can trigger a host of health problems,
including asthma and allergies.  Exposure to indoor radon is responsible
for an estimated 20,000 premature lung cancer deaths each year.  

Reducing GHG Emissions and Developing Adaptation Strategies to Address
Climate Change

EPA’s strategies to address climate change support the President's GHG
emissions reduction goals.  We will work with partners and stakeholders
to provide tools and information related to GHG emissions and impacts
and will reduce GHG emissions domestically and internationally through
cost-effective, voluntary programs while pursuing additional regulatory
actions as needed.  Our efforts include:  

Developing and implementing a national system for reporting GHG
emissions.  Implementing the mandatory GHG reporting rule is one of the
Agency’s high priority performance goals. 

Issuing new standards to reduce emissions from cars and light-duty
trucks for model years 2012 through 2016, extending that program to
model year 2017 and beyond, and creating a similar program to reduce
GHGs from medium- and heavy-duty trucks for model years 2014-2018. 
Implementing the light-duty GHG rule is one of the Agency’s high
priority performance goals.  

Developing standards to reduce GHG emissions from nonroad sources such
as marine and aircraft and land-based nonroad equipment and locomotives.

Establishing permitting requirements for facilities that emit large
amounts of GHGs to encourage design and construction of more efficient
and advanced processes that will contribute to a clean energy economy.

Implementing voluntary programs that reduce GHGs through the greater use
of energy efficient technologies and products.

Developing a comprehensive report to Congress on black carbon that will
provide a foundation for evaluating future approaches to black carbon
mitigation.

Pursuing a sustainable, life-cycle approach to managing materials.

Identifying and assessing substitute chemical and ozone-depleting
substances and processes for their global warming potential.

Educating the public about climate change and actions people can take to
reduce GHG emissions.

Adaptation initiatives aim to increase the resilience of communities and
ecosystems to climate change by increasing their ability to anticipate,
prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impacts of climate change.
 This will require the Agency to work closely with its partners at the
state and local level and in continued collaboration with the US Global
Change Research Program and the Interagency Task Force on Climate Change
Adaptation.[1]  In addition, EPA researchers provide critical
information and tools to develop capacity to prepare for risks and take
advantage of opportunities presented by climate change. 

Improving Air Quality

Taking into account the most current health effects research findings,
EPA recently completed new, more health protective standards for lead,
sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).  We are in the process of
revising the ozone, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide standards. 
Over the next five years we will work with states and tribes to develop
and implement plans to achieve and maintain these standards.  Our
research provides the tools and information necessary for the EPA,
states, and tribes to implement air quality standards and controls.  

In the spring of 2011, we expect to complete and begin implementing a
rule to replace the Clean Air Interstate Rule that was remanded to us by
the courts in 2008.  Strengthening the standards and decreasing the
emissions that contribute to interstate transport of air pollution will
help many areas of the country attain the standards and achieve
significant improvements in public health.  As we implement the
standards, we will do so in a way that protects
disproportionately-impacted low income and minority communities.  We are
also working with partners and stakeholders to improve the overall air
quality management system and address air quality challenges expected
over the next 10 to 20 years.  These efforts include developing
effective air quality strategies that address multiple pollutants and
consider the interplay between air quality and factors such as land use,
energy, transportation, and climate.

We will address emissions from vehicles, engines, and fuels through an
integrated strategy that combines regulatory approaches that take
advantage of technological advances and cleaner fuels with voluntary
programs that reduce vehicle, engine, and equipment activity and
emissions.  We are working with refiners, renewable fuel producers, and
others to implement regulations to increase the amount of renewable fuel
blended into gasoline.  Through the National Clean Diesel Campaign, we
support diesel emission reductions that can be achieved through such
actions as switching to cleaner fuels; engine retrofit, repair, and
replacement; and idle reduction.

Based on an assessment completed in June 2009, EPA estimates that, on
average, approximately 1 in every 28,000 people could contract cancer as
a result of breathing air toxics from outdoor sources, if they were
exposed to 2002 emission levels over the course of their lifetime.[2]  
To protect the public from these air toxics, we will continue to set and
enforce control technology-based air toxics emissions standards and,
where needed, amend those standards to address residual risk and
technology advancements.  Our strategy is to prioritize the standards
that provide the greatest opportunity for cost-effective emissions
reductions.  We are focusing on opportunities to reduce emissions from
other large sources of air toxics risks, including petroleum refineries,
chemical manufacturers, oil and natural gas production, and coal-fired
utilities.  Along with these regulatory efforts, EPA has a wide range of
voluntary efforts to reduce emissions, including programs to reduce
multi-media and cumulative risks.  Through data from our national toxics
monitoring network and from national and local assessments, we are able
to better characterize risks and assess priorities.  We will work with
state and local agencies, tribes, schools, and community groups to
identify communities where air toxics pollution is occurring at unsafe
levels and aggressively take action to reduce air toxics pollution
within those areas.

Often the people most exposed to indoor air pollutants are those most
susceptible to the effects—the young, the elderly, and the chronically
ill.  To improve indoor air quality, EPA deploys programs that educate
the public about indoor air quality concerns, including radon, and
promotes public action to reduce potential risks in homes, schools, and
workplaces.  EPA also collaborates with state and tribal organizations,
environmental and public health officials, housing and building
organizations, school personnel who manage school environments, and
health care providers who treat children prone to or suffering
disproportionately from asthma.  The focus of these efforts is to
support communities’ efforts to address indoor air quality health
risks.  We also provide policy and technical support and financially
assist states and tribes in developing and implementing effective radon
programs.

Recognizing the potential hazards of radiation, Congress charged EPA
with the primary responsibility for protecting people and the
environment from harmful and avoidable exposures.  In fulfilling this
responsibility, we will review and update our radiation protection
regulations and guidance, operate the national radiation monitoring
system, maintain radiological emergency response capabilities, oversee
the disposal of radioactive waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,
inspect waste generator facilities, and evaluate compliance with
applicable environmental laws and regulations.

EPA will implement programs that reduce and control ozone-depleting
substances (ODS), enforce rules on their production, import, and
emission, and facilitate the transition to substitutes that reduce GHG
emissions and save energy.  We will continue partnership programs that
minimize the release of ODS and programs that educate the public about
the importance of protection from ultra-violet radiation.

End Notes:

[1]  The U.S. Global Change Research Program coordinates and integrates
federal research on changes in the global environment and their
implications for society.  It was mandated by Congress in the  
HYPERLINK
"http://www.globalchange.gov/about/program-structure/global-change-resea
rch-act"  Global Change Research Act of 1990  (P.L. 101-606).  In 2009,
the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Science
and Technology Policy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration initiated the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task
Force.  When the President signed the   HYPERLINK
"http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-signs-an-Exe
cutive-Order-Focused-on-Federal-Leadership-in-Environmental-Energy-and-E
conomic-Performance"  Executive Order on Federal Leadership in
Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance  in October 2009, he
called on the Task Force to develop Federal recommendations for adapting
to climate change impacts both domestically and internationally.

[2]    HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata2002/factsheet.html" 
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata2002/factsheet.html 

Goal 2:

Protecting America’s Waters

Protect  and restore our waters to ensure that drinking water is safe,
and that aquatic ecosystems sustain fish, plants, and wildlife, and
economic, recreational, and subsistence activities.

The nation’s water resources are the lifeblood of our communities,
supporting our economy and way of life.  Across most of our country we
enjoy and depend upon reliable sources of clean and safe water.  Several
decades ago, however, many of our drinking water systems provided water
to the tap with very limited treatment.  Drinking water was often the
cause of illnesses linked to microbiological and other contaminants. 
Many of our surface waters would not have met today’s water quality
standards.  Some of the nation’s rivers were open sewers posing health
risks, and many waterbodies were so polluted that safe swimming,
fishing, and recreation were not possible.

We have made significant progress since enactment of the landmark Clean
Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act almost forty years ago.  Today,
the enhanced quality of our surface waters and the greater safety of our
drinking water are testaments to decades of environmental protection and
investment, but serious challenges remain.  Small drinking water systems
are particularly challenged by the need to improve infrastructure and
develop the capacity to meet new and existing standards.  Tens of
thousands of homes, primarily in tribal and disadvantaged communities
and the territories, still lack access to basic sanitation and drinking
water.  The rate at which new waters are listed for water quality
impairments exceeds the pace at which restored waters are removed from
the list.  

Pollution discharged from industrial, municipal, agricultural, and
stormwater point sources continue to be causes for this decline, but
other significant contributors include loss of habitat and habitat
fragmentation, hydrologic alteration, the spread of invasive species,
and climate change.  For many years, nonpoint source pollution,
principally nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediments, has been recognized as
the largest remaining impediment to improving water quality. Recent
national surveys have found that our waters are stressed by nutrient
pollution, excess sedimentation, and degradation of shoreline
vegetation, which affect upwards of 50% of our lakes and streams.[1] 
Climate change will compound these problems, highlighting the urgency to
evaluate with our partners options for protecting infrastructure,
conserving water, reducing energy use, adopting “green”
infrastructure and watershed-based practices, and improving the
resilience of infrastructural and natural systems, including utilities,
watersheds, and estuaries.[2]

Over the next five years, EPA will work with states, territories, and
tribes to safeguard public health, make America’s water systems
sustainable and secure, strengthen the protection of our aquatic
ecosystems, improve watershed-based approaches, focus efforts in key
geographic areas, and take action on climate change.  EPA has
established two high priority performance goals for the revision of
drinking water standards to strengthen public health protection and the
development of state watershed implementation plans in support of the
Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load called for in the Executive
Order.[3]  Working with our partners, the Agency’s effort to protect
our waters is aimed at two objectives—protecting human health and
protecting and restoring watersheds and aquatic ecosystems.

Protect Human Health

Sustaining the quality and supply of our water resources is essential to
safeguarding public health.  More than 290 million people living in the
United States rely on the safety of tap water provided by public water
systems that are subject to national drinking water standards.  Over the
next five years, EPA will help protect human health and make America’s
water systems sustainable and secure by: 

Financing public water systems infrastructure to protect and maintain
drinking water quality; 

Strengthening compliance with drinking water standards; 

Continuing to protect sources of drinking water from contamination; 

Developing new and revising existing drinking water standards; and, 

Supporting states, tribes, territories, and local water systems in
implementing these standards.  

While promoting sustainable management of drinking water infrastructure,
we will provide needed oversight and technical assistance to states,
territories, and tribes so that their water systems comply with or
exceed existing standards and are able to comply with new standards.  We
will also promote the construction of infrastructure that brings safe
drinking water into the homes of small, rural, and disadvantaged
communities and increase efforts to guard the nation's critical drinking
water infrastructure. 

  

In addition, EPA is actively working Agency-wide and with external
partners and stakeholders to implement a new, multi-faceted drinking
water strategy.  It is designed to streamline decision making and expand
protection under existing law and to meet the needs of rural, urban, and
other communities.  This shift in approach includes addressing chemicals
and contaminants by group, as opposed to working solely on a
chemical-by-chemical basis; fostering the development of new drinking
water treatment technologies; using the authority of multiple statutes;
and, encouraging collaboration with states to share more complete data
from monitoring at public water systems.  

Science-based standards are essential to protect our public water
systems, groundwater and surface waterbodies, and recreational waters. 
These standards are the foundation for tools to safeguard public health
such as advisories for beaches, fish consumption, and drinking water. 
Over the next five years, we will expand that science to improve our
understanding of emerging potential waterborne threats to public health.
 We will also increase efforts to protect and improve beach water
quality for our communities, including the development of new criteria
and testing methods that provide quicker results and enable faster
action on beach closures.  

Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems

People and the ecological integrity of aquatic systems rely on healthy
watersheds.  EPA employs a suite of programs to protect and improve
water quality in the nation’s watersheds – rivers, lakes, wetlands,
and streams – as well as in our estuarine, coastal, and ocean waters. 
In partnership with states, territories, local governments, and tribes,
EPA’s core water programs help: 

Protect, restore, maintain, and improve water quality by financing
wastewater treatment infrastructure; 

Conduct monitoring and assessment; 

Establish pollution reduction targets; 

Update water quality standards; 

Issue and enforce discharge permits; and, 

Implement programs to prevent or reduce nonpoint source pollution.  

Over the next five years, EPA will continue efforts to restore
waterbodies that do not meet water quality standards, preserve and
protect high quality aquatic resources, and protect, restore, and
improve wetland acreage and quality.  The Agency will improve the way
existing tools are used, explore how innovative tools can be applied,
and enhance efforts and cross-media collaboration to protect and prevent
water quality impairment in healthy watersheds.  

In partnership with states, tribes, and local communities, EPA is
developing a clean water strategy that will outline objectives for
advancing the vision of the Clean Water Act and actions EPA will take to
achieve those objectives.  The Agency will explore ways to improve the
condition of the urban waterways that may have been overlooked or
under-represented in local environmental problem solving.  We will also
work more aggressively to reduce and control pollutants that are
discharged from industrial, municipal, agricultural, and stormwater
point sources, and vessels, as well as to implement programs to prevent
and reduce pollution that washes off the land during rain events.  By
promoting “green” infrastructure and sustainable landscape
management, EPA will help restore natural hydrologic systems and reduce
pollution from stormwater events.  

EPA will also lead efforts to restore and protect aquatic ecosystems and
wetlands, particularly in key geographic areas, to address complex and
cross-boundary challenges.  Further, given the recent catastrophe from
the Deepwater BP oil spill, EPA will take all necessary actions to
support efforts to remove oil from and restore the Gulf of Mexico
ecosystem.  EPA will provide assistance to other federal, state, and
local partners to ensure that the water, wetlands, beaches, and
surrounding communities will be restored.  In other parts of the nation,
we will focus on nutrient pollution, which threatens the long-term
health of important ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay.  We will also
begin to identify actions to respond and adapt to the current and
potential impacts of climate change on aquatic resources, including the
current and potential impacts associated with warming temperatures,
changes in rainfall amount and intensity, and sea level rise.[4]

End Notes:  

[1]    HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/owow/streamsurvey/" 
http://www.epa.gov/owow/streamsurvey/  and   HYPERLINK
"http://www.epa.gov/lakessurvey/pdf/nla_chapter0.pdf" 
http://www.epa.gov/lakessurvey/pdf/nla_chapter0.pdf 

[2]  Resilience is the ability of a system to absorb change and
disturbance and still retain its fundamental function and/or structure. 


[3]  The Chesapeake Bay Executive Order was signed on May 12, 2009. 

[4]    HYPERLINK
"http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments
/us-impacts" 
http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/
us-impacts   

Goal 3:

Cleaning Up Our Communities

Promote sustainable, healthier communities and protect vulnerable
populations and disproportionately impacted low income, minority, and
tribal communities.  Prevent releases of harmful substances and clean up
and restore contaminated areas.

Uncontrolled releases of waste and hazardous chemicals can contaminate
our drinking water and threaten healthy ecosystems.  EPA leads efforts
to preserve, restore, and protect these precious resources so they are
available for both current and future generations.  Over the next
several years, our highest priorities under this goal are to prevent and
reduce exposure to contaminants and accelerate the pace of cleanups
across the country.  EPA works collaboratively with international,
state, and tribal partners to achieve these aims and with communities to
ensure that they have a say in environmental decisions that affect them.
 Our efforts are supported by sound scientific data, research, and
cost-effective tools that alert us to emerging issues and inform our
decisions on managing materials and addressing contaminated properties. 


Promote Sustainable and Livable Communities

EPA supports urban, suburban, and rural community goals of improving
environmental, human health, and quality-of-life outcomes through
partnerships that also promote economic opportunities, energy
efficiency, and revitalized neighborhoods.  EPA’s smart growth program
accomplishes these outcomes by working with communities, other federal
agencies, states, and national experts to develop and encourage
development strategies that have better outcomes for air quality, water
quality, and land preservation and revitalization.  EPA recently joined
with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to help improve access to
affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower
transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities
nationwide. Through a set of guiding “livability” principles and a
partnership agreement that will guide the agencies' efforts, this
partnership is coordinating federal housing, transportation, water, and
other infrastructure investments to protect the environment, promote
equitable development, and help to address the challenges of climate
change.

EPA is committed to ensuring environmental justice regardless of race,
color, national origin, or income.  Recognizing that minority and/or
low-income communities frequently may be exposed disproportionately to
environmental harm and risks, we work to protect these communities from
adverse health and environmental effects and to ensure they are given
the opportunity to participate meaningfully in environmental cleanup
decisions.  

EPA’s brownfields program emphasizes environmental and health
protection that also achieves economic development and job creation by
awarding competitive grants to assess and clean up brownfield properties
and providing job training opportunities, particularly in underserved
communities.[1]  We also provide outreach and technical assistance to
communities, including area-wide planning approaches, to identify: 
viable end uses of a single large property or groups of brownfields
properties; associated air and water infrastructure investments; and,
environmental improvements in the surrounding area to revitalize the
community.  Under EPA’s brownfields high priority performance goal,
area-wide planning will be conducted with the particpation of other
federal agencies, states, tribes, and local governments and communities
to identify resources and approvals necessary to carry out actions
identified in area-wide plans.

Preserve Land 

EPA is commited to fulfill its statutory obligations under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) concerning the management of
wastes, but recognizes the additional environmental benefits of
sustainable materials management approaches, which take a life-cycle
approach to managing materials.  This approach emphasizes optimizing
management of materials across the entire life-cycle, including reducing
or eliminating waste from the extraction of raw materials through reuse
or recycle at end-of-life, resulting in fewer toxic inputs and outputs,
conservation of energy, and reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
from manufacturing.  

EPA and authorized states issue and enforce permits for the treatment,
storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes to ensure that facilities
subject to RCRA regulations operate safely.  To prevent future
environmental contamination and to protect the health of the estimated
three million people living within a mile of hazardous waste management
facilities, EPA and its state partners continue their vigorous efforts
to issue, update, or maintain RCRA permits for approximately 10,000
hazardous waste units (such as incinerators and landfills) at these
facilities.  

To reduce the risk posed by underground storage tanks (USTs) located at
nearly a quarter of a million facilities throughout the country, EPA and
states are working to ensure that every UST system is inspected at least
once every three years.  As fuel types change, UST systems must be
equipped to safely store the new fuels.  EPA is working to ensure
biofuels are stored in compatible UST systems.

Restore Land

Challenging and complex environmental problems, such as contaminated
soil, sediment, and groundwater that can cause human health concerns,
persist at many contaminated properties. EPA's Superfund, RCRA
corrective action, leaking underground storage tank, and brownfields
cleanup programs and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) cleanups of
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) reduce risks to human health and the
environment by assessing and cleaning these sites and putting them back
into productive use.  

 

In an effort to improve the accountability, transparency, and
effectiveness of EPA’s cleanup programs, EPA has initiated its
Integrated Cleanup Initiative (ICI), a multi-year effort to better use
the most appropriate assessment and cleanup authorities to address a
greater number of sites, accelerate cleanups, and put those sites back
into productive use while protecting human health and the environment. 
By bringing to bear the relevant tools available in each of the cleanup
programs, including enforcement, EPA will better leverage the resources
available to address needs at individual sites.  EPA will examine all
aspects of the cleanup programs, identifying key process improvements
and enhanced efficiencies.  As part of the ICI, EPA will be developing a
new suite of performance measures that will support comprehensive
management of the cleanup life cycle by addressing three critical points
in the cleanup process—starting, advancing, and completing site
cleanup.  

EPA is continuing to improve its readiness to respond to accidental and
intentional releases of harmful substances, including oil spills, by
developing clear authorities, training personnel, and providing proper
equipment.  As the Deepwater BP oil spill looms over our country as one
of the largest environmental disasters and given the urgency to respond
to cleanup and restoration of the Gulf of Mexico, EPA will review its
current rules, guidelines and procedures on oil spills.  EPA will ensure
that it has the appropriate tools to prepare, respond and recover from
such incidents, acting within its jurisdiction, as defined by
appropriate authorities.[3]  Further, national preparedness is essential
to ensure that emergency responders are able to deal with multiple,
large-scale emergencies, including those that may involve chemicals,
oil, biological agents, radiation, or weapons of mass destruction. 
Consistent with the government-wide National Response Framework, EPA
prepares for the possibility of multiple, simultaneous, nationally
significant incidents across several regions.  

EPA is also implementing its Community Engagement Initiative designed to
enhance our involvement with local communities and stakeholders so that
they may meaningfully participate in decisions on land cleanup,
emergency response, and management of hazardous substances and waste. 
The goals of this initiative are to ensure transparent and accessible
decision-making processes, deliver information that communities can use
to participate meaningfully, and help EPA produce outcomes that are more
responsive to community perspectives and that ensure timely cleanup
decisions. 

Strengthen Human Health and Environmental Protection in Indian Country

Under federal environmental statutes, EPA is responsible for protecting
human health and the environment in Indian country.  EPA’s commitment
to tribal environmental and human health protection, through the
recognition of tribal sovereignty and self-determination, has been
steadfast for over 25 years, as formally established in the Agency’s
1984 Indian Policy.[4]  EPA works with over 500 federally-recognized
tribes located across the United States to improve environmental and
human health outcomes.  Indian country totals more than 70 million acres
with reservations ranging from less than 10 acres to more than 14
million acres.  Difficult environmental and health challenges remain in
many of these areas, including lack of access to safe drinking water,
sanitation, adequate waste facilities, and other environmental
safeguards taken for granted elsewhere.

In collaboration with our tribal partners and fulfilling our
government-to-government responsibilities, EPA will engage in a two-part
strategy for strengthening public health and environmental protection in
Indian country.  First, EPA will provide the opportunity for
federally-recognized tribes to create an effective and results-oriented
environmental capacity-building presence.  Second, EPA will ensure that
its programs are implemented in Indian country either by EPA or through
opportunities for implementation of environmental programs by tribes
themselves.

End Notes:

[1]  For more information about EPA’s brownfields program,  see  
HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/" 
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 

[2]    HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/nrs/nrp.htm" 
http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/nrs/nrp.htm 

[3]  Several Federal agencies have jurisdiction and authority for oil
spill preparedness, response, and recovery in the US in addition to EPA,
including the Department of Transportation and the US Coast Guard. 
EPA's efforts will focus on those aspects of the national oil spill
program for which they have authority and responsibility, primarily the
inland area and fixed facilities. 

[4]  1984 EPA Indian Policy for the Administration of Environmental
Programs on Indian Reservations, see   HYPERLINK
"http://www.epa.gov/tribal/pdf/indian-policy-84.pdf" 
http://www.epa.gov/tribal/pdf/indian-policy-84.pdf  

Goal 4:

Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution

Reduce the risk and increase the safety of chemicals and prevent
pollution at the source.	

Chemicals are involved in the production of everything from our homes
and cars to the cell phones we carry and the food we eat. The
technological revolution has made thousands of chemicals ubiquitous in
our everyday lives and everyday products – as well as in our
environment and our bodies.  Chemicals are released into the environment
as a result of their manufacture, processing, use, and disposal. 
Research shows that our children are getting steady infusions of
industrial chemicals before they even are given solid food.[1]  Other
vulnerable groups, including low-income, minority, and indigenous/tribal
populations, are also disproportionately impacted by and thus
particularly at risk from chemicals.

