STRATEGIC PLAN

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Office of the Chief

Financial Officer

Washington DC 20460

EPA 190-R-00-002

September 2000

www.epa.gov

The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health

and to safeguard the natural environment — air, water, and land —

upon which life depends.
ii EPA Strategic Plan

Message from the Administrator

September 2000

I am pleased to present the Environmental Protection Agency’s Strategic Plan, which charts the

course that we will follow in the coming years to protect human health and safeguard the

environment. EPA’s Strategic Plan describes our goals and objectives and discusses our strategies

for achieving environmental results. It explains how we will work with our state, tribal, local

government, and federal agency partners and with the many public and private organizations and

individuals who support and contribute to environmental protection.

Since EPA was created 30 years ago, we have made great progress toward a cleaner, healthier

environment for the American people. Today, however, the challenges we face look far different

than they did even a decade ago, and the Agency’s work has changed to meet them. We have found

innovative ways to use market forces, reduce regulatory burdens, and streamline processes so that

we can achieve better environmental results with less cost and complexity. We are changing the

way we interact with our partners in state, tribal, and local government, and together we are using

new and different kinds of tools to solve environmental problems. And we are supporting

communities as they address local environmental issues, for example by improving our ability to

provide data and information in innovative, interactive ways.

Building on these creative approaches and the progress we have made so far, this Strategic Plan

continues to encourage innovation to enhance existing programs and develop new strategies for

achieving better and more cost-effective results. EPA looks forward to working with all of our

partners as we pursue the goals set out in this Plan. Together, we can continue our progress toward

a clean and safe environment and make a real difference to our families and our communities.

Carol M. Browner

Administrator
STRATEGIC PLAN

United States Environmental Protection Agency

Washington, D.C. 20460

September 2000

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UNITED STATES

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iv EPA Strategic Plan
Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................... 1

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals................................................. 13

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs .......................................... 63

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and

 Learning From Our Results..................................................... 77

Appendix A: Congressional, Partner, and

 Stakeholder Consultation .....................................................A-1

Appendix B: Coordination Between EPA and Other

 Federal Agencies .................................................................B-1

Appendix C: Statutory and Other Authorities

 for EPA’s Goals ....................................................................C-1

EPA Strategic Plan v
vi EPA Strategic Plan
EPA Strategic Plan 1

Introduction

Introduction
2 EPA Strategic Plan

Introduction

Introduction

For the past 30 years, the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) has been working

towards a cleaner, healthier environment for

the American people. Our mission is clear: to

protect human health and to safeguard the

natural environment—air, water, and land—

upon which life depends. We have made great

progress toward our mission since the Agency

was created in 1970. Today, millions of

Americans are breathing cleaner air, drinking

water that meets standards for health, and

eating food that is safe from pesticide residues.

Our citizens are better protected from toxic

waste and hazardous chemicals. Together with

our state, tribal, and local government partners,

EPA is cleaning up hazardous waste sites at a

rate that quadruples earlier efforts and

revitalizing urban communities by returning

sites to productive use. We have also learned

a great deal about the causes and

consequences of environmental problems and

the toll they take on human health, particularly

on our children and other vulnerable

populations, and we have gained experience in

solving these problems.

Many of the advances in environmental

protection would not have been possible

without the participation and support of the

states. Working together, we have forged the

strong partnerships that are essential to

protecting human health and the environment

and achieving our goals and objectives. Many

federal environmental statutes call for EPA to

authorize or delegate to states the primary

responsibility for implementing programs and

designate them as co-regulators, once EPA has

confirmed that they meet certain qualifying

criteria. A new relationship between the states

and EPA is emerging—one that allows us to

adapt to changing priorities and to experiment

with new ideas. We each have important roles

to play, and by cooperating and collaborating

with one another, we are achieving better

results at lower costs.

Similarly, EPA is working closely with tribes to

improve management of environmental issues

in Indian country and to develop tribal capacity

to operate environmental programs. We are

reviewing our data and data systems to allow

both tribes and EPA increased access to data

pertaining to Indian country and to help us

agree on priorities for environmental

management activities. In short, the success of

EPA’s environmental programs rests largely on

the strength of our partnerships with states,

tribes, and local agencies and on our continuing

collaboration.

As a steward of America’s environment, EPA

plays a vital role in society and in ensuring our

nation’s health and quality of life. With states,

tribes, and local governments, we lead
EPA Strategic Plan 3

Introduction

America’s environmental protection efforts,

and we are accountable to the American

people for achieving results that will make a

real difference in citizens’ lives. Our Strategic

Plan describes how we intend to achieve these

results and realize the trust that Congress and

the American people have vested in the

Agency.

In the pages that follow, we present EPA’s

Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2000 through

2005, including our mission statement and the

ten long-term Goals around which we will

focus our efforts over the next five years. As

required by the Government Performance and

Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), this Strategic

Plan updates our previous Strategic Plan,

issued in 1997. Like our earlier Plan, it

establishes the framework we will use to plan

our programs, set priorities, and allocate

resources. Our revised Plan takes into account

our performance over the past years and lays

out new and innovative tools and approaches to

advance our progress in environmental

protection.

Innovation:

Critical to EPA’s Success

“Innovation” is a theme which permeates

EPA’s work. Recognizing the changing nature

of the environmental problems that we face,

EPA has embraced innovation to advance

environmental management. When EPA was

created in 1970, many of our nation’s

environmental problems were starkly obvious

and their solutions equally clear. By

implementing technical solutions and regulatory

mandates—often in very prescriptive terms—

and focusing on “end-of-the-pipe” pollution

from large industrial and municipal sources,

EPA was able to oversee rapid and impressive

improvements in environmental conditions.

Over the last three decades, however, the easy

victories have been won. Increasingly, EPA is

finding that traditional approaches and

regulation of large and obvious sources of

pollution are not sufficient to achieve our goals

nor the results the American people expect.

We must also adopt new perspectives, try new

approaches, and create new partnerships in our

core environmental programs. As we enter a

new century, we are gaining greater

appreciation of people’s relationship with the

environment and how our actions can affect

the ecosystems in which we live, work, and

play.

Today, it is no longer enough to focus only on

controlling pollution. We face new problems,

such as the loss of biological diversity and

global climate change, which are much more

difficult to assess and manage. Genetic

engineering is raising important questions about

the possibilities and ethics of science; global

trade and e-commerce are revolutionizing the

ways we live and work; and changing

demographics and lifestyles are placing

additional stresses on our environment and

resources. EPA is addressing many of these

issues. To ensure our continued progress,

however, we must invest in developing the

science, strategies, and tools needed to

understand and successfully address these new

challenges while considering the costs of

achieving this progress.

Innovations in EPA’s Programs

EPA has been promoting innovation to enhance

existing programs and develop new approaches

with the potential for achieving better and more

cost-effective environmental results. We have

streamlined regulatory processes, cut

paperwork, built more flexibility into

regulations, established new voluntary

programs and partnerships, and adopted new

cross-Agency, cross-media perspectives on

health and environmental problems.
4 EPA Strategic Plan

Introduction

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

5

0

10

15

20

5.7

6.2 6.7

7.7

5.7

9.0

NOx Emissions

SO2 Emissions

5.2 With Title IV

Without Title IV

Without Title IV

With Title IV

Emissions (million tons)

17.5

16.3 15.9

Year

18.7

Projected SO2 and NOx Emmision Levels from Utility

Sources Following CAA Title IV Implementation

Market-Based Solutions

Because a safer, healthier environment goes

hand-in-hand with a robust economy, EPA is

using common sense approaches that consider

benefits and costs and seek the most costeffective ways to integrate our efforts with

those aimed at economic growth. We are

working to increase environmental stewardship

and accountability and get better environmental

protection at reasonable cost by incorporating

successful innovations into daily operation of

environmental programs.

One way in which EPA is making

improvements is

by offering

environmental

managers more

flexibility through

market-based

approaches to

environmental

management.

Perhaps the best

known example

of market-based

regulation is the

acid rain

program. This

program places a

mandatory

nationwide ceiling, or cap, on sulfur dioxide

(SO2

) emissions from electric utilities and

allocates emission “allowances.” At the end

of the year, utilities must hold an allowance for

each ton of SO2

 emitted; extra allowances may

be banked for future use or sold to other utility

companies. Under phase I of the acid rain

program, SO2

 emissions from electric utilities

have dropped from 1980 levels by 5 million

tons. This reduction was about 30 percent

more than was required, primarily because of

the flexibility of the program which rewarded

early action. Moreover, the cost of the

program upon full implementation is now

projected to be approximately half the cost

EPA predicted in 1990.

Based on the success of the acid rain program,

EPA has initiated other emissions trading and

averaging programs and is working with states,

which have primary responsibility for

implementing national air quality standards, to

establish trading and other market-based

incentive programs. For example, EPA

worked with 12 northeastern states through the

Ozone Transport Commission to develop a

trading program to address nitrogen oxide

(NOx

) emissions, which contribute to interstate

ozone pollution and other air quality problems.

EPA, which is operating the allowance tracking

system for the states, recorded more than

1,200 trades in 1999,

the first compliance

year. Beginning in

2003, this NOx

Budget Program,

coupled with

reductions achieved

by the federal acid

rain program, is

expected to reduce

annual seasonal

emissions for the 12-

state region by 50

percent from the

1990 level. Similar

efforts are underway

at both national and

state levels to address concerns such as ozone

layer depletion and toxic air emissions.

Protecting Children

EPA’s program to protect children from

environmental risks reflects another kind of

innovation—taking a comprehensive and

integrated approach to a concern that cuts

across other Agency efforts. With an

improved understanding of the environmental

risks to children, we are focusing Agency

attention on children’s particular susceptibilities.

In addition to the traditional media approach,

our efforts to reduce risks to children look

across media to ensure that Agency standards
EPA Strategic Plan 5

Introduction

and regulations controlling pollution in all

environmental media explicitly and consistently

consider the risks to children. We have

launched an ambitious research strategy to

better understand the kinds and levels of

pollution to which children are exposed and

how their exposures and responses may differ

from those of adults. We are working in

partnership with federal agencies, states, local

agencies, academia, and other organizations

that have responsibilities for public health not

only to advance research, but also to develop

information and education initiatives that raise

public awareness of this sensitive

subpopulation.

Superfund

EPA’s Superfund program, established to clean

up the nation’s most toxic waste sites,

demonstrates the success of several new and

innovative approaches. Through a series of

administrative reforms, EPA has improved

virtually every aspect of the Superfund

program—from assessing risk and ensuring

public involvement in cleanup strategies, to

recovering costs from responsible parties. As

a result, the average time and costs for cleanup

have fallen by 20 percent. More than three

times as many Superfund cleanups were

completed between 1993 and 1999 as were

completed in the previous 12 years combined.

Further, a recent analysis of Superfund actions

between 1993 and 1997 shows a total savings

of $2.1 billion through the use of innovative

rather than conventional remediation

technologies. We will build on these successes

as we continue to clean up polluted Superfund

sites and return them to productive use.

Project XL

EPA’s interest in providing more flexibility and

finding new approaches has led to another

important environmental reform effort—

Project XL (eXcellence and Leadership).

Launched in 1995, this program challenges

EPA and our partners outside the Agency to

think and operate differently. It is enabling us

to break new ground by trying approaches to

environmental protection that have never been

tried before, with the expectation that lessons

learned from these targeted experiments will

be incorporated into broader programs. As of

early August 2000, the Agency signed 28

Project XL agreements with industry and

communities across the country. These

projects are underway to test new approaches

to managing wastes, reducing air pollution,

protecting water quality, and enhancing

pollution prevention. More than 25 other

projects are being developed or negotiated, for

a cumulative total of 50 projects scheduled for

implementation by September 30, 2000. We

believe all these projects show promise for

broader application in the future.

For example, in Atlanta, EPA has worked with

a developer, the State of Georgia, and other

stakeholders on an innovative strategy to

promote smart growth. Atlantic Steel proposed

to convert a former steel mill into a new

residential and commercial business property.

At first, it seemed the project would not be

feasible. A bridge was needed to connect the

site to nearby Interstates and the local

commuter rail system. But the metropolitan

area’s air quality problems meant it did not

qualify for federal highway funding, which

would be needed for bridge construction.

Once the proposal was evaluated more

carefully, however, it became clear that

developing the site was the soundest

environmental option—preserving green space

and helping to address the region’s air quality

problems by reducing driving for residents,

shoppers, and workers. Based on the flexibility

provided through Project XL, the Atlantic Steel

proposal was approved. This example

demonstrates what smart growth is all about,

and it provides a model for how flexibility can

lead to better environmental results.
6 EPA Strategic Plan

Introduction

Compliance

Innovation has also led to new approaches for

improving compliance. EPA has established an

audit policy that provides incentives for

companies to find and address their own

environmental performance problems. EPA

waives or significantly reduces penalties for

companies that systematically evaluate their

environmental management and take action to

disclose and correct any violations that are

found. This is an extraordinarily successful

component of EPA’s enforcement and

compliance program. To date, almost 700

companies have disclosed violations at over

2,700 facilities. The audit policy is highly costeffective as it not only helps to achieve

corporate-wide and individual settlements, but

also serves as the basis for sector-wide audits.

For example, incentives resulting from the

policy enabled EPA to eliminate 700 tons of air

pollutants annually by a recent settlement

involving a major commercial airline. Under

the terms of the settlement with the airline,

EPA cut total penalties by more than 90

percent for violations that the airline voluntary

disclosed and promptly corrected, and the

airline agreed to undertake additional

environmental improvement projects. The

settlement served as a model for other airlines

to come forward to resolve multiple federal

environmental violations at one time.

Innovations in compliance assistance are also

promoting improved compliance. EPA is

employing new tools and approaches, including

shifting the Agency’s role from that of

providing tools directly to the regulated

community to that of “wholesaler”—developing

tools, establishing a compliance assistance

clearinghouse, and fostering a compliance

assistance network. While EPA will maintain a

strong presence in enforcement, we will also

bring a mix of innovative compliance tools and

solutions to bear on environmental problems.

Innovation Through Partnerships

As we strive to improve our programs, we look

to others outside of EPA for new ideas and

partnership opportunities. For example, we

continue to work closely with other federal

agencies to develop streamlined, effective

programs that will achieve our mutual goals

and objectives. (See Appendix B for a chart

illustrating areas of coordination.) Thousands

of individuals and organizations in state, tribal,

and local government agencies, private

industry, trade associations, nonprofit groups,

universities, and research institutions can

contribute unique expertise and bring new

perspectives to environmental protection. EPA

is reaching out to build strategic alliances with

outside parties, knowing that these relationships

will provide new insights, help us leverage

resources, and promote continued progress.

For example, strong and productive

partnerships with states, tribes, and local

governments are responsible for the success of

many EPA programs and a critical means to

improved environmental protection. We have

made it a priority to improve our working

relationship with states through innovative

approaches such as the National Environmental

Performance Partnership System (NEPPS).

NEPPS promotes close cooperation between

EPA and its state co-regulators by clarifying

roles and responsibilities, fostering collaborative

efforts, and encouraging communications.
EPA Strategic Plan 7

Introduction

In some cases, partnerships are enabling EPA

to accomplish goals without regulatory action.

A recent example is the approach being used

by the High Production Volume (HPV)

Chemicals Challenge Program to gather

critical information about some of the nation’s

most toxic and widely used chemicals. Rather

than issuing a regulation to cover the entire list

of HPV chemicals, EPA worked with the

chemical industry on a voluntary information

collection initiative. The industry agreed to

provide existing chemical information and to

conduct testing to yield data that are missing.

As a result, important data for protecting

human health and the environment will be

available sooner than if we had prepared a

rulemaking for the entire list.

In developing the HPV Chemicals Challenge

Program, we have also renewed our

commitment to reducing the number of animals

used for testing, reducing the pain and suffering

of test animals, and replacing animals in testing

with other validated test systems. These are

fundamental principles to which EPA has been

committed for many years. In addition to

pursuing the validation of alternative test

methods, EPA is incorporating these principles

into the design of its various hazard testing

programs, for example by encouraging

participating companies first to make available

all existing data pertaining to the chemicals and

endpoints being addressed. In this way,

available existing data will be evaluated for

their adequacy in assessing the potential health

risk of a chemical before additional testing is

conducted.

Several of EPA’s partnership programs focus

on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and are

based on voluntary action. The Energy Star

program, a voluntary partnership between

EPA, the Department of Energy (DOE),

product manufacturers, local utilities, and

retailers, promotes products that use less

energy, saves consumers money, and

encourages greater energy efficiency in

buildings across the country. The Natural Gas

Star program works across the natural gas

industry to promote improved practices which

reduce emissions of methane, and the

Voluntary Aluminum Industrial Partnership

helps reduce emissions of some of the most

potent greenhouse gases. Collectively, these

programs are helping to reduce greenhouse gas

emissions by 35 million metric tons (in carbon

equivalents) a year. They will continue to be

critical components of EPA’s partnership

efforts.

Innovations in Science

Science is the foundation that supports all of

EPA’s work, providing us with the knowledge

and technologies to detect, abate, and avoid

environmental problems. Our human activities

can impact natural processes positively or

negatively on both a local and global basis.

One of our challenges, therefore, is to ensure

that we sufficiently understand and address the

likely effects of our activities before they result

in harm to human health or the environment.

EPA is developing the knowledge we need to

advance environmental and human health

protection, from assessing risks and developing

regulatory standards to investigating new

technologies that make it possible to prevent or

significantly reduce pollution.

To ensure that all of the Agency’s policy and

regulatory decisions are based on the strongest
8 EPA Strategic Plan

Introduction

“...new information technologies are

making it possible to gather, analyze,

and present data in ways that were

never before possible.”

scientific information and analysis available,

EPA has adopted the following set of principles

for our science activities: (1) development and

use of an inventory of EPA’s science activities;

(2) effective cross-Agency planning for

scientific investigations;

and (3) coordination and

collaboration with the

nation’s scientific

community to support,

enhance, and implement

sound science practices.

By fostering a reasoned and objective basis for

our policies, these principles enhance EPA’s

ability to achieve our strategic goals and

objectives.

One of the chief objectives of EPA’s science

program is to help promote a more integrated

approach to environmental management. In

the natural environment, air, land, and water

are not separate; they interact in complex,

subtle ways not always immediately apparent.

Nature does not recognize the artificial

distinctions created by legislation or regulatory

programs that focus on a single medium or

pollutant, and EPA science must reflect these

very real and powerful dynamics. For

example, in one such holistic approach, EPA is

integrating data collected by satellites with data

collected from our streams, soils, marshlands,

and beaches to help us gain a more complete

and accurate understanding of environmental

conditions in the mid-Atlantic and western

states. To anticipate potential future

environmental problems, EPA is also using

these data to model possible associations

between current conditions and socioeconomic

trends.

Innovations in Information and Public

Involvement

EPA is also moving to take advantage of the

opportunities created by new information

technology. We are committed to encouraging

environmental action and stewardship more

broadly throughout society and are working to

make information widely available so others

can understand and help solve environmental

problems. Our efforts involve businesses and

industry, but they also include individuals and

organizations that have often been on the

fringes of environmental

protection efforts in the

past. We know that if

more people and

industries are given

information in forms

they can readily use and

understand, they will be in a better position to

act constructively. Increasingly, we will be

relying on action by individuals at the local level

for environmental and human health protection

efforts to succeed.

Today, new information technologies are

making it possible to gather, analyze, and

present data in ways that were never before

possible. Expanding public access to this

information is a top priority, and we are using

all of the tools at our disposal to do so. As a

result, citizens now have access to much more

environmental information than they did a

decade ago. EPA is requiring more reporting

on industrial toxic emissions, on the quality of

drinking water supplied to consumers, and on

the environmental performance levels of

companies and individual business sectors. To

maximize accessibility, we are putting this and

other information on the Internet to reach a

rapidly growing audience. One such Internet

site, the Envirofacts Data Warehouse, provides

the public direct access to a wealth of

information about environmental activities that

may affect air, water, and land anywhere in the

United States. A program called

EnviroMapper enables users to view and query

information about EPA-regulated facilities

which is stored in the Envirofacts Warehouse.

EnviroMapper can also be used to view

environmental statistics, profiles, and trends as

well as environmental information for certain

U.S. metropolitan areas, watersheds, and

Superfund sites. Both Envirofacts and
EPA Strategic Plan 9

Introduction

EnviroMapper, as well as AIRNow (an EPA

Web site that provides real-time air quality

information), provide the type of Internet

capabilities that enhance the public’s ability to

make informed environmental decisions for

their communities.

Implications for the Future

The experiments occurring in environmental

management are helping to advance state-ofthe-art practices and prove the value of new

approaches—promising more progress in the

future. Our recent innovations, together with

our experience in managing environmental

programs over the past 30 years, provide us

with insight into how our environmental

protection system can function more efficiently

and effectively. First, we believe

environmental management must be more

performance-based—rewarding and

encouraging environmental achievement and

voluntary actions. Second, it must become

more flexible—allowing alternatives to the

traditional regulatory framework to reach

desired ends. And third, it must be more

informative and inclusive—providing access to

information and opportunities for citizens and

other interested parties to use their increased

knowledge to take action and influence

decision making in a meaningful way.

Looking ahead, EPA sees exciting possibilities

and great potential for improving environmental

and human health protection. The Information

Age has created a better-informed public with

a greater sense of its place in the global

community. Citizens are showing more interest

and leadership in addressing environmental

issues in their communities, and corporations

are becoming cleaner, less wasteful, and more

productive in order to stay competitive in

today’s global marketplace.

This Strategic Plan focuses EPA on preparing

for the future and taking advantage of the

many opportunities that exist for providing a

healthier environment. It shows how we will

build on the progress made in the past so that

more Americans live in areas where healthbased standards for air and drinking water are

being met and food is safe. It builds on our

continuing work to reduce and prevent

pollution, improve our cleanup programs, and

redevelop brownfield sites. It commits us to

work with other nations to reduce global

environmental risks. It details how we will use

the Internet and other new technologies to

ensure that environmental information flows

quickly and efficiently to support environmental

actions. It presents the science we will support

to reduce the public’s risk to environmental

hazards such as pesticides and chemicals that

threaten reproduction and other biological

functions. It describes how we intend to

expand incentives that can encourage

companies to continuously improve their

environmental performance. And it commits

us to the highest standards of management,

ensuring that we use taxpayers’ money most

effectively to carry out our environmental

stewardship responsibilities.

These goals and objectives outline EPA’s major

priorities and show what we will do to build on

the nation’s legacy of progress in

environmental management. In Chapter 1, we

present our ten goals and our strategies for

achieving our objectives. Chapter 2 presents

six high-priority programs that cut across our

strategic goals and represent EPA’s

commitment to innovation. Finally, Chapter 3

describes how we intend to measure and

assess our progress and further our

commitment to results-based environmental

management.

The efforts that we have outlined in this Plan

will be guided by a commitment to creating the

strongest, most cost-effective system of

environmental and human health protection

possible. And in carrying out these efforts, we

will continue to encourage and cultivate the

process of innovation that now influences so

much of our work.
1 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Introduction

Goal 1:

Clean Air

The air in every American community will

be safe and healthy to breathe. In particular, children, the elderly, and people with

respiratory ailments will be protected from

health risks of breathing polluted air.

Reducing air pollution will also protect the

environment, resulting in many benefits,

such as restoring life in damaged ecosystems and reducing health risks to those

whose subsistence depends directly on

those ecosystems.

Goal 2:

Clean and Safe Water

All Americans will have drinking water that

is clean and safe to drink. Effective

protection of America’s rivers, lakes,

wetlands, aquifers, and coastal and ocean

waters will sustain fish, plants, and wildlife, as well as recreational, subsistence,

and economic activities. Watersheds and

their aquatic ecosystems will be restored

and protected to improve public health,

enhance water quality, reduce flooding,

and provide habitat for wildlife.

Goal 3:

Safe Food

The foods Americans eat will be free from

unsafe pesticide residues. Particular

attention will be given to protecting subpopulations that may be more susceptible

to adverse effects of pesticides or have

higher dietary exposures to pesticide

residues. These include children and

people whose diets include large amounts

of noncommercial foods.

Goal 4:

Preventing Pollution and Reducing

Risk in Communities, Homes,

Workplaces, and Ecosystems

Pollution prevention and risk management

strategies aimed at eliminating, reducing,

or minimizing emissions and contamination will result in cleaner and safer environments in which all Americans can reside,

work, and enjoy life. EPA will safeguard

ecosystems and promote the health of

natural communities that are integral to the

quality of life in this nation.

Goal 5:

Better Waste Management, Restoration

of Contaminated Waste Sites, and

Emergency Response

America’s wastes will be stored, treated,

and disposed of in ways that prevent harm

to people and the natural environment.

EPA will work to clean up previously

polluted sites, restore them to uses appropriate for surrounding communities, and

respond to and prevent waste-related or

industrial accidents.

Goal 6:

Reduction of Global and Cross-Border

Environmental Risks

The United States will lead other nations in

successful, multilateral efforts to reduce

significant risks to human health and

ecosystems from climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and other hazards of international concern.

The mission of the Environmental Protection

Agency is to protect human health . . .
EPA Strategic Plan 1 1

Introduction

Goal 7:

Quality Environmental Information

The public and decision makers at all

levels will have access to information

about environmental conditions and human

health to inform decision making and help

assess the general environmental health of

communities. The public will also have

access to educational services and information services and tools that provide for

the reliable and secure exchange of quality

environmental information.

Goal 8:

Sound Science, Improved

Understanding of Environmental Risk,

and Greater Innovation to Address

Environmental Problems

EPA will develop and apply the best available science for addressing current and

future environmental hazards as well as

new approaches toward improving environmental protection.

Goal 9:

A Credible Deterrent to Pollution and

Greater Compliance with the Law

EPA will ensure full compliance with laws

intended to protect human health and the

environment.

Goal 10:

Effective Management

EPA will maintain the highest-quality

standards for environmental leadership

and for effective internal management and

fiscal responsibility by managing for

results.

 . . . and to safeguard the natural environment —

air, water, and land — upon which life depends
1 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Introduction
EPA Strategic Plan 1 3

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Chapter 1:

Achieving Our Goals
1 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

This chapter describes EPA’s ten strategic

goals. For each goal, we present a list of

longer-term objectives we have established to

attain the goal and include specific accomplishments we intend to achieve over the next

several years. We also discuss how we intend

to proceed—the means and strategies we will

employ to accomplish our goals—and how

these specific accomplishments will move us

closer to our long-range goals and objectives.

Finally, we discuss the external factors that

may bear on our ability to realize our plans and

achieve our objectives.

EPA’s ten, long-range goals establish the focus

for our work in the years ahead. We will plan

our programs and activities, set our priorities,

and allocate our resources—human, capital,

and technological—around these goals. We

will measure our performance to make sure

that we are making progress toward our goals,

and, as necessary, we will alter our approaches

or modify our strategies in order to achieve real

environmental results.

Goal 1:

Clean Air

The air in every American community will be

safe and healthy to breathe. In particular,

children, the elderly, and people with

respiratory ailments will be protected from

health risks of breathing polluted air.

Reducing air pollution will also protect the

environment, resulting in many benefits,

such as restoring life in damaged ecosystems and reducing health risks to those

whose subsistence depends directly on those

ecosystems.

Importance of This Goal

Despite great progress in achieving cleaner,

healthier air, air pollution continues to be a

widespread human health and environmental

problem in the United States. Air pollution can

cause premature death, cancer, long-term

damage to respiratory and reproductive

systems, and difficulty with breathing. Further,

air pollution reduces visibility; damages crops,

forests, and buildings; acidifies lakes and

Chapter 1:

Achieving Our Goals

Statutory and other authorities for EPA’s goals are found in Appendix C.
EPA Strategic Plan 1 5

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

streams; and poses additional risks to Native

Americans and others who rely on plants, fish,

and game for subsistence.

Much work lies ahead. Although air quality

has been improving overall, there are still urban

and rural areas where the air does not meet

national air quality standards, areas with

worsening air quality, and areas, such as in

Indian country, where air quality is not adequately monitored. As of 1999, about 62

million people were still breathing air that did

not meet one or more of the health-based

national standards established by EPA, and

millions of tons of toxic air pollutants are still

being released into the air. Progress has been

achieved in reducing the pollutants that cause

acid rain; however, emissions of sulfur dioxide

and nitrogen oxides are currently at levels that

can damage lakes and forests.

Objectives

• Reduce the risk to human health and the

environment by protecting and improving air

quality so that air throughout the country

meets national clean air standards by 2005

for carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen

dioxide, and lead; by 2012 for ozone; and by

2018 for particulate matter (PM). To

accomplish this in Indian country, the tribes

and EPA will, by 2005, have developed the

infrastructure and skills to assess,

understand, and control air quality and

protect Native Americans and others from

unacceptable risks to their health,

environment, and cultural uses of natural

resources.

• By 2020, eliminate unacceptable risks of

cancer and other significant health problems

from air toxic emissions for at least 95

percent of the population, with particular

attention to children and other sensitive

subpopulations, and substantially reduce or

eliminate adverse effects on our natural

environment. By 2010, the tribes and EPA

will have the information and tools to

characterize and assess trends in air toxics

in Indian country.

• By 2005, reduce ambient nitrates and total

nitrogen deposition to 1990 levels. By 2010,

reduce ambient sulfates and total sulfur

deposition by up to 30 percent from 1990

levels.

Results We Intend to Achieve

Over the next several years, EPA and state,

tribal, and local governments will make substantial progress in reducing pollution and

improving air quality. We expect to achieve the

following specific accomplishments:

• By 2012, air throughout the country meets

the national standards for ozone.

• By 2018, air throughout the country meets

the national standards for PM.

• By 2018, visibility will be improving in 80

percent of our 156 national parks and

wilderness areas from 1999 levels, and none

of them will have deteriorating visibility.

• Through 2005, air throughout the country

continues to meet the national standards for

nitrogen dioxide.

0 50 100 150

Any NAAQS (8-hr O3)

Any NAAQS (1-hr O3)

SO2

PM10

O3(8 hr)

O3(1 hr)

NO2

PB

CO

Millions of People

1991

1998 KEY

Population in Counties with Pollution

Levels Above the NAAQS
1 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

• By 2005, air throughout the country meets

the national standards for carbon monoxide,

sulfur dioxide, and lead.

• Through 2018, provide methods, models,

data and assessment criteria on the health

risks associated with PM and other National

Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

alone and in combination, focusing on the

exposures, mechanisms of injury, and

components that affect human health.

Provide NAAQS implementation tools for

tropospheric (near ground level) ozone and

PM that quantify emissions and model air

quality as well as develop the science to

support control strategies for attaining clean

air standards.

• Through 2020, develop and improve (1) air

quality models and source receptor tools to

identify the sources and source contributions

of hazardous air pollutants; (2) costeffective pollution prevention and other

control options to address indoor and urban

pollutant sources that significantly contribute

to risk; and (3) scientific information and

tools for quantitative assessment of

nationwide, urban, and residual air toxic risks

to susceptible populations from hazardous air

pollutants, considering both indoor and

ambient air environments.

• Through 2020, continue to use and improve

air toxics information and tools (i.e.,

monitoring networks, reporting requirements,

inventories, and assessment approaches) to

support the quantitative evaluation,

characterization, and tracking of risk-based

indicators. Develop the technical tools

needed to fully implement strategies and

programs to reduce air toxic exposure risks,

including risks to children and other sensitive

subpopulations.

• By 2020, (1) reduce cancer incidence in

urban areas by 75 percent (from 1990

levels) from stationary source emissions

through a combination of federal, state, local,

and tribal regulatory programs and voluntary

initiatives; (2) reduce cancer incidence from

mobile source emissions by 65 percent

through implementation of motor vehicle and

fuels programs; (3) substantially reduce noncancer risk from all sources; and (4) address

disproportionate impacts on populations and

areas including, for example, densely

populated areas, children, and people who

are highly exposed to water and food

affected by air toxics.

• By 2005, annual emissions of nitrogen oxides

from electric power generation sources will

be reduced by 2 million tons from projected

levels, of which 1 million tons will occur

during the summer to facilitate attainment of

the ozone standard. By 2010, annual sulfur

dioxide emissions from electric power

generation sources will be reduced by 8.5

million tons below 1980 levels.

Means and Strategies

The Clean Air Act establishes the strategic

framework for national, state, local, and tribal

efforts to reduce air pollution and protect air

quality. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA

provides leadership and technical and financial

assistance for the development of cooperative

federal, state, local, and tribal programs to

prevent and control air pollution. A strong

partnership with and among the different

governments that each play a key role in air

quality protection is critical to achieving clean

air, because it is the sum of our collective

efforts that constitutes the national air quality

program. The objectives and priorities of each

agency and level of government may reflect

their values and specific focus, but it is vital

that all parties share a common vision and

strategic direction for air quality management.

Together with our state, tribal, and local coregulators, we are creating this shared vision,

which is essential so that the different governments can work together effectively and

efficiently to achieve common ends, communi-
EPA Strategic Plan 1 7

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

cate easily and without misunderstandings, and

present a consistent set of priorities and

objectives to the public, stakeholders, and

federal and state lawmakers.

In full partnership with our state, tribal, and

local co-regulators, and with industry, small

businesses, and other federal agencies, we will

develop a range of approaches to address air

quality problems. To attain national air quality

standards, we will collaborate on new strategies, based on sound science, which include

regional and geographic approaches and

enforcement and compliance assistance

programs. Based on the success of the

innovative, market-based approach pioneered

by the Acid Rain Program, for example, EPA

supports other emissions cap-and-trade programs, such as the NOx

 Allowance and

Emissions Tracking Systems for the NOx

Budget Program, that provide flexible,

market-based approaches to solving air quality

problems. EPA will continue to offer grants

and technical assistance to aid states and tribes

in developing plans and strategies that meet

their needs.

Under the national air toxics program, EPA

issued a July 1999 strategy to reduce further

emissions of toxic air pollutants. Four components comprise the strategy: regulations to

control air toxics emissions from all sources,

including major industrial sources, smaller

stationary sources, and mobile sources; national

initiatives and support for regional and local

initiatives to address specific toxic pollutants

(e.g., mercury) and risks in a community or

geographic area; assessments (including

expanded monitoring and modeling) to identify

areas of concern, set priorities, and track

progress; and education and outreach to inform

stakeholders and invite input into program

design.

EPA will continue to develop and issue national, technology-based standards to reduce

the quantity of toxic air pollutants emitted from

industrial and manufacturing processes. We

will assess risk remaining after standards are

implemented, and we will research costeffective risk management approaches and

evaluate their effectiveness. We must also

develop a sound, scientific understanding of the

air pollution mixture and its potential effects on

human health, including effects to sensitive

groups such as children, the elderly, and people

with respiratory ailments. We will continue to

work with states to improve on-time delivery of

permits and reduce overall permitting costs.

EPA will develop federal control measures for

mobile, stationary, and other sources that are

best regulated at the federal level, such as onand off-road engines, consumer products,

maintenance coatings, and facilities that emit

radiation. We will reduce mobile source

emissions by focusing on vehicle-based solutions, developing cleaner engine technologies

and cleaner burning fuels, and developing

flexible motor vehicle inspection and maintenance programs. We will continue to promote

and support comprehensive state and local

transportation planning and will work with other

federal agencies, states, local governments, and

citizens to develop more flexible, efficient

transportation systems.

In Indian country, EPA will work with tribes on

a government-to-government basis to develop

the infrastructure and skills tribes need to

assess, understand, and control air quality on

their lands. In consultation with our tribal

partners, EPA will develop the necessary

federal regulatory authorities and support the

development of tribal programs to protect tribal

air resources. The 1998 Tribal Authority Rule

authorizes tribes to administer air programs in

Indian country and, over the next few years,

EPA will work with tribes to fashion and

manage their own air programs, consistent with

their traditions and culture. Where tribes do

not develop their own programs, EPA will

implement air quality programs directly. We

will also support tribal air programs by provid-
1 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

ing technical support, assistance with data

development, and training and outreach. EPA

will help tribes participate in national policy and

operations discussions and in regional planning

and coordination activities.

EPA’s strategy for implementing new, more

protective air quality standards has been

modified as a result of ongoing litigation. In

May 1999, a U.S. Court of Appeals issued an

opinion that called into question EPA’s ability to

adopt and enforce new standards for ozone

and PM established in 1997. In May 2000, the

Supreme Court agreed to hear a Department

of Justice argument to overturn this decision.

While these legal issues are being resolved,

EPA’s strategy is to maximize the public health

protection available under the 1-hour ozone

standard and pre-1997 PM standard and move

forward to build the infrastructure that will be

needed to implement the new standards when

the time comes. We will also continue to

conduct research and upgrade and improve air

monitoring networks to obtain better data and

improve our understanding of how PM, toxic

air pollutants in urban areas, ozone in rural

areas, and acid deposition impact the health of

Americans and the environment. In addition,

we will focus on air-water linkages such as the

deposition of airborne pollutants in water.

EPA will also address regional haze, which

results when pollution that occurs in one state

affects visibility downwind in other areas. To

foster more effective regional solutions, EPA

will continue to encourage multi-state efforts to

plan and develop strategies to address regional

haze. All 50 states will participate in planning,

analysis, and emission control, and EPA will

work with tribes to ensure their participation in

these efforts.

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

EPA’s long-term performance under this goal

will be measured according to progress in

achieving the objectives that the clean air

program has established. These objectives

reflect our efforts to ensure that EPA reduces

the risk to human health and the environment

by protecting and improving air quality to meet

national clean air quality standards; addressing

air toxics emissions to eliminate unacceptable

risk of cancer and other significant health

problems, and reduce or eliminate adverse

effects on our natural environment; and

reducing ambient sulfates and total sulfur

deposition.

EPA’s progress in achieving each objective will

be supported by annual performance goals that

will be fully developed in our Annual Plans.

Annual performance goals will focus on

achieving incremental environmental improvements and on accomplishing program activities.

Generally, activity- or output-based goals will

be established for the work required to develop

and implement programs, and goals that reflect

environmental improvements will be established

for more mature programs. In newer program

areas, program infrastructures and strategies

have to be developed and implemented before

reductions in targeted air pollutants can occur.

Several more years may pass before newer

programs have a measurable effect on the

environment.

External Factors

Weather conditions and meteorological patterns

have very important effects on air quality. For

example, high temperatures and bright sunlight

can increase the formation of ozone. Wind can

bring air pollution to one area from another,

while conditions of little or no wind can cause

air pollutants to remain in an area and build up

to unhealthy levels. These effects must be

considered when developing and implementing

plans and strategies to reduce emissions and

achieve and maintain clean air. On the other

hand, plans to improve air quality can help

ensure protection of public health even in the

face of adverse weather conditions.
EPA Strategic Plan 1 9

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Lawsuits and court action may also impact

EPA’s ability to achieve objectives, requiring

the Agency to adjust schedules and delay

accomplishment of certain goals and objectives. Finally, achievement of the clean air

objectives can be affected by economic

conditions and development patterns in the

United States and the world, and by energy and

transportation policy choices.

Goal 2:

Clean and Safe Water

All Americans will have drinking water that

is clean and safe to drink. Effective protection of America’s rivers, lakes, wetlands,

aquifers, and coastal and ocean waters will

sustain fish, plants, and wildlife, as well as

recreational, subsistence, and economic

activities. Watersheds and their aquatic

ecosystems will be restored and protected to

improve public health, enhance water

quality, reduce flooding, and provide

habitat for wildlife.

Importance of This Goal

Our nation’s health, economy, and quality of life

depend on reliable sources of clean water. We

need safe, clean water for drinking, recreation,

fishing, maintaining ecosystem integrity, and

supporting agriculture, industry, and other

commercial activities. Through our investments and programs, Americans enjoy one of

the safest drinking water supplies in the world,

yet prevention and treatment measures must be

continually assessed to maintain a maximum

level of public health protection. For example,

microbial pathogens threaten drinking water for

all Americans, especially sensitive populations

such as children, the elderly, pregnant women,

and the immuno-compromised, and also present

a significant risk to people who swim, participate in other water-related recreation, or eat

contaminated fish.

In 1999, more than 25 million people served by

community drinking water systems (approximately 9 percent) received water that violated

health standards at least once during the year.

Polluted water and degraded aquatic ecosystems threaten the viability of all living things

and the vigor of the nation’s economy. As of

1998, about 40 percent of the assessed waters

in the United States were degraded to the point

that they did not support their designated use.

Furthermore, in the continental United States,

we have lost more than 50 percent of our

wetlands—more than 100 million acres—since

the time of European settlement. To ensure

our health, economy, and quality of life, we

must continue to preserve and protect

America’s rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, and

coastal and ocean waters.

Objectives

• By 2005, protect human health so that 95

percent of the population served by

community water systems will receive water

that meets health-based drinking water

standards, consumption of contaminated fish

and shellfish will be reduced, and exposure

to microbial and other forms of

contamination in waters used for recreation

will be reduced.
2 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

• By 2005, increase by 175 the number of

watersheds where 80 percent or more of

assessed waters meet water quality

standards, including standards that support

healthy aquatic communities. (The 1998

baseline is 501 watersheds out of a national

total of 2,262.)

• By 2005, reduce pollutant loadings from key

point and nonpoint sources by at least 11

percent from 1992 levels. Air deposition of

key pollutants will be reduced to 1990 levels.

Results We Intend to Achieve

EPA will continue to work with its many

partners to implement the Safe Drinking Water

Act (SDWA) Amendments. We will develop

and implement rules for contaminants of

greatest risk; provide states, tribes, and water

system managers with funding and tools;

establish strong prevention barriers by connecting source water protection and regulatory

programs; and ensure that the public is well

informed. Pursuant to the Clean Water Act

Amendments and other related statutes, the

Agency will work to enhance the ecological

health of the nation’s waters and aquatic

ecosystems with stronger water quality standards; foster natural resource stewardship for

cropland, pasture, rangeland, and forests; and

inform citizens and officials about the health of

watersheds, beaches, and fish. We expect to

achieve the following specific accomplishments:

• By 2005, the population served by

community water systems providing drinking

water that meets all 1994 health-based

standards (issued under the SDWA as

amended in 1986) will increase to 95 percent

from a baseline 83 percent in 1994. For

standards issued in 1998 and beyond (under

the SDWA as amended in 1996), the

population served by community water

systems providing drinking water that meets

such new health-based standards will reach

95 percent within five years after the

effective date of each rule.

• By 2005, standards that establish protective

levels for an additional ten high-risk

contaminants (e.g., disinfection byproducts,

arsenic, radon) will be issued and will

provide increased protection to the general

population as well as sensitive

subpopulations such as children, the elderly,

and the immuno-compromised.

• By 2005, demonstrate the effectiveness of

both voluntary and regulatory activities to

protect sources of drinking water by (1)

ensuring that 50 percent of the population

served by community water systems will

receive their water from systems with

source water protection programs in place

and (2) managing identified, high-risk Class

V wells in 100 percent of priority protection

areas (e.g., wellhead, source water, sole

source aquifer) and all Class I, II, and III

injection wells.

• By 2005, 5 percent of the waters with fish

advisories will demonstrate a decline in fish

tissue contamination, consumption of

Our drinking water supply is one of the

safest in the world, but. . .

91%

(no violations)

9%

(violations)

. . . one out of every ten people is served

by a community water system reporting

a health standard violation (1999).
EPA Strategic Plan 2 1

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

contaminated fish and shellfish will be

reduced, and the percentage of waters

attaining the designated uses protecting the

consumption of fish and shellfish will

increase.

• By 2005, exposure to microbial and other

forms of contamination in waters used for

recreation will be reduced, and the

percentage of waters attaining the

designated recreational uses will increase.

• Through 2005, provide a stronger scientific

basis for future implementation of the

SDWA.

• By 2005, 5,000 additional miles of water will

attain water quality standards and specific

interim milestones will be achieved in 50,000

impaired miles.

• By 2005, and in each year thereafter, the

work of federal, state, tribal, and local

agencies; the private sector; hunting and

fishing organizations; and citizen groups will

result in a net increase of 100,000 acres of

wetlands.

• Through 2005, provide the means to identify,

assess, and manage aquatic stressors,

including contaminated sediments.

• By 2005, using both pollution control and

prevention approaches, reduce at least 3

billion pounds of annual point source loadings

from key sources, including a combined 11

percent reduction from industrial sources,

publicly owned treatment works (POTWs),

and combined sewer overflows (CSOs).

• By 2005, through the work of federal, state,

tribal, and local agencies and the private

sector, nonpoint source loadings (especially

sediment and nutrient loads) will be reduced

or prevented, including a 20 percent

reduction from 1992 levels of erosion from

cropland (i.e., reduction of 235 million tons

of soil eroded).

• Through 2005, deliver decision support tools

and alternative, cost-effective wet weather

flow control technologies for use by local

decision makers in community-based

watershed management.

• By 2005, improve water quality by reducing

releases of targeted persistent toxic

pollutants that contribute to air deposition by

50 percent compared to 1990 levels, as

measured by the National Toxics Inventory.

Also by 2005, reduce ambient nitrates and

total nitrogen deposition to 1990 levels, as

measured by the National Atmospheric

Deposition Network and the Clean Air

Status and Trends Network.

Means and Strategies

To restore and protect the nation’s waters and

aquatic ecosystems, EPA uses a watershed

approach, which uses nature’s boundaries of

water resources to enable comprehensive

management of our aquatic resources and their

surroundings. Focusing on the whole watershed helps to strike the best balance in protecting these resources and engages a wide variety

of our partners and stakeholders in solving the

wide range of water protection problems. As

of 1998, EPA, states, and tribes were working

in a total of 2,262 discrete “watersheds”

delineated by U.S. Geological Survey Hydrological Unit Codes.

Protecting Drinking Water

Under the watershed approach, EPA will

conduct both voluntary and regulatory activities

to protect the nation’s drinking water. We will

work with our state, tribal, and local government partners to connect such activities as

source water protection, capacity development,

and operator certification with regulatory

actions for drinking water. Through the

extensive stakeholder process and new scientific and analytic standards set forth in the 1996

SDWA Amendments, EPA will continue to set

drinking water safety standards and, as the law
2 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

requires, revise existing drinking water regulations on a 6-year cycle. In addition, the

Drinking Water State Revolving Fund

(DWSRF) assists public water systems in

financing the costs of infrastructure improvements needed to achieve or maintain compliance with SDWA requirements and to protect

public health. Through the right-to-know

provisions in the 1996 SDWA Amendments, all

customers served by community water systems

now have access to consumer confidence

reports that contain information about a

system’s source water, the quality of the

drinking water, and any special circumstances

that may affect their drinking water. The

Agency will continue to post these consumer

confidence reports on its Internet Web site.

Protecting Water for Other Uses

States and tribes have primary responsibility for

protecting those persons living within their

boundaries from the health risks associated

with contaminated, noncommercially caught

fish and wildlife and with recreational waters.

EPA will continue to support states and tribes

by developing sound scientific methods,

preparing technical guidance and communications strategies, and providing access to

national information. For example, to address

fish contamination, EPA will help states and

tribes develop and implement fish advisory

programs by providing the scientific information

and tools needed to assess local contamination

problems and inform the public. In addition,

EPA will conduct a major survey of contamination in fish tissue that will provide information

on the nature and extent of specific pollutants

across the United States.

Information on the extent and nature of

contaminated recreational water is not consistently collected across the country, nor are all

recreational waters monitored. EPA’s longterm strategies are designed to support state

and tribal efforts to correct this problem and

ensure that all Americans are protected against

potential risks.

To ensure that our rivers, streams, lakes,

wetlands, and coastlines reliably support

healthy aquatic communities, EPA will encourage and assist comprehensive watershed

programs for all states and tribes. EPA will

continue targeted efforts (such as the National

Estuary Program, Chesapeake Bay Program,

Gulf of Mexico Program, South Florida/

Everglades Program, and Northwest Forest

Plan) to assist states and stakeholders in

developing and implementing watershed

management plans in priority areas of national

significance.

EPA is relying on the establishment of Total

Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for impaired

bodies of water to address pollutant loading

threats. Implementation of TMDLs will bring

impaired waters into attainment for designated

uses under requirements of the Clean Water

Act. TMDLs enable multiple approaches to

protection, including point source discharge

permits, nonpoint source management, pollutant

trading schemes, and other innovative approaches. For coastal ports, EPA will ensure

that comprehensive dredged material manageOur rivers, lakes, and costal waters are

cleaner today than 25 years ago, but . . .

0

10

20

30

40

50

35

45

44

rivers

lakes

estuaries

. . . many assessed waters are still too

polluted for safe fishing or swimming
EPA Strategic Plan 2 3

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

ment plans are put in place to maintain, restore,

and improve the health of coastal waters.

EPA and its partners have made significant

progress in reducing pollutant discharges from

traditional point sources (industries and municipal wastewater treatment plants); however,

discharges from “wet weather” sources, such

as combined sewer overflows, storm water,

and sanitary sewer overflows, remain the

greatest challenge to the point source program

as a whole. The Agency will continue to

streamline and simplify effluent guidelines and

the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination

System (NPDES) permit program, and to

manage the Clean Water State Revolving Fund

(CWSRF) program, the tribal grant program,

and other funding mechanisms to provide clean

and safe water.

Finally, EPA will work with states and tribes to

characterize risks, set priorities, and implement

a mix of voluntary and regulatory approaches

through state nonpoint source management

programs. The Agency will continue to

manage the CWSRF program and other

funding mechanisms to provide support for

nonpoint source management and estuary

protection programs. EPA will work with other

federal agencies (including the U.S.

Department of Agriculture and the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration) to enhance watershed

and nonpoint source management for

the protection of water quality. These

efforts will involve stakeholders with

interests in a given watershed to

determine the approaches that best

suit their water quality needs. EPA

will assess options to strengthen

controls on sources of nitrogen

deposition, mercury, and other toxins

and will recommend voluntary and

regulatory actions. In addition, the

DWSRF assists public water systems

in financing the costs of infrastructure

improvements needed to achieve or

maintain compliance with SDWA requirements

and to protect public health.

Protecting Wetlands

EPA will work with its state and tribal partners

to develop and improve their wetlands protection programs. We will integrate wetlands into

watershed management through research,

assessment methods, technical assistance, and

linkages to regulatory decision making. Reviewing previously permitted discharges of

dredged and fill material, and improving

mitigation to offset the impacts of unavoidable

activities, will better protect wetlands and other

waters. EPA will provide guidance and

assistance for monitoring programs to improve

the information base on wetlands.

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

To achieve our goal of clean and safe water,

EPA has established objectives that identify

key programs and areas of emphasis through

2005. These objectives reflect the efforts of

EPA, states, and tribes to ensure that community water systems will meet national safe

drinking water standards, provide increased

protection for the nation’s watersheds, and

Wetland losses have been significantly

reduced, but . . .

0

-100

-200

-450

-290

-100

Source:

USFWS Status

and Trends Report

and USDA Natural

Resources Inventory

-300

-400

-500

1954-74

1974-83

1985-95

thousands of acres

. . . less than half of the wetlands in the contiguous states

remain, and annual losses continue to exceed gains
2 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

reduce pollutant loadings from point and

nonpoint sources.

An essential measure of our progress toward

these objectives is the set of annual performance goals and measures. EPA is making

every effort to incorporate measures of actual

water quality conditions and associated human

health and ecological quality into its management of the Clean Water Act and the Safe

Drinking Water Act programs. Our annual

performance goals and measures direct a

variety of program activities, offering a strategic “road map” for achieving the long-term

results envisioned under this goal. Our annual

goals will focus on continuing research and

improving scientific understanding to better

define the conditions of healthy aquatic ecosystems and safe drinking water; improving the

accuracy and scope of watershed assessments; integrating physical and biological

indicators with long-standing chemical assessments to improve the measurement of aquatic

health; and developing new criteria (for

bacteria, nutrients, and microbiological pathogens) that go beyond the traditional, chemicalspecific tools.

External Factors

The natural environment, the behavior of

others, court-established schedules, and the

economy all affect EPA’s ability to meet this

goal. Natural processes (including weather,

species population fluctuations, invasive

species, and complex ecological processes) can

dramatically improve or impair our ability to

make progress toward clean and safe water.

Because EPA depends on the work of states,

tribes, and others to achieve this goal, changes

in their priorities or resources can also impact

our accomplishments.

The complexity of upcoming drinking water

regulations and the process of gaining stakeholders’ understanding pose a continuing

challenge in implementing the 1996 SDWA

Amendments. Furthermore, EPA depends on

our state partners’ capacity to adopt healthbased and other drinking water regulations and

willingness to make changes that will enable

comprehensive assessment of the nation’s

waters. Since states have primary enforcement authority for drinking water regulations,

they must have not only staff and resources to

work with public water systems to ensure

compliance, but also the new tools needed to

implement these new rules. States and tribes

may need to enact statutory or regulatory

changes to adopt the scientific, technical, and

programmatic framework that supports biologically based aquatic life uses into their water

quality standards programs. Further, most of

the monitoring data upon which EPA depends

for analyses of trends and baselines are

gathered by governmental and private/volunteer partners; an improvement or change in the

methodology for gathering these data or in data

quality, regardless of the actual change in

water quality over time, could affect EPA’s

assessment of that change.

Goal 3:

Safe Food

The foods Americans eat will be free from

unsafe pesticide residues. Particular

attention will be given to protecting subpopulations that may be more susceptible to

adverse effects of pesticides or have higher

dietary exposures to pesticide residues.

These include children and people whose

diets include large amounts of noncommercial foods.

Importance of This Goal

Americans enjoy one of the safest, most

abundant food supplies in the world. The

availability and safe use of pesticides during

food production, processing, storage, and

transportation help make this possible. However, pesticide application, especially when

pesticides are misused, sometimes results in

residues which can potentially adversely affect
EPA Strategic Plan 2 5

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

human health. In addition, certain

groups, such as infants and children,

may be more sensitive to the effects of

pesticides. Therefore, ensuring that

food remains safe for consumption for

everyone requires continued diligence.

Objectives

• By 2006, reduce public health risk

from pesticide residues in food from

pre-Food Quality Protection Act

(FQPA) levels (pre-1996).

• By 2008, use on food of current pesticides

that do not meet the new statutory standard

of “reasonable certainty of no harm” will be

eliminated.

Results We Intend to Achieve

EPA will significantly reduce the risk posed to

people by pesticide residues on food through a

number of activities specifically designed to

eliminate high-risk pesticide exposures and

ensure that all pesticides that remain on the

market meet the health-based safety standard

mandated by FQPA. Before a pesticide can

be used legally in the United States, EPA must

determine that its use will result in “reasonable

certainty of no harm to human health” and “no

unreasonable adverse effects” on the environment. In carrying out FQPA over the next

several years, EPA will continue to base

regulatory decisions on sound science, ensure

that decisions and policies are transparent to

our stakeholders and partners, facilitate a

reasonable transition away from the higher-risk

pesticides for the agricultural community, and

pursue effective consultation with stakeholders

and partners. With these efforts, we expect to

achieve the following specific accomplishments:

• By 2006, at least 7 percent of agricultural

pesticide acre treatments will use reducedrisk pesticides.

• By 2006, residues of carcinogenic and

cholinesterase inhibiting neurotoxic

pesticides on the foods most frequently

eaten by children will be reduced by 50

percent from baseline levels determined

using data from 1994 through 1996.

• Through 2006, all registration activities

(including registration of new conventional

chemicals, new uses, “me-toos,”

antimicrobials, etc.) will meet the applicable

standards mandated by law.

• By 2008, active ingredient and product

reregistration will be completed for all

pesticides subject to reregistration under the

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and

Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)-88.

• By 2006, 100 percent of the reassessments

of pesticide residue tolerances mandated by

FQPA will be completed.

• By 2006, Registration Review will be fully

established and operational.

