It’s safe to guess that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency protects the environment—but what exactly does the EPA do every day? Here are just ten of our favorite things:
Keeps our air clean! For the past 50 years, by enforcing the Clean Air Act, the EPA has worked to protect public health and welfare, and by 2020, it will have prevented 230,000 early deaths. That’s great for the economy too: The cost-benefit analysis of the Clean Air Act shows that the benefits estimate “exceeds costs by a factor of more than 30 to one, and the high benefits estimate exceeds costs by 90 times. Even the low benefits estimate exceeds costs by about three to one.” In dollars and cents, that’s $2 trillion in benefits vs. $65 billion in costs.
Keeps our water clean too! The EPA also enforces the Clean Water Act, also authorized in the 1970s to keep pollution out of our water. This one’s super important when it comes to holding polluters accountable for major disasters like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the Cuyahoga River Fire, when a heavily polluted river in Ohio actually went ablaze in 1969.
Helps states keep their environments safe and healthy! The EPA actually gives more than 40 percent of its funding to states and tribes to assist with their efforts to keep our air and water clean.
Maintains the Superfund program, which helps communities reclaim and put back to use the land that the fossil fuel industry has contaminated.
Ensures that every company in America follows the law to protect our clean air and water. For example, the EPA uncovered that Volkswagen cheated emissions tests for cars and worked with the state of California to hold the company accountable and to clean up the air for Californian families.
Uses sound science to develop ways to help produce safer chemicals and protect us from the harmful ones—who wants a bunch of mercury, lead, or formaldehyde in their drinking water?
Fights for environmental justice. The EPA works hard to make sure that low-income communities and communities of color are given a voice and put before polluter profits. The EPA is a real champion when it comes to holding polluters accountable for making communities sick that are historically disadvantaged.
Reduces waste and helps clean up when harmful substances pollute our land! That includes waste from landfills, fossil fuel power plants, and so much more.
Evaluates and curbs pesticide risks. If you’ve ever read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, then you know how toxic pesticides can be when they go unregulated. The EPA makes sure that we don’t put anything in our bodies or on our lands that would make us sick!
Takes steps to combat the global climate crisis! The EPA is hard at work collecting carbon pollution data, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, advancing climate science, partnering with states and other countries, and helping communities adapt to changing environments.
If that seems like a lot, that’s just the start of all the amazing work that the EPA does every day to better our lives.