In 2009, EPA announced principles for modernizing the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA) to help inform efforts underway in Congress to
reauthorize and significantly strengthen the effectiveness of the
Act.[2]  TSCA is outdated and should be revised to provide stronger and
clearer authority for EPA to collect and act upon critical data
regarding chemical risks.  While TSCA does provide some authority to EPA
to mandate industry to conduct testing, there remain large, troubling
gaps in the available data and state of knowledge on many widely used
chemicals in commerce.  EPA’s authority to require development and
submission of information and testing data is limited by legal hurdles
and procedural requirements.  As we look to the future, it is important
to work together to modernize and strengthen the tools available under
TSCA to prevent harmful chemicals from entering the marketplace and to
increase confidence that those chemicals that remain are safe and do not
endanger the environment or human health, especially for consumers,
workers, and sensitive subpopulations like children. 

Preventing pollution before it is generated has been established as
national environmental policy since 1990.  EPA is enhancing
cross-cutting efforts to advance sustainable practices, safer chemicals,
greener processes and practices, and safer products.

Ensuring Chemical Safety

Chemical safety is one of EPA’s highest priorities.  EPA’s approach
to chemical risk management leverages expertise, information, and
resources by collaborating with other countries, federal agencies,
states, tribes, and the public to improve chemical safety.[3]  Children
and other disproportionately exposed and affected groups, including
low-income, minority, and indigenous/tribal populations, require more
explicit consideration in EPA’s chemical risk assessments and
management actions.   

EPA employs a variety of strategies under several statutes to ensure the
safety of chemicals.  These include: 

Controlling the risks of new chemicals before they are introduced or
reintroduced into commerce; 

Evaluating chemicals already in use; 

Developing and implementing regulatory and other actions to eliminate or
reduce identified chemical risks; and, 

Making public the data necessary to assess chemical safety to the extent
allowed by law.[4, 5]  

EPA has enhanced its work to ensure the safety of existing chemicals by
taking action to restrict the production and use of chemicals of
concern, quickening the Agency’s pace in characterizing the hazards
posed by the highest volume chemicals, maximizing use of existing
authorities to increase the availability of chemical information, and
accelerating work to identify safer alternatives.  

Over the next five years, the Agency will implement risk management
actions for chemicals of concern, carefully considering how the most
vulnerable populations are potentially affected.  EPA is strengthening
rules to keep track of chemicals in commerce and adding chemicals and
data requirements to better inform both EPA and the public about
releases of toxic chemicals into the environment.  EPA is increasing its
evaluation of claims of confidentiality in order to make all health and
safety data for chemicals in commerce more publicly available to the
extent allowed by law.  EPA is also applying increasingly sophisticated
scientific tools in reviewing hundreds of new chemical submissions each
year under TSCA and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of these
reviews through the implementation of electronic submission and
management systems.[6]  

EPA will make major strides in guarding against exposure to chemicals
that continue to pose potential risks to human health and the
environment even after their hazards have been identified and certain
uses have been phased out.  For example, to continue to reduce childhood
blood lead levels, EPA is working in partnership with states and tribes
to certify hundreds of thousands of lead-paint professionals and expand
public awareness of lead risks by implementing requirements for the use
of lead-safe practices in renovation, remodeling, and painting
activities in millions of older homes.[7][8]  

Over the next five years, EPA will manage a comprehensive pesticide risk
reduction program through science-based registration and reevaluation
processes, a worker safety program, certification and training
activities, and support for the use of alternative methods of pest
control.  EPA’s current pesticide review processes focus on ensuring
that pesticides are in compliance with the Endangered Species Act and
achieve broader Agency objectives for water quality protection.  The
review processes will continue to place emphasis on the protection of
potentially sensitive groups, such as children, by reducing exposures
from pesticides used in and around homes, schools, and other public
areas.  EPA is reviewing critically its worker safety and certification
and training regulations to ensure that they are fully protective. 
EPA’s review processes ensure that pesticides can be used safely and
are available for use to maintain a safe and affordable food supply, to
address public health outbreaks, and to minimize property damage that
can occur from insects and pests.[9]

EPA scientists are also working to address the risks of nano-scale
materials during new chemical review, helping in the development of
significant new use rules for nano-scale materials not subject to new
chemical review, and improving data collection efforts.[10]  In
addition, EPA is undertaking a comprehensive testing program to identify
whether chemicals have the potential to interact with the endocrine
system.[11]  More broadly, EPA is looking more comprehensively across
statutes to determine the best tools to apply to specific problems.  For
example, under a new drinking water strategy, the Agency is exploring
how to use the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA) and TSCA to ensure that drinking water is protected from
pesticides and industrial chemicals and that chemicals found in drinking
water are being screened for endocrine disrupting properties using the
authorities of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), and FIFRA.

Preventing Pollution at the Source

The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 established national pollution
prevention policy.  Time and experience have added to our understanding
and appreciation of the value of preventing pollution before it occurs. 
Pollution prevention, a long-standing priority for EPA, encourages
companies, communities, governmental organizations, and individuals to
prevent pollution and waste before generation by implementing
conservation techniques, promoting efficient re-use of materials, making
production processes more sustainable, and promoting the use of safer
substances.  Together with new technology development, these pollution
prevention practices result in significant co-benefits, such as the
conservation of raw materials, water, and energy; reduction in the use
of hazardous and high global-warming-potential materials; promotion of
safer chemical substitutes; reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; and,
the elimination of pollutant transfers across air, water, and land. 
Grants to states support vital state pollution prevention
infrastructures and fund technical assistance for local businesses.  

EPA promotes “green” chemistry through the development and use of
innovative chemical technologies.  The Agency allows manufacturers to
apply EPA labels to products that meet stringent criteria for human and
environmental health, thus giving consumers assurance about the
environmental integrity of the products they use.  The Agency also
promotes the environmentally-conscious design, commercialization, and
use of “green” engineering processes, sets standards, and harnesses
the purchasing power of the federal government to stimulate demand for
“greener” products and services.[12] 

End Notes:

[1]   HYPERLINK "http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php" 
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php 

[2]   HYPERLINK
"http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/principles.html" 
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/principles.html 

[3]  HYPERLINK
"http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c
27/631cf22eb540c4db852576b2004eca47!OpenDocument" 
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c2
7/631cf22eb540c4db852576b2004eca47!OpenDocument 

[4]   HYPERLINK
"http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/collectinfo.html" 
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/collectinfo.html  

[5]   HYPERLINK
"http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/managechemrisk.html" 
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/managechemrisk.html  

[6]   HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/oppt/newchems/" 
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/newchems/  

[7]   HYPERLINK "http://www.leadfreekids.org" 
http://www.leadfreekids.org 

[8]   HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/toolkits.htm" 
http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/toolkits.htm  

[9]   HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/" 
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/  

[10]   HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/oppt/nano/" 
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/nano/  

[11]   HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/oscpendo/index.htm" 
http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/oscpendo/index.htm  

[12]   HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/p2/"  http://www.epa.gov/p2/    

Goal 5:  

Enforcing Environmental Laws

Protect human health and the environment through vigorous and targeted
civil and criminal enforcement.  Assure compliance with environmental
laws.

 

Vigorous enforcement supports EPA’s ambitious goals to protect human
health and the environment.  Achieving these goals for clean drinking
water, lakes and streams that are fishable and swimmable, clean air to
breathe, and communities and neighborhoods that are free from chemical
contamination requires both new strategies and compliance with the rules
we already have.  By addressing noncompliance swiftly and effectively,
EPA’s civil and criminal enforcement cases directly reduce pollution
and risk, and deter others from violating the law.

EPA enforcement takes aggressive action against pollution problems that
make a difference in communities.  Through vigorous civil and criminal
enforcement, EPA targets the most serious water, air, and chemical
hazards, and advances environmental justice by protecting low income,
minority, and tribal communities that are disproportionately impacted by
such hazards.  

Vigorous civil and criminal enforcement plays a central role in
achieving the bold goals below that the Administrator has set for EPA:

Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality:  EPA will
take effective actions to reduce air pollution from the largest sources,
including coal-fired power plants and the cement, acid, and glass
sectors, to improve air quality.  Enforcement to cut toxic air pollution
in communities improves the health of communities, particularly low
income, minority, and tribal communities that are disproportionately
impacted by pollution.  Enforcement supports reductions in greenhouse
gases (GHG) through enforcement settlements that encourage GHG emission
reductions.  EPA will also work to ensure compliance with new standards
and reporting requirements for GHG emissions as they are developed.

Protecting America’s Waters:  EPA is revamping enforcement and working
with permitting authorities to make progress on the most important water
pollution problems.  This work includes, as a high priority goal –
increasing enforcement actions in waters that do not meet water quality
standards, getting raw sewage out of water, cutting pollution from
animal waste, and reducing pollution from stormwater runoff. 
Enforcement will help to clean up great waters like the Chesapeake Bay
and will focus on revitalizing urban communities by protecting urban
waters.  Enforcement will also support the goal of assuring clean
drinking water for all communities, including in Indian country. 

Cleaning Up Our Communities:  EPA protects communities by requiring
responsible parties to conduct cleanups, saving federal dollars for
sites where there are no other alternatives.  Aggressively pursuing
these parties to clean up sites ultimately reduces direct human
exposures to hazardous pollutants and contaminants, provides for
long-term human health protection, and makes contaminated properties
available for reuse.

Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution:  Reforming
chemical management enforcement and reducing exposure to pesticides will
improve the health of Americans.  Enforcement reduces direct human
exposures to toxic chemicals and pesticides and supports long-term human
health protection.

Criminal enforcement underlines our commitment to pursuing the most
serious pollution violations.  EPA’s criminal enforcement program will
focus on cases across all media that involve serious harm or injury;
hazardous or toxic releases; ongoing, repetitive, or multiple releases;
serious documented exposure to pollutants; and, violators with
significant repeat or chronic noncompliance or prior criminal
conviction.

EPA shares accountability for environmental and human health protection
with states and tribes.  We work together to target the most important
pollution violations and ensure that companies that do the right thing
and are responsible neighbors are not put at a competitive disadvantage.
 EPA also has a responsibility to oversee state and tribal
implementation of federal laws to ensure that the same level of
protection for the environment and the public applies across the
country.

Enforcement can help to promote environmental justice by targeting
pollution problems that disproportionately impact low income, minority,
and tribal communities.  Ensuring compliance with environmental laws is
particularly important in communities that are exposed to greater
environmental health risks.  EPA fosters community involvement by making
information about compliance and government action available to the
public.

Increased transparency is an effective tool for improving compliance. 
By making information on violations both available and understandable,
EPA empowers citizens to demand better compliance.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

EPA sets goals and objectives in carrying out its mission to protect
human health and the environment, but there are always factors outside
of EPA’s control that affect our ability to do our work.  For example,
the changing legal and regulatory landscape often affects the Agency’s
resources, anticipated activities, and direction.  As part of a dynamic
global community addressing technological changes, EPA is confronted
with challenges, emerging issues, and opportunities every day.  An oil
spill, a flood, a hurricane, or other tragedy or disaster can divert the
Agency’s anticipated focus in the short term.  Other issues, such as
climate change and population growth, can create long-term challenges
that run deep and across many EPA programs.  Additionally, EPA
accomplishes much of its work through partnerships, particularly with
states and tribes.  EPA is directly affected as states and tribes face
tough budget times with furloughs and staff reductions.