• Through 2008, provide research results to

support the new FQPA regulatory standard

of “reasonable certainty of no harm” for

pesticides used on food.
2 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Means and Strategies

EPA’s priorities in ensuring safe food are to

address those agricultural pesticides posing the

greatest health risks, to encourage lower-risk

means of pest control, and to protect vulnerable

populations, particularly children, from pesticide

risk. To deal with some of the major challenges facing the Agency in meeting our

objectives under this goal, EPA will work to (1)

ensure the consistency of science policies and

regulatory decisions with the latest scientific

knowledge and standards; (2) maintain a

balance between stakeholder participation,

rapid risk mitigation, agricultural needs, availability of viable reduced risk alternatives, and

meeting statutory deadlines; (3) measure the

effects of regulatory actions in terms of risk

prevention or addressing and measuring the

effects in terms of risk reduction; and (4)

effectively coordinate our food safety program

with the U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which monitor pesticide residues in

food and collect authoritative data on patterns

of food consumption.

EPA will also use a number of innovative

strategies to reduce pesticide risk. These

strategies and approaches, some of which predate FQPA, involve working closely with all of

the stakeholders involved in agriculture, such as

chemical manufacturers; commodity groups;

individual growers; and state, tribal, and federal

regulatory agencies. One of the key strategies

EPA will use under this goal is expediting the

registration of lower-risk pesticides. EPA

expedites the registration process for safer

pesticides so that it takes about half the time it

usually takes the Agency to register pesticides.

Providing this incentive to pesticide manufacturers has resulted in a dramatic increase in the

number of new, safer pesticides available for

use on America’s farms. EPA, along with

USDA, is pursuing a number of approaches to

foster the broader use of safer pesticides and

pest control methods.

In addition, EPA will encourage the use of

safer pest management practices through the

Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program

and the FQPA Strategic Agricultural Initiative.

These projects demonstrate creative, costeffective, and environmentally friendly farm

management practices and provide growers

with “a reasonable transition” away from the

highest risk pesticides.

The Agency will use cutting-edge science to

expand further our knowledge of the effects of

pesticides on people. This includes developing

tools for evaluating and predicting effects on

human health of cumulative exposure; developing improved measurements and

exposure methods to detect, quantify,

and characterize pesticide exposure to

infants and children; developing a

framework to collect information to

estimate the potential for nondietary

exposures for infants/children; screening and testing chemicals to identify

endocrine disruptors; and identifying

the pesticides, pathways, and activities

representing the highest potential for

exposure and health risk.

EPA’s pesticide enforcement activities

will further support efforts to ensure a

safe food supply for all Americans
EPA Strategic Plan 2 7

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

through coordinated outreach and compliance

assistance strategies, compliance assistance to

farming communities on changes resulting from

regulatory actions, prompt action on referrals

from FDA and/or USDA for over-tolerance

pesticides, and compliance assistance to

farmers and others when disposal and storage

regulations are finalized.

The Agency’s regional offices will also provide

a crucial field presence in various states and in

Indian country by promoting the use of reduced-risk pesticides, providing outreach and

education to growers and private pesticide

users, encouraging the use of alternative pest

management strategies, and monitoring postreregistration use of pesticides.

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

EPA’s annual program outputs under this

goal—such as the number of annual pesticide

registrations, reregistrations, and tolerance

reassessments—are indirectly related to the

objectives of reducing risk from pesticide

residues and reducing the use on food of

pesticides not meeting the current health

standard. In registering pesticides, the Agency

ensures that new pesticides entering the

market meet current health standards, while

the process of pesticide reregistration and

pesticide tolerance reassessment ensure that

older pesticides (those registered prior to the

implementation of FQPA) are brought up to

current health standards. FQPA also requires

EPA to conduct periodic reviews of registered

pesticides, thus ensuring the safety of registered pesticides on an ongoing basis as new

scientific technologies and information become

available.

Developing effective annual performance goals

that relate to reducing pesticide risk is complex.

Pesticide risk is rooted in the hazards posed by

the pesticide (such as neurotoxicity, or the

ability to cause cancer) but also depends on

how, where, and how often the pesticide is

used, what happens to it after it is used, what

populations are exposed to it, how they are

exposed, how often, and at what levels.

We will continue to pursue developing more

direct risk-based annual performance goals and

measures for the objectives under this goal.

The Agency is working with stakeholders to

develop better performance goals and measures and has incorporated improvements into

this Plan and the Agency’s Annual Performance Plans. During this development period,

EPA will also continue to employ program

outputs for our annual goals, such as the

number of reduced-risk pesticide registrations,

and surrogates of risk information for our

annual performance measures, such as the

aggregate use of pesticides of particular

concern, based on existing sources of production data and estimates of agricultural use for

selected pesticides.

External Factors

Our ability to achieve Goal 3 and its objectives

depends on several factors over which the

Agency has only partial control or influence.

In working to achieve safe food, EPA’s success depends on partnerships with other

federal agencies, states, tribes, local governments, and regulated parties. EPA coordinates

with USDA and FDA to ensure the safe use of

pesticides. These agencies have the responsibility for monitoring and controlling residues

and other environmental exposures. In addition, EPA collaborates with these agencies to

coordinate with other countries and international organizations which share safe food

goals with the United States. In meeting our

safe food goal, the Agency also depends at

least in part on the voluntary cooperation of the

public and agricultural community.

In addition, new commitments within the

Administration, new or amended legislation,

and/or lawsuits that delay or stop planned EPA

or state/tribal partners’ pesticide-related
2 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

activities may prevent the Agency from

achieving our safe food objectives. Likewise,

economic growth and changes in producer and

consumer behavior could slow down the

Agency’s ability to accomplish this goal.

Further, large-scale accidental releases of

pesticides or rare catastrophic natural events

such as flooding or drought may also impact

EPA’s ability to achieve our objectives.

In the longer term, new environmental technology or unanticipated complexity or magnitude

of the health and environmental problems

posed by pesticides may affect the time frame

for achieving our goal and objectives. Newly

identified environmental problems or economic

priorities could have a similar effect on our

long-term results. For example, pesticide use is

affected by unanticipated outbreaks of pest

infestations and/or disease factors, which can

require EPA to consider petitions for emergency uses of higher risk pesticides for economic reasons. Finally, while the Agency can

provide the chemical industry with incentives to

submit reduced-risk or reduced-use pesticides

for registration, EPA cannot control the

number or type of incoming requests for

registration actions. As a result, the Agency’s

projection of regulatory workload is subject to

change.

Goal 4:

Preventing Pollution and Reducing

Risk in Communities, Homes,

Workplaces, and Ecosystems

Pollution prevention and risk management

strategies aimed at eliminating, reducing, or

minimizing emissions and contamination will

result in cleaner and safer environments in

which all Americans can reside, work, and

enjoy life. EPA will safeguard ecosystems

and promote the health of natural communities that are integral to the quality of life in

this nation.

Importance of This Goal

Synthetic and naturally occurring chemicals in

our homes, offices, and other structures, as

well as in the environment, may pose a threat

to our health and the vitality of the world’s

ecosystems. In fact, more than 75,000 of these

chemicals are sold commercially today, with an

estimated 2,000 new chemicals and 40 genetically engineered microorganisms introduced

annually.

For example, persistent bioaccumulative toxic

chemicals (PBTs) are of particular concern

because these chemicals are not only hazardous but also persist in the environment for

many years and may accumulate to toxic

levels. Also, an estimated 65 million

homes still contain old lead paint,

and recent data from the National

Health and Nutrition Examination

Survey (NHANES) show that

nearly 1 million children under six

have elevated blood levels of lead,

which are associated with intelligence quotient deficits, learning

disabilities, and other ailments. In

addition, poor indoor air quality may

be contributing to the rate of asthma

in America. An estimated 20 to 30

million Americans have asthma,

which leads to the death of approxi-
EPA Strategic Plan 2 9

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

mately 4,000 people per year. Asthma is more

prevalent among children, especially children in

low-income and minority communities.

Much of the land set aside for Native Americans has environmental problems impacting the

health and well-being of its residents. This goal

specifically addresses the assessment of

environmental conditions impacting lands of

federally recognized tribes and the need to

work with tribal governments to develop their

capacity to manage environmental programs.

Under this goal, EPA will address these and

other threats to human health and the natural

environment by developing and implementing

pollution prevention and risk reduction

strategies.

Objectives

• By 2005, public and ecosystem risk from

pesticides will be reduced through migration

to lower-risk pesticides and pesticide

management practices, improving education

of the public and at-risk workers, and

forming “pesticide environmental

partnerships” with pesticide user groups.

• By 2007, significantly reduce the incidence

of childhood lead poisoning and reduce risks

associated with polychlorinated biphenyls

(PCBs), mercury, dioxin, and other toxic

chemicals of national concern.

• By 2007, prevent or restrict introduction into

commerce of chemicals that pose risks to

workers, consumers, or the environment and

continue screening and evaluating chemicals

already in commerce for potential risk.

• By 2005, 16 million more Americans than in

1994 will live or work in homes, schools, or

office buildings with healthier indoor air.

• By 2005, facilitate the prevention, reduction,

and recycling of toxic chemicals and

municipal solid wastes, including PBTs. In

particular, reduce by 20 percent the actual

(from 1992 levels) and by 30 percent the

production-adjusted (from 1998 levels)

quantity of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)-

reported toxic pollutants which are released,

disposed of, treated, or combusted for

energy recovery, half through source

reduction.

• By 2005, EPA will assist all federally

recognized tribes in assessing the condition

of their environment, help in building tribes’

capacity to implement environmental

management programs, and ensure that

EPA is implementing programs in Indian

country where needed to address

environmental issues.

Results We Intend to Achieve

We will continue working to fulfill our mandate

under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and

Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which requires that

EPA control unreasonable risks of pesticides to

human health and the environment in general.

While work under Goal 3 concentrates on

reducing risks posed by pesticides on food,

Goal 4 addresses all other risks from the use of

pesticides with a collection of activities, such as

chemical information gathering, testing, risk

screening, risk assessment, and voluntary and

regulatory risk management actions. Likewise,

the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

mandates that EPA control unreasonable risks

of chemicals in commerce. We intend to

continue systematically screening all chemicals

in commerce and identifying those believed to

be used safely and those that warrant concern.

We will also continue our progress toward

reducing the levels of lead poisoning, achieving

healthier indoor environments, and providing

national leadership for waste reduction and

improved recycling efforts. We expect to

achieve the following specific accomplishments:
3 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

• By 2010, reduce by at least 10 percent

(from the average 1993 to 1995 levels) the

incidence of adverse health effects from

pesticide exposures for which individuals

required health care. By 2008, reduce

potential exposure (as indicated by sales or

use volume) to carcinogenic and

cholinesterase inhibiting neurotoxic

pesticides used in or around residential areas

by 50 percent each from 1995 levels for

both consumer- and restricted-use

pesticides.

• By 2005, reduce by 50 percent from 1995

levels the number of incidents and amount of

mortality to terrestrial and aquatic wildlife

caused by the 15 pesticides currently

responsible for the greatest mortality to such

wildlife. Each year, none of the top 15

species on the Office of Pesticide

Programs/Fish and Wildlife Service/U.S.

Department of Agriculture priority list of

threatened or endangered species will be

jeopardized by exposure to pesticides. By

2005, implement stewardship strategies to

reduce pesticide risk by the use of

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) through

agreements with 80 pesticide user groups.

• By 2010, detections of the 15 pesticides

most frequently found in surface water in

the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 1994

National Water Quality Assessment

(NAWQA) data will be reduced by 50

percent. Any new pesticide registered since

1996 found in USGS 2010 NAWQA data

for surface water will have a detection

frequency no greater than 30 percent. By

2010, 50 percent of all pesticides with the

potential to leach to groundwater will be

managed through labeling or other methods

to prevent groundwater contamination.

• By 2007, EPA will reduce the incidence of

blood lead levels at or above 10μg/dL in

children between the ages of 1 and 5 years

from approximately 900,000 children in 1991

through 1994 to fewer than 200,000.

• By 2007, EPA will achieve continued

reductions in remaining uses of PCBs at

concentrations above 500 ppm in

transformers and capacitors, retiring from

service and safely disposing of 120,000

transformer units and 210,000 capacitor

units cumulatively from 2002 through 2007.

EPA will also achieve significant reductions

in exposures to toxic fibers, mercury, and

dioxin.

• By 2007, EPA will allow no new chemicals

for which it receives Pre-Manufacture

Notifications to be introduced into

commerce that pose significant unmanaged

risks to workers, consumers, or the

environment.

• By 2007, inform the public about potential

chemical hazards and risks associated with

High Production Volume (HPV) chemicals

in commerce by making screening level

hazard, as well as limited exposure, data sets

publicly available for 90 percent of the

approximately 2,800 HPV chemicals. In

addition, EPA, in cooperation with the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD), will make publicly

available internationally recognized hazard

classification determinations for at least one

human health and one ecological endpoint

for 500 HPV chemicals for which hazard

data sets are available. EPA will also make

publicly available basic screening level

information on endocrine disruption potential

for at least 50 HPV chemicals by 2007.

• Through 2008, provide the scientific basis

for support of Agency efforts to ensure safe

communities, homes, workplaces, and

ecosystems. Improved methods, models,

measurements, and tools will be developed

for use in guidelines, protocols, and risk

assessment/risk management strategies

covering the full range of ecosystem

stressors and protecting human health.
EPA Strategic Plan 3 1

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

• By 2005, to reduce lung cancer, respiratory

diseases including asthma, and other indoor

air quality (IAQ)-related health problems,

11.5 million more Americans will be exposed

to healthier air in their homes by mitigation

of 700,000 homes with high radon levels, the

construction of 1 million homes with radonresistant construction techniques, and the

reduction of the proportion of households in

which children 6 years and younger are

regularly exposed to smoking from 27

percent in 1994 to 15 percent. To reduce

health problems in the nearly 10 million

children annually who may become ill from

contaminated indoor air in schools, 15

percent of the nation’s schools will adopt

good IAQ practices consistent with EPA’s

“Tools for Schools” guidance. To reduce

IAQ-related illness from contaminated air in

the workplace, 5 percent of office buildings

will be managed with good IAQ practices

consistent with EPA guidance as set forth in

EPA’s “Building Air Quality” guidance. By

2005, 1 million children with asthma will

have reduced exposure to indoor asthma

triggers. In addition, 200,000 low-income

adults with asthma and 2.5 million

asthmatics overall will have reduced

exposures to indoor asthma triggers.

• By 2007, EPA will promote the use of

pollution prevention (P2) for meeting

environmental goals by (1) increasing the

purchase of environmentally preferable

products by the federal government; (2)

increasing adoption of environmentally

protective business practices such as

environmental accounting practices and P2

opportunity assessments; (3) increasing

integration of P2 into EPA’s regulatory,

enforcement, and compliance programs; and

(4) reducing the generation of pollutants by

facilities assisted by state and tribal P2

programs supported by EPA.

• By 2007, Design for the Environment (DfE)

voluntary partnership risk-reduction efforts

since 1992 will cumulatively lower exposure

for more than 4 million workers, and toxic

chemical use and wastes in more than

400,000 businesses using more than 750

chemical substances.

• By 2005, facilitate source reduction to

reduce municipal solid waste generation to

4.3 lbs/person/day and facilitate increased

recycling, including composting, to divert at

least 35 percent of municipal solid waste

from landfilling and combustion.

• By 2007, accomplish the following

cumulative results through commercialization

of green chemistry approaches [as

evidenced in nominations submitted for

EPA’s Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

from 1996 (year awards program initiated)

through 2007]: elimination of 250 million

pounds of hazardous substances from new

and existing chemical products and

processes; elimination of 25 million gallons

of hazardous solvents; savings of 2 billion

gallons of water; and savings of 25 billion

Btu of energy.

• By 2005, EPA will utilize multiple tools to

reduce use and releases of priority PBTs by

preventing the entry of new PBTs into

commerce; achieve through voluntary

efforts a net reduction of 50 percent (from

1991 levels) in the volume of priority PBTs

in hazardous waste streams; and reduce by

50 percent from 1990 levels releases of

mercury to air nationwide and to water

within the Great Lakes Basin.

Means and Strategies

EPA’s philosophy is to “reduce, reuse, and

recycle.” EPA’s strategy of first choice is to

prevent pollution before it occurs. Pollution

prevention precludes environmental damage

and the necessity for costly cleanups. When

pollution prevention cannot be achieved, EPA

will strive to reduce the toxicity and quantity of
3 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

waste and increase recycling. These approaches can help to preserve our natural

resources, decrease reliance on treatment and

disposal, and mitigate global climate change.

The Agency will focus specifically on several

strategies:

Pesticide Risk Reduction

To address adverse effects on workers,

nontarget organisms (especially endangered

species), and natural resources including

groundwater and ecologically important surface

waters, EPA will continue to mandate the

conditions of registration, marketing, and use of

pesticides, including medical and household

disinfectants, wood preservatives, and household pest and lawn care products. In addition,

EPA will reduce risks through enhanced public

education and appropriate labeling, as well as

through accelerated approval of safer alternative pesticides.

Cooperation with Industry

EPA publicly recognizes companies pioneering

pollution prevention work through our Green

Chemistry Awards and publicizes case studies

to serve as industry examples. We will continue to supply environmental accounting tools

to help industry evaluate alternative environmental costs. EPA will work with industry

through the Design for the Environment

program to identify cost-effective processes

and products that promote pollution prevention.

Public Right-to-Know

EPA believes that an informed and knowledgeable public will be better able to make decisions

at the local level to safeguard its health, the

health of its families, and the environment. We

will continue to collect data about existing

chemicals and to provide that information to the

public using a variety of communications

means, including printed and electronic media.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

>5 ug/dL >10 ug/dL >15 ug/dL >20 ug/dL >25 ug/dL >30 ug/dL

Blood Lead Levels

Percentage of Sampled Children

1976-1980

KEY

1988-1991

1991-1994

Blood Lead Levels of Children Aged 1-5 Years

Notes: ug/dl = micrograms per deciliter of blood. The NHANES III, Phase 2 (1991–1994) did not report

the percentage of children with blood levels 5 ug/dl or higher; 25 ug/dl or higher; or 30 ug/dl or higher.

Source: NHANES II and III, Phase 1 and Phase 2
EPA Strategic Plan 3 3

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Managing Existing Chemicals

EPA will continue to assess and manage risks

associated with commercial chemicals and

develop chemical exposure and hazard data.

Through the HPV Chemicals Challenge, for

example, EPA will make hazard data available

to the public for more than 2,800 of the HPV

chemicals. EPA will work to reduce exposure

to PBT pollutants through the PBT Initiative.

(See Chapter 2 for a discussion of EPA’s PBT

program.)

Assessing New Chemicals

EPA will continue to assess new chemicals

before they are manufactured or imported.

This approach will advance EPA’s preferred

strategy of preventing pollution and will minimize or eliminate regulatory burdens on new

chemicals that replace riskier substances

already in the marketplace.

Lead

To reduce the risk of lead poisoning, EPA will

continue implementing national standards for

exposure to lead. We will work with all 50

states, territories, and tribes to train and certify

lead abatement professionals. We will expand

educational programs that target low-income

minority populations, which experience the

highest incidence of lead poisoning, and many

of our activities may contribute to the interagency Lead Poisoning Prevention Strategy.

In addition, we will promote sound and proven

technologies to eliminate lead-based paint in

housing cost-effectively.

Indoor Air

We will continue to conduct education and

outreach programs to inform the public about

the health risks posed by poor indoor air quality.

Working through partnerships and technology

transfer programs, we will promote behavioral

changes and technology-based practices that

improve indoor environmental quality. Also, we

will implement the interagency Asthma Initiative (as discussed in Chapter 2 under “Environmental Health Risks to Children”).

Waste Prevention and Recycling

To minimize waste requiring landfilling and

incineration, to conserve natural resources, and

to reduce energy use, we will apply source

reduction and recycling of municipal solid

waste through voluntary programs and will

promote the purchase of goods made from

recycled materials.

Conditions on Tribal Lands

Using cooperative agreements under the

General Assistance Program, we will survey

and assess the environmental interests and

needs in Indian country and build capacity

within tribal governments to manage environmental programs.

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

EPA will use trend data of incidences of

pesticide poisonings, pesticide presence in

groundwater, and incidences of wildlife mortality to measure success in protecting human

health and the environment from the use of

nonagricultural pesticides. Our efforts to

reduce the levels of lead in children’s blood will

be measured by NHANES.

Reducing PBT pollutants is one of EPA’s

priorities. We will utilize TRI data to measure

reductions and to prioritize further pollution

prevention activities to achieve our long-term

goals. Other performance goals and measures

involve gauging the health of indoor air by

evaluating (1) implementation of good indoor

air quality practices in schools and commercial

buildings; (2) reduction of smoking indoors; (3)

mitigation of radon in homes; (4) reduction of

exposure to indoor asthma triggers; and (5)

adoption of indoor environmental quality

education and outreach programs by tribes.
3 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Targets we set for ourselves will advance our

progress toward our goal of improving indoor

air quality in homes, schools, and office

buildings.

External Factors

Our ability to achieve Goal 4 and its objectives

depends on several factors over which the

Agency has only partial control or influence.

For example, achievement of our commitment

to reduce the incidence of lead poisoning in

children to fewer than 200,000 children by 2007

would be accomplished in conjunction with full

implementation of the strategy published by the

President’s Task Force on Environmental

Health Risk and Safety to Children in February,

2000, Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning: A Federal Strategy Targeting Lead

Paint Hazards.

A number of external factors will also impact

EPA’s success in pollution prevention. For

example, the number of inspections, risk

assessments, and abatements performed to

reduce the risks from lead will depend on

availability of funding from other federal

agencies and programs. Similarly, EPA’s

progress in improving indoor air is dependent

on participation by other federal, state, tribal,

industry, and nonprofit organizations. The

success of EPA’s Tribal Program relies heavily

on state and tribal cooperation.

The strength of economic growth will also

impact our ability to meet our pollution-prevention and risk-reduction objectives. A strong

economy increases consumption and can lead

to increased waste generation. Additionally,

EPA relies on public outreach, incentives, and

voluntary actions by individuals (e.g.,

homeowners, school administrators, parents,

building owners) to protect human health and

the natural environment.

Goal 5:

Better Waste Management,

Restoration of Contaminated Waste

Sites, and Emergency Response

America’s wastes will be stored, treated, and

disposed of in ways that prevent harm to

people and the natural environment. EPA

will work to clean up previously polluted

sites, restore them to uses appropriate for

surrounding communities, and respond to

and prevent waste-related or industrial

accidents.

Importance of This Goal

Improper waste management and disposal

threaten human health and the maintenance of

healthy ecosystems. Uncontrolled hazardous

and toxic substances, including radioactive

waste, migrate to the air, groundwater, and

surface water—contaminating drinking water

supplies for communities located miles from a

waste site and potentially causing acute

illnesses or chronic diseases. These circumstances present unique health threats to

sensitive populations, such as children and the

elderly, and tribal communities that follow

subsistence lifestyles. They can also significantly damage other natural resources and

sensitive ecosystems. To protect against these

risks, EPA has developed and implemented

policies to clean up active and inactive waste

disposal sites; promote safe waste storage,

treatment, and disposal; and prevent spills and

releases of toxic materials.
EPA Strategic Plan 3 5

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

The Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or

Superfund) and the Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA) provide the legal

authority for most of EPA’s work toward this

goal. EPA and its partners use Superfund

authority to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned

hazardous waste sites and return them to

productive use when possible. The Agency’s

Brownfields Program encourages the cleanup

and redevelopment of idle and abandoned

industrial and commercial properties that are

not on the National Priorities List (NPL) by

addressing concerns such as environmental

liability and cleanup, infrastructure declines,

and changing development priorities. Under

RCRA, EPA works in partnership with states

and tribes to address risks associated with

leaking underground storage tanks (LUSTs)

and with hazardous and nonhazardous waste

generation and management at active facilities.

EPA also uses the authority of the Clean Air

Act, Clean Water Act, and the Oil Pollution

Act of 1990 to protect against spills and

releases of hazardous materials.

Objectives

• By 2005, EPA and its federal, state, tribal,

and local partners will reduce or control the

risk to human health and the environment at

more than 374,000 contaminated Superfund,

RCRA, underground storage tank (UST),

and brownfield sites and have the planning

and preparedness capabilities to respond

successfully to all known emergencies to

reduce the risk to human health and the

environment. (Total comprises 1,105 NPL

sites; 1,714 RCRA facilities; 370,000 UST

cleanups initiated or completed; and 1,500

brownfield properties.)

• By 2005, EPA and its federal, state, tribal,

and local partners will ensure that more than

277,000 facilities are managed according to

the practices that prevent releases to the

environment. (Total comprises 6,500 RCRA

hazardous waste treatment, storage and

disposal facilities, and municipal solid waste

landfills; 264,000 USTs; and 7,100 oil

facilities.)

Results We Intend to Achieve

EPA strives to apply the fastest, most effective

waste management and cleanup methods

available, while involving affected communities

in the decision-making process. Waste management techniques include recycling, land

disposal, and combustion; however, different

wastes require different treatment and disposal

methods. Decisions about cleanup are based

not only on technical considerations, but with

community, human health, and environmental

concerns in mind. We expect to achieve the

following specific accomplishments:

• By 2005, cleanup of 370,000 LUST sites

will be completed or initiated under the

supervision of EPA and its state or tribal

partners.

• By 2005, EPA and its partners will reduce

the risks that Superfund sites pose to public

health and the environment by (1)

completing construction at a total of 1,105

NPL sites; (2) conducting an annual average

of 300 Superfund emergency responses and

removal actions to address significant

hazardous substance releases; (3)

determining if Superfund cleanup is needed

at 85 percent of the sites entered into the

Superfund site data base (CERCLIS); (4)

maximizing potentially responsible party

(PRP) participation in conducting/funding

response actions; and (5) meeting statutory

deadlines for federal facility activities.

• By 2005, EPA will continue to maximize the

participation of PRPs in conducting/funding

response actions at Superfund sites through

the application of enforcement and

settlement authorities while promoting

fairness during the enforcement process.
3 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Based on the urgency of the situation and/or

the capabilities of the PRPs, EPA will

optimize PRP removals. Since 1992,

responsible parties have performed or

financed over 70 percent of the new

remedial construction starts at Superfund

sites, and EPA’s goal is to maintain or

increase that level of participation. In

addition, EPA will address cost recovery at

100 percent of all NPL and non-NPL sites

with total past costs equal to or greater than

$200,000 which need to be addressed prior

to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

• Through 2005, EPA will enter into an

Interagency Agreement with the responsible

federal agency at all federal facilities as

soon as possible after listing on the NPL but

no later than 180 days after completion of

the first remedial investigation and feasibility

study.

• By 2005, 95 percent of 1,714 high-priority

RCRA facilities will have human exposure

to toxins controlled and 70 percent of these

facilities will have toxic releases to

groundwater controlled.

• Through 2005, EPA will provide improved

methods and dose-response models for

estimating risks from complex mixtures

contaminating soils and groundwater;

provide improved methods for measuring,

monitoring, and characterizing complex

wastes in soils and groundwater; and

develop more cost-effective and reliable

technologies for cleanup of contaminated

soils and groundwater. Also, through 2005,

EPA will demonstrate/verify, via the

Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation

(SITE) program, more cost-effective

technologies for remediation and

characterization of contaminated soils,

sediments, and groundwater, and more costeffective restoration/rehabilitation of

ecosystems impacted by these sources.

• By 2005, EPA and its state, tribal, and local

partners will facilitate the redevelopment of

400 brownfields communities by providing

technical and financial assistance resulting in

$3 billion of leveraged redevelopment funds,

generation of 6,500 jobs, and initiation of

2,500 site assessments.

• Through 2005, EPA will respond to 100

percent of requests provided to EPA from

other federal agencies to facilitate and assist

with the transfer of federal properties for

use, reuse, or redevelopment.

• By 2005, 50 percent of the nation’s largest

metropolitan areas (having populations

greater than 1 million) will have been trained

and equipped to respond effectively to

terrorist events that involve chemical,

biological, or radiological agents.