External factors and emerging issues present both opportunities and
challenges to EPA.  Specifically, over the next five years EPA will be
actively engaged in a variety of areas:

Climate Change:  Energy and transportation policies continue to evolve
and influence the Agency’s ability to improve air quality and address
climate change issues.  Impacts of climate change, such as changes in
rainfall amount and intensity, shifting weather and seasonal patterns,
and sea level rise, will also affect progress towards many of the goals.
 Yet other developments may have positive environmental impacts.  The
growth of alternative energy sources, the potential for renewed
investments in nuclear energy, and increased investments in energy
efficiency can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air
quality. 

American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA):  We expect the long-term
impact of ARRA[1] funding will advance assessment and cleanup activities
at former industrial sites and spur technological innovation, promoting
energy efficiency, alternative energy supplies, and new technologies and
innovation in water infrastructure.

Water Quality:  Water quality programs face challenges such as new
drinking water contaminants, increases in nutrient loadings and
stormwater runoff, aging infrastructure, and population growth (which
can increase water consumption and place additional stress on aging
water infrastructures).  The Agency needs to examine carefully the
potential impacts of solutions to these issues, including effects on
water quality and quantity that could result in the long term from
climate change. 

Waste Management:  Our necessary reliance on private parties, state and
tribal partners, the use of new or untried control technologies, and the
involvement of other federal agencies in remediation efforts can all
affect our efforts to remediate contaminated sites and prevent waste. 
New waste streams are continually emerging, such as those from mining of
rare earth elements which are used in clean-energy technologies.  These
new uses could create the potential for new associated waste streams and
both increased opportunities for recycling of these valuable materials
and challenges of safe disposal. 

Protective Site Cleanup:  Hazardous waste programs are intended to
provide permanent solutions to contaminated media at sites or facilities
to the extent practicable.  Complications can arise when new scientific
information concerning contaminants at a site suggests that a risk
assessment that was protective when a remedy was selected is no longer
protective given the contaminant levels remaining at a site and its
potential exposure pathways and uses.  As appropriate, EPA must
incorporate emerging science into decision making to maintain its
commitment to provide permanent solutions.  

Chemical Safety:  Anticipated reforms to the Toxic Substances Control
Act would provide EPA with the ability to obtain and publicly disclose
critical information on the risks posed by chemicals, strengthening our
chemical risk assessment and management programs and significantly
improving federal and states’ ability to manage and prevent harm from
industrial chemicals.  

Communities:  Citizen science—individual citizens and community groups
that monitor and document environmental trends—can expand the reach of
EPA's own field presence.  Integrated computer models allow communities
to consider ecological, economic, and societal implications of their
management decisions; development of these and other emerging tools may
lead to increasingly effective stewardship.  While citizen science
requires expert support to ensure the quality of environmental data and
facilitate knowledge-building, with the right tools, communities can
spur local industry and others to do a better job of complying with
environmental laws and regulations.  

The world in which EPA works continues to change rapidly.  The recent
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a catastrophic environmental problem
that will have significant consequences and require innovative
technological and other solutions.  A wide range of new technologies are
on the horizon in areas as diverse as nano-technology catalysts and
nano-solar cells, nano-materials for rehabilitation of water pipes,
advanced battery technologies, accurate and inexpensive portable and
real-time sensors, and the application of synthetic biology to algal
biofuel production.  Emerging technologies may present new environmental
problems that need to be understood and addressed, and at the same time
will create opportunities for building an advanced technological
infrastructure.  What this means is that EPA needs to continue to do its
best to anticipate change and be prepared to address the inevitable
challenges and opportunities that we will face in the future.

End Note: 

[1]   http://www.recovery.gov

Summary of Program Evaluation

The Administration has emphasized the importance of using program
evaluation to provide the evidence needed to demonstrate that our
programs are meeting their intended outcomes.  By assessing how well a
program is working and why, program evaluation can help EPA identify
where our activities have the greatest impact on protecting human health
and the environment, provide the road map needed to replicate successes,
and conversely, identify areas needing improvement.  This is
particularly important as EPA meets its obligations for transparency and
accountability.

For the Strategic Plan, we look to the results of past program
evaluations to inform our program strategies for the next five years. 
The most important program evaluations reveal gaps in environmental
protection and lead to strategic changes in policy, resource decisions,
and even the start of new programs and innovations. The Government
Accountability Office’s 2007 evaluation of the Toxic Substances
Control Act helped frame Administrator Jackson’s September 2009
announcement of an integrated approach to chemical management and a set
of principles for reform.

EPA commissioned the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to
conduct an independent evaluation of the Community Action for a Renewed
Environment (CARE) Demonstration Program, a competitive grant program
that offers an innovative way for a community to organize and take
action to reduce toxic pollution in its local environment.[1] 
Recommendations and feedback from this evaluation have informed EPA’s
strategic changes and continued investments in the program. 

Our plans for future program evaluations include our cyclical reviews of
our research and development programs.  These are geared to ensure that
our research priorities meet our future challenges.  Examples of other
future evaluations include assessing the impact of our “green”
chemical labeling program on consumer purchasing habits and measuring
the success of less resource-intensive remediation strategies to clean
up toxic waste sites across the country.

Recent and future planned program evaluations are described in more
detail at [insert website].  [Reserved for final]  While EPA conducts a
variety of design, process, and outcome evaluations, under the
Administration’s government-wide evaluation initiative, EPA is working
to expand our portfolio to conduct more rigorous impact evaluations that
will enhance program effectiveness.  

End note: 

[1]    HYPERLINK
"http://www.napawash.org/pc_management_studies/CARE/5-21-09_Final_Evalua
tion_Report.pdf" 
http://www.napawash.org/pc_management_studies/CARE/5-21-09_Final_Evaluat
ion_Report.pdf  

Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategies

Introduction 

Since EPA's inception over 40 years ago, we have focused not only on our
mission goals to achieve environmental and public health results but
also on how we work to accomplish those results.  Through this Plan, EPA
is placing an increased focus on how we work to accomplish those
results.  We have developed a set of cross-cutting strategies that stem
from the Administrator’s priorities and are designed to fundamentally
change how we work, both internally and externally, to achieve the
mission outcomes articulated under our five strategic goals.  These
cross-cutting fundamental strategies are: 

Expanding the conversation on environmentalism;

Working for environmental justice and children’s health;

Advancing science, research, and technological innovation;

Strengthening state, tribal, and international partnerships; and,

Strengthening EPA’s workforce and capabilities.  

With this Plan, we are embarking on a deliberate, focused effort to take
tangible actions and hold ourselves accountable for changing the way we
deliver environmental and human health protection.  This Plan describes
the vision and operating principles for each of the cross-cutting
strategies.  The Agency will develop multi-year action plans with annual
commitments that we will use to hold ourselves accountable in carrying
out these strategies.  

Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism

Engage and empower communities and partners, including those who have
been historically under-represented, in order to support and advance
environmental protection and human health nationwide.

We have begun a new era of outreach at EPA and seek to include a broader
range of people and communities in our work and expand our engagement
with communities historically under-represented in our decision-making
processes.  We will build stronger working relationships all across
America, particularly with tribes, communities of color,
economically-distressed cities and towns, young people, and others.  

We will seek to increase public trust in the Agency by ensuring that our
regulations and decision making are based on science and the rule of
law.  

To accomplish these goals, we will:

Call for innovation and bold thinking and ask all employees to bring
their creativity and talents to their everyday work to enhance outreach
and transparency in all our programs.

Ensure that our science is explained clearly and accessible to all
communities, communicating in plain language the complexities of
environmental, health, policy, and regulatory issues. 

Make environmental information and the work of the Agency more
accessible and enhance public access to information by harnessing new
tools to foster community engagement. 

Enable all Americans to have access to, and use of, environmental data
and information in order to engage and empower communities and Agency
partners in decision making.  Enhance tools to help people find,
understand, and use environmental information and data.

Ensure that the Agency’s regulations, policies, decision-making
processes, and budget are transparent and accessible through increased
access to environmental data sources, community right-to-know tools, and
direct stakeholder engagement.

Address barriers to improve engagement with historically
under-represented sectors of the nation. 

Use traditional and new media to inform the public about the wide range
of Agency activities and provide opportunities for community feedback. 

Encourage citizens to take a broader view of environmental issues and
provide avenues and tools that enhance their ability to be advocates for
themselves.

 Working for Environmental Justice and Children’s Health 

Work to reduce and prevent harmful exposures and health risks to
children and underserved, disproportionately impacted low income,
minority, and tribal communities, and support community efforts to build
healthy, sustainable green neighborhoods.

 

Advancing environmental justice and protecting children’s health must
be driving forces in our decisions across all EPA programs.  The
underlying principles for this commitment are reducing exposures for
those at greatest risk and ensuring that environmental justice and
children’s health protection are integral to all Agency activities. 
This work is urgently needed—millions of minority, low-income, and
tribal/indigenous persons are at risk of having poor health outcomes
because they live in communities that are disproportionately impacted by
environmental hazards and are overburdened by their limited capacities
to address them.  Children are often most acutely affected by
environmental stressors.  Research has demonstrated that prenatal and
early life exposures to environmental hazards can cause lifelong
diseases, medical conditions, and disabilities.

Environmental justice and children’s health protection will be
achieved when all Americans, regardless of age, race, economic status,
or ethnicity, have access to clean water, clean air, and healthy
communities.  To accomplish this, EPA will use a variety of approaches,
including regulation, enforcement, research, outreach, community-based
programs, and partnerships to protect children and disproportionately
impacted, overburdened populations from environmental and human health
hazards.  Our success in advancing environmental justice and
children’s health protection will result from fully incorporating
these priorities into all of our activities across each of the strategic
goals of the Agency.  We anticipate that our leadership in advancing
environmental justice and children’s health protection will inspire
and engage a broad spectrum of partners in the public and private sector
to do the same.

Specifically, EPA will:

In our regulatory capacity, implement the nation’s environmental laws
using the best science and environmental monitoring data to address the
potential for adverse health effects from environmental factors in
disproportionately impacted, overburdened populations and vulnerable age
groups.  EPA programs will address environmental justice and
children’s health considerations at each stage of the Agency’s
regulation development process.

Fully engage communities in our work to protect human health and the
environment.  EPA will align multiple community-based programs to
provide funding and technical assistance to communities to build
capacity to address critical issues affecting children’s health and
disproportionately impacted, overburdened populations. 

Work with other federal agencies [1] to engage communities and offer
funding and technical support for efforts to build healthy, sustainable,
and green neighborhoods, and to provide opportunities for residents to
participate in the economic benefits to be derived from reduced
environmental risks in their communities.  

In our work on safe management of pesticides and industrial chemicals,
take into account disproportionately impacted, overburdened populations
and vulnerable age groups and encourage the use of “green chemistry”
to spur the development of safer chemicals and production processes. 

Partner with other research organizations to bring the best science to
address environmental justice and children’s health through programs
like the Children’s Environmental Health Centers, the Superfund Basic
Research Program, and the National Children’s Study.

  

Use the latest science to develop and apply integrated and targeted
assessment methods that consider the impact of multiple environmental
hazards experienced by vulnerable age groups and disproportionately
impacted, overburdened populations.

Develop and use environmental and public health indicators to measure
improvements in environmental conditions and health in
disproportionately impacted communities and among vulnerable age groups.
 

Apply consistent methods to assess the potential for disproportionate
exposures and health impacts on pregnant women, infants, children, and
adolescents and develop a consistent approach to identifying areas of
environmental justice concern.

End Note:

[1]  Including the Departments of Housing Urban Development, Health and
Human Services, Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, Interior, and
Education

Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation

 

Advance a rigorous basic and applied science research agenda that
informs, enables, and empowers innovative and sustainable solutions to
environmental problems.  Provide relevant and robust scientific data and
findings to support the Agency’s policy and decision-making needs.