• By 2005, the annual number of confirmed

releases from USTs will not exceed 6,500, in

comparison to the 24,000 reported in FY

1997.

• By 2005, of the facilities that have submitted

risk management plans identifying their

chemical risks and processes, 20 percent of

those facilities that pose significant risk will

have reduced their potential of having a

major chemical accident. Local

communities will incorporate facility risk

information into their emergency

preparedness and community right-to-know

programs.

• By 2005, 7,100 facilities will be in

compliance with oil pollution prevention

regulations and, therefore, better prepared to

prevent oil spills, and the consequences of

spills to environmentally and economically

sensitive areas will be significantly lessened

by pre-spill contingency planning by EPA

and its federal, state, tribal, and local

government partners. Each year, all
EPA Strategic Plan 3 7

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

significant oil spills in the inland zone will be

responded to in an effective manner by the

responsible party, the state or local spill

responders, or EPA.

• Through 2005, EPA will provide integrated,

multimedia, multipathway exposure and risk

methods and models for assessing the risks

from waste facilities and provide improved

techniques to monitor, control, and prevent

releases during waste management.

• By 2005, EPA and its partners will prevent

radioactive releases into the environment by

safely managing and disposing of all EPAregulated radioactive waste.

• By 2005, at least 80 percent of hazardous

waste management facilities and 100

percent of municipal solid waste facilities

will have controls in place to prevent

dangerous releases to air, soil, and

groundwater.

Means and Strategies

By meeting these objectives, EPA will have

made significant progress toward achieving our

long-term goal of promoting better waste

management, restoring contaminated waste

sites, and preventing waste-related or industrial

accidents. Agency research to support safe

waste management will continue to yield costeffective and innovative technologies and

scientifically sound approaches for site

cleanup. To achieve our long-term goals, EPA

is committed to working efficiently with states,

tribes, and stakeholders to make the most of

available resources.

EPA will continue to complete construction at

NPL sites and oversee cleanups at PRP-lead

and federal facility sites to reduce risks to

human health. We will rely on our “enforcement first” policy, ensuring cleanup by responsible parties through the successful implementation of administrative reforms. We will

strongly encourage PRP participation, especially for new construction starts at non-federal

NPL sites, and will continue to emphasize cost

recovery.

National UST Corrective Action Authority

Total Corrective Actions Cumulative over Time from FY1991—FY2000

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

450000

Fiscal Year

Number of Sites

Confirmed Releases

Cleanup Initiated

Cleanups Completed

Cleanups Completed

KEY

Cleanups Initiated

Confirmed Releases

The underground storage tank (UST) program is an example of EPA’s

effort to manage wastes more effectively
3 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

RCRA corrective action implementation at

hazardous waste management facilities will

remain one of EPA’s highest priorities. The

corrective action program will focus on controlling human exposure to toxins and groundwater

releases at more than 1,700 high-priority

facilities jointly identified by EPA regions and

their state partners. EPA regional offices will

work with states and tribes to implement the

RCRA Cleanup Reforms initiative, encouraging

cleanups, reducing impediments to cleanup

actions, enhancing state and stakeholder

involvement, and exploring policy changes

regarding liability concerns to further encourage facility cleanup and reuse. We intend to

work closely with state partners and the

regulated community to ensure program

flexibility and develop practical approaches

through comprehensive training, outreach,

application of new enforcement tools, and

enhanced community involvement through

greater public access to information.

The UST program will continue to support

state and tribal efforts to improve compliance

with all UST requirements (such as leak

detection and the 1998 deadline requirements

to upgrade, replace, or close old tanks) and to

reduce the backlog of cleanups at UST sites

with confirmed releases. To accomplish this,

state, tribal, and federal UST programs will use

multiple tools to ensure that systems are

working as intended and operation and maintenance improvements are in place and functioning. Programs will also promote the use of

risk-based decision making and expanded use

of pay-for-performance cleanups in which a

reduction in contamination is demonstrated for

a fixed price. Finally, the UST program will

support redeveloping abandoned or idle UST

sites (also known as USTFields) and preventing or addressing contamination from oxygenates in gasoline such as methyl tertiary butyl

ether.

EPA is committed to integrating economic

revitalization considerations into the process of

cleaning up abandoned, inactive, and contaminated waste sites and other properties, and we

will take full advantage of Community-Based

Environmental Protection and other available

tools to do so. The Brownfields Program will

continue working with states and local communities to assess, clean up, and reuse former

industrial and commercial properties where

expansion or redevelopment is complicated by

potential environmental contamination, liability,

or other concerns.

RCRA corrective action and UST programs

will continue to identify instances where

redevelopment of contaminated sites is complicated by regulatory or programmatic impediments. EPA will work with its partners and

stakeholders to overcome these barriers

through the development of streamlined,

tailored, and innovative approaches to permitting and remediation. The Superfund Program

will continue to implement the Superfund

redevelopment initiative by identifying during

the assessment phase sites that can be returned to productive use once cleanup is

completed; allaying liability concerns through

the issuance of comfort/status letters and

prospective purchaser agreements; and

working with communities and other stakeholders to ensure that these sites are “recycled”

back into productive use. Management,

response, and preparedness programs will

target special needs on tribal lands, incorporating cultural values into decision making,

supporting the closure of open dumps, and

building capacity of tribal waste management

and response organizations.

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

EPA’s long-term performance under this goal

will be measured according to progress in

achieving milestones that waste management,

response, prevention, and preparedness

programs have established through 2005.

Annual performance goals, supported by a
EPA Strategic Plan 3 9

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

variety of measures, are determined each year

and provide a limited set of data to demonstrate

accomplishments leading to long-term strategic

objectives. Examples of our annual performance goals under Goal 5 include the number

of (1) construction completions at Superfund

NPL sites; (2) high-priority RCRA facilities

with controls in place to prevent human

exposures and toxic releases to groundwater;

(3) hazardous and municipal solid waste

facilities with controls in place to prevent

dangerous releases to air, soil, and groundwater; (4) UST cleanups completed and USTs in

compliance with leak detection and 1998

upgrading, replacement, or closure requirements; and (5) leveraging of redevelopment

dollars and provision of community assistance

through the Brownfields Program. These and

other annual goals relate directly to the results

that we intend to achieve under Goal 5, and

ultimately, to our objectives of reducing or

controlling risk to human health and the environment at more than 374,000 contaminated

sites and ensuring that the more than 277,000

facilities are managed according to practices

that prevent dangerous releases to the

environment.

External Factors

There are a number of external factors that

could substantially impact the Agency’s ability

to achieve objectives under this goal. These

include heavy reliance on state partnerships,

application of new environmental technology,

commitment by other federal agencies, and

statutory barriers.

The 2005 target of 1,105 Superfund construction completions is dependent on the performance of other federal agencies, such as the

Department of Defense and the Department of

Energy, as are the establishment of the Restoration Advisory Boards/Site-Specific Advisory

Boards and other cleanup activities. In addition, the Agency’s goals of construction

completions, cost recovery, and maximizing

PRP participation are heavily dependent on the

progress of PRP negotiations, the activities of

states’ voluntary cleanup and Superfund

programs, agreements with states and tribes,

and the nature of contamination at NPL sites.

For the RCRA and UST programs, achievement of the release prevention and cleanup

objectives and attainment of our 2005 targets

will depend heavily on the participation of

states that have been authorized or approved to

be the primary implementors of these

programs.

For the risk management and preparedness

programs, the Agency recognizes that accident

prevention and response, as well as preparedness for environmental terrorist incidents, are

inherently local activities. To succeed, the

program relies on the commitment and accomplishments of various partners and stakeholders, including industry, state and local government, and other federal agencies. EPA’s

success will depend on the willingness and

ability of these partners and stakeholders to

deliver on their commitments and obligations.

EPA plays a key role, but we neither control

the resources nor set the priorities that could

ensure all federal, state, and local participants

are engaged at a level sufficient to meet our

commitments.
4 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Goal 6:

Reduction of Global and CrossBorder Environmental Risks

The United States will lead other nations in

successful, multilateral efforts to reduce

significant risks to human health and

ecosystems from climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and other hazards

of international concern.

Importance of This Goal

Environmental hazards, like ecosystems, are

not limited by national borders. Transboundary

circulation of toxic chemicals; marine pollution;

depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer;

climate change; safety issues posed by the

international trade in chemicals, pesticides, and

biotechnology products; and similar global

issues all pose significant risks to the United

States. Unilateral domestic actions and

investments cannot adequately protect the well

being of our citizens or our environment from

such threats. For this reason, collaboration

with other countries is essential in protecting

the global environment. Goal 6 programs

address this need by fostering multilateral

cooperation on environmental issues and

enhancing the technical capacity for addressing

environmental risks.

Objectives

• By 2005, reduce transboundary threats to

human health and shared ecosystems in

North America, including marine and Arctic

environments, consistent with our bilateral

and multilateral treaty obligations in these

areas, as well as our trust responsibility to

tribes.

• By 2010, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions will

be substantially reduced through programs

and policies that also lead to reduced costs

to consumers of energy and reduced

emissions leading to cleaner air and water.

In addition, EPA will carry out assessments

and analyses and promote education to

provide an understanding of the

consequences of global change needed for

decision making.

• By 2005, ozone concentrations in the

stratosphere will have stopped declining and

slowly begun the process of recovery. In

addition, public education to promote

behavior change will result in reduced risk to

human health from ultraviolet (UV)

overexposure, particularly among susceptible

subpopulations such as children.

• By 2006, reduce the risks to ecosystems and

human health, particularly in tribal and other

subsistence-based communities, from

persistent, bioaccumulative toxicants (PBTs)

and other selected toxins which circulate in

the environment on global and regional

scales.

• Through 2005, integrate environmental

protection with international trade and

investment and increase the application of

cleaner and more cost-effective

environmental practices and technologies in

the United States and abroad to ensure that

a clean environment and a strong economy

go hand-in-hand.
EPA Strategic Plan 4 1

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Results We Intend to Achieve

Through collaborative efforts with other

countries and international organizations, our

international programs will reduce risks to

human health and the environment within the

United States and globally. We expect to

achieve the following specific accomplishments:

• By 2010, the air will be safer to breathe in

areas along the U.S./Mexico and U.S./

Canada borders that exceed one or more of

the National Ambient Air Quality Standards

(NAAQS), and all areas will attain the

standards within the time frames described

under Goal 1, Clean Air.

• By 2005, the population in the U.S./Mexico

border area (including tribes) that is served

by adequate drinking water, wastewater

collection, and treatment systems will

increase by 1.5 million through the design

and construction of water infrastructure.

• By 2005, disposal rates of hazardous waste

generated in the U.S./Mexico border area

will be reduced by 8 percent (on a per

employee basis) and Chemical Accident

Contingency Plans will be in place in 10 of

the 14 pairs of Sister Cities along the U.S./

Mexico border.

• Restore and maintain the chemical, physical,

and biological integrity of the Great Lakes

Basin Ecosystem, particularly by reducing

the level of toxic substances, protecting

human health, restoring vital habitats, and

restoring and maintaining stable, diverse, and

self-sustaining populations.

• By 2005, reduce transboundary sources of

pollution in the Arctic environment, including

a 25 percent reduction of high-level sources

of radioactive waste in the Arctic and a 30

percent reduction of stockpiled, obsolete,

PCB-containing transformers in the Russian

Arctic. Reduce pollution of the marine

environment through a reduction of vessel

discharges, ocean dumping, and land-based

sources of marine pollution, including a

global prohibition, no later than 2008, on the

use of tributyltin (TBT) on vessels. By

2010, all ships will manage their ballast

water in a manner designed to prevent the

introduction of non-native aquatic species to

U.S. waters.

• By 2010, EPA will substantially offset the

growth in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions

through programs that help organizations and

consumers capture the environmental and

economic benefits that untapped energy

efficiency and other opportunities offer the

nation. EPA programs are expected to

offset forecasted growth by 20 to 35 percent

relative to 1990 emission levels, equivalent to

annual reductions of between 130 and 200

million metric tons of carbon equivalent

in 2010.

• Through 2005, the United States will

continue to implement its international

commitments under the Framework of the

Convention on Climate Change regarding

greenhouse gas emissions, sequestration,

and education. EPA will formulate policy

options and analyze their economic and

other implications to support U.S. decision

making and catalyze developing countries to

adopt and meet international commitments.

• By 2010, EPA will conduct assessments,

including developing assessment methods

and conducting attendant research, of the

consequences of global change on human

health, ecosystems, and social well being.

• By 2005, atmospheric concentrations of the

ozone-depleting substances CFC-11 and

CFC-12 will have peaked at no more than

300 and 570 parts per trillion, respectively,

while production of these chemicals will be
4 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

allowed only for very limited essential uses.

In addition, except for critical uses where

viable alternatives are not available, all

methyl bromide production and import and

45 percent of all HCFC production and

import will be phased out, further

accelerating the recovery of the

stratospheric ozone layer.

• By 2005, 8 million children in 17,000

elementary and middle schools across the

United States will experience reduced risk

from UV overexposure as a result of the

environmental and health education efforts

of the SunWise School Program.

• By 2005, help to ensure that at least 75

developing countries comply with their

obligation under the Montreal Protocol to

achieve a 50 percent reduction in their

production and consumption of CFCs.

• By 2006, substantially reduce the global

release and long-range, transboundary

movement of PBTs and other selected

toxics by characterizing baseline conditions

and transport patterns, negotiating key

international treaties and initiatives, and

engaging in the information exchange and

capacity building needed to facilitate the

implementation of these treaties and

initiatives, especially in key identified source

countries. In so doing, reduce the

worldwide use of lead in gasoline to below

1993 levels, reduce domestic mercury

releases to the air and water from human

activities in the United States by 50 percent

from 1990 levels, and reduce domestic

mercury use by 50 percent from 1995 levels.

• By 2006, EPA will develop and standardize

chemical testing methods, hazard

characterization, exposure characterization

(including monitoring instrumentation and

methods), risk assessment, and good

laboratory practices; collect release data

through use of pollution release and transfer

registers; and share the technical and

financial burden of testing and assessing

specific chemicals.

• Through 2005, address the regulatory and

other environmental implications of trade

and investment policies, agreements, and

programs; upwardly harmonize public health

and environmental standards with U.S.

trading partners; and ensure that

environmental policymaking takes into

consideration trade and investment

concerns.

• By 2005, use technical cooperation and

information exchange on best practices to

achieve measurable improvements in

environmental protection in the United

States and abroad and to support other

national policy objectives.

Means and Strategies

We achieve our international objectives through

a variety of approaches. We work with the

Department of State and other agencies to

negotiate and implement environmental agreements with other countries; cooperate with

other countries to address specific environmental risks; and work collaboratively with our

federal, state, and tribal partners and with

business/industry associations, environmental

groups, and other stakeholders to research,

develop, and promote sustainable technologies

in the United States and abroad.

Major programs, such as those focused on

climate change, the U.S./Mexico border, or the

Great Lakes, have developed targeted strategies for meeting their objectives. For example,

we are approaching our climate change

objectives by working in partnership with

business, government agencies, and other

partners to deliver multiple benefits, from

cleaner air to lower energy bills, while improving overall scientific understanding of climate

change and its potential consequences. To help

decision makers understand the possible
EPA Strategic Plan 4 3

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

impacts of climate change, our Global Change

Research Program is conducting a series of

assessments that identify the potential consequences of global change. These assessments

will be conducted in support of the U.S. Global

Change Research Program (USGCRP)

National Assessment Process, an ongoing

process mandated by the Global Change

Research Act of 1990. EPA’s Global Change

Research Program is committed to this effort

and will continue to be involved in National

Assessment activities organized through the

USGCRP, including sponsorship of regional and

sectoral assessments of the potential consequences of global change for the United States.

These assessments and attendant research to

support the assessments will address issues of

greatest concern to stakeholders. We are also

working with our partners to improve overall

scientific understanding of climate change and

its potential consequences.

Our U.S./Mexico Border and Great Lakes

Basin programs both incorporate voluntary and

regulatory components. Along the U.S./

Mexico border, we will continue to focus on

priority issues, such as air quality/visibility,

water infrastructure, hazardous waste management, and outreach to communities and businesses in the region. In the Great Lakes Basin,

we will continue to target multimedia problems

through monitoring and modeling efforts as well

as lake-wide plans that employ a comprehensive, ecosystem approach to addressing toxins

and habitat loss. Specifically, under the Great

Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy, we have

committed by 2006 to reduce high-level PCBs

used in electrical equipment by 90 percent;

reduce aggregate national anthropogenic

mecury releases to the air and water in the

United States by 50 percent and reduce

mercury use by 50 percent; and reduce total

anthropogenic releases of dioxins and furans by

75 percent. These and other efforts will

continue to restore and maintain the chemical,

physical, and biological integrity of the Great

Lakes Basin Ecosystem. In addition, we are

working with our partners and stakeholders to

implement remedial action plans for each of the

“areas of concern,” geographic areas where

beneficial use of water or biota is adversely

affected or where environmental criteria are

exceeded. We are coordinating our regulatory

efforts in the Great Lakes with Canadian

federal, state, tribal, and provincial environmental organizations; together, we are using all

available authorities to restore targeted areas.

The promotion of sustainable technologies is a

strategy that underlies a number of our programs. For example, we are developing and

promoting advanced technologies for clean and

energy-efficient vehicles, including fuel cell and

other technologies. These efforts will complement broader federal tax policy and voluntary

initiatives that encourage market penetration of

new technologies. To restore and protect the

stratospheric ozone layer, we will continue

efforts to limit the production and use of ozonedepleting substances and to develop and

promote the use of safe alternative compounds.

We are also focusing on public information and

education to reduce the risks of overexposure

to UV radiation. Through our Arctic program,

we are designing specific technical assistance

projects to minimize the potential release of

radionuclides and other pollutants that might

undermine the health of the Arctic ecosystem.

We will continue to work with other countries

to negotiate and implement specific treaties,

while also collaborating on international environmental projects. For example, to prevent

degradation of the marine environment and to

address the serious problem we face with the

introduction of non-native aquatic species

through shipping, we are working with the

Department of State, the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Coast

Guard, and other federal agencies to negotiate

and implement legally binding, multilateral

agreements that address significant sources of

marine pollution. Through treaties such as the

draft Global Persistent Organic Pollutants
4 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

instrument, we seek to reduce risks associated

with persistent and bioaccumulative substances

and with other toxins that circulate in the

environment. We are also working with other

countries through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and in

other international organizations to develop

harmonized methods for testing and assessing

toxic chemicals and for measuring the presence of these chemicals in humans and the

environment.

The 1999 Executive Order on Environmental

Review of Trade Agreements (EO 13141)

formally institutionalizes procedures (including

detailed written reviews) to ensure the timely

consideration of environmental issues in the

development of U.S. negotiating positions on

trade. The Executive Order represents a

major development in the effort to integrate

and balance U.S. objectives to promote

economic growth through expanded trade with

sustainable development through strong

domestic environmental protections. To fully

implement the Executive Order and to better

integrate environment and trade

policies, EPA will need to develop

models and means of analysis to

link trade policies to environmental

and regulatory effects. Successful

implementation of the Executive

Order will require close collaboration between EPA, the U.S. Trade

Representative, and other federal

agencies.

Relating Annual Performance

Goals to Strategic

Objectives

To reduce global and cross-border

environmental risks, we have

established a sequence of annual

performance goals that will help us

gauge our progress towards our

longer-range objectives. For

example, monitoring networks

along the U.S./Mexico border allow us to

measure progress in improving environmental

quality. Our commitments to specific actions,

such as sediment remediation in the Great

Lakes, will continue to improve water quality.

Voluntary programs to reduce emissions of

greenhouse gases have been exceeding our

targets, and implementation steps of the

Montreal Protocol have helped reduce damage

to the stratospheric ozone layer. Other annual

performance goals reflect our efforts to reach

negotiated goals with other countries on

reducing transboundary pollution. In later

years, our annual performance goals will stress

the implementation of these negotiated agreements, especially in key source countries.

External Factors

The cooperation of other countries is key to the

success of our Goal 6 programs. For instance,

reduction of air, water, and waste pollution

along the U.S. border with Mexico will require

continued commitment by national, regional,

state, and local governments in both countries.

Similarly, progress towards our objectives for

Importance of Developing Country Compliance with

the Montreal Protocol

As developing country compliance with the Montreal

Protocol decreases, the risk of ozone depletion increases

10

Ozone Depletion Risk (Chlorine, ppb)

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

1985 2000

Year Without Compliance

2015 2030 2045 2060 2075 2090

With Compliance
EPA Strategic Plan 4 5

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

the Great Lakes Basin will rely on cooperation

among U.S. partners—including EPA, other

federal entities, state regulatory agencies, and

the private sector—and counterpart Canadian

organizations. Where the United States and its

partner countries differ on program development or focus, or when a partner country fails

to maintain environmental programs, enforce

existing laws, or meet treaty obligations, the

effectiveness of our initiatives might be compromised. Recovery of the stratospheric ozone

layer is contingent on international adherence

to commitments made under the Montreal

Protocol. Similarly, the success of international

agreements on toxic substances is contingent

both on U.S. provision of technical assistance

and financial resources to developing countries

and on the commitment of other developed

countries to provide similar assistance. Failing

the provision of such assistance, key source

countries might not develop the technical skills

and management infrastructure necessary to

implement the terms of such agreements.

Political considerations and other factors

beyond our influence (e.g., civil strife, natural

disasters, sudden economic downturns, demographic changes) might also affect progress

under Goal 6. Demographic changes along the

U.S./Mexico border, where the combined

border population might double by 2020, could

seriously strain the area’s environmental

infrastructure and make achieving our strategic

objectives more difficult. Accounting for such

factors as we develop performance measures

presents a continuing challenge under Goal 6.

We also develop our international programs in

conjunction with other federal agencies,

including the Department of State, the Agency

for International Development, the Department

of Commerce, and the Department of Energy.

The continued interest in and commitment to

environmental initiatives among these partner

agencies will influence the success of our

programs. The same holds true for our

cooperative programs with state and local

governments, especially along our national

borders. The continued collaboration of

business and industry groups, environmental

organizations, and multilateral organizations

(such as the World Health Organization) will

also affect the success of these programs.

Finally, the integration of environmental issues

into trade policies poses particularly difficult

challenges. Numerous countries fear that the

linkages between trade liberalization and

environmental protection might limit their

market access. We will continue working

directly with environmental ministries in other

countries to demonstrate that trade liberalization and enhanced environmental protections

are not mutually exclusive.

Goal 7:

Quality Environmental Information

The public and decision makers at all levels

will have access to information about

environmental conditions and human health

to inform decision making and help assess

the general environmental health of communities. The public will also have access to

educational services and information

services and tools that provide for the

reliable and secure exchange of quality

environmental information.

Importance of This Goal

Information about the environment—environmental characteristics; physical, chemical, and

biological processes; and chemical and other

pollutants—underlies all environmental management decisions. The availability of and

access to quality information and the analytical

tools needed to understand it are essential for

measuring environmental improvements and

assessing progress. Clearly, the more accurate, complete, timely, and accessible is our

data, the better we can make decisions and

assess progress. This goal recognizes the
4 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

importance of working with the public, our

partners, and stakeholders to collect, manage,

and make available the information needed at

the national, regional, state, and local levels to

make sound decisions leading to a cleaner,

healthier environment.

Informing decision makers and providing

access to sound environmental information are

essential components of a comprehensive

environmental protection program. Environmental information can better enable the public

to understand conditions and make informed

decisions about protecting the health and the

environment of local communities. It can lead

to creative and sustainable solutions to environmental problems and opportunities for pollution

prevention. Quality environmental information

is crucial to sound decision making and to

establishing public trust and confidence in those

decisions.

The unprecedented changes in information

technology over the past few years, combined

with an increasing public demand for information, are fundamentally altering the way the

Agency and the states collect, manage, analyze, use, secure, and provide access to quality

environmental information. We are working

with the states and tribes to strengthen our

information quality, leverage information

maintained by other government organizations,

and develop new tools that provide the public

with simultaneous access to multiple data sets,

allowing users to understand local, state,

regional, and national environmental conditions.

Access to quality data and tools to understand

these data may allow decision makers to make

more informed decisions about public environmental policies.

Objectives

• Through 2006, EPA will continue to increase

the availability of quality health and

environmental information through

educational services, partnerships, and other

methods designed to meet EPA’s major data

needs, make data sets more compatible,

make reporting and exchange methods more

efficient, and foster informed decision

making.

• By 2006, EPA will provide access to new

analytical or interpretive tools beyond 2000

levels so that the public can more easily and

accurately use and interpret environmental

information.

• Through 2006, EPA will continue to improve

the reliability, capability, and security of

EPA’s information infrastructure.

Results We Intend to Achieve

Over the next several years, we will improve

every American’s access to EPA’s integrated

environmental data, educational services, and

analytical tools for evaluating environmental

conditions and trends, and we will provide a

secure environment for data storage and

retrieval. These accomplishments will enable

EPA, our partners, and the public to better

understand potential environmental impacts,

opportunities for preventing pollution, and
EPA Strategic Plan 4 7

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

uncertainties and possible trade-offs that may

be considered in making many environmental

decisions. We will offer reliable environmental

information services to those who do not have

access to the Internet at home, work, or

school. We will also work to improve the

efficiency of data exchange with states, tribes,

and industry, while reducing their reporting

burdens. With help from the Agency’s partners and stakeholders, we expect to achieve

the following specific accomplishments:

• By 2006, EPA will create an information

network for reliable and accurate data

exchange that ensures greater than 95

percent data consistency between EPA and

participating states, and by 2003, achieve

greater than 95 percent accuracy in facility

name and address information for facilities

reporting air, water, waste, and Toxic

Release Inventory (TRI) program data, and

implement an Agency-wide Information

Plan to identify and fill our high-priority

information needs.

• By 2006, EPA will address the changing

needs of the public to know more about

chemical releases, conditions, status, and

trends and also achieve a 15 percent burden

reduction from 2000 levels for facilities

reporting TRI program data.

• By 2006, 75 percent of the Agency’s major

environmental data, information, tools, and

information products created since 2001 will

be available in multiple formats and

distribution vehicles and EPA will have

institutionalized a program of advance

notification to partners and stakeholders of

significant information products. EPA will

use advisory, educational, and outreach

programs; partnerships; and customer

feedback to improve our information

products.

• By 2006, EPA will define, characterize, and

identify the intended use of its environmental

data and document any known limitations of

the data for all of its new major analytical

products.

• By 2006, EPA will develop new analytical

tools that will enable all stakeholders and

state and tribal partners to query data for

their own specific purposes; provide access

to new types of environmental or health data

that are relevant to localities; facilitate the

public’s ability to access and use Agency,

state, and other data; and increase by 10

percent, compared to 2000, the number of

communities with real-time, geographicallybased environmental information.

• By 2006, all EPA information technology

services will meet or exceed industry

standards for combined cost and quality of

service.

• Through 2006, EPA will continue to ensure

the integrity, availability, and confidentiality

of EPA’s data against known likely risks,

using evolving industry standards.

Means and Strategies

EPA is actively working to ensure that we

keep pace with the rapid advances in information technology and meet the growing demand

for reliable, quality environmental information.

Collaboration and cooperation with our federal,

state, and tribal partners and interested stakeholders will be crucial to our success. Our

principal strategy for achieving this will be the

development of an Information Plan that

assesses the Agency’s environmental direction,

establishes the framework that will strategically

identify and address information needs, and

matches the information and technology

resources to meet those needs. The Plan will

also establish processes for addressing data

needs and identify potential data collection

efficiencies and opportunities to leverage

information resources with our federal partners, such as the U.S. Geological Survey and
4 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

others involved in environmental activities, to

meet information needs common to multiple

programs. EPA will continue to pursue the

strategic use of information in priority setting,

measuring performance, assessing progress,

and making decisions.