 

Environmental sustainability is a guidepost for science, research, and
technological innovation at EPA.  The major challenges we face to human
health and the environment are not incremental problems, and they do not
lend themselves to incremental solutions.  Addressing climate change,
water quality and quantity issues, ubiquitous toxic chemicals, and
ecosystem degradation, among other problems, not only requires
high-quality research and sound science, but also innovation.  EPA’s
science and research efforts must help drive this innovation by
informing, enabling, and stimulating the development of sustainable
solutions to current and future challenges posed to human health and the
environment. 

EPA science and research must always inform the decisions that are
essential to the protection of human health and the environment and
empower the broader community that supports our mission.  To solve
challenging environmental problems in this manner, EPA research will:

Provide timely, responsive, and relevant solutions:  EPA’s science and
research depends on partnerships and a continuing dialogue with internal
and external stakeholders to ensure that research focuses on the highest
priority problems faced by the Agency and the nation. 

Transcend traditional scientific disciplines:   In all aspects of our
work, from problem identification, to research design and conduct, to
implementation of solutions, we must involve the widest diversity of
disciplines.  Developing sustainable solutions to environmental problems
often raises complex scientific and technological issues that require
non-traditional approaches.  If EPA is to solve these challenging
problems, we must rely on integrated, trans-disciplinary research that
complements traditional single-discipline approaches.   

Communicate widely and openly:  Great work, done invisibly, cannot have
an impact.  To maximize the impact and utility of our research, EPA will
communicate the design, definition, conduct, transfer, and
implementation of the work we do.  We will translate our science so that
it can be understood readily and used by stakeholders.  EPA must
document our successes to maximize the value of our scientific work.

Catalyze sustainable innovation:  EPA’s efforts alone will not be
enough to address the environmental challenges our nation faces. 
Successful implementation of sustainable solutions depends on moving
promising technologies from the conceptual and proof-of-concept stage,
through research and development, to commercialization and deployment. 
As we develop and promote these technology innovations, EPA must account
for life-cycle perspectives and support technologies that fully consider
environmental and social impacts.

 Strengthening State, Tribal, and International Partnerships

Deliver on our commitment to a clean and healthy environment through
consultation and shared accountability with states, tribes, and the
global community for addressing the highest priority problems.

EPA will strengthen its state, tribal, and international partnerships to
achieve our mutual environmental and human health goals.  As we work
together, our relationships must continue to be based on integrity,
trust, and shared accountability to make the most effective use of our
respective bodies of knowledge, our existing authorities, our resources,
and our talents.  

Successful partnerships will be based on four working principles: 
consultation, collaboration, cooperation, and accountability.  By
consulting, we will engage our partners in a timely fashion as we
consider approaches to our environmental work so that each partner can
make an early and meaningful contribution toward the final result.  By
collaborating, we will not only share information, but we will actively
work together with our partners to use all available resources to reach
our environmental and human health goals.  As our work progresses, we
will cooperate, viewing each other with respect as allies who must work
successfully together if our goals are to be achieved.  Through shared
accountability, we will ensure that environmental benefits are
consistently delivered nationwide.  In carrying out these
responsibilities, EPA will ensure through oversight that state and
tribal implementation of federal laws achieves a consistent level of
protection for the environment and human health. 

With States

Under our federal environmental laws, EPA and the states share
responsibility for protecting human health and the environment. With
this relationship as the cornerstone of the nation's environmental
protection system, EPA will:  

Improve implementation and consistent delivery of national environmental
programs through closer consultation and transparency.

Follow the principles as outlined in Executive Order 13132 (Federalism),
recognizing the division of governmental responsibilities between the
federal government and the states.

Work with states to implement solutions to state problems through tools
such as worksharing.

Consult with state and local governments on a routine basis to determine
the optimum ways for implementing rules.

With Tribes

The relationship between the United States Government and
federally-recognized tribes is unique and has developed throughout the
course of the nation's history.  In strengthening this relationship, EPA
will:

Focus on increasing tribal capacity to establish and implement
environmental programs while ensuring that our national programs are as
effective in Indian country as they are throughout the rest of the
nation.

Enhance our effort as we work with tribes on a government-to-government
basis, based upon the Constitution, treaties, laws, executive orders,
and a long history of Supreme Court rulings.

Strengthen our cross-cultural sensitivity with tribes, recognizing that
tribes have cultural, jurisdictional, and legal features that must be
considered when coordinating and implementing environmental programs in
Indian country.

With Other Countries

To achieve our domestic environmental and human health goals,
international partnerships are essential.  Pollution is often carried by
winds and water across national boundaries, posing risks many hundreds
and thousands of miles away.  Many concerns, like climate change, are
universal.  In the international arena, EPA will:

Expand our partnership efforts in multilateral forums and in key
bilateral relationships.  

Enhance existing and nurture new international partnerships to promote a
new era of global environmental stewardship based on common interests,
shared values, and mutual respect.

 Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities

Continuously improve EPA’s internal management, encourage innovation
and creativity in all aspects of our work, and ensure that EPA is an
excellent workplace that attracts and retains a topnotch, diverse
workforce, positioned to meet and address the environmental challenges
of the 21st century. 

Achieving positive environmental and human health outcomes through
cleaner and safer air, water, and land, and through protection of our
natural resources is the focal point of all our work at EPA.  EPA is a
complex organization which is both an asset and a challenge.  Through
innovative and creative management and a talented, diverse, and highly
motivated workforce, EPA is positioned to meet head-on the complex
environmental challenges of the present and future.  

Specifically, EPA will:

Recruit, develop, and retain a bright, diverse, and resourceful
workforce that reflects our nation and create a culture that values and
builds upon the strengths that each individual brings to the Agency.

Ensure that the workforce of the future has the skills and knowledge it
needs to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

Create a workplace that values a high quality work life and provides the
infrastructure and tools essential to support our employees.

Invest in the information infrastructure, technology, and security
needed to support a mobile workforce.

Practice outstanding resource stewardship to ensure that all Agency
programs operate with fiscal responsibility and management integrity,
are efficiently and consistently delivered nationwide, and demonstrate
results.

Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Agency’s acquisition
system by strengthening contract management and internal review
practices, maximizing the use of competition in contracting, improving
how contracts are structured, building the skills of the acquisition
workforce, and clarifying the role of outsourcing.

Invest in innovation and creativity to develop new and better approaches
to what we do. 

Take advantage of existing and emerging tools to improve and enhance
communication, transparency, and accountability.

Integrate energy efficiency and environmental impact considerations into
all our work practices as core components of Agency business models and
commit to “going green.”

Strategic Measurement Framework

Introduction 

The Strategic Plan provides the foundation for EPA’s performance
management system—planning, budgeting, performance measurement, and
accountability.  The Plan contains EPA’s strategic measurement
framework of long-term goals, objectives, and strategic measures, which
describe the measurable human health and environmental results the
Agency is working to achieve over the next five years.  

To achieve the long-term goals, objectives, and strategic measures set
out in this Plan, EPA designs annual performance goals and measures
which are presented in the President’s Annual Performance Plans and
Budgets.  The Agency reports on our performance against these annual
goals and measures in the Annual Performance Reports, and uses this
performance information to establish priorities and develop future
budget submissions.  The Agency also uses these performance data to
evaluate our progress and develop future Strategic Plans.  

The High Priority Performance Goals are a new component of EPA’s
measurement framework and are specific, measurable, ambitious, near-term
priority targets that advance our strategic goals and align with our
long-term strategic measures and annual measures.  EPA has selected six
goals for its first set of High Priority Performance Goals:

By June 15, 2011, EPA will make publically available 100 percent of
facility-level GHG emissions data submitted to EPA in accordance with
the GHG Reporting Rule, compliant with policies protecting Confidential
Business Information (CBI).

In 2011, EPA, working with DOT, will begin implementation of regulations
designed to reduce the GHG emissions from light duty vehicles sold in
the US starting with model year 2012.

All Chesapeake Bay watershed States (including the District of Columbia)
will develop and submit approvable Phase I watershed implementation
plans by the end of CY 2010 and Phase II plans by the end of CY 2011 in
support of EPA’s final Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).

Increase pollutant reducing enforcement actions in waters that don’t
meet water quality standards, and post results and analysis on the web.

EPA will initiate over the next two years, at least four drinking water
standard reviews to strengthen public health protection.

By 2012 EPA will have initiated 20 enhanced brownfields community level
projects that will include a new area-wide planning effort to benefit
under-served and economically disadvantaged communities.  This will
allow those communities to assess and address a single large or multiple
brownfields sites within their boundaries, thereby advancing area-wide
planning to enable redevelopment of brownfields properties on a broader
scale.  EPA will provide technical assistance, coordinate its
enforcement, water and air quality programs, and work with other Federal
agencies, states, tribes and local governments to implement associated
targeted environmental improvements identified in each community’s
area-wide plan.

EPA will report progress on these measures through the Office of
Management and Budget with the results regularly available to the public
at   HYPERLINK "http://www.USAPerformance.gov"  www.USAPerformance.gov .


EPA’s strategic planning and decision making benefits from other
sources of information as well, including program evaluations and new
environmental indicators.  Approximately one-third of the strategic
measures in this Strategic Plan are based on indicators contained in
EPA’s 2008 Report on the Environment (ROE).  The ROE lays out a set of
peer-reviewed human health and environmental indicators that allows EPA
to track trends in environmental conditions and environmental influences
on human health.  This information also helps us better articulate and
improve the strategic measurement framework in EPA’s Strategic Plan.  

The Agency continues to look for new data and information sources to
better characterize the environmental conditions targeted by our
programs and improve our understanding of the integrated and complex
relationships involved in maintaining human health and environmental
well-being.  

Significant Changes in the Strategic Measurement Framework

We have made significant changes to our measurement framework in this
Plan.  We revised our five strategic goals to sharpen and align them
with the Administrator’s priorities, including a heightened focus on
cross-program activities addressing climate change adaptation and
mitigation, sustainable communities, and chemical safety.  We revised
our suite of strategic measures—the measurable environmental and human
health outcomes we are working to achieve—in several significant ways.
 First, we significantly reduced the number of strategic measures by
focusing on the key outcomes most important to advance the
Administrator’s priorities and the Agency’s mission.  The goal was
to create a smaller, more strategic, and more meaningful set that Agency
leadership uses to manage.  Second, we achieved consistency by using
only the strategic measures to describe our measurable results.  Third,
we updated the strategic measures to reflect targets and baselines
appropriate for the FY 2011-2015 time horizon.  Lastly, we removed the
separate objectives and strategic measures for the Agency’s research
and development program from the Plan and integrated this work into the
programmatic objectives; this critical work supports many of our
strategic measures and will continue to be tracked through annual
performance measures.

Some of the new strategic directions in our measures are reflected in
this Plan, but efforts will continue over the next several years to make
further revisions in key areas, as illustrated below:

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill:  While we are still assessing the
unprecedented environmental damage from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and
the Agency actions necessary to address the damage and prevent similar
disasters in the future, we have added two new measures as a preliminary
step to reflect the urgent challenge ahead.  These measures address
efforts to clean up the environmental damage and to update and modernize
our oil spill program and regulations.  The magnitude of the impacts
have yet to be fully understood and assessed, so further adjustments may
be needed in the future, particularly if significant resource
redirections become necessary.  In addition, EPA has two
program-specific water measures, one that relates to Gulf of Mexico
hypoxia and the other to regional coastal aquatic ecosystem health that
will be reassessed for impact from the oil spill.

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation:  The ability of communities to
respond to changes in climate over the next decade is critical to
achieving many of the environmental outcomes in this Strategic Plan.  We
have incorporated this across all five goals of the Strategic Plan and
will continue to collaborate with stakeholders, the US Global Change
Research Program, the Interagency Taskforce on Climate Change
Adaptation, and others.  As a start, we have proposed three
“developmental” strategic measures for climate change adaptation
under Goal 1.  In addition, we have included a “developmental”
measure for mitigation of greenhouse gases to capture reductions
Agency-wide, expanding past measures.