The Information Plan will be guided by six

strategic principles:

Expand the American Public’s Right-toKnow About the Environment

Providing the public electronic and nonelectronic access to accurate and reliable

environmental data collected by EPA and our

partners and stakeholders supports our mission

and our partners’ and stakeholders’ efforts to

protect human health and the environment.

Increased public access advances citizens’

understanding and involvement in environmental issues and enables them to make better

decisions that help protect their families and

their communities.

Integrate Information

The Agency envisions a comprehensive and

integrated information exchange network to

facilitate sharing information among EPA, the

states, other federal agencies, tribes, localities,

and the regulated community. The network

will improve environmental decision making,

improve data quality and accuracy, ensure

security of sensitive data, avoid data redundancy, and reduce the burden on those who

provide and those who access information.

Key features include standardized data formats

and definitions, a centralized approach to

receiving and distributing information, and

improved access to timely and reliable environmental information.

Enhance Information Quality

To increase the value of environmental information for all stakeholders, the Agency will

seek customer feedback and systematically

improve information usability, clarity, accuracy,

reliability, and scientific soundness. To this end,

we will institute compatible data standards and

ensure that data quality is known and appropriate for intended uses. Enhancing the quality of

environmental information will accord all

environmental players and interested parties a

more accurate, comprehensive environmental

“picture.”

Foster Information-Based Decisions

EPA recognizes the need to evaluate the

appropriateness of data in the context of

specific decisions. The Agency is committed

to communicating information and making

appropriate data and information accessible for

improved environmental decision making. We

will work with our partners to enhance the use

of quality environmental data in setting priorities and making decisions.

Reduce Burden

EPA will strive to streamline information

collection, making it more efficient and costeffective by reducing unnecessary cost and

burden to EPA, states, tribes, and the regulated

community. The Agency will critically examine the information reporting burdens we have

placed on our partners and on the regulated

community and ensure that information collection addresses specific needs.

Strengthen and Secure EPA’s Information

Infrastructure

Strengthening and securing EPA’s information

infrastructure is fundamental to increasing the

availability of environmental information. EPA

will remain vigilant in maintaining a strong and

secure information infrastructure that directly

supports the mission needs of the Agency. A

secure information infrastructure is essential to

maintaining Congressional and public confidence in EPA’s stewardship of environmental

and regulatory information.

Two of these six strategic principles, integrating

information and enhancing information quality,
EPA Strategic Plan 4 9

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

require EPA to find significantly different ways

of doing business. As we improve our existing

information systems and develop new ones, we

must work toward an integrated information

network, avoiding data redundancy and utilizing

compatible database designs, standard data

definitions, and a common technological

platform. This represents a departure from the

old “stovepipe” way of designing information

systems. Systems developers will need to think

of their systems as integral components of a

larger, integrated network that extends beyond

EPA to our state and tribal partners.

Our working relationships with the states and

tribes will continue to be a major factor in our

ability to achieve the objectives of Goal 7. Our

partners play major roles in all of our highest

priority efforts, including the information

exchange network and the Information Plan.

EPA will continue to work with state and tribal

governments through existing forums, such as

the Environmental Council of the States and

the Agency’s Tribal Caucus, and to involve

state and tribal representatives on specialized

advisory work groups and task forces. We will

continue and expand our outreach to the public

and to industry stakeholders through public

meetings and the use of public advisory

committees.

The Agency will work to instill a more holistic

and multimedia approach to environmental

information. Our heightened emphasis on

information quality will require a new “information quality culture” within the Agency. Our

quality system is designed to provide the “right

data” to the Agency and must be an integral

aspect of Agency program management

activities. Decision makers and data users

ensure that measurements and data are of

known and documented quality and that the

quality is sufficient for the data’s intended uses.

EPA will review the quality of its information to

ensure its accuracy, objectivity, utility, and

integrity.

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

The success of EPA’s information programs

will be reflected in our partners’ and stakeholders’ ability to make sound decisions based on

quality information to solve the nation’s environmental problems. EPA is playing a major

role in providing data and tools tailored to their

needs. Rather than making abstract connections between improvements in information

access and environmental outcomes, our

performance measures for this goal emphasize

outcomes that are important to EPA programs

and our state and tribal partners and the extent

to which we provide integrated, quality environmental information and tools to the public

efficiently and effectively.

For example, to measure our progress toward

increasing the availability and accessibility of

quality environmental information, we will set

annual goals and select performance measures

that track our progress in terms of improved

consistency between the data in our systems

and the data held by states and tribes, decreasing error rates in our facility identification

information, and increasing the number of

people and organizations accessing our information. We will demonstrate our progress

toward improving the public’s ability to use and

understand our data by (1) ensuring that the

majority of our analytical products, both

electronic and non electronic, describe the

appropriate uses and limitations of the data and

(2) increasing the number of communities with

access to real-time information about their local

environment. Finally, EPA will demonstrate

improvements in the reliability, capability, and

security of our information infrastructure by

ensuring that all of our information technology

services meet or exceed accepted industry

standards. We will also ensure that our

information network is designed to minimize the

potential impact of security threats and use the

best methods for ensuring that those who

access the most sensitive parts of our network
5 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

are authenticated each time they access our

system.

External Factors

EPA’s information comes from many

sources—states, tribes, and local governments;

industry; federal agencies; volunteer monitoring

programs; and our own environmental monitoring, assessment, and research programs.

Therefore, working in partnership with state

and tribal governments is an essential element

of our information programs, and seeking

advice and input from the regulated community

and the public will ground our information

programs and approaches and make them

more responsive to stakeholders’ needs. To

achieve an integrated information network that

increases efficiency and fosters information

sharing, we must work with those who provide

and use EPA’s information to ensure that data

are used properly, maintained effectively, and

protected appropriately.

We expect to see dramatic changes in technology over the course of the next five years. To

be efficient and cost-effective, EPA’s information systems and technology infrastructure

must be flexible enough to respond to changes

and take advantage of innovations in technology. As the world becomes more dependent

on electronic commerce, issues such as

information security have become a dominant

concern in both the public and private sectors.

To reduce our vulnerabilities and ensure that

we can meet current and future information

needs, EPA’s systems and technology infrastructure must keep pace with advances in

available technology.

Our evolving user community will also affect

the success of our information efforts. As

more states develop the ability to integrate

environmental information, we must adjust our

own systems to accommodate these developments. As we provide technical assistance to

tribes and improve our ability to understand and

address environmental issues in Indian country,

the number of tribes able to interact with us

electronically will increase, and their need for

new and improved information tools will

expand. Local citizens’ organizations and the

public are also increasingly involved in environmental decision making, and their need for

information and more sophisticated analytical

tools is growing.

Finally, the current federal budget climate

requires us to work closely with our federal

partners to leverage our collective information

holdings and find innovative information tools

that have environmental applications. We must

also consider our user community and ensure

that those without electronic access have the

information they need to protect their health

and local environments and to participate in

decisions that affect them.

Goal 8:

Sound Science, Improved

Understanding of Environmental

Risk, and Greater Innovation to

Address Environmental Problems

EPA will develop and apply the best available science for addressing current and

future environmental hazards as well as new

approaches toward improving environmental

protection.

Importance of This Goal

Under Goal 8, EPA focuses on our commitment to using science and innovation to reduce

risk—the possibility of unwanted, adverse

consequences to human life, health, or the

environment. By identifying important sources

of risk, science informs our priority setting,

enhances the credibility of our policies, and

guides our deployment of resources. Goal 8

also highlights EPA’s commitment to innovative,

continuous improvement in the ways in which

we conduct our business and accomplish our
EPA Strategic Plan 5 1

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

mission, with an emphasis on finding new and

better approaches to environmental issues

while minimizing the burden on the regulated

community. Finally, Goal 8 highlights our

reliance on expert review and collaborative

partnerships to ensure the highest level of

quality and relevance in our work.

Many of the activities we describe throughout

this Strategic Plan are aimed at reducing

specific environmental risks. However, not all

of our efforts are aimed at attaining such

measurable outcomes. Much of EPA’s risk

reduction work under Goal 8 is designed to

advance sound science and spark innovation.

The experimental nature of these activities

seldom generates outcomes that we can

predict and quantify in advance. For example,

through our Regional Vulnerability Assessment

(ReVA) program, EPA is conducting research

to assess the simultaneous impact of stressors

such as urbanization, pollution, and climate

change to make regional predictions of environmental conditions over the next 5 to 25 years.

While the ReVA program’s potential to reduce

environmental risk is great, it would be difficult

to predict its outcome in quantitative terms with

specific time lines. To ensure sound science

and the highest level of quality and relevance in

projects like these, EPA’s work under Goal 8

promotes expert review and collaborative

partnerships. EPA works with researchers

who are best qualified to judge the quality of

the science and with stakeholders who can

comment most effectively on the relevance of

innovative approaches. Through these activities, EPA strives to ensure that its risk reduction strategies, programs, and decisions are

based on the best available science and the

most innovative ideas.

As implied in the previous paragraph, EPA

conducts problem-driven research to address

specific environmental risks associated with

each of the other goals of this Strategic Plan.

The measurable outcomes for this research are

reflected in the discussion of these goals.

Additionally, under Goal 8, EPA conducts core

research to improve our understanding of the

fundamental principles underlying risk assessment and management. More specifically,

Goal 8 research focuses on developing fundamental mechanisms, methods, processes,

databases, models, and innovative technologies.

To help ensure that we focus on the highest

research priorities, EPA develops its research

priorities and strategies through cross-Agency

teams. These teams propose a research

program that is then reviewed by senior

management from all program and regional

offices. The proposed research program is

further adjusted when the President’s request

to Congress is modified by Congressional

appropriation. EPA is committed to continuing

to look for ways that improve our ability to

meet the highest needs for science across the

Agency.

Objectives

• Provide the scientific understanding to

measure, model, maintain, and/or restore, at

multiple spatial scales, the present and future

integrity of highly valued ecosystems.

• Improve the scientific basis to identify,

characterize, assess, and manage
5 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

environmental hazards and exposures that

pose the greatest health risks to the

American public by developing models and

methodologies to integrate information about

exposures and effects from multiple

pathways. This effort includes focusing on

risks faced by susceptible populations, such

as people differentiated by life stage (e.g.,

children and the elderly) and ethnic/cultural

background.

• Enhance EPA’s capabilities to anticipate,

understand, and respond to future

environmental developments; conduct

research in areas that combine human health

and ecological considerations; and enhance

the Agency’s capacity to evaluate the

economic costs and benefits and other social

impacts of environmental policies.

• Provide tools and technologies to improve

environmental systems management while

continuing to prevent and control pollution

and reduce human health and ecological

risks originating from multiple economic

sectors. (The term “environmental systems

management” refers to integrated, systemsbased risk management solutions that

consider the combined impacts over time of

multiple stressors from diverse sources.)

• Increase partnership-based projects with

counties, cities, states, tribes, resource

conservation districts, and/or bioregions,

bringing together needed external and

internal stakeholders, and quantify the

tangible and sustainable environmental

results of integrated, holistic, partnership

approaches.

• Incorporate innovative approaches to

environmental management into EPA

programs, so that EPA and external partners

achieve greater and more cost-effective

public health and environmental protection.

• Demonstrate regional capability to assist

environmental decision making by assessing

environmental conditions and trends, health

and ecological risks, and the environmental

effectiveness of management action in

priority geographic areas.

• Conduct peer reviews and provide other

guidance to improve the production and use

of the science underlying Agency decisions.

Results We Intend to Achieve

By meeting the objectives listed above, we will

strengthen the Agency’s ability to assess the

condition of the environment and to develop

alternative management strategies at the local,

regional, and national levels. With the help of

expert review and collaborative partnerships,

we intend to attain the highest quality of

scientific research and implement innovative

approaches to reduce environmental risk and

achieve the following specific accomplishments:

• Enhance EPA’s capabilities to anticipate,

understand, and respond to future

environmental developments; conduct

research in areas that combine human health

and ecological considerations; and conduct

research in social science, environmental

decision making, economic valuation, and

estimation of environmental costs, risks, and

benefits.

• EPA will develop and use a consistent set of

assumptions for its economic analyses.

These analyses will be used by

environmental decision makers and the

general public to support decisions on

adopting cost-effective, market-based

environmental control measures. EPA will

analyze the societal impacts, costs, and

benefits of regulatory alternatives for all

economically significant regulatory actions.
EPA Strategic Plan 5 3

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

• The nation’s environmental protection

efforts will become more integrated and

efficient through EPA-program and privatesector embrace of sector-based approaches,

outreach to small businesses, environmental

stewardship, and environmental

performance incentives.

• EPA will make innovations in its programs

and culture according to the strategic

opportunities that its partners, its

stakeholders, and the private sector will help

identify by the use of pilot projects capable

of being transferred into core functions such

as permitting, rule writing, and compliance.

In addition, EPA will build its capacity to

perform program evaluations in order to

improve Agency programs and practices.

Means and Strategies

Our primary objective under Goal 8 is to

reduce risk by fostering sound science,

encouraging innovation, and enhancing expert

review and collaborative partnerships. To this

end, we have adopted strategies to understand

risk, prevent and control risk, evaluate the costs

of risk and risk reduction, and maintain expert

review and collaborative partnerships. In

implementing these strategies, EPA is practicing the principles for “Innovations in Science”

discussed in the Introduction: the development

and use of an inventory of EPA’s science

activities; effective cross-Agency planning for

scientific investigations; and coordination and

collaboration to support, enhance, and implement sound science practices.

Understanding Risk

We are focusing on three major efforts to

enhance our understanding of the significant

risks threatening our natural environment.

First, based on statistically rigorous sampling

schemes, we are collecting environmental data

to develop indicators of ecological health at

multiple spatial scales. Second, we are developing ecological risk models to help us understand the fate and transport of pollutants within

watersheds and the exposure of wildlife to

these pollutants. Third, we are evaluating the

efficacy of various restoration schemes in

maintaining the integrity and sustainability of

watersheds. Our research on ecological risk

focuses on aquatic ecosystems because their

quality frequently reflects the state of surrounding terrestrial ecosystems.

To complement our research on ecological risk,

we assess risks to human health, investigating

each link in the chain of events through which

environmental factors trigger deleterious

effects in humans. We are developing models

to understand the degree to which children and

people of varying lifestyles are exposed to

environmental contaminants across all media,

and we intend to develop guidance for assessing risks to children. We are also analyzing the

biological effects of these contaminants, taking

into account the genetic variability in people’s

response to them.

Beyond our research into existing risks, we

recognize that to prevent damage to human and

ecosystem health, we must detect, describe,

evaluate, and mitigate or eliminate stressors

before damage occurs. Therefore, we are

building the institutional capacity to forecast

and prepare for emerging risks.

To further EPA’s efforts to understand risk,

regional laboratories have established the

Centers of Applied Science program. Developed initially to address specific regional needs,

the Centers offer specialized analytical expertise with broad application to other geographic

and analytical areas. These Centers’ activities

are planned across regions and include active

training and information dissemination programs.

Preventing and Controlling Risk

EPA looks for sources of innovation outside the

Agency by partnering with individual facilities,
5 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

industrial sectors, and communities. By

providing industry with expedited or consolidated permitting, reduced record-keeping and

recording requirements, and other opportunities

for regulatory flexibility, we are creating

opportunities for firms to focus on improving

environmental performance rather than merely

complying with the law. We are also supporting the creation and effective functioning of

networks of local governments, citizens,

planners, and others who are concerned about

environmental issues that affect the quality of a

community’s life.

EPA also promotes pollution prevention and

reduction by developing more environmentally

compatible technologies and facilitating their

introduction into the marketplace. As part of

this strategy, we are assisting industry in

adopting cost-effective production processes

that minimize environmental harm; providing

grants to encourage research into environmentally friendly technologies; and completing

protocols to test and verify the efficacy of

environmental technologies.

As we learn from these initiatives, we will

develop and implement coordinated approaches

to help regulated entities achieve equal or

superior environmental performance, while

minimizing the regulatory burden they face.

Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Risk

and Risk Reduction

Environmental risks impose costs upon society

by contributing to disease or by otherwise

diminishing the quality of life. We are funding

extramural research among social scientists to

help us understand the value that society places

on human health and natural resources.

Moreover, we are developing a set of assumptions and methods that environmental professionals and the public can use both to analyze

the economic impact of regulatory alternatives

and evaluate environmental protection schemes

based on market incentives.

Maintaining Expert Review and

Collaborative Partnerships

To foster excellence and innovation in scientific

research and environmental protection, we are

strengthening our alliances with external

parties. We will continue our partnerships with

universities and laboratories in the broader

research community by funding extramural

research. We also will continue to collaborate

with the Science Advisory Board, a Congressionally-mandated panel of nongovernmental

scientists, engineers, and economists who

provide EPA with independent technical advice

and peer review.

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

EPA’s primary objectives within Goal 8 are to

foster sound science, encourage innovation,

and enhance expert review and collaboration.

We are developing the databases, methodologies, tools, and technologies that contribute to

achieving the environmental outcomes targeted

under other goals. Therefore, annual performance goals and measures under Goal 8 are

expressed in terms of work products and

processes that contribute to environmental

outcomes described elsewhere in this Strategic

Plan.

For example, to foster sound science in our

understanding of ecological risk, we are

developing a computer-based system to assess

and integrate wildlife exposures to contaminants via land, water, air, and food pathways.

To foster sound science in our understanding of

human health risk, we are characterizing the

contamination of children’s food through

contact with environmental agents. To encourage innovation in preventing and controlling

risk, we are establishing cross-office initiatives

that integrate sector approaches to environmental protection, leading to reduced emissions

and resource consumption. Other annual

performance goals reflect our continuing

efforts to improve the practice of social
EPA Strategic Plan 5 5

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

science in environmental protection, such as

organizing workshops to bring economists

together to explore important questions facing

the Agency, including the valuation of ecological effects and childhood health effects.

Moreover, to enhance expert review and

collaboration within the Agency, we have

established annual performance goals to

complete peer review reports and develop

broad stakeholder partnerships among governmental regulators, regulated industries, and

nongovernmental organizations to implement

sector- and facility-based program reforms

External Factors

Science and innovation are creative processes

that can occur most effectively with minimal

constraints. To further these processes, EPA

provides grants to independent researchers

over whom we exercise little control. Moreover, to the extent that we create opportunities

for firms and communities to develop environmental projects, we depend on these external

parties for innovations that advance environmental protection.

The general principles of sound science and

innovation run through this entire Strategic Plan

and are reflected in many specific examples.

Ultimately, our success under Goal 8 will be

measured by the degree to which all of EPA’s

goals and objectives embody this vision—that

the Agency bases all decisions on the best

available science and the most innovative

approaches.

Goal 9:

A Credible Deterrent to Pollution and

Greater Compliance with the Law

EPA will ensure full compliance with laws

intended to protect human health and the

environment.

Importance of This Goal

Protecting the public and the environment from

risks posed by violations of environmental

requirements is, and always has been, basic to

EPA’s mission. Many of the environmental

improvements America has made over the last

30 years can be attributed to a strong set of

environmental laws and an expectation of

compliance with those laws. EPA’s aggressive

enforcement program has been the centerpiece

of efforts to ensure compliance and has

achieved significant improvements in human

health and the environment. By providing

assistance designed to prevent violations,

offering incentives to motivate compliance, and

taking enforcement actions to correct violations

and deter others, EPA obtains continuous

improvement in compliance with standards,

permits, and other requirements. Those actions

also provide fairness in the marketplace by

ensuring that noncomplying facilities do not

gain an unfair competitive advantage. As a

result, environmental risks are mitigated and

regulated facilities do a better job of environmental management. While maintaining a

strong regulatory enforcement program, EPA

and its state and local partners are also expanding the use of innovative tools for ensuring

compliance by providing assistance and

incentives to the regulated community.

In partnership with states, tribes, other federal

agencies such as the Department of Justice

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%

Remediation/Restoration

Removal

Emissions/Discharge Change

Storage/Disposal Change

Industrial Process Change

Use Reduction

Remedial Design/Action

Percent of FY99 Civil Cases Resulting in

Selected Environmental Improvements

Note: Percentages are based on the compliance requirements of the 741 FY99

civil settlements which required improvements in the use or handling of

pollutants. Many settlements reported multiple results including training,

reporting, and auditing or labeling.
5 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

(DOJ), and local partners, EPA’s enforcement

and compliance assurance program addresses

approximately 8 million entities that range from

community drinking water systems to pesticide

users to major industrial facilities. Almost 1.3

million of these are facilities such as municipal

wastewater treatment plants, large manufacturing and industrial operations, or hazardous

waste treatment and storage facilities for

which performance is closely tracked and data

maintained. The remaining 6.5 million entities

range from small facilities to individual property

owners. Given the broad scope of regulatory

requirements under the various environmental

statutes and the large and diverse universe of

regulated entities, the enforcement and compliance assurance program uses a variety of tools

and strategies to maximize compliance.

Objectives

• EPA and its state, tribal, and local partners

will improve the environment and protect

public health by increasing compliance with

environmental laws through a strong

enforcement presence.

• EPA and its state, tribal, and local partners

will promote the regulated community’s

compliance with environmental requirements

through voluntary compliance incentives and

assistance programs.

Results We Intend to Achieve

Our ultimate goal is compliance. By identifying

and addressing violations of environmental

statutes and regulations, EPA will work to

mitigate and reduce environmental problems

and associated risks. We expect to reduce

pollutants, increase compliance rates for

selected regulated populations, improve facility

operations, provide greater public access to

enforcement and compliance information, and

increase use of compliance incentives and

assistance tools. Specific accomplishments

anticipated include:

• EPA and its partners will improve

compliance with environmental laws where

there are patterns of noncompliance or

significant risks to human health or the

environment by maintaining a strong

enforcement presence.

• EPA and its partners will improve targeting

and compliance monitoring to ensure that

activities are conducted where there are

high risks to human health or the

environment, patterns of noncompliance, or

disproportionately exposed populations.

• EPA will implement international

commitments for enforcement and

compliance cooperation with other countries,

especially along the U.S. border (Mexico/

Canada).

• Over the next five years, EPA will complete

settlements with approximately 1,000

facilities to voluntarily self-disclose to the

federal government and correct violations.

• By working with other compliance

assistance providers, EPA and its partners

will increase the understanding of
EPA Strategic Plan 5 7

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

environmental requirements through the

development, distribution, and use of

compliance assistance tools.

• EPA will review all major proposed federal

actions under the National Environmental

Policy Act (NEPA) and achieve successful

mitigation of at least 70 percent of adverse

environmental impacts through interagency

negotiations.

Means and Strategies

The Agency will strategically target its enforcement and compliance activities. We will

expand our use of more sophisticated analyses

to focus on significant environmental problems

and areas where we find high rates of noncompliance. Our analyses will also address the

most significant risks to human health and the

environment, including addressing disproportionate burden on certain populations (such as

children, the elderly, and low-income communities), in keeping with EPA’s environmental

justice responsibilities. EPA will conduct

inspections and investigations, along with both

civil and criminal enforcement actions, to deter

violations and provide a level playing field.

While enforcement remains central to our

program, we also rely on compliance assistance, incentives, and results-oriented programs. Over the next several years, we will

build on the innovations launched six years ago

when EPA reorganized its enforcement and

compliance program. Examples of innovation

include shifting EPA’s role to that of a “wholesaler” of compliance assistance, providing the

tools and expertise to those closer to the

problem; fostering a wide network of compliance assistance providers; encouraging greater

use by the regulated community of the revised

and expanded Audit Policy and Small Business

Policy; and developing integrated strategies

that effectively blend compliance assistance,

compliance incentives, and enforcement to

achieve our environmental goals and

objectives.

As a result of the delegation/authorization

provided for by most statutes, state, tribal, and

local governments bear much of the responsibility for ensuring that regulated facilities and

other entities comply with requirements.

Nationally, on average, states conduct over 80

percent of all inspections and are responsible

for 84 percent of formal enforcement actions.

States also are the primary vehicle for delivering on-site compliance assistance to regulated

sources. EPA is working with tribes to develop

their own compliance and enforcement programs by offering assistance and incentives

and, in some cases, directly implementing

federal enforcement programs.

EPA will also work with other federal agencies

to implement NEPA. The Agency will review

the environmental impacts of proposed major

federal actions, identify ecological and public

health risks, and negotiate changes to eliminate

or mitigate these risks. EPA’s partnerships also

extend to other countries. We will work with

foreign governments and international organizations to ensure their compliance with applicable U.S. laws, help them to build enforcement and compliance capabilities in their

countries, and work to fulfill U.S. commitments

under international treaties and agreements.

We will promote many types of enforcement

and compliance training, including a virtual

university, NETI Online, that provides Internetbased training to promote EPA professionals’

improved understanding and greater effectiveness. Finally, we are committed to modernizing

our enforcement and compliance information

systems to provide a comprehensive, readily

accessible, multimedia view of environmental

compliance. We will work with our state

partners to provide high-quality, timely data to

promote effective decision making and expanded public access.
5 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

Relating Annual Performance Goals to

Strategic Objectives

EPA will track and report progress we make

toward reducing noncompliance and achieving

environmental benefits through a variety of

measures, including the annual performance

goals and measures included in our Annual

Performance Plan. We are committed to

improving our measures to report on results/

outcomes of enforcement and compliance

activities, enabling us to track real progress.

Our efforts are paying off, as we can now

demonstrate both reductions in pollutants to our

environment as well as environmental improvements. Since we started tracking this data in

FY 1996, our enforcement actions have

required reductions in emissions of nearly 5.9

billion pounds of NOx

, over 700 million pounds

of PCB-contaminated material, and 409 million

pounds of carbon dioxide. In the past four

years, we have also achieved over $479 million

in environmental improvements from supplemental environmental projects.

Another example involves measuring the

results of compliance assistance. In FY 1998

we reached 250,000 regulated entities through

compliance assistance; in FY 1999 this had

grown to 330,000 regulated entities. These and

other environmental and compliance results

form the foundation of EPA’s current and

future strategic direction. Successful achievement of our long-term objectives requires that

we build on existing work as we continue to set

challenging and meaningful annual performance goals and measures, emphasizing

outcomes wherever possible.

The National Performance Measures Strategy

(NPMS) is a critical component of EPA’s

performance assessment effort. NPMS

includes both traditional measures, such as the

number of inspections and enforcement

actions, and outcome measures, such as

changes in compliance rates and behavioral

changes resulting from compliance assistance

and pollutant reductions. Seeing actual trends

in performance better enables EPA and our

state partners to continually evaluate the

enforcement and compliance program and will

lead to achievement of our long-term objectives. FY 2000 is the first full year of implementation of NPMS, and we will build on the

lessons learned in the first year to promote and

improve measurement of results. We will also

communicate our progress in this endeavor

through the Agency’s Annual Plan.

External Factors

EPA’s ability to meet its enforcement and

compliance annual performance goals and

longer-term strategic goals may be affected by

a number of factors. Projected performance

would be impacted by natural catastrophes,

such as major floods or significant oil spills that

require a redirection of enforcement resources

to address immediate environmental threats.

EPA also assumes that state and tribal partners

will continue or increase their levels of enforcement and compliance work. In addition,

EPA relies on DOJ to accept and prosecute

cases the Agency refers for civil judicial or

criminal enforcement. The success of EPA’s

activities also hinges on the applicability of

technology and information systems to interface (particularly state and federal systems) to

ensure the availability of high-quality data.

Finally, the economic conditions and the

regulated community’s level of effort/willingness to comply with the law will greatly

influence EPA’s ability to meet its goals.

Goal 10:

Effective Management

EPA will maintain the highest-quality standards for environmental leadership and for

effective internal management and fiscal

responsibility by managing for results.

Importance of This Goal

Activities under this goal support the full range

of Agency activities for a healthy and sustainable environment. Agency management
EPA Strategic Plan 5 9

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

provides vision and leadership—within EPA,

nationally, and internationally—and support for

all Agency programs. The effectiveness of

EPA’s management approaches will determine,

in large measure, how successful we will be in

achieving all the goals identified in this Strategic Plan. Sound leadership, proactive management of human resources, rational policy

guidance, innovation, quality customer service,

consultation with stakeholders, results-based

planning and budgeting, fiscal accountability,

and careful stewardship of our resources

provide the foundation for everything EPA

does to advance the protection of human health

and the environment. In addition, work under

this goal ensures that EPA’s management

systems and processes will be supported by

independent evaluations that promote operational integrity and economic, efficient, and

effective programs, allowing us to obtain the

greatest return on taxpayer investment.

Objectives

• Provide vision, national and international

leadership, executive direction, and support

for all Agency programs.

• Demonstrate leadership in managing for

results by providing the management

services, administrative policies, and

operations to enable the Agency to achieve

its environmental mission and to meet its

fiduciary and workforce responsibilities

and mandates.

• Effectively conduct planning and oversight

for building operations and provide

employees with a quality work environment

that considers safety, new construction, and

repairs and that promotes pollution

prevention within EPA and with our state,

tribal, local, and private partnerships.

• Provide audit, evaluation, and investigative

products and advisory services resulting in

improved environmental quality and human

health.

Results We Intend to Achieve

EPA continues to face significant challenges in

streamlining business processes and launching

innovations, while ensuring sound management

of its administrative and financial services. In

the coming years, we will work to improve the

delivery of services we will need to meet our

environmental mission. We will build on past

achievements and continue to focus on identifying customer needs and expectations, using

innovative technologies and designs, improving

program results and operational business

practices, and developing a highly skilled

workforce to meet the needs of the 21st

century. We expect to achieve the following

specific accomplishments:

• The Office of the Administrator will design

and implement policies that protect human

health and the environment and ensure that

program activities and decisions reflect

those policies.

• Provide Agency policy direction and

guidance on equal employment opportunity

(EEO), civil rights, and diversity issues.

• EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board will

issue decisions in active permit and

enforcement cases within an average of 12

months.
6 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

• By 2005, 80 percent of actions brought

before the Administrative Law Judges will

be completed within 12 months of receipt.

• Cost-effective investment in environmental

protection and human health will be made

through responsible, results-based, high

quality strategic and fiscal resource

management and accountability.

• Effectively prepare EPA for future

challenges by streamlining administrative

processes, strengthening the integrity of

resource management and internal controls,

building employee skills, fostering diversity,

and giving superior customer service.

• The Agency will provide a healthy, safe, and

secure environment for EPA employees and

maintain services, essential facilities, and

operations in an efficient and cost-effective

manner.

• By 2002, all headquarters employees will be

consolidated in a new complex, and by 2001,

Research Triangle Park (RTP) employees

will be moved into a state-of-the-art facility.

• Provide facility and administrative services

to support all regional programs in their

mission.

• Return two times the value of the annual

investment in the Office of Inspector

General (OIG) by making recommendations

for potential savings, risk reductions,

recoveries, process changes, and

enforcement actions.

Means and Strategies

EPA will employ five overarching corporate

management strategies to advance the protection of human health and the environment.

These strategies cut across all organizational

boundaries and are key to performing the

Agency’s mission.

Providing Results-Based Leadership

EPA will ensure that its leadership is of the

highest caliber and accountable and responsive

to the needs of our Congressional, state, tribal,

local, and private partners. We will provide

leadership and direction to improve the quality

of the environment while employing innovative

approaches and partnerships.

Investing In Infrastructure

Consistent investments in core infrastructure

are critical to provide a safe and healthy work

environment and to maintain new state-of-theart facilities and laboratories. These facilities

provide the tools essential for researching

innovative solutions to current and future

environmental problems and enhancing our

understanding of environmental risks. In

addition, the Agency is building a national

framework for identifying and sharing energy

efficiency and pollution prevention techniques

appropriate for both public and private sector

laboratories.

Streamlining Business Processes and

Meeting Customer Needs

We intend to establish world-class business

processes by streamlining, improving, and

automating our administrative systems to

provide the best customer service at the least

cost. We will use system integration tools,

such as enterprise resource planning and

knowledge management, to develop innovative,

secure technologies that enhance business

processes in financial management, payroll,

human resources, grants, and contracts.

Strengthening Program Integrity

EPA is committed to working with Congress,

our oversight agencies, and our state and tribal

partners to protect the integrity of Agency

programs. We will expeditiously address

management challenges and program risks

identified by the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB), the General Accounting Office
EPA Strategic Plan 6 1

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

(GAO), and EPA’s OIG. We will also continue

to establish early warning systems and other

controls to prevent vulnerabilities from becoming major management issues.

Managing Human Resources

As we enter the 21st century, a key EPA

priority will be managing our workforce. EPA

strongly believes that the Agency’s human

resources are our most valuable asset, and we

will work hard to secure, develop, empower,

and retain the talented people we need to

accomplish our environmental mission. This

effort will include workforce planning, to

ensure that human resource requirements are

aligned with strategic goals, and training, to

enable our workforce to deliver national

leadership and science and technology expertise in environmental protection. The Agency

recognizes that investing in human resources is

fundamental to achieving our strategic goals

and objectives. Our “Strategy for Human

Capital at EPA” is a plan defining the goals,

strategies, and activities needed for improving

investment in and management of our human

resources. Our goals are:

• EPA attracts and retains a diverse and

highly skilled workforce. Given the

expected future challenge in recruiting and

retaining information technology

professionals, scientists in various disciplines,

and other key staff, we plan to carry out

such activities as implementing an Agencywide workforce planning system; developing

national and local recruitment strategies,

including intern programs and long-term

partnerships with educational institutions;

and focusing on retention, through such

efforts as identifying retention pressure

points and making effective use of

workplace programs aimed at achieving a

balance between work and non-work life.

• EPA’s people perform to their highest

potential. To ensure progress toward this

goal, we will continue to implement the

Workforce Development Strategy, which is

aimed at providing EPA’s current and future

employees with the broad competencies

necessary to meet our strategic goals and

objectives. We will also conduct a similar

workforce analysis, focusing on specific

scientific and technical skills needed to

accomplish our program offices’ missions

and strategic goals, and devise strategies for

closing any technical skills gaps identified,

including recruitment, retention, and

development.

• Innovation, creativity, and risk taking are

demonstrated by all EPA people at all levels

of the organization. Fostering creativity and

risk taking can ensure that the Agency’s

strategic goals and objectives continue to be

achieved in innovative ways. We must set

expectations that innovation, creativity, and

risk taking will be demonstrated by all

employees and institute new ways to share

information about innovative approaches

throughout the Agency.

• EPA’s people have a sense of community,

where differences are recognized as

contributing to the whole, all employees’

contributions are appreciated, and all views

are solicited and welcomed. Building a

sense of community, thus enabling the

Agency to benefit from the best efforts and

contributions of all our employees, will entail

ensuring that the Merit Principles are fully

understood and applied in selection,

promotion, development, recognition, and

work assignment decisions. We will also

expand the use of feedback mechanisms to

improve communication throughout EPA.

• Teamwork and collaboration are routinely

practiced with internal and external partners.

We will continue to build consensus and

constructive labor/management relations

through improved communication and

information sharing and to improve and
6 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 1: Achieving Our Goals

support teamwork within organizations and

across organizational boundaries.

• EPA’s human resources systems are

integrated with planning, budgeting, and

accountability processes. Our strategies for

accomplishing this integration include

instituting mechanisms to ensure that

workforce impact studies are conducted and

that human resources support needs are

identified and planned for early in strategic

planning and program planning processes.

Relating Annual Performance Goals

To Strategic Objectives

To achieve effective management, we will be

working towards objectives in four areas:

(1) executive leadership, (2) management and

administrative services, (3) building operations

and new construction, and (4) audit and

investigative services. We have established

annual performance goals and measures that

will enable us to track our progress in these

areas. Specifically, our annual performance

goals and measures focus on providing resultsbased leadership, managing human resources,

investing in infrastructure, streamlining business

processes and meeting customer needs, and

strengthening the integrity of our management

processes. We will provide executive leadership that promotes policies and actions that

protect human health and the environment and

builds effective partnerships. In the area of

managing human resources, we are concerned

with measuring Agency efforts to create a

highly skilled workforce to meet the future

needs of the Agency. In investing in our

infrastructure, we seek to ensure that EPA

provides a healthy and safe work environment

and that employees are equipped with the tools

they need to accomplish the Agency’s mission.

Other performance goals and measures focus

on measuring improvements to critical processes that support EPA’s mission, such as

financial services and management of contracts and grants. Finally, to support our

objectives for delivery of audit and investigative

services, we have established goals and

measures to strengthen the integrity of EPA

programs. Taken together, our annual performance goals and measures link program efforts

directly to strategic objectives in order to

promote vision, leadership, and accountability

throughout the Agency.

External Factors

New legislation, regulations, and executive

orders may impose major new requirements

necessitating a shift in existing priorities.

Directives from OMB, the U.S. Treasury, the

General Services Administration, the Office of

Personnel Management, and GAO could affect

management activities. In addition, EPA has a

significant number of employees eligible for

retirement and must compete for the available

labor pool.
EPA Strategic Plan 6 3

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

Chapter 2:

Cross-Agency Programs
6 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

Over the past 30 years, EPA and our partners

have made substantial progress in addressing

human health and environmental issues. Many

of these advances have been the result of

conventional regulatory approaches. However,

EPA has grown increasingly aware of the need

for integrated strategies for solving complex

environmental problems.

In this chapter, we highlight EPA programs that

depart from standard approaches. These

programs promote partnerships with states and

tribes and enlist the efforts of others outside

the Agency in our environmental protection

work; cut across traditional media and

organizational boundaries; and consider, with a

more comprehensive view, the risks posed to

particular or vulnerable populations.

State Partnerships

Program Description

Many of the advances in environmental

protection would not have been possible

without the participation and support of the

states. Working together, we have forged the

strong partnerships that are essential to

protecting human health and the environment

and achieving our goals and objectives. Many

federal environmental statutes call for EPA to

authorize or delegate to states the primary

responsibility for implementing programs and

designate them as co-regulators, once EPA has

confirmed that they meet certain qualifying

criteria. A new relationship between the states

and EPA is emerging—one that allows us to

adapt to changing priorities and to experiment

with new ideas. We each have important roles

to play, and by cooperating and collaborating

with one another, we are achieving better

results at lower cost.

In May 1995, EPA and state leaders made a

commitment to establish a joint partnership for

environmental protection. The National

Environmental Performance Partnership

System (NEPPS) provides for EPA and states

to set priorities jointly; negotiate NEPPS

Performance Partnership Agreements (PPAs)

that define their roles and responsibilities; find

flexible ways of implementing environmental

protection; work together to define a set of

core performance measures (CPMs) that will

demonstrate the environmental results they

have achieved; and evaluate their success.

Five years after the signing of the NEPPS

agreement, in March 2000, EPA’s Deputy

Administrator issued a memorandum

Chapter 2:

Cross-Agency Programs
EPA Strategic Plan 6 5

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

reaffirming EPA’s commitment

to the performance partnership

system and to setting

environmental priorities jointly

with states through the

negotiation of PPAs. The

Environmental Council of the

States (ECOS), an organization

of State Environmental

Commissioners, responded in

kind with a resolution that

reaffirmed the states’

commitment to NEPPS. These

renewed commitments

demonstrate EPA’s and states’

continued resolve to work

together towards more integrated and strategic

environmental management, increased pollution

prevention, and enhanced environmental

quality.

What Will be Accomplished

• Promote greater collaboration in solving

environmental problems, with states and

EPA working together more effectively to

take advantage of their relative strengths.

• Based on an assessment of environmental

conditions and needs, target priorities which

are likely to achieve the greatest

environmental and human health benefits.

• By 2003, increase the use of actual

measures of environmental and human

health conditions, thereby achieving a better

balance with traditional program activity

measures.

• Expand the number and type of protection

strategies available to include more

integrated and flexible approaches such as

pollution prevention, ecosystem

management, and compliance assurance.

• Tailor the amount and type of EPA oversight

to the strengths and needs of individual

states.

• Analyze and understand the results of

protection efforts and consult with and

inform the public about environmental and

human health conditions and strategies for

resolving remaining problems.

• Promote enhanced partnerships with coregulators through continually improving

PPAs under NEPPS, including the

Performance Partnership Grants (PPG)

process.

Means and Strategies

From its inception, NEPPS has been an

ambitious initiative. To achieve its goal of

demonstrable improvement in the nation’s

environment as a result of close cooperation

between the states and EPA, the NEPPS

process requires that states and EPA

understand and adapt to each others’ roles and

responsibilities and maintain good

communications.

To this end, EPA will continue to work with

states to negotiate and implement PPAs that

clarify our respective roles and responsibilities.

In tandem with PPAs, EPA will use its

authority to allow states to combine funds from

multiple categorical grants into one or more

PPGs. PPAs and PPGs encourage states to
6 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

develop innovative ways to address their

highest environmental priorities across all

media; link their program activities more

effectively with environmental results; and

devise improved pollution prevention, crossmedia, ecosystem, and community-based

strategies. We will continue to work with

states to use PPAs and PPGs to seek ways of

providing needed flexibility in program areas,

resource utilization, and oversight, while

maintaining accountability and ensuring that

federal funds and resources are applied to the

highest environmental priorities.

Another NEPPS priority is the joint EPA/state

effort to develop a set of CPMs that reflect

states’ program priorities and will help gauge

their progress in protecting human health and

the environment. EPA and states will work

together to define better measures of actual

environmental conditions as the indicators of

program effectiveness, leading to a significant

increase in outcome-oriented CPMs by

FY 2003.

EPA has incorporated a variety of methods to

improve NEPPS in our 2000 work plan, and we

will continue to develop work plans each year.

Our current work plan, which reflects a

number of recommendations to improve

NEPPS implementation provided by the

General Accounting Office, focuses Agency

efforts on providing leadership for NEPPS

efforts among the states and at all levels at

EPA; developing guidance to make PPA

development and quality more consistent

nationwide; integrating NEPPS concerns into

EPA’s internal processes, particularly strategic

planning and budgeting; and improving the use

of outcome-based CPMs in PPAs to paint a

picture of the state of environmental protection

nationwide. In addition, based on a survey of

NEPPS-related training that is available now

and that will be required in the future, we will

work to improve Agency training programs and

develop new tools and approaches.

Taken together, these efforts will promote

EPA/state partnerships and help to advance

our ability to work together to achieve efficient

and effective environmental and public health

protection.

Tribal Partnerships

Program Description

American Indian culture and way of life are

inextricably linked to the environment, and the

very existence of some tribal peoples can be

threatened by the substandard environmental

conditions that persist in Indian country.

Unique cultural and legal issues and

complicated federal Indian law

present challenges to the

coordination and implementation of

environmental management

activities in Indian country. As a

result, these issues must be

addressed through innovative

approaches and a coordinated

federal program that works in

partnership with tribes.

In 1994, Administrator Browner

established the American Indian

Environmental Office (AIEO) to

lead the individuals and
EPA Strategic Plan 6 7

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

organizations in the Agency that comprise

EPA’s Indian Program. Consistent with our

government-to-government relationship and

commitment to conserve natural resources for

cultural uses, EPA’s Indian Program advances

our trust responsibility to federally recognized

tribes by ensuring the protection of human

health and the environment in Indian country.

What Will be Accomplished

The Agency’s Indian Program has established

three overall objectives to help achieve its

mission:

• Advance health and environmental quality in

Indian country through increased

implementation of environmental programs.

• Enhance the relationship between tribes and

EPA to promote more effective

partnerships.

• Promote consistency within EPA, and

improve coordination with other federal

agencies.

Means and Strategies

To improve the environmental programs being

implemented in Indian country by tribes or by

EPA, the Indian Program will launch a number

of initiatives to assess tribes’ current needs,

capabilities, and priorities. This will be

accomplished by completing the baseline

assessment of environmental conditions in

Indian country; continuing the establishment of

formal environmental management

agreements; and working cooperatively with

tribes to implement the agreements. The

Indian Program will use the information

gathered through the baseline assessment and

the environmental management agreements to

develop innovative ways to continue to

increase tribal capabilities to implement and

manage environmental programs. Although

EPA will continue to provide funding directly to

tribes, we will also be working on creative

ways to increase Agency resources dedicated

to the tribes’ environmental issues and to

remove legal and procedural barriers to

program implementation.

EPA cannot achieve its goals without working

closely with tribes, so the Indian Program is

taking a number of steps to help build more

positive relationships and more effective

partnerships. EPA will improve the internal

and external communications infrastructure for

the Indian Program. Internally, the Agency will

increase training for all staff on how to work

effectively with tribal governments, and the

Agency will keep tribes better informed about

the activities and accomplishments of the

Indian Program through an annual

accomplishments report. Finally, the Indian

Program also plans to increase its support to

advisory organizations, including the National

Indian Working Group, Tribal Operations

Committee, Regional Tribal Operations

Committees, and the Senior Indian Program

Managers to promote more effective use of

these organizations.

Although the Indian Program encompasses a

variety of activities and organizations, it is

important that its efforts remain consistent

across the Agency and are well coordinated

with those of other federal agencies. To

promote internal consistency, the Agency will

be developing innovative models for common

tasks, such as permitting, that are performed

throughout the Agency. While these models

will offer a more consistent approach, they will

remain flexible enough to meet the needs of

individual tribes. EPA will coordinate with

other federal agencies that have related

responsibilities to assist tribes in assuming

environmental programs and working on

environmental problems cooperatively and

consistently. Finally, EPA will work with tribes

and states to establish mechanisms to resolve

issues around common environmental

concerns.
6 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics

Initiative

Program Description

Persistent bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT)

chemicals, which include mercury, lead, and

polychlorinated biphenyls, present a particular

threat to human health and the environment

because they are toxic, persist in ecosystems

over long periods of time, and accumulate in

fish and up the food chain. Children, whose

bodies are still developing, and individuals who

consume large quantities of fish are especially

vulnerable to risks posed by PBTs.

Because PBTs can travel long distances, move

between air, water, and soil, and linger for

generations, the challenge of reducing risks

from PBTs cannot be addressed solely by

EPA’s traditional, single-statute approaches.

Therefore, EPA has designed an Agency-wide

PBT Initiative (PBTI) which employs all of

EPA’s tools—regulation, compliance and

enforcement, research, voluntary actions, and

international negotiation—to reduce PBTs that

have been identified as priorities. The PBTI

relies upon a variety of innovative, coordinated,

cross-office activities that maximize our efforts

to protect human health and the environment

from PBT risks.

What Will be Accomplished

• Substantially reduce risks to human health

and the environment from exposure to

existing priority PBTs, and prevent the entry

of new PBTs into commerce.

• Coordinate an Agency-wide approach to

further reduce risks from exposure to

priority PBTs, using all available regulatory

and voluntary tools, approaches, and

incentives.

Means and Strategies

EPA has organized the PBTI to address

priority PBTs across media and across offices.

EPA will:

– Develop and implement National Action

Plans for the first set of 12 priority PBTs;

– Prevent the entry of new high-risk PBTs

into commerce;

– Identify emerging PBT priorities for future

National Action Plan development; and

– Assess progress through monitoring and

measurement.

To ensure that we meet our PBTI objectives,

we will continue to apply cross-media, crossoffice approaches. This is particularly

important in order to determine the sources of

PBT contamination of water bodies in the

United States. EPA is coordinating an effort

under the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water

Act to develop models that will allow the

Agency to better identify local sources of

mercury, a priority PBT. We expect

regulations affecting municipal waste

combustion and medical waste incinerators to

reduce airborne mercury emissions by about

100 tons per year. In addition, EPA will

develop protective water quality criteria to

address the most toxic and pervasive PBTs.

EPA will work with our partners and

stakeholders to develop and begin to implement

National Action Plans for the first set of 12

priority PBTs (mercury, PCBs, aldrin/dieldrin,

chlordane, DDT, mirex, toxaphene, dioxins/

furans, benzo(a)pyrene, hexachlorobenzene,

alkyl lead, octachlorostyrene). As part of these

Plans, we will pursue opportunities for working

within sectors or geographic areas to address

several pollutants at the same time. In these

Action Plans, the Agency will assess the

current levels of priority PBTs in the
EPA Strategic Plan 6 9

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

environment and in human populations and will

track progress in reducing these PBTs.

In implementing specific action plans, EPA will

encourage voluntary partnerships with industry

and other stakeholders. We will work with

industry to identify risks, evaluate new

approaches, improve compliance, and

ultimately implement cleaner production

technologies. For example, our Resource

Conservation and Recovery Act program will

focus on waste minimization, working with

industry to reduce PBTs of highest concern in

waste streams. We will promote projects that

will achieve measurable reductions quickly.

For example, we are working with the

American Hospital Association to virtually

eliminate mercury in hospitals. We will

continue to conduct similar efforts with other

sectors that use or release priority PBTs and

will work with partners and stakeholders to

develop and expand use of tools such as the

PBT profiler.

A priority for EPA is measuring and monitoring

PBTs in the environment and in human

populations and tracking progress on reductions

using databases such as the Toxic Release

Inventory (TRI) and the National Health and

Nutritional Examination Surveys (NHANES),

among others. Facilities will begin to report

PBT chemical releases under a new TRI rule.

EPA will gather more information on key

areas, such as mercury releases from utilities

and the impact of storm water runoff. In

addition, we will continue our nationwide study

to document the extent and nature of fish tissue

contamination by PBT chemicals which had

not been considered in an earlier study.

On the international front, EPA will work with

Environment Canada to implement the Great

Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy (BTS). The

purpose of this binational strategy is to set forth

a collaborative process by which EPA,

Environment Canada, Great Lakes states, the

Province of Ontario, and Indian tribes will work

in cooperation with their public and private

partners toward the goal of virtually eliminating

inputs of PBTs to the Great Lakes Basin (as

defined in the BTS) in order to protect and

ensure the health and integrity of the Great

Lakes ecosystem.

In addition, EPA expects negotiations on a

global convention for persistent organic

pollutants (POPs) to be successfully concluded

by December 2000. We will participate in

capacity-building projects to support key

developing countries’ efforts to comply with

the POPs convention. Projects will include

working with the World Health Organization’s

“Roll Back Malaria” Program to phase out the

production and use of DDT around the world

and providing support to Asian countries,

particularly Indonesia and other Southeast Asia

countries, as they work towards an eventual

phase-out of leaded gasoline.

Finally, we will emphasize research to help

prevent the introduction of PBTs into the

environment, and we will target our research

efforts towards sectors producing large

quantities of PBTs. We will make the most of

our research resources by addressing groups of

PBTs that share common characteristics.

Protecting the Environment

Through the Sector-Based

Approach

Program Description

EPA has been exploring innovative approaches

to environmental protection that go beyond

traditional media-specific or chemical-specific

programs. One such innovation, the sectorbased approach, focuses on a particular

business, service, or industrial sector to achieve

more efficient, effective, and timely

environmental results. When an industry

works with government and other stakeholders
7 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

to consider releases to all environmental media

comprehensively, they see more clearly the

environmental and economic value of

preventing pollution at the source. Incentives

can be tailored to meet the needs of the sector.

Further, we have found that sector projects that

encompass various Agency core functions

such as permitting, rulemaking, and

compliance/enforcement help establish critical

links between different parts of EPA, as well

as between EPA and our co-implementers at

the regional, state, tribal, and local levels.

The sector-based approach was demonstrated

through the Common Sense Initiative (CSI), a

1994-98 pilot program for six large and small

industry sectors. Based on our experience

with CSI and other sector initiatives such as

Design for the Environment (which focuses on

alternative technology development), the

Sustainable Industry program (which creates

sector-specific incentives and removes barriers

to better, more cost-effective environmental

performance), and Web-based Compliance

Assistance Centers (which provide industry

sector-specific information to promote

compliance), sector work is being further

integrated into EPA’s core functions. Creation

and implementation of the FY1999 and 2000

Sector Action Plans have reinforced our

integration efforts: the 2000 Plan strongly

encourages cross-Agency, multimedia, sector

approaches. As part of this effort, it is

important for us to consider when and how the

sector approach works with other approaches

to environmental protection. For example,

facility-based programs like Project XL

(eXcellence and Leadership) and Performance

Track (a new program for motivating and

rewarding top environmental performance)

present opportunities for sector-wide

application. Also, watershed and communitybased approaches must deal with broad

economic sectors like transportation, as well as

with the impact that several facilities in the

same industry may have on the community.

What Will be Accomplished

• Promote better compliance with

environmental laws and more diligent

corporate stewardship by facilities in defined

sectors through a combination of incentives,

Perchloroethylene Use by U.S. Dry Cleaning Industry

An example of the results achieved by the sector-based approach to pollution reduction

1985

0

0

100

150

200

250

300

Pounds of perchloroethylene (millions)

1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
EPA Strategic Plan 7 1

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

voluntary actions, and streamlined regulatory

procedures. Measure performance and

report results.

• Develop and implement a 5-year Sector

Program Plan. This strategy will complete

the transition from CSI as a demonstration

program to the integration of the sectorbased approach into EPA’s core functions.

Means and Strategies

EPA will develop more sector-specific,

comprehensive stewardship programs that

involve industry, state and local governments,

and other partners and stakeholders. We will

complete implementation of the Metal Finishing

Strategic Goals Program and develop similar,

targeted programs in other sectors. We will

expand efforts to integrate sector-based

strategies into core Agency functions such as

permitting, coordinated rulemaking,

enforcement and compliance, regional problemsolving, voluntary partnerships, research, and

international activities. We will implement a

wide range of sector-specific innovations to

promote “cleaner, cheaper, smarter”

performance that outpaces the results

achievable under typical regulatory programs.

In programs like Sustainable Industry and

Design for the Environment, we will further

identify, test, and implement innovative

approaches tailored to individual sectors’ needs

and opportunities. We will also identify

innovations from the Project XL and other

facility-specific demonstration projects that are

appropriate for sector-wide implementation,

and we will implement more sector-based pilot

projects to test new innovations.

By revising the Agency’s 1984 Small Business

Strategy, we will raise EPA’s awareness of

sector issues and help small business sectors

meet and exceed their environmental

responsibilities. We will develop strategies for

operating existing Compliance Assistance

Centers more cost-effectively, thereby making

resources available for establishing new

Centers to serve sectors dominated by smallto medium-sized entities.

In collaboration with representatives from

broad economic sectors and other key

stakeholders, we will design and test innovative

strategies for improving livability and protecting

public health and the environment in America’s

communities. We will provide resources,

information, and new analytical tools to state

and local governments and the economic

development community to help inform

decisions and create new incentives for more

environmentally beneficial development. We

will also work with the real estate industry,

economic development industries, and

communities to encourage smart growth and

improve community livability through programs

that improve air and water quality, revitalize

brownfields, and preserve open space.

We will help stakeholders in the transportation

sector reduce traffic congestion, improve air

quality, and enhance the local quality of life. In

collaboration with the U.S. Department of

Transportation, state departments of

transportation, and metropolitan transportation

organizations, we will offer more regulatory

credit for air quality improvements that result

from better coordination of transportation and

land use. We will work specifically with the

freight transportation sector on strategies to

minimize air pollution, increase transportation

efficiency, and lower costs. Finally, we will

work to remove regulatory barriers and other

disincentives to smarter growth.

Environmental Health Risks

to Children

Program Description

Children face significant and unique health

threats from a range of environmental hazards.

They are often more heavily exposed and more
7 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

vulnerable than adults to toxins in the

environment. Pound for pound, children

breathe more air, drink more water, and eat

more food than adults. Children’s behavior

patterns, such as playing close to the ground

and putting hands-to-mouth, increase their

exposure to potential toxins. In addition,

children’s body systems are still developing, so

they may be less able than adults to metabolize,

detoxify, and eliminate toxins. Environmental

risks to children include asthma-exacerbating

air pollution, lead-based paint in older homes,

treatment-resistant microbes in drinking water,

and persistent chemicals that may cause

cancer or induce reproductive or

developmental changes. Toxic injury to

developing organ systems can carry lifelong

consequences.