Land Cleanup:  EPA has begun an Integrated Cleanup Initiative, a
multi-year effort to better use assessment and cleanup authorities to
address a greater number of sites, accelerate cleanups, and put those
sites back into productive use while protecting human health and the
environment.  The Agency is working to develop a suite of measures that
will allow for comprehensive management across cleanup programs and
across the cleanup life cycle, with a focus on three critical points in
the cleanup process—starting, advancing, and completing site cleanups.
 As a first step in this process, we are shifting our definition of
success at a Superfund site from where the construction of a remedy is
complete, to when the site is actually “ready for anticipated use”
in a community.   In addition, a new site assessment measure has been
developed that fully captures the entire assessment workload at the
beginning of the Superfund process, a measure which also may be expanded
to include progress of other cleanup programs in the future. 

Chemical Safety:  One of EPA’s highest priorities over the next five
years is to ensure the safety of chemicals and pesticides used in this
country.  As part of this effort, EPA is taking a more integrated
approach to managing chemical and pesticide risk reduction and is
focusing on consumers, workers, and sensitive subpopulations like
children.  EPA is enhancing its ability to measure the effects of
chemicals and pesticides on human health and the environment by
introducing new measures to reduce the concentration of targeted
chemicals and pesticides in the general population, children, and
low-income communities.  

Enforcement and Compliance:  The Agency’s civil enforcement and
compliance assurance program is moving to an environmental problem-based
(i.e., air, water) rather than a tool-based (i.e., assistance,
incentives, monitoring, and enforcement) measurement system.  This shift
will enable EPA to better quantify and communicate to the public the
environmental and human health improvements in the nation’s air,
water, and land resulting from enforcement and compliance efforts.  As
part of this shift, the program is using three types of measures—those
that:  (1) track media-specific trends over time; (2) measure
enforcement and compliance program activities common across all
environmental media; and (3) directly support strategic outcome measures
under each of the media-specific goals.  EPA’s enforcement program
ensures that the protection of human health and the environment intended
by environmental laws and EPA’s regulations are not diminished by
non-compliance.  EPA is now developing measures that align its
enforcement program work with other program goals in EPA, specifically
Goals 1-4 of this Plan.  The areas in which EPA proposes to develop
measures are shown as Measures Under Development in the Goal 5 section
below.  In addition, the Agency is including measures for its criminal
enforcement program for the first time in this Plan.  

End Note: 

[1]   EPA will continue to report site construction completions as a
program measure in its congressional justification as the Agency
explores a revised set of program performance measures.Goal 1:  Taking
Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality.  Reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and develop adaptation strategies to address climate
change, and protect and improve air quality.

Objective 1.1:  Address Climate Change.  Reduce the threats posed by
climate change by reducing GHG emissions and taking actions that help
communities and ecosystems become more resilient to the effects of
climate change.

Strategic Measures:	

	

By 2015, environmental protection programs from across EPA aimed at
reducing greenhouse gas emissions will achieve X MMTCO2Eq. reductions,
from the baseline of X MMTCO2Eq. reduced in 2008. (Baseline FY 2008:
ENERGY STAR 165 MMTCO2Eq., Executive Order 13415 0 MMTCO2Eq., Light Duty
Vehicle Standards 0 MMTCO2Eq., Pollution Prevention 6.6 MMTCO2Eq.,
Resource Conservation Challenge 34.6 MMTCO2Eq., and SmartWay XX
MMTCO2Eq.)

Measures Under Development

By 2015, EPA programs implemented to achieve environmental goals other
than GHG reductions will reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a
co-benefit, from the baseline of 128.7 MMTCO2Eq. reduced in 2008.
(Baseline FY 2008: Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program
128 MMTCO2Eq., WaterSense .7 MMTCO2Eq.)

By 2015, EPA will integrate climate change science trend and scenario
information into five major scientific models and/or decision support
tools used in implementing Agency environmental management programs to
further EPA’s mission, consistent with existing authorities.  (Minimum
of one related to air quality, water quality, cleanup programs, and
chemical safety)[1] (Baseline: 0)

By 2015, EPA will build resilience to climate change by integrating
climate change science trend and scenario information into five
rule-making processes to further EPA’s mission, consistent with
existing authorities.  (Minimum of one related to air quality, water
quality, cleanup programs, and chemical safety.)[1] (Baseline: 0)

By 2015, EPA will build resilience to climate change by integrating
considerations of climate change impacts and adaptive measures into five
major grant, loan, or technical assistance programs (>$10 million
annually) to further EPA’s mission, consistent with existing
authorities.  (Minimum of one related to air quality, water quality,
cleanup programs, and scientific research)[1] (Baseline: 0)

Objective 1.2:  Improve Air Quality.  Achieve and maintain health-based
air pollution standards and reduce risk from toxic air pollutants and
indoor air contaminants.

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, the population-weighted average concentrations of ozone (smog)
in all monitored counties will decrease to .073 ppm compared to the
average of 0.078 ppm in 2009.

By 2015, the population-weighted average concentrations of inhalable
fine particles in all monitored counties will decrease to 10.5 µg/m3
compared to the average of 11.7 µg/m3 2009.

By 2015, reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) to 14.7 million tons
per year compared to the 2009 level of 19.4 million tons emitted.

By 2015, reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) to 7.4 million tons
per year compared to the 2009 level of 13.8 million tons emitted.

By 2015, reduce emissions of direct particulate matter (PM) to 3.9 tons
per year compared to the 2009 level 4.2 million tons emitted.

By 2018, visibility in scenic parks and wilderness areas will improve by
15 percent in the East and 5 percent in the West, on the 20 percent
worst visibility days, as compared to visibility on the 20 percent worst
days during the 2000-2004 baseline.

By 2015, with EPA support for developing capability including training,
policy, administrative and technical support, 15 additional tribes will
possess the expertise and capability to implement the Clean Air Act in
Indian country (as demonstrated by successful completion of an
eligibility determination under the Tribal Authority Rule), for a
cumulative total of 62, from the 2009 baseline of 47 tribes.

By 2015, reduce toxicity-weighted (for cancer) emissions of air toxics
to 4.21 million tons from the 2010 toxicity-weighted baseline of 4.36
million tons.

By 2015, air pollution emissions reductions will reduce the number of
chronically acidic water bodies and improve associated ecosystem health
in acid-sensitive regions of the northern and eastern United States by
approximately 10 percent below the 2001 baseline of approximately 500
lakes and 5,000 kilometers of stream-length.

By 2015, the number of future premature lung cancer deaths prevented
annually through lowered radon exposure will increase to 1,460 from the
2008 baseline of 756 future premature lung cancer deaths prevented.

By 2015, the number of people taking all essential actions to reduce
exposure to indoor environmental asthma triggers will increase to 7.6
million from the 2003 baseline of 3 million.  EPA will place special
emphasis on children at home and in schools, and on other
disproportionately impacted populations.

Objective 1.3:  Restore the Ozone Layer.  Restore the earth's
stratospheric ozone layer and protect the public from the harmful
effects of UV radiation.

Strategic Measure:

By 2015, U.S. consumption of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), chemicals
that deplete the Earth’s protective ozone layer, will be less than
1,520 tons per year of ozone depletion potential from the 2009 baseline
of 9,900 tons per year. By this time, as a result of worldwide reduction
in ozone-depletion substances, the level of “equivalent effective
stratospheric chlorine” (EESC) in the atmosphere will have peaked at
3.185 parts per billion (ppb) of air by volume and begun its gradual
decline to less than 1.8 ppb (1980 level).

Objective 1.4:  Reduce Unnecessary Exposure to Radiation.  Minimize
unnecessary releases of radiation and be prepared to minimize impacts
should unwanted releases occur.

Strategic Measure:

Through 2015, EPA will maintain a 90 percent level of readiness of
radiation program personnel and assets to support federal radiological
emergency response and recovery operations, maintaining the 2010
baseline of 90 percent.

 

End Note:

[1]   The climate is changing and this can impact EPA’s ability to
achieve its mission and strategic goals.  EPA is currently participating
in an Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force which will
develop recommendations towards a national climate change adaptation
strategy in the fall of 2010.  EPA’s draft adaptation measures provide
a snapshot of EPA’s overall effort to integrate climate change
adaptation into mainstream decision making within EPA.  As the work of
the Task Force continues, future measures may be developed that measure
the effectiveness of adaptation actions or that reflect a more refined
set of climate change adaptation priorities. Goal 2:  Protecting
America’s Waters.  Protect  and restore our waters to ensure that
drinking water is safe, and that aquatic ecosystems sustain fish, plants
and wildlife, and economic, recreational, and subsistence activities. 

Objective 2.1:  Protect Human Health.  Reduce human exposure to
contaminants in drinking water, fish and shellfish, and recreational
waters, including protecting source waters. 

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, 90 percent of community water systems will provide drinking
water that meets all applicable health-based drinking water standards
through approaches including effective treatment and source water
protection. (2005 baseline:  89 percent.  Status as of FY 2009: 89.1
percent.)  

By 2015, 88 percent of the population in Indian country served by
community water systems will receive drinking water that meets all
applicable health-based drinking water standards. (2005 baseline:  86
percent.  Status as of FY 2009: 81.2 percent.)

By 2015 in coordination with other federal agencies, provide access to
Safe Drinking Water for 136,100 American Indian and Alaska Native homes.
(FY 2009 baseline: 80,900 homes. Universe: 360,000 homes.)

By 2015, reduce the percentage of women of childbearing age having
mercury levels in blood above the level of concern to 4.6 percent. (2002
baseline:  5.7 percent of women of childbearing age have mercury blood
levels above levels of concern identified by the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).)

By 2015, maintain the percentage of days of the beach season that
coastal and Great Lakes beaches monitored by state beach safety programs
are open and safe for swimming at 95 percent. (2007 baseline:  beaches
open 95 percent of the 679,589 days of the beach season (beach season
days are equal to 3,647 beaches multiplied by variable number of days of
beach season at each beach).  Status as of FY 2009:  95 percent.)

Objective 2.2:  Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems. 
Protect the quality of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands on a
watershed basis, and protect urban, coastal, and ocean waters.  

Measure Under Development

Through 2015, in response to the Deepwater BP oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico, EPA will continue supporting efforts to remove oil from the
water, wetlands, beaches, and surrounding communities to restore the
Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and monitor water and air quality to ensure the
public has reliable and timely information.

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, attain water quality standards for all pollutants and
impairments in more than 3,360 water bodies identified in 2002 as not
attaining standards (cumulative). (2002 universe:  39,798 water bodies
identified by states and tribes as not meeting water quality standards.
Water bodies where mercury is among multiple pollutants causing
impairment may be counted toward this target when all pollutants but
mercury attain standards, but must be identified as still needing
restoration for mercury; 1,703 impaired water bodies are impaired by
multiple pollutants including mercury, and 6,501 are impaired by mercury
alone.  Status as of FY 2009:  2,505 water bodies attained standards.)

By 2015, improve water quality conditions in 330 impaired watersheds
nationwide using the watershed approach (cumulative). (2002 baseline:
zero watersheds improved of an estimated 4,800 impaired watersheds of
focus having one or more water bodies impaired.  The watershed
boundaries for this measure are those established at the "12-digit"
scale by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  Watersheds at this scale
average 22 square miles in size. "Improved" means that one or more of
the impairment causes identified in 2002 are removed for at least 40
percent of the impaired water bodies or impaired miles/acres, or there
is significant watershed-wide improvement, as demonstrated by valid
scientific information, in one or more water quality parameters
associated with the impairments.  Status as of FY 2009:  104 improved
watersheds.)