Assessing health risks to children from

environmental pollutants is a major concern for

EPA. In 1995, EPA announced a new

Agency-wide policy to ensure that

environmental risks to children’s health are

explicitly and consistently evaluated in our risk

assessments, risk characterizations, and human

health regulations and standards. In late 1996,

the Agency issued its National Agenda to

Protect Children’s Health from Environmental

Threats. This Agenda builds and improves

upon current Agency-wide activities to ensure

a consistent approach in improving our risk

assessments and national standards specifically

to protect children. EPA will also be able to

assure the American people that, based on the

best scientific information, risks to children are

fully considered in all of our national healthbased environmental protection efforts.

What Will be Accomplished

• Conduct and support research relating to

children’s environmental health.

• Work to ensure that EPA regulations and

standards explicitly consider risks to

children.

• Implement community-based public

awareness and education programs on

children’s environmental health issues.

Means and Strategies

EPA intends to work with our partners,

including states and other federal departments,

to ensure that every individual, government

agency, corporation, community, and

organization will understand the link between

children’s health and the environment and will

take positive action to improve children’s

health-related environmental problems. We

will continue to focus efforts in two broad

categories: building infrastructure and

capacity and conducting public education

and outreach.

Building Infrastructure and Capacity

It is critical that organizations responsible for

caring for families and children make

protecting children from environmental

threats an integral part of the way they do

business. Therefore, EPA is investing

substantial effort to ensure that children’s

environment-related health protection is

integrated into EPA programs, other federal

agencies, states, and private sector entities

such as health care providers.
EPA Strategic Plan 7 3

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

EPA intends to coordinate children’s health

issues across the Agency and with states. In

addition, we will work to enhance state

capacity in children’s environmental health

programs. As health-based standards are

developed or revised, EPA will ensure that they

are protective of children. We will implement

the interagency Asthma and Lead Poisoning

Prevention Strategies, which were developed

under the auspices of the Task Force on

Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks

to Children. We will also ensure

implementation of the 1997 Declaration on

Children’s Environmental Health, continue to

support efforts such as the International

Conference on Children’s Environmental

Health, and develop a work element for the

Commission for Environmental Cooperation

(CEC).

EPA will conduct and support research on

children’s susceptibility and exposure to

pollutants to ensure that we use the best

information in developing protective measures

for children. This includes working with other

federal agencies and academic institutions to

identify and expand research on children’s

environment-related health. EPA, working

with the Department of Health and Human

Services, plans to conduct a feasibility study for

a long-term longitudinal cohort study of the

impact of exposure to environmental pollutants

on children. Working with health care

providers, we will continue to convey

information on environmentally related illness to

primary health care providers (physicians,

nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants,

nurse midwives, and community health

workers) through the traditional training and

continuing education system.

Conducting Public Education and Outreach

Communities, parents, and other caregivers can

do much to reduce children’s exposure to

pollutants. EPA will provide information and

technical assistance to parents, teachers,

communities, and environmental and health

professionals so that they can better protect

children from environmental health threats in

their homes, schools, and communities. We

will expand the Child Health Champion

Campaign, designed to empower local citizens

and communities. In addition, to help

youngsters become informed adults, we will

work with youth organizations on children’s

environment-related health issues.

Environmental Justice

Program Description

EPA’s mission is to protect human health and to

safeguard the natural environment—air, water,

and land—upon which life depends. This

mission holds true for all of the American

public, regardless of race, color, national origin,

culture, education, and income or where

individuals live, learn, and work. In our 1997

Strategic Plan, EPA stated that to accomplish

our mission, we must ensure that “all parts of

society—communities, individuals, business,

state and local governments, tribal

governments—have access to accurate

information sufficient to participate effectively

in managing human health and environmental

risks.”

While EPA has made significant progress in

securing healthier, liveable environments, we

recognize that we still have much work to do to

extend the benefits of environmental regulatory

programs to all communities. A number of

minority and low-income communities have

raised concerns that they may be

disproportionately exposed to environmental

harms and risks. Additionally, they have

contended that they do not have access to

environmental information and, consequently,

have not been able to make informed decisions

regarding environmental and health-related

issues in their communities.
7 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

The primary goals of the Agency’s

environmental justice program are to ensure

that all individuals are protected from

significant risks to human health and the

environment where they live, learn, and work;

to ensure that federal protective environmental

laws are enforced fairly and effectively; and to

ensure that all parts of society, including

minority and low-income communities, have

access to accurate information sufficient to

participate effectively in environmental

decision-making processes.

What Will be Accomplished

In order for environmental justice to be

achieved for all of the American public, it must

remain a high priority for EPA and continue to

be incorporated into all Agency programs and

policies. EPA will seek to:

• Ensure that communities most

disproportionately impacted by toxic releases

and hazards receive fair, effective, and equal

enforcement under protective environmental

laws and encourage citizens in adversely

impacted communities to participate fully in

environmental decisions affecting them.

• Achieve source reductions in high-risk

communities to ensure that all individuals are

protected from significant risks to human

health and the environment.

• Review all EPA regulations and identify

opportunities for integrating environmental

justice into the decision-making process,

consistent with Executive Order 12898 and

existing environmental laws.

Means and Strategies

EPA will use a variety of approaches to ensure

that all communities, regardless of race or

income, are protected from disproportionate

environmental risks and are fully involved in the

environmental decision-making processes that

affect them. We will continue to develop tools

that can be used to identify communities most

disproportionately impacted by toxic releases

and hazards and will work to minimize sources

of pollution. In addition, we will continue to

target specific activities to reduce exposure to

toxins, increase enforcement of environmental

regulations, and clean up high-risk

communities. For example, EPA will continue

to host meetings that bring together

communities, local industry, and relevant

agencies to share in addressing environmental

problems. As part of these initiatives, we will

continue to establish working committees that

allow community-based organizations to be

meaningfully involved in the health and

environmental issues that impact their

communities.

The Presidential Memorandum that

accompanied Executive Order 12898

emphasized the importance of public

participation as part of the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process,

directing that “each federal agency shall

provide opportunities for community input in the

NEPA process.” The Council on

Environmental Quality issued the

“Environmental Justice Guidance Under the

National Environmental Policy Act,” which

incorporates environmental justice

considerations into the NEPA process. EPA

will continue its efforts to enhance community

participation in environmental programs by

increasing education and providing technical

and financial assistance to high-risk

communities. We will evaluate communities’

effectiveness in identifying local environmental

issues and participating in the decision-making

process, and, guided by the 1995 Public

Participation Model Plan, we will work to

increase public involvement. For example, by

providing access to user-friendly, Web-based

information systems that integrate

environmental information with census, health,

and other data, we will promote understanding
EPA Strategic Plan 7 5

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs

of environmental issues and help communities

find solutions at a local level. We will continue

to hold local public meetings to ensure that all

stakeholders receive the environmental

information they need to make informed

decisions.

Finally, EPA will continue to collaborate with

our federal, state, tribal, and local government

partners and with stakeholders to address

environmental justice issues. We will continue

to work with the Interagency Work Group on

Environmental Justice and the National

Environmental Justice Advisory Council to

discuss specific policy issues and concerns.

EPA will work to ensure that all of its

programs and policies promote environmental

justice and will incorporate guidance on

achieving environmental justice into regional

Memoranda of Agreement and State

Performance Partnership Agreements.
7 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 2: Cross-Agency Programs
EPA Strategic Plan 7 7

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

Chapter 3:

Assessing Our Work and

Learning From Our Results
7 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

This chapter describes EPA’s approach to

assessing and learning from our short- and

long-term progress in working toward our goals

and objectives. It covers the following three

areas: (1) fostering accountability to reinforce

the responsibility of program managers for

achieving program results, (2) assessing and

learning from our annual performance results,

and (3) measuring results using meaningful

performance measures and benefit-cost

assessments. The final section in this chapter

provides a goal-by-goal summary of program

evaluations that EPA has used to set the goals

and objectives presented in this Strategic Plan.

Fostering Accountability

Five years ago, EPA embarked on a farreaching effort to change past approaches to

planning, budgeting, and accountability in a

fundamental way. In March 1996,

Administrator Carol Browner announced the

creation of a new planning, budgeting, analysis,

and accountability (PBAA) process intended to

foster results-based management and monitor

our progress towards EPA’s goals and

objectives.

As part of this new process, in September

1997, EPA produced a Strategic Plan that laid

out long-term environmental goals and

objectives. Beginning in FY 1999, the Agency

tied its annual plan and budget directly to these

strategic goals and objectives. Finally, using the

results we obtained in FY 1999, EPA prepared

its first Annual Performance Report, released

in March 2000. Currently, we are using FY

1999 performance results to revise and fine

tune our annual goals for FY 2002. This

completes the first full cycle of the Agency’s

new PBAA approach to results-based

management.

To further promote results-based management,

EPA is also relying on direct, focused

interaction between the Deputy Administrator

and the senior managers whose organizations

contribute to the achievement of our goals and

objectives. During a series of meetings, now in

its third year, senior Agency managers discuss

prior year performance results, lessons learned

from those results, progress toward meeting

current year goals, and progress toward

meeting the Agency’s long-term goals and

objectives.

Over the next five years, as we complete

several more planning and budgeting cycles,

EPA will closely examine our annual and

cumulative results. We will use our findings to

adjust our approaches and our resources to

focus on the highest risks to human health and

the environment and the most effective

strategies for addressing them.

Chapter 3:

Assessing Our Work and

Learning from Our Results
EPA Strategic Plan 7 9

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

Learning and Improving

As a “learning year,” FY 1999 provided many

opportunities for us to identify our strengths and

weaknesses and develop our capabilities for

results-based management. Implementing

results-based management has had a number of

positive effects on the Agency. In particular,

programs have been challenged to think

carefully about how to define success, look

beyond program activities to ultimate outcomes,

and review the availability and quality of

program data. The strategic framework of

goals and objectives provides the Agency a

more structured way in which to discuss

priorities, the allocation of resources, and the

contributions of separate organizational

elements. FY 1999 performance in particular

has provided the basis for identifying necessary

changes in annual goals and targets. It has also

led many Agency programs to reassess

strategies for meeting longer-term strategic

goals and objectives and to make the

adjustments that are reflected in this Strategic

Plan. We will have an even stronger basis for

such reassessments as we collect FY 2000

performance data and look ahead to our FY

2001 goals and targets.

Based on our FY 1999 performance, feedback

on our Annual Plans and first Annual

Performance Report, and reassessment of our

strategic goals and objectives, EPA faces

several critical challenges:

• Improving annual goals and strategic

objectives so that a larger percentage

address environmental outcomes, thus

achieving a better balance of outputs,

program outcomes, and environmental

outcomes;

• Continuing to assess whether the Agency’s

programs are measuring the right things and

making the appropriate adjustments;

• Improving the use of our PBAA process as

a management tool and as a vehicle for

communicating with Congress and the

public.

Meeting these challenges will require us to

continue our dialogue with partners and

stakeholders and to use their feedback to

improve our approaches. EPA is committed to

working hard over the next several years to

address these challenges.

Measuring Results

A key aspect of results-based management is

setting meaningful performance measures:

measures of activities or results that can help

determine whether we are making timely

progress toward our objectives. Since first

developing Agency-wide annual performance

goals and measures three years ago in our FY

1999 Annual Performance Plan, EPA has made

significant improvements in the quality of our

goals and measures. More improvement is

needed, however, to develop additional

measures of programmatic or environmental

outcomes that can be used to evaluate our longterm progress and the ultimate impact of

Agency activities on human health and the

environment.

Performance measures are often described as

being arrayed along a “continuum.” At one end

of the continuum are the numbers of actions

taken by EPA and states, such as the number

of reduced-risk pesticides that the Agency

registers annually. These measures are

generally referred to as “activity” or “output”

measures. Farther along the continuum are

measures of intermediate results of EPA and

state activities, for example, the number of

acres treated with reduced-risk pesticides.

These measures are generally referred to as

programmatic or “intermediate outcome”

measures. At the furthest end of the
8 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

continuum are measures of impacts on

environmental quality, human health, or

ecosystems, such as the occurrence of illnesses

caused by pesticides in drinking water. These

measures are generally referred to as

“environmental” or “end outcome” measures.

At present, however, environmental outcome

measures of performance are impractical or

technically infeasible for some EPA and state

programs and activities. For example, it is not

always possible to obtain accurate information

on environmental results without imposing

unreasonable reporting burdens on states, local

governments, or regulated entities. In other

cases, the links between EPA activities and

environmental results are indirect or gradual,

requiring many years to take full effect. As a

result, it may not be feasible to link EPA

activities during a specific year or years to

specific environmental improvements. For

example, because of the problems in measuring

pollution that has been reduced or eliminated

before entering the environment, it is technically

difficult and resource intensive to develop

measures for the Agency’s pollution prevention

programs.

Nevertheless, intermediate measures of

outcomes, such as measures of customer

satisfaction, cost-effectiveness, or industry

compliance can be developed and used to

measure programmatic results. EPA is

committed to improving the national information

base on environmental quality and associated

impacts on health and ecosystems by cataloging

existing environmental data and advancing

environmental monitoring efforts. As data are

improved, EPA and states will continue our

progress toward more outcome- or resultsbased measures of performance. The Agency

will have a continuing need to measure outputs,

as they are an invaluable management tool and

are frequently requested by external

stakeholders. Thus it will continue to be

important to employ a balance of measures

along the continuum.

Recognizing our need to increase the number of

outcome or results-based goals and measures,

EPA has initiated a variety of projects to

improve performance measurement. We have

formed improvement work teams, conducted

workshops, and prepared special analyses to

support development of more outcome-oriented

goals and measures. Some examples of our

ongoing work include: (1) development of a

National Performance Measurement Strategy,

which includes a plan to develop more

outcome-based performance goals and

measures (Office of Enforcement and

Compliance Assistance); (2) formation of a

“best practices” work group, which has

developed more outcome-oriented goals

and measures (Office of International

Activities); (3) ongoing analysis to

identify and learn from results-based,

research-related goals and measures

employed by other federal agencies

(Office of Research and Development);

(4) establishment of a work group and

cooperative agreement with Florida

State University to develop more

outcome-focused goals and measures

(Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and

Toxic Substances); and (5)

benchmarking of performance measures

used by other agencies with functions
EPA Strategic Plan 8 1

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

similar to those of EPA’s varied programs

(Office of the Chief Financial Officer).

An important subset of the Agency’s

Government Performance and Results Act

(GPRA) performance goals and measures—

and a particular focus of our work to improve

them—are the “core performance measures”

(CPMs), which have been negotiated with the

Environmental Council of the States through the

National Environmental Performance

Partnership System (NEPPS). (See Chapter 2,

“State Partnerships.”) CPMs are a limited set

of the national measures designed to help gauge

EPA and state progress towards protection of

the environment and public health, and are an

important foundation for the data needed to

support EPA’s GPRA objectives and annual

goals and measures. An estimated 25 percent

of CPMs currently reflect environmental

outcomes. While recognizing the continuing

need for output measures to help manage our

programs, EPA and the states are especially

committed to increasing significantly the ratio of

environmental outcome to output CPMs. Over

the long term, EPA will work with states to

develop outcome CPMs that reflect the impact

of our activities to improve the environment and

protect human health.

Assessing Benefits and Costs

In setting goals and developing specific policy

instruments to achieve these goals, EPA uses

the best available science and economic

analysis. We make public policy decisions on

the basis of multiple criteria, including costs and

benefits, equity, institutional and legal feasibility,

and risk tradeoffs. Benefit-cost analysis can be

used to inform decision makers and the public

about the economic efficiency or overall

societal impact resulting from alternative

environmental programs or policies.

EPA is committed to analyzing the costs and

benefits of major regulations as called for by

Executive Order 12866 and law, such as the

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. When

Agency actions are expected to impose

significant costs on society, EPA conducts a

regulatory impact analysis of the costs, benefits,

and other anticipated economic impacts of the

action. To the extent permitted by law, such

analyses are used to inform regulatory option

selections and to adopt cost-effective

regulatory requirements. The Agency also

prepares economic analyses in other instances,

such as when statutes call for the preparation

of economic information to support regulatory

development processes.

EPA is also involved in integrated,

comprehensive benefit-cost assessments of

environmental programs, such as the recently

published benefit-cost analyses required by

Section 812 of the Clean Air Act Amendments

of 1990. The reports, “The Benefits and Costs

of the Clean Air Act, 1970-1990” and the

companion “The Benefits and Costs of the

Clean Air Act, 1990-2010,” describe and

compare the environmental benefits from

reduced air pollution with the costs of pollution

control investments and their impact on

economic production. Both studies concluded

that the total benefits from investments in

environmental protection to achieve the goals of

the Clean Air Act have far exceeded the costs

over these two time periods. Similar efforts to

assess the benefits and costs of other programs

are planned or underway, and we expect the

results to contribute to the assessment of

existing programs and assist in strategic

planning and priority setting.

On an even larger scale, the Agency and the

public have frequently cited data on the

aggregate costs of all existing programs,

represented, for example, in the 1990 EPA

study, “Environmental Investments: The Cost of

a Clean Environment.” Although that report

did not directly estimate the costs to meet the

specific goals in this Strategic Plan, the overall

cost estimates provided a general indication of

the magnitude of pollution control expenditures
8 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

in the United States in the late 1980s and

forecasted expenditures through the 1990s.

The Commerce Department data collection

program that produced the aggregate cost

estimates in the report were discontinued in the

mid-1990s. Recent efforts by the Census

Bureau and EPA to renew collection efforts

will assist in developing more current and

complete reports of these costs, which should

prove useful in evaluating the economic impacts

of EPA programs.

Despite substantial efforts to perform economic

analyses on a wide range of Agency programs,

it remains difficult to articulate the full array of

economic benefits that result from preventing

and controlling pollution. For example, to

evaluate the benefits of reaching an objective

for decreased pollutant releases, one must

document a complex sequence of analytic steps

to arrive at an assessment of the impacts. In

concept, the benefits of less pollution can be

defined as improvements in human health and

the environment, including reduced damage to

plants, animals, and materials, and other qualityof-life attributes.

Important prerequisites for estimating benefits

include a clear scientific understanding of the

linkage between an activity or condition and its

effects on human health and the environment;

scientifically based estimates of the incremental

effects of these linkages, such as doseresponse relationships, expressed in forms

compatible with economic analysis; and

assessments of the value of such effects to

society. The assessments of risks from

pollutants released to the environment, the

measurement of the consequences to human

and natural life exposed to these pollutants, and

the quantification of the values associated with

these changes are some of the challenges EPA

faces in quantifying the benefits of achieving

our goals. An analysis of benefits should cover

the entire spectrum of benefits, from those that

can be assigned a dollar value to those that can

only be described qualitatively, and from those

that are direct and immediate to those that are

remote in distance or time.

Consequently, in most cases, the benefits and

costs of attaining the Agency’s goals and

objectives cannot be measured with precision.

Existing information on costs and benefits of

individual EPA regulations does not provide

complete coverage of all of the actions needed

to achieve the goals and objectives described in

this Strategic Plan. Many of the costs and

benefits that may be associated with these

goals and objectives are either very difficult to

quantify or cannot be represented in monetary

terms.

Cognizant of these limitations, the Agency

assesses benefit and cost information to the

best of its ability and cautiously uses this

information, when legally permitted, to inform

regulatory decisions and other actions

necessary to achieve our goals and objectives.

Over time, as better benefit and cost

information becomes available, this information

may also be used to influence EPA’s objectives

and numeric targets. The continuing process of

information collection and analysis will serve

both to refine Agency priorities and to inform

the public about the results of EPA’s programs.

Using Program Evaluations

Program evaluations provide EPA with an

opportunity to examine cause and effect

relationships between program activities and

program performance. The Agency has

undertaken a number of evaluation activities

since publication of our 1997 Strategic Plan.

This evaluation work, along with ongoing

assessments of annual performance, has helped

us assess our progress towards our strategic

goals and objectives, identify strategies that are

working and those that are not working, and

change strategies where necessary. Some key

program evaluations that have contributed to

the development of this Strategic Plan are

described below.
EPA Strategic Plan 8 3

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

Goal 1: Clean Air

Over the past few years, the Agency has

conducted a number of evaluations of specific

air contaminants and program methods and

approaches under our Clean Air goal.

• Reformulated Gasoline (RFG)

Evaluation: In December 1998, in

response to growing concern about MTBE

(methyl tertiary butyl ether) in drinking

water, EPA’s Administrator appointed a

panel to examine benefits and concerns

related to RFG, MTBE, and other

oxygenates; identify data gaps; and evaluate

alternatives based on their effects on air

quality, water quality, and stability of fuel

supply and cost. The panel found that: (1)

RFG has provided substantial reductions in

the emissions of a number of air pollutants

from motor vehicles; (2) MTBE is detected

in approximately 5 to 10 percent of drinking

water supplies in RFG areas showing

detectable amounts of MTBE; and (3) the

major source of groundwater contamination

appears to be releases from underground

gasoline storage systems. To address these

issues, the panel recommended the following

actions:

— Improve the nation’s water protection

programs;

— Reduce the use of MTBE substantially

and request that Congress provide clear

federal and state authority to regulate

and/or eliminate the use of MTBE and

other gasoline additives; and

— Ensure that there is no loss of current

air quality benefits.

On March 24, 2000, EPA published an

“Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking”

of EPA’s intent to initiate rulemaking

pursuant to Section 6 of the Toxic

Substances Control Act to eliminate or limit

the use of MTBE as a fuel additive.

• Evaluation of Particulate Matter

Monitoring: The General Accounting

Office (GAO) August 27, 1999 report,

“EPA’s Actions to Resolve Concerns with

the Fine Particulate Monitoring Program,”

focuses on two main areas of the particulate

matter monitoring program: (1) EPA’s

response to a March 31, 1998 report by the

National Academy of Sciences, and (2)

issues encountered by state and local

agencies in implementing the program.

GAO’s conclusions emphasize the need for

more complete field testing of speciation

samplers prior to deployment. The

speciation samplers will help provide a

picture of which sources are contributing

which components to ambient air and will

help identify the sources of secondarilyformed particles. The information will be

crucial for states to be able to develop less

costly control measures.

• Redesign of Air Monitoring: In response

to anticipated decreases in monitoring

resources and the growing need for

monitoring of ambient air (e.g., air toxics),

EPA is evaluating its current air monitoring

networks and future needs. The purpose is

to obtain information that will inform the

development of an integrated ambient air

monitoring strategy that will address

resources, technologies, and logistics for

monitoring all air contaminants over the long

term. The evaluation is expected to be

complete by mid-2001.

• Evaluation of Prevention of Significant

Deterioration (PSD): The Agency has

evaluated approximately 300 PSD permits

issued over the last few years to examine

the extent to which best available control

determinations for similar source types have

been nationally consistent and to attempt to

quantify the added benefit of the PSD

requirements in terms of air pollution
8 4 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

prevented from release to the environment.

The evaluation is expected to be completed

by mid-2001, and the Agency plans to use

the results of the evaluation to make

recommendations about whether corrective

action is warranted.

• Mobile Source Emission Factor Model:

In 1998, in response to a request from

Congress, the National Research Council

established a committee to evaluate and

develop recommendations for improving

EPA’s mobile source emissions factor model

(MOBILE). MOBILE is an EPAdeveloped model that is used by

environmental and transportation agencies

for estimating emissions from on-road motor

vehicles for air quality planning purposes. In

2000, the committee issued its report, which

included a number of recommendations for

improving the MOBILE model and the

overall process for estimating mobile source

emissions. EPA is taking the

recommendations into consideration as it

develops a new MOBILE model, which

should be ready for use in 2001.

Goal 2: Clean and Safe Water

Over the past year, EPA made significant

progress in enhancing its use of program

evaluations to improve program performance

under Goal 2. We inventoried current program

evaluation activities and developed a strategy

that outlines specific goals, objectives, and

principles for conducting priority program

evaluations in the future.

• Improving Data Quality in the Safe

Drinking Water Information System

(SDWIS): In FY 1998 and 1999, in

response to concerns identified through

internal audits and by external stakeholders,

EPA and its partners developed an SDWIS

evaluation and action plan for improving data

quality. A data quality assessment, which

included a review of three years of data

verification audits covering 27 states,

identified significant gaps in the compliance

data that states report through SDWIS.

EPA and its partners devised a Data

Reliability Action Plan, which sets a data

quality goal, identifies activities to establish a

quantitative and qualitative data quality

baseline, and lists interim actions to improve

data quality. The group made a number of

recommendations to be implemented now

and in the future: (1) increase training for

states on how to determine compliance with

drinking water regulations and how to enter

data correctly in SDWIS, (2) increase

frequency and follow up of data verification

audits, (3) improve the readability of reports

on SDWIS data entry errors so that

managers can use the reports as tools to

improve data quality, (4) have states issue

annual reminders to their utilities of sampling

requirements, and (5) streamline future

reporting requirements.

• Effectiveness of the National Estuary

Program (NEP): The key objective of this

FY 1999 NEP evaluation was to determine

whether the NEP approach has been

effective in managing the nation’s estuaries
EPA Strategic Plan 8 5

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

and what elements of the approach could be

applied to other community-based

environmental protection efforts. Major

findings showed that the NEP approach

benefits and improves the management of

estuaries and their resources and that EPA

can improve program success by gaining

more local funding for implementation and

by developing an improved structure for

monitoring environmental progress.

• Water Quality Standards (WQSs) Process:

The water program’s highest-priority

program evaluation, expected to be

completed in FY 2000, is a thorough

evaluation of the WQSs decision-making

process. As WQSs are the foundation of

state and tribal water resource management

programs, improvements in the development,

revision, and tracking of state and tribal

WQSs are a critical component of

demonstrating progress toward clean and

safe water.

Examples of potential, future program

evaluations that will contribute to our

assessment of our progress under Goal 2

include:

• An evaluation of the state “Rotating Basin

Approach” to watershed management. The

analysis could include linkages to the

National Water Quality Inventory Report

305(b), which is the primary vehicle for

informing Congress and the public about

general water quality conditions in the

United States; monitoring and assessment

methodologies; and a comparative analysis

of the successful state approaches.

(Projected time frame: FY 2001)

• An evaluation of state and tribal

implementation of the Underground Injection

Control Program. (Projected time frame:

FY 2001)

• A thorough analysis of successful means to

implement actions identified in state and

tribal Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL)

plans for impaired bodies of water.

(Projected time frame: FY 2003)

Goal 3: Safe Food

EPA’s progress in achieving Goal 3 has been,

and continues to be, evaluated and guided by an

array of outside groups. These groups provide

advice to the Agency on specific pesticide

issues, such as risks from particular pesticides,

as well as on general policy issues, such as

emerging science policies related to the Food

Quality Protection Act (FQPA). The groups

include:

• FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP):

The SAP is a scientific peer review body

composed of experts who represent the

disciplines of toxicology, pathology,

environmental biology, and related sciences.

The SAP has played an instrumental role in

evaluating some of the Agency’s sciencebased decisions under Goal 3.

• EPA-U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) Committee to Advise on

Reassessment and Transition: This

committee is a successor to the Tolerance

Reassessment Advisory Committee. It is

being established to provide a forum for

stakeholders to evaluate EPA and USDA

processes and decisions relating to tolerance

reassessment under FQPA.

• The Pesticide Program Dialogue

Committee: This committee identifies and

evaluates the technical and economic

feasibility of proposed changes to EPA’s

policies and procedures to reduce the

potential risks posed by pesticides.

• State-Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and

Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Issues Research

and Evaluation Group: This group

identifies, analyzes, and evaluates EPA

positions on pesticide registration,

enforcement, training and certification,
8 6 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

water quality, disposal, and other areas of

environmental concern related to pesticide

manufacture, use, and disposal.

In addition, GAO has provided several useful

studies of EPA’s pesticides program, including

reports on reducing exposure to residues of

canceled pesticides, the pesticides reregistration

program, and general food safety.

Goal 4: Preventing Pollution and Reducing

Risk in Communities, Homes, Workplaces,

and Ecosystems

Under Goal 4, EPA evaluated one of its key

programs addressing a very high-risk

contaminant—radon. EPA has also examined

the connections between municipal solid waste

and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, we

are assessing our environmental accounting

project and the pollution prevention grants

program.

• Critical Elements of the Radon Program:

In FY 1999, the Agency evaluated radon

program performance to identify the most

effective elements of the program. We

found that public interest in radon was still

high and that the program was still getting

significant results (more than 50,000

mitigations per year and more than 200,000

new homes built with radon-resistant

techniques). This effort, Radon 2000, has

resulted in a more streamlined radon

program, more clearly articulated goals, and

more strategically focused activities. For

example, EPA determined that our public

service announcements (PSAs) and

consumer help lines were critical to public

awareness and highly valued by our regional

offices and state counterparts. Less critical,

but important, were partnerships with

nonprofit organizations. In addition, we

reviewed and strengthened our relationships

with state radon programs. We continue to

track one aspect of the effectiveness of our

radon media campaign by assessing how

often EPA’s PSAs are broadcast and

comparing the value of this donated time to

the cost of these announcements. We also

track the relationship between the airing of

PSAs and increases in the numbers of calls

to the radon hotline from the areas where

the PSAs are shown. Moreover, by

evaluating our radon media campaign, the

Agency has determined that investing in

focus group testing of the announcements

produces much stronger and more effective

advertising. These lessons will help us

sharpen the effectiveness of our media

education campaigns over the next several

years. According to our data, if the number

of actions people take to test and mitigate

high levels of radon in their homes and the

number of builders who voluntarily build

homes with radon-resistant construction

techniques continue to rise, then we may be

able to draw some conclusions about the

impact of media campaigns on these

voluntary risk reduction activities.

• The EPA Environmental Accounting

Project (EAP): This project is intended to

encourage industry to understand the full

spectrum of environmental costs and to

integrate them into decision making. An

evaluation design commissioned by EAP

recommended reworking aspects of EPA’s

program to facilitate its evaluation.

Recommended changes to the program

include incorporating approaches for

performance measurement.

• Environmental Justice through the

Pollution Prevention Grants Program:

EPA is assessing the pollution prevention

grants program to help us identify

successful, promising approaches to

preventing or reducing pollution from

sources located in or near disadvantaged

communities. Preliminary indications are

that this program, which provides seed

money and assistance to help disadvantaged

communities build their capacity to prevent

pollution, has been effective. In coming
EPA Strategic Plan 8 7

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

years, EPA will focus on

applying the innovative

approaches we have

identified, such as the pollution

prevention curriculum that

Working Capital developed,

tested, and incorporated into

their small business loan

program, or the wind power

generator that the Lower

Sioux tribal community uses to

reduce air emissions.

• WasteWise: WasteWise is a

voluntary partnership program

through which businesses,

governments, and institutions reduce

waste—benefiting their bottom lines and the

environment. Since the program began in

1994, WasteWise partners have reduced

volumes of municipal solid waste by more

than 26 million tons and, in 1998 alone, saved

an estimated $264 million in avoided disposal

fees and purchasing costs. In 1998, EPA

published Greenhouse Gas Emissions from

Management of Selected Materials in

Municipal Solid Waste, which presented

evaluations of commonly applied methods of

municipal solid waste management.

• Forum of State and Tribal Toxics Action

(FOSTTA): EPA meets frequently with

FOSTTA to receive feedback from state

and tribal toxic program offices on our

programs.

Goal 5: Better Waste Management,

Restoration of Contaminated Waste Sites,

and Emergency Response

In response to program developments,

stakeholder concerns, and external audits, EPA

is evaluating and improving our emergency

response and waste management programs.

Some of our more significant assessment and

improvement activities address cost-benefit

analysis, implementation of Superfund reforms,

implementation of RCRA reforms, and

management of the oil spill prevention program:

• Cost-Benefit Analysis: Recognizing the

need for improved quantitative and

qualitative information, EPA is currently

developing a framework for improving its

ability to characterize and communicate

risks, benefits, and costs (including

environmental, health, and other human

welfare benefits). We have identified a set

of generic benefit and cost attributes which

reflect a broad range of categories that

might apply across waste management

programs. The underground storage tank

(UST) cleanup and Resource Conservation

and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous

waste management and minimization

programs have been selected as pilot studies

for the practical application of these

attributes. For the UST cleanup program,

the focus is on developing two sets of

methods, one describing retrospective

benefits and costs likely to have accrued

between implementation of the program and

the present time and the other estimating

future benefits and costs through 2005. For

RCRA, the emphasis is on describing

retrospective benefits and costs.
8 8 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

• Superfund Reforms: EPA has established

several groups which review and evaluate

Superfund reforms to ensure efficient,

effective implementation. These include:

— The National Remedy Review Board:

Established in 1996, the Board reviews

and analyzes proposed site-specific

cleanup strategies. The Board’s goals

are to improve national consistency in

Superfund remedy selection; improve

remedy cost-effectiveness; confirm that

decision making at high cost sites is

technically sound; and ensure that

decisions are in accordance with

current law, regulations, and guidance.

Through FY 1999, the Board reviewed

43 cleanup decisions, with estimated

savings of over $70 million.

— The National Risk-Based Priority

Panel: Established in 1995, the Panel

evaluates risk at NPL sites as part of

the process to establish priorities in site

cleanup. Through FY 1999, the Panel

evaluated 75 projects valued in excess

of $300 million. Of these, 35 projects

were funded in accordance with the

Panel’s recommendations.

• RCRA Corrective Action: During 2000,

EPA will publish A Study of the

Implementation of the RCRA Corrective

Action Program. This report analyzes data

from facilities where interim or final

remedies have been selected and presents

national findings regarding the nature and

extent of contamination at these sites, the

process through which corrective action was

implemented at these sites, and the remedial

alternatives selected at these sites. These

findings will be used to support future

regulatory and guidance initiatives and to

enhance the Agency’s overall understanding

of how the program is being implemented in

EPA regions and states.

• RCRA Data: WIN/INFORMED (Waste

Information Needs/Information Needs for

Making Environmental Decisions) is a joint

effort between EPA and its state partners to

reassess and improve information
EPA Strategic Plan 8 9

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

management within RCRA hazardous waste

programs. The goals of this initiative are to

improve data quality and meet the needs of

EPA, states, tribes, and public and private

sector customers for timely and accurate

information about hazardous waste

management; provide improved access to

hazardous waste information; and reduce

the burden on data providers. In FY 1999,

EPA published a final report on the WIN/

INFORMED program evaluation, which

included key findings and recommendations

for data collection, information systems

requirements, and business process

improvements for national program

management.

• Spill Prevention Control Center: In FY

1999, EPA conducted a national review of

its Oil Spill Program to identify the

program’s most effective components and

share the most promising innovations

underway. The review highlighted an

innovative enforcement approach to identify

and correct low-level spills within an

expedited time frame of 30 to 60 days. The

program review found that a pilot

demonstration of this approach significantly

increased both enforcement and

compliance. EPA is now considering this

approach for national implementation efforts

in FY 2000 and 2001.

Goal 6: Reduction of Global and CrossBorder Environmental Risks

The Agency has conducted several evaluations

of our Goal 6 activities, including:

• Assessment of Border XXI: The U.S./

Mexico binational indicators initiative

identifies common U.S./Mexico

environmental evaluation measures in media

and thematic categories. A primary tool for

assessing progress under the binational

framework for U.S./Mexico border

cooperation on the environment, the update

of indicator information will be released by

the end of 2000. An assessment of Border

XXI was also carried out by the Good

Neighbor Environmental Board (a federal

advisory committee reporting to Congress

and EPA) as well as by its Mexican

counterpart. In addition, in 2000, GAO

reported on Agency activities supporting the

development of environmental infrastructure

in the border area. EPA has also received

considerable input from the U.S. and

Mexican border states. All of these

assessments will inform the outreach effort

EPA will initiate in 2000 toward

development of a new binational plan for

cooperation on the border environment.

• Best Practices in Capacity Building:

Based on experience in designing,

implementing, and measuring the success of

its international capacity-building programs,

EPA has developed a set of best practices

for application in its bilateral involvements.

These best practices include criteria for

determining EPA involvement in a program;

guidelines for selecting, designing,

implementing, monitoring, and evaluating

projects under this program; and a

methodology, including generic performance

indicators, for measuring the effectiveness

of the program under the Government

Performance and Results Act (GPRA).

The practices emphasize the establishment

of baseline conditions in partner countries

where the work is being carried out. EPA is

now using the best practices in developing

new programs, such as the Agency’s

microbiologically safe drinking water

initiative for Central America (in connection

with Hurricane Mitch Relief) and Africa.

The practice of determining baseline

conditions in partner countries will be

integral to the successful implementation of

our new trade and environment project,

“The Partnership for Trade and Environment

Capacity Building.”
9 0 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

Goal 7: Quality Environmental Information

During the past seven years, EPA’s information

programs have undergone numerous internal

and external evaluations. In all cases, the

Agency has reviewed the conclusions of these

program evaluations and has implemented

recommendations or developed processes to

evaluate recommended improvements as part

of a larger program improvement initiative.

Some examples include the following:

• Ensuring Data Quality: In a continued

effort to address information management

issues and improve data quality, in April

1998, EPA’s Deputy Administrator issued a

memorandum calling for the development of

a strategic action plan to implement an

Agency-wide approach to ensuring the

quality of data in EPA’s information systems.

As part of developing the Data Quality

Strategic Plan, an Agency-wide work group

conducted analyses of errors in EPA data

and the challenges associated with

developing an error correction system

integrated across EPA. The Plan identifies

and characterizes fundamental factors that

may cause or contribute to errors and other

discrepancies in EPA data systems and

makes recommendations for error

prevention and an error correction process

for Agency-wide implementation. EPA is

using the recommendations from this internal

evaluation effort as the starting point for a

new strategy to address data quality issues

Agency-wide.

• Challenges Facing the Office of

Environmental Information (OEI): In

September 1999, GAO released a report

entitled, Environmental Protection: EPA is

Taking Important Steps to Improve

Information Management, but Challenges

Remain. This report discusses EPA’s recent

information-related initiatives and the major

management challenges facing EPA’s new

OEI. The report recommends that EPA

take steps to ensure that its environmental

and regulatory data are sufficiently

complete, compatible, and accurate.

Specifically, the report stated that EPA’s

ability to evaluate the outcomes of its

programs in terms of changes in the

environment is limited by gaps and

inconsistencies in data. GAO concluded

that EPA’s program offices will have to

overcome difficulties in establishing causeand-effect relationships between program

activities and environmental outcomes, a

lack of reliable baseline data against which

to measure progress, and constraints on the

resources for gathering and analyzing the

data. This report suggested that creating

OEI would help to address these obstacles.

GAO’s recommendation was that the

Administrator direct OEI to develop an

action plan that details the key steps the

Agency needs to take to ensure that our

environmental and regulatory data are

sufficiently complete, compatible, and

accurate to meet our needs. OEI will begin

work to develop a long-term Information

Plan for the Agency.

• Improve Information Security: In FY

2000, GAO completed a comprehensive

assessment of EPA’s information security

program. We have worked closely with

GAO to address the identified vulnerabilities.

We have developed a security network that

meets industry standards, while preserving

our need to maintain electronic connections

with others, and significantly strengthened

the security of our systems Agency-wide.

The Agency is continuing to work with

GAO and the EPA Office of the Inspector

General to evaluate and improve our

security program, and we are training our

staff to be vigilant about rapidly changing

security vulnerabilities.
EPA Strategic Plan 9 1

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

Goal 8: Sound Science, Improved

Understanding of Environmental Risk, and

Greater Innovation to Address

Environmental Problems

EPA continues to evaluate the quality and

relevance of its research programs. Under

Goal 8, we have conducted evaluations of

several innovative pilot projects that cut across

Agency programs:

• Research Evaluations: First, research

proposals received in response to requests

for applications undergo a rigorous external

peer review. Second, the EPA Board of

Scientific Counselors has evaluated the

Agency’s science and engineering research

programs, laboratories, and research

management practices and recommended

actions to improve their quality and

relevance to the mission of EPA. In

addition, the Board has evaluated and

provided advice on the use of peer review in

the Agency’s research programs to enhance

the quality of science at EPA.

• Assessment of the Common Sense

Initiative Program: In 1998, EPA

conducted an independent, third-party

review of the 4-year Common Sense

Initiative (CSI) to assess the extent to which

CSI met its goals and to determine what

was gained from the sector-based, multistakeholder, and consensus aspects of the

Initiative. The study concluded that CSI

was extremely productive in terms of the

projects developed and recommendations

submitted to the Agency for action. The

study also showed that the pace at which

CSI recommendations were developed and

projects implemented had increased over

that reported in an earlier study.

• Evaluation of Sector-Based Projects:

Three new sector-based project evaluations

are currently underway. EPA is evaluating

the implementation phase of the Metal

Finishing Strategic Goals Program to assess

how that process has worked and to provide

guidance to other sectors seeking to

implement sector-wide stewardship

approaches with performance incentive

tracks. We will apply our findings to

implement future programs more quickly and

cost-effectively. The Agency is also

developing and measuring sector

measurement tools to help quantify the

environmental and economic outcomes of

sector programs without imposing additional

reporting requirements. Finally, EPA is

developing a project to evaluate the links

between sector program outputs and the

Agency’s goals to determine whether and

how sector programs advance the Agency’s

mission

Goal 9: A Credible Deterrent to Pollution

and Greater Compliance with the Law

EPA uses both formal and informal approaches

to evaluate the effectiveness of its enforcement

and compliance assurance program. Methods

range from a formal process of evaluating

regional, state, and tribal performance to the

use of stakeholder meetings to solicit views on

effectiveness. These efforts include:

• Stakeholder Review of Enforcement and

Compliance Program: This effort

examined the overall performance of the

Agency’s enforcement and compliance

program through two program review

conferences involving a wide range of

stakeholders. The conferences elicited the

views of participants on how EPA can

improve public health and the environment

through compliance efforts. Agency

responses to stakeholder input include

commitments to develop a national

clearinghouse of compliance assistance

materials, an annual compliance assistance

plan, and compliance assistance tools for

major new regulations.
9 2 EPA Strategic Plan

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

• Impacts and Effectiveness of Compliance

Policy: EPA reviewed the performance of

key compliance policies to determine

whether they achieved the desired results.

We evaluated the impact of our Audit Policy

and the Small Business Policy and funded an

independent evaluation of the effectiveness

of state audit policies to determine the extent

of use and the level of satisfaction of those

who have used them. For example, in a

voluntary, anonymous survey of 252

disclosing entities, 88 percent of the

responding entities stated that they would

use the EPA Audit Policy again, and 84

percent would recommend the Audit Policy

to clients or counterparts.

• Coordination with States on Clean Air

Act: The Office of the Inspector General

evaluated EPA’s Clean Air Act compliance

and enforcement program and found that

EPA and states need to develop a common

understanding of the definition of a

“significant violator” and actions required of

the states when dealing with significant

violators. Following extensive coordination

with the states, EPA issued new guidance

that resolves these issues and aims to

improve implementation of the Clean Air

Act enforcement and compliance program

by both EPA and the states.

• New Program Element Reviews: EPA is

currently evaluating our activities to carry

out the implementation, enforcement, and

compliance provisions of the Federal

Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

(FIFRA) Worker Protection Standard

(WPS). We are assessing WPS program

implementation through surveys, file

reviews, and interviews. Through this

evaluation, EPA will develop a national

picture of the strengths and weaknesses of

this program, so that changes can be made

to improve its effectiveness. This is the first

in a series of “Program Element Reviews”

to be conducted by EPA. We expect to

select one or two new “program elements”

(an enforcement compliance program or

portion of a program) to review each year.

Goal 10: Effective Management

EPA routinely assesses and evaluates the

performance of the Agency’s management

services, systems, policies, and processes.

Each year, we conduct management

effectiveness and oversight reviews and study

our planning, budgeting, analysis, and

accountability processes as well as our

financial, contracts, grants, human resources,

and facility services. Based on the results of

these assessments, EPA may change or refine

policies and procedures, improve oversight and

monitoring, enhance training, and revamp and

streamline systems and procedures. Examples

include:

• Reviews of Management Grant

Effectiveness: In 1997, each of EPA’s

program and regional offices conducted

Management Effectiveness Reviews to

evaluate grants management, focusing on

pre-award assistance, award procedures,

and training efforts and on post-award

monitoring, closeout, and property

management. To determine individual office

progress since the FY 1997 review, each

office conducted another Management

Effectiveness Review during FY 1999. The

FY 1999 review addressed the findings from

the 1997 review and assessed the office’s

efforts in one of five areas: pre-award

negotiations, post-award monitoring,

closeouts, statutory authority, and Senior

Resource Official review levels. The results

of these reviews will assist EPA in assessing

nationwide progress in implementing postaward management activities and identifying

further actions needed to strengthen postaward grants management. One major

outgrowth of evaluation efforts is the

Grantee Compliance Assistance Initiative.

This initiative will improve grantee postaward performance by focusing attention on

post-award monitoring, especially on-site

visits, and encourage continuous
EPA Strategic Plan 9 3

Chapter 3: Assessing Our Work and Learning from Our Results

improvement both in the quality and number

of post-award efforts.

• Benchmarking Financial Management:

EPA benchmarked its major financial

management functions against those of

public and private sector organizations,

including industry top performers. In

comparison with other organizations, EPA

devotes a smaller percentage of its

workforce to financial management.

However, EPA’s financial management

systems costs are higher than public and

private sector averages. EPA plans to

reduce management overhead costs of our

major financial and payroll systems. We will

implement a new payroll system that

reduces processing costs and customer

burden and initiate a long-term solution for

the replacement and integration of the

Agency’s financial management system.

Conclusion

EPA’s experience over the last several years

demonstrates the usefulness of the evaluation

and assessment tools outlined in this chapter. If

we are to succeed over the next five years in

meeting the important health and environmental

goals we have outlined in this Strategic Plan, it

is critical that we continue to assess our work

and learn from our results. We intend to do so

by (1) holding senior mangers accountable for

results as we carry out the Agency’s new

PBAA management approach, (2) regularly

incorporating what we learn from our annual

progress into our next year’s planning and

budgeting, (3) improving the way we measure

short- and long-term results, (4) accurately

assessing the benefits and costs of our

activities, and (5) evaluating programs to help

us improve our approaches and ensure that

EPA programs are as effective as possible.
EPA Strategic Plan A-1

Appendix A: Congressional, Partner, and Stakeholder Consultation

Appendix A:

Congressional, Partner, and

Stakeholder Consultation

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires federal agencies to consult with

Congress and to solicit and consider the views and suggestions of other entities potentially affected

by or interested in their strategic plans.

EPA’s ongoing consultation with Congress began in Fall 1999. As part of the consultation process,

we provided our draft strategic planning framework—our mission statement, goals, and objectives—to Congress on March 3, 2000. On March 10, 2000, Agency staff met with House and

Senate staff, under the auspices of the House GPRA Implementation Team, to discuss our draft

strategic planning framework and process for developing our Strategic Plan. On June 5, 2000, we

provided Members and Congressional staff with the full-text draft Strategic Plan. EPA met with

Senate staff (hosted by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs) on August 8, 2000, to

discuss issues arising from their review of the full-text draft. We provided the draft strategic

planning framework and full-text draft to the following Members and staff:

Members

House of Representatives Senate

Honorable Dan Burton Honorable Max Baucus

Honorable John Dingell Honorable Jeff Bingaman

Honorable Ralph Hall Honorable Christopher S. Bond

Honorable Stephen Horn Honorable Michael Enzi

Honorable George Miller Honorable Bob Graham

Honorable Alan B. Mollohan Honorable Ernest F. Hollings

Honorable James Oberstar Honorable James M. Inhofe

Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner Honorable Frank Lautenberg

Honorable Pete Sessions Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman

Honorable Bud Shuster Honorable John McCain

Honorable Jim Turner Honorable Barbara A. Mikulski

Honorable James T. Walsh Honorable Frank Murkowski

Honorable Henry Waxman Honorable Robert C. Smith

Honorable Don Young Honorable Fred Thompson
A-2 EPA Strategic Plan

Appendix A: Congressional, Partner, and Stakeholder Consultation

Committee Staff

House of Representatives Senate

Appropriations Appropriations

Commerce Commerce

Government Reform and Oversight Science and Transportation

Resources Energy and Natural Resources

Science Environment and Public Works

Transportation and Infrastructure Governmental Affairs

EPA also sought the views and perspectives of its partners and stakeholders. We provided a draft

of the Agency’s mission statement, goals, and objectives and the full-text draft of the Strategic Plan

to the organizations listed below for review and comment. In addition, the Agency’s National

Program Managers and regional offices worked directly with constituents on specific issues or

interests. To allow for broader public comment, we also made these documents available on the

Internet. The comments we received as a result of the Internet posting have allowed us to identify

additional groups that can provide important insights into the Agency’s work, including People for

the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, and the Doris Day

Animal League.

EPA consulted extensively with our state partners, beginning in Summer 1999 and continuing

through completion of the Plan. In partnership with the Environmental Council of the States

(ECOS), EPA worked closely with the states to review draft documents and develop revisions to

the Plan. EPA staff participated in a series of meetings with ECOS members to discuss the draft

mission statement, goals, and objectives and the full-text draft. EPA is confident that this Strategic

Plan better reflects the essential contribution of our state partners as a result of this work.

Similarly, EPA has closely engaged our tribal partners in our Strategic Plan revision process. The

tribes were provided opportunities to review our draft documents and to work with the Agency in

revising the Plan. As a result, this Plan better reflects the importance of work that needs to be

done in Indian country and the significant role of our tribal partners.

State and Local Governments

Association of State Drinking Water Administrators

Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials

Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)

National Association of the State Departments of Agriculture

State FIFRA Issues Research and Evaluation Group

State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators/Association of Local Air Pollution

 Control Officials
EPA Strategic Plan A-3

Appendix A: Congressional, Partner, and Stakeholder Consultation

Tribal Governments

National Tribal Environmental Council

Tribal Association for Solid Waste and

 Emergency Response

Tribal Caucus

Tribal Pesticide Program Council

Other Federal Agencies

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Department of Education

Department of Energy

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Housing and Urban

 Development

Department of the Interior

Department of Justice

Department of Labor

Department of State

Department of Transportation

Department of the Treasury

Department of Veteran Affairs

Army Corps of Engineers

Bureau of Land Management

Consumer Product Safety Commission

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Fish and Wildlife Service

Food and Drug Administration

General Services Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

 Administration

National Science Foundation

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Office of Personnel Management

Office of Science and Technology Policy

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Small Business Administration

Social Security Administration

Tennessee Valley Authority

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Information Agency

Business, Industry and

Public Policy Organizations

Business Roundtable

Center for Regulatory Effectiveness

Chemical Manufacturers of America

Coalition for Effective Environmental

 Information

Corporate Environmental Enforcement Council

Council for Excellence in Government

Friday Forum

National Academy of Public Administration

National Association of Schools of Public

 Affairs and Administration

National Federation of Independent Businesses

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Environmental and Public Interest Groups

American Farmland Trust

American Lung Association

American Oceans Campaign

American Public Health Association

American Rivers

Center for International Environmental Law

Center for Marine Conservation

Children’s Defense Fund

Clean Water Action

Clean Water Network

Defenders of Wildlife

EarthJustice Legal Defense Fund

Environmental Defense

Environmental Law Institute

Environmental Working Group

Friends of the Earth

Greenpeace

National Audubon Society

National Environmental Trust

National Fish and Wildlife Council

National Pollution Prevention Roundtable

National Resources Council of America

National Wildlife Federation

Natural Resources Defense Council

Nature Conservancy

OMB Watch

Resources for the Future

River Network

Sierra Club

Union of Concerned Scientists
A-4 EPA Strategic Plan

Appendix A: Congressional, Partner, and Stakeholder Consultation

U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Council

World Resources Institute

World Wildlife Fund

Science and Research

Alfred P. Sloane Foundation

American Chemistry Council

Chemical Industry Institute of Technology

G.E. Energy and Environmental Research

 Corporation

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Institute for Advanced Study

National Association for State Universities and

 Land Grant Colleges

National Research Council

Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine,

 NYU School of Medicine

University of Delaware
EPA Strategic Plan B-1

Appendix B: Coordination Between EPA and Other Federal Agencies

Appendix B:

Coordination Between EPA

and Other Federal Agencies

The chart on the next page identifies, for each of EPA’s goals, areas of continued

cooperation and coordination between EPA and other federal agencies.
B-2 EPA Strategic Plan

Appendix B: Coordination Between EPA and Other Federal Agencies

Agriculture

Army Corps of Engineers

Commerce

Consumer Product Safety Commission

Defense

Education

Energy

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Emergency Management Agency

General Services Administration

Health and Human Services

Housing and Urban Development

Interior

Justice

Labor

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Science Foundation

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Science and Technology Policy

Small Business Administration

State

Transportation

Treasury

Tennessee Valley Authority

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Trade Representative

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Department/Agency Goal
EPA Strategic Plan C-1

Appendix C: Statutory and Other Authorities for EPA’s Goals

Appendix C:

Statutory and Other

Authorities for EPA’s Goals

Goal 1: Clean Air

Objective 1

Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q);

Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA);

Indian Environmental General Assistance

Program Act; Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA); Treaties with Indian

Tribes; Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

(15 U.S.C. 2601-2692)

Objective 2

CAA, CERCLA, RCRA, TSCA

Objective 3

CAA, TSCA

Goal 2: Clean and Safe Water

Objective 1

Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA);

Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. 1251-

1387); Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and

Rodenticide Act (FIFRA); Marine Protection,

Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) (33

U.S.C. 1401-1445); Resource Conservation

and Recovery Act (RCRA); Safe Drinking

Water Act (SDWA) (42 U.S.C. 300f-300j-26);

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (15

U.S.C. 2601-2692)

Objective 2

CERCLA, CWA, RCRA, TSCA, Great Lakes

Water Quality Agreement Treaties with Indian

Tribes, 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Objective 3

Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q),

CERCLA, CWA, MPRSA, RCRA, TSCA

Goal 3: Safe Food

Objective 1

Food Quality Protection Act/Federal Food,

Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FQPA/FFDCA),

section 408 (21 U.S.C. 346a); Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

(7 U.S.C. 136-136y); World Trade Organization

Agreements

Objective 2

FQPA/FFDCA, section 408 (21 U.S.C. 346a);

FIFRA, World Trade Organization Agreements
C-2 EPA Strategic Plan

Appendix C: Statutory and Other Authorities for EPA’s Goals

Goal 4: Preventing Pollution and

Reducing Risk in Communities,

Homes, Workplaces, and

Ecosystems

Objective 1

Food Quality Protection Act/Federal Food,

Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FQPA/FFDCA),

section 408 (21 U.S.C. 346a); Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

(7 U.S.C. 136-136y)

Objective 2

Clean Air Act (CAA); Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and

Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. 9601-

9675); Clean Water Act (CWA); Marine

Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act

(MPRSA); Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); Safe Drinking Water Act

(SDWA) (42 U.S.C. 300f-300j-26); Toxic

Substances Control Act (TSCA) (15 U.S.C.

2601-2692)

Objective 3

FIFRA, TSCA

Objective 4

CAA (42 U.S.C. 7601-7671q), FIFRA, Radon

Act, TSCA

Objective 5

CAA, CWA (33 U.S.C. 1251-1387), Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know

Act (EPCRA) (42 U.S.C. 11001-11050),

Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) (42 U.S.C.

13101-13109), RCRA (42 U.S.C. 6901-6992k)

Objective 6

CAA, CERCLA, CWA, EPCRA, FIFRA,

Indian Environmental General Assistance

Program Act, RCRA, SDWA, TSCA, Treaties

with Indian tribes

Goal 5: Better Waste Management,

Restoration of Contaminated Waste

Sites, and Emergency Response

Objective 1

Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

(42 U.S.C. 9601-9675); Pollution Prevention

Act (PPA) (42 U.S.C. 13101-13109); Resource

Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42

U.S.C. 6901-6992k)

Objective 2

Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act

(CWA) (33 U.S.C. 1251-1387), Oil Prevention

Act (OPA) (33 U.S.C. 2701-2761), RCRA

Goal 6: Reduction of Global and

Cross