Through 2015, ensure that the condition of the Nation’s streams and
lakes does not degrade (i.e., there is no statistically significant
increase in the percent rated “poor” and no statistically
significant decrease rated “good”).  (2006 baseline for streams:  28
percent in good condition; 25 percent in fair condition; 42 percent in
poor condition.  2010 baseline for lakes: 56 percent in good condition;
21 percent in fair condition; 22 percent in poor condition.)

By 2015, improve water quality in Indian country at 50 or more baseline
monitoring stations in tribal waters (cumulative) (i.e., show
improvement in one or more of seven key parameters:  dissolved oxygen,
pH, water temperature, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, pathogen
indicators, and turbidity). (2006 baseline:  185 monitoring stations on
tribal waters located where water quality has been depressed and
activities are underway or planned to improve water quality, out of an
estimated 1,661 stations operated by tribes.)

By 2015, in coordination with other federal agencies, provide access to
basic sanitation for 67,900 American Indian and Alaska Native homes. (FY
2009 baseline: 43,600 homes. Universe: 360,000 homes.)

By 2015, improve regional coastal aquatic ecosystem health, as measured
on the "good/fair/poor" scale of the National Coastal Condition Report.
(2009 baseline:  National rating of "fair" or 2.8 where the rating is
based on a 4-point system ranging from 1.0 to 5.0 in which 1 is poor and
5 is good using the  National Coastal Condition Report indicators for
water and sediment, coastal habitat, benthic index, and fish
contamination.)

By 2015, 95 percent of active dredged material ocean dumping sites will
have achieved environmentally acceptable conditions (as reflected in
each site's management plan and measured through onsite monitoring
programs). (2009 baseline:  99 percent. FY 2009 universe is 65.) Due to
variability in the universe of sites, results vary from year to year
(between 84.8percent and 99percent).  While this much variability is not
expected every year, the results are expected to have some change each
year.

By 2015, working with partners, achieve a net annual increase of
wetlands nationwide, including a reversal of coastal wetland losses,
with additional focus on biological and functional measures and
assessment of wetland condition.  (2004 baseline:  32,000 acres annual
net national wetland gain; 59,000 acres of annual coastal wetland
losses.)

By 2015, working with partners, protect or restore an additional (i.e.,
measuring from 2009 forward) 600,000 acres of habitat within the study
areas for the 28 estuaries that are part of the National Estuary
Program.  (2009 baseline:  900,956 acres of habitat protected or
restored, cumulative from 2002-2009.  In FY 2009, 125,437 acres were
protected or restored.)

By 2015, prevent water pollution and protect aquatic systems so that the
overall ecosystem health of the Great Lakes is at least 24.7 points on a
40-point scale. (2009 baseline:  Great Lakes rating of 22.5 (expected)
on the 40-point scale where the rating uses select Great Lakes State of
the Lakes Ecosystem indicators based on a 1 to 5 rating system for each
indicator, where 1 is poor and 5 is good.)

By 2015, remediate a cumulative total of 10.2 million cubic yards of
contaminated sediment in the Great Lakes.  (2009 baseline:  Of the 46.5
million cubic yards once estimated to need remediation in the Great
Lakes, 6 million cubic yards of contaminated sediments have been
remediated from 1997 through 2008.)

By 2015, achieve 46 percent (85,100 acres) of the 185,000 acres of
submerged aquatic vegetation necessary to achieve Chesapeake Bay water
quality standards.  (2008 baseline:  35 percent, 64,912 acres.)

By 2015, reduce releases of nutrients throughout the Mississippi River
Basin to reduce the size of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico to
less than 5,000 km2, as measured by the 5-year running average of the
size of the zone.  (Baseline:  2005-2009 running average size = 15,670
km2.)

By 2015, reduce the maximum area and duration of hypoxia in Long Island
Sound (i.e., defined as the area in which the maximum June-September
dissolved oxygen level is <3mg/l in bottom waters <1m).  (Baseline:
Pre-TMDL average conditions based on 1987-1999 data are 208 square miles
with a duration average of 57 days. Post-TMDL average conditions based
on 2000-2009 data are 187 square miles with a duration average of 58.6
days.)  Universe: The total surface area of Long Island Sound is
approximately 1,268 square miles. The number of days in which hypoxic
conditions may exist varies annually, but is monitored from June –
September, or 122 days. Therefore, the potential for the maximum area
and duration of hypoxia would be 1,268 square miles and 122 days.

By 2015, improve water quality and enable the lifting of harvest
restrictions in 2,500 acres of shellfish bed growing areas impacted by
degraded or declining water quality in the Puget Sound.  (2009 baseline:
 1,730 acres of shellfish beds with harvest restrictions in 2006 had
their restrictions lifted.  Universe:  30,000 acres of commercial
shellfish beds with harvest restrictions in 2006.)

By 2015, provide safe drinking water or adequate wastewater sanitation
to 75 percent of the homes in the U.S.-Mexico Border area that lacked
access to either service in 2003. (2003 Universe: 98,515 homes lacked
drinking water and 690,723 homes lacked adequate wastewater sanitation
based on a 2003 assessment of homes in the U.S.-Mexico Border area. 2015
target: 73,886 homes provided with safe drinking water and 518,042 homes
with adequate wastewater sanitation.)

Goal 3:  Cleaning Up Our Communities. Promote sustainable, healthier
communities and protect vulnerable populations and disproportionately
impacted low income, minority, and tribal communities.  Prevent releases
of harmful substances and clean up and restore contaminated areas.

Objective 3.1: Promote Sustainable and Livable Communities. Support
sustainable, resilient, and livable communities by working with local,
state, tribal, and federal partners to promote smart growth, emergency
preparedness and recovery planning, brownfield redevelopment, and the
equitable distribution of environmental benefits. 

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, reduce the air, water, and land impacts of new growth and
development through the use of smart growth strategies in XX
communities, which includes local municipalities, regional entities, and
state governments.  (Baseline:  In FY 2010, an estimated YY communities
will be assisted.)

By 2015, conduct environmental assessments at 20,600 (cumulative)
brownfield properties. (Baseline:  As of the end of FY 2009, EPA
assessed 14,600 properties.)

By 2015, make an additional 17,800 acres of brownfield properties ready
for reuse from the 2009 baseline.  (Baseline:  As of the end of FY 2009,
EPA made 11,800 acres ready for reuse.)

By 2015, continue to maintain the Risk Management Plan (RMP) prevention
program and further reduce by 10 percent the number of accidents at RMP
facilities. (Baseline:  There was an annual average of 190 accidents
based on RMP program data between 2005-2009).

Objective 3.2:  Preserve Land. Conserve resources and prevent land
contamination by reducing waste generation, increasing recycling, and
ensuring proper management of waste and petroleum products. 

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, increase the amount of municipal solid waste reduced, reused,
or recycled by XXX billion pounds.  (Estimated 200X Baseline:  XX
billion pounds.)[1]

By 2015, increase beneficial use of coal combustion ash to XX percent
from 40 percent in 2008.

By 2015, increase by 78 the number of tribes covered by an integrated
waste management plan compared to FY 2009.  (At the end of FY 2009, 94
of 572 federally recognized tribes were covered by an integrated waste
management plan.)

By 2015, close, clean up, or upgrade 281 open dumps in Indian country
and on other tribal lands compared to FY 2009.  (At the end of FY 2009,
412 open dumps were closed, cleaned up, or upgraded.  As of April 1,
2010, 3,464 open dumps were listed in the Indian Health Service
Operation and Maintenance System Database, which is dynamic because of
the ongoing assessment of open dumps.)

By 2015, prevent releases at 500 hazardous waste management facilities
with initial approved controls or updated controls resulting in the
protection of an estimated 3 million people living within a mile of all
facilities with controls.  (Baseline:  At the end of FY 2009, it was
estimated that 789 facilities will require these controls out of the
universe of 2,468 facilities with about 10,000 process units.  The goal
of 500 represents 63 percent of the facilities needing controls.)

Each year through 2015, increase the percentage of UST facilities that
are in significant operational compliance (SOC) with both release
detection and release prevention requirements by 0.5 percent over the
previous year's target.  (Baseline: This means an increase of facilities
in SOC from 65.5 percent in 2010 to 68 percent in 2015.)

Each year through 2015, minimize the number of confirmed releases at UST
facilities to X,XXX or fewer. (Baseline:  Between FY 1999 and FY 2009,
confirmed UST releases averaged 8,113).

Objective 3.3:  Restore Land. Prepare for and respond to accidental or
intentional releases of contaminants and clean up and restore polluted
sites. 

Measure Under Development

By 2015, in response to the Deepwater BP oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico, EPA will update and modernize its rules, guidelines, and
procedures relating to all relevant aspects of EPA's oil spill program,
including preparedness, response, and recovery to ensure that the Agency
has the appropriate tools to respond to environmental disasters of this
scale.

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, achieve and maintain at least 80 percent of the maximum score
on the Core National Approach to Response (NAR) evaluation criteria.
(Baseline: In FY 2009, the average Core NAR Score was 84.3 percent for
EPA headquarters, regions, and special teams prepared for responding to
emergencies).[2]

By 2015, complete an additional 1,700 Superfund removals through
agency-financed actions and through oversight of removals conducted by
potentially responsible parties (PRPs).  (Baseline: In FY 2009, there
were 434 Superfund removal actions completed including 214 funded by the
agency and 220 overseen by the agency that were conducted by PRPs under
a voluntary agreement, an administrative order on consent or a
unilateral administrative order).

By 2015, no more than 1.5 million gallons will be spilled annually at
Facility Response Plan (FRP) facilities, a 15 percent reduction from the
annual average of 1.73 million gallons spilled from 2005-2009.

By 2015, complete 93,400 assessments at potential hazardous waste sites
to determine if they warrant CERCLA remedial response or other cleanup
activities. (Baseline:  As of 2010, the cumulative total number of
assessments completed was 88,000.)

By 2015, increase to 83.5 percent the number of Superfund final and
deleted NPL sites and RCRA facilities where human exposures to toxins
from contaminated sites are under control. (Baseline: As of October
2009, 70 percent Superfund final and deleted NPL sites and RCRA
facilities have human exposures under control out of a universe of
5,330).[3]  

By 2015, increase to 78 percent the number of Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) facilities with migration of contaminated
groundwater under control.  (Baseline: At the end of FY 2009, the
migration of contaminated groundwater was controlled at 58 percent of
all 3,746 facilities needing corrective action.)

By 2015, increase to 56 percent the number of RCRA facilities with final
remedies constructed.  (Baseline:  At the end of FY 2009, all cleanup
remedies had been constructed at 32 percent of all 3,746 facilities
needing corrective action.)

Each year through 2015, reduce the backlog of LUST cleanups (confirmed
releases that have yet to be cleaned up) that do not meet state
risk-based standards for human exposure and groundwater migration by 1
percent.  This means a decrease from 21 percent in 2009 to 15 percent in
2015.

Each year through 2015, reduce the backlog of LUST cleanups (confirmed
releases that have yet to be cleaned up) in Indian country that do not
meet applicable risk-based standards for human exposure and groundwater
migration by 1 percent.  This means a decrease from 28 percent in 2009
to 22 percent in 2015.

By 2015, ensure that 799 Superfund NPL sites are "sitewide ready for
anticipated use." (Baseline:  As of October 2009, 409 final and deleted
NPL sites had achieved "sitewide ready for anticipated use.")[4]

Objective 3.4:  Strengthen Public Health and Environmental Protection in
Indian Country. Support federally-recognized tribes to build
environmental management capacity, assess environmental conditions and
measure results, and implement environmental programs in Indian country.
Strategic Measures:

By 2015, increase the percent of tribes implementing federal regulatory
environmental programs in Indian country to 18 percent. (FY 2009
baseline: 12.59 percent of 572 tribes).

By 2015, increase the percent of tribes conducting EPA-approved
environmental monitoring and assessment activities in Indian country to
50 percent. (FY 2009 baseline: 39.69 percent of 572 tribes).

End notes:

[1]  EPA is considering revisiting its MSW strategic measure and will
consult with its partners in the process.

[2]  Consistent with the government-wide National Response Framework
(NRF), EPA will work to fully implement the priorities under its
internal NAR so that the Agency is prepared to respond to multiple
nationally significant incidents.  By 2015, EPA will achieve and
maintain at least 75 percent of the maximum score on readiness
evaluation criteria.  Core NAR builds upon the CORE ER concept while
integrating the priority elements of EPA’s NAR Preparedness Plan, and
the Homeland Security Priority Workplan, to reflect an Agency-wide
assessment of progress. 

[3]  EPA is currently revising its dioxin risk assessment which may
affect the targets and baselines for the human exposures under control
and sitewide ready for anticipated use measures.

[4]  As part of the Integrated Cleanup Initiative, OSWER is evaluating
sitewide ready for anticipated use across all our cleanup programs and
may modify the above Superfund measure to include corresponding
brownfields, RCRA corrective action, and Leaking Underground Storage
Tank program goals.Goal 4: Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and
Preventing Pollution. Reduce the risk and increase the safety of
chemicals and prevent pollution at the source.

Objective 4.1: Ensure Chemical Safety. Reduce the risk of chemicals that
enter our products, our environment, and our bodies. 

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, reduce by XX percent the number of moderate to severe incidents
affecting workers exposed to acutely toxic pesticides.  (Based on 326
moderate and severe incidents reported to the Poison Control Center
(PCC) National Poison Data System (NPDS) 1999-2003, the six pesticides
of concern are:  chlorpyrifos; diazinon, malathion; pyrethrins; 2,4-D
and carbofuran.)

By 2015, reduce the percentage of children with blood lead levels above
5ug/dl to 2.5 percent or less.  (Baseline: 2003-2006 sampling period of
4.1 percent.  NHANES data are collected in two year samples and released
incrementally with the data typically becoming available two to three
years after the sample period ends.)

By 2015, reduce concentration of targeted chemicals by XX percent in the
general population.  (Baseline is xx average concentration for general
population on the most recent urinary metabolites reported in the
1999-2004 Centers for Disease Control’s National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES) data.  Chemicals used as indicators under
this measure will include pesticides and industrial/commercial
chemicals.  NHANES concentrations will be the focus.  Pesticides include
Dimethylphosphate < 0.58 ug/L; Dimethylthiophosphate = 1.06 ug/L;
Dimethyldithiophosphate < 0.10 ug/L; Diethylphosphate = 0.78 ug/L;
Diethylthiophosphate = 0.5 ug/L; Diethyldithiophosphate < 0.10 ug/L; and
3, 5, 6-Trichloro-2-pyridinol = 1.9 ug/L.  Baselines will be set for
industrial/commercial chemicals once the targeted chemicals have been
identified.)

By 2015, reduce the disparity of concentration of chemicals in low
income populations as compared to non-low income populations by XX
percent.  (Baseline is based on percent difference in blood levels for a
broader set of chemicals, included in 2003-2004 CDC report, between low
income populations and non-low-income populations for the same set of
chemicals used in general population measure above.) 

By 2015, reduce concentration of targeted chemicals by XX percent in
children. (Baseline is xx average concentration for children based on
1999-2004 Centers for Disease Control’s National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES) data.  Baselines will be set once the
targeted chemicals have been identified).

 By 2015, complete Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP)
decisions for 100percent of chemicals for which complete EDSP
information is expected to be available by the end of 2014. (Baseline:
EDSP decisions for a chemical can range from determining potential to
interact with the Estrogen, Androgen, or Thyroid hormone systems to
otherwise determining whether further endocrine related testing is
necessary. Through 2009, no decisions have been completed for any of the
chemicals for which complete EDSP information is anticipated to be
available by the end of 2014.)

By 2015, no watersheds will exceed aquatic life benchmarks for XX
pesticides and YY industrial/commercial chemicals of concern. (Baseline:
Data for 1992 – 2001 provides the most recent percent of agricultural
watersheds sampled by the USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA)
program that exceeds the National Pesticide Program aquatic life
benchmarks for azinphos-methyl(18 percent) and chlorpyrifos (21
percent). Urban watersheds sampled by NAWQA program that exceeds the
National Pesticide Program aquatic life benchmarks for diazinon (73
percent), chlorpyrifos (37 percent), carbaryl (13 percent), and
malathion (30 percent). Industrial chemicals of concern that exceeded
aquatic life benchmarks are to be defined once chemicals are identified
and for pesticides the specific chemicals of concern will be
reevaluated.)

Through 2015, make all health and safety information available to the
public for chemicals in commerce, to the extent allowed by law.
(Baseline: Between the enactment of TSCA and January 21, 2010, thousands
of CBI cases of TSCA health and safety information were submitted for
chemicals potentially in commerce.  In recent years hundreds of such
cases have been submitted annually. To achieve this measure, EPA must
complete the following actions for new and historical submissions by the
end of 2015: 1) determine if a challenge to the CBI claim is warranted;
2) execute the challenge; and 3) where legally defensible, declassify
the information claimed as CBI.).  For pesticides, EPA will continue to
make risk assessments and supporting information available through is
long standing Public Participation Process.

Objective 4.2:  Promote Pollution Prevention.  Conserve and protect
natural resources by promoting pollution prevention and the adoption of
other stewardship practices by companies, communities, governmental
organizations, and individuals. 

Strategic Measures:

By 2015, reduce 15 billion pounds of hazardous materials cumulatively
through pollution prevention. (Baseline is 4.8 billion pounds reduced
through 2008.)

By 2015, reduce 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(MMTC02e) through pollution prevention. (Baseline is 6.5 MMTC02e reduced
in 2008.)  

By 2014, reduce water use by 225 billion gallons through pollution
prevention. (Baseline is 51.3 billion gallons reduced in 2008.)   

By 2015, save $10 billion through pollution prevention improvements in
business, institutional, and government costs cumulatively. (Baseline is
3.1 billion dollars saved in 2008.)

Through 2015, increase the use of safer chemicals by XX percent.
(Baseline is xx pounds of safer chemicals used in XXXX)

Goal 5:  Enforcing Environmental Laws.  Protect human health and the
environment through vigorous and targeted civil and criminal
enforcement. Assure compliance with environmental laws.

Objective 5.1:  Enforce Environmental Laws.  Pursue vigorous civil and
criminal enforcement that targets the most serious water, air, and
chemical hazards in communities.  Assure strong, consistent, and
effective enforcement of federal environmental laws nationwide. 

Strategic Measures:

Maintain Enforcement Presence and Deterrence

By 2015, conduct 105,000 federal inspections and evaluations.  (FY
2005-2009 baseline:  21,000 annually)

By 2015, initiate XXX civil judicial and administrative enforcement
cases.  (FY 2005 – 2009 baseline:  XXX annually)

By 2015, conclude 21,000 civil judicial and administrative enforcement
cases.  (FY 2005-2009 baseline:  4,200 annually)

By 2015, review the overall compliance status of XX percent of the open
consent decrees.  (Baseline 2006-2009:  TBD)

By 2015, increase the percentage of criminal cases opened annually
having the most significant health, environmental, and deterrence
impacts (as measured by the case “tiering” methodology.  (Baseline: 
TBD)

By 2015, increase the number of closed cases with criminal enforcement
consequence (i.e., indictment, conviction, fine or incarceration) to
37percent.   (FY 2006-2008 baseline:  33percent)

By 2015, increase criminal cases with individuals charged to 82 percent.
 (FY 2006-2008 Baseline:  78 percent)

Support Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality

By 2015, reduce, treat, or eliminate 2,400 million estimated cumulative
pounds of air pollutants.  (FY 2005-2008 baseline:  480 million pounds,
annual average over the period.)    

By 2015, achieve an investment of $11 billion in air pollution control
equipment or practices as a result of concluded enforcement actions. 
(FY 2006-2008 baseline:  $2.2B, annual average of the period)

Measures Under Development[1]

By 2015, take enforcement action that supports the program measure of
reducing toxicity weighted emissions of air toxics.

By 2015, take enforcement action that supports the program measure of
reducing emissions of NOx, SO2, and PM.

Support Protecting America’s Waters

By 2015, reduce, treat, or eliminate 1,600 million estimated cumulative
pounds of water pollutants.  (FY 2005-2008 baseline:  320 million
pounds, annual average over the period.)

By 2015, achieve an investment of $17 billion in water pollution control
equipment or practices as a result of concluded enforcement actions. (FY
2006-2008 baseline:  $3.3B, annual average over the period.)

Measures Under Development[1]

By 2015, take enforcement action that supports the program measure of
community water systems providing drinking water that meets all
applicable health-based drinking water standards.   

By 2015, take enforcement action that supports the program measure of
attaining water quality standards for all pollutants and impairments in
more than 3,360 water bodies identified in 2002 as not attaining
standards (cumulative). 

Support Cleaning Up Our Communities

By 2015, reduce, treat, or eliminate 32,000 million estimated cumulative
pounds of hazardous waste, as a result of concluded enforcement actions.
 (FY 2008 baseline:  6,500 million pounds, annual average over the
period.)

By 2015, achieve an investment of $6.5 billion in hazardous chemical
pollution control equipment or practices, cleanups, cost recovery and
oversight as a result of concluded enforcement actions.  (FY 2006-2008
baseline:  $1.3 billion, annual average over the period.)

Each year through 2015, support clean ups and save federal dollars for
sites where there are no alternatives by 1) reaching a settlement or
taking an enforcement action before the start of a remedial action at
95percent of Superfund sites having viable responsible parties other
than the federal government, and 2) addressing all cost recovery statute
of limitation cases with total past costs greater to or equal to
$200,000.  (Baseline:  95percent of sites reaching a settlement or EPA
taking and enforcement action; 100percent cost recovery statute of
limitation cases addressed.)

By 2015, clean up XX cubic yards of hazardous waste-contaminated soil
and water as a result of concluded enforcement actions.  (Baseline and
target TBD)

Measures Under Development[1]

By 2015, take enforcement action to support the program measure of
increasing the number of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
facilities with migration of contaminated groundwater under control.  

By 2015, take enforcement action to support the program measure of
completing an additional 1,700 Superfund removals through
agency-financed actions and through oversight of removals conducted by
potentially responsible parties (PRPs).  

Support Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution

By 2015, reduce, treat, or eliminate 19 million estimated cumulative
pounds of toxic and pesticide pollutants.  (FY 2005-2008 baseline:  3.8
million pounds, annual average over the period.) 

By 2015, achieve an investment of $40.0 million in control of pesticides
and toxics as a result of concluded enforcement actions. (FY 2006-2008
baseline:  $8.0M, annual average over the period.)

Measures Under Development[1]

By 2015, take enforcement action to support the program measure to
reduce the number of moderate to severe incidents affecting workers
exposed to acutely toxic pesticides.   

By 2015, take enforcement action to support the program measure to
reduce the percentage of children with blood lead levels above 5ug/dl to
2.5 percent or less.  

End note: 

[1]  The Measures Under Development are areas where EPA is now working
to develop measures that complement and support goals 1 through 4 of
this Plan.  The specific language for these measures is under
development.  EPA is interested in comment on how these measures could
be constructed. 

Draft for Public Review		June 18, 2010

  PAGE  47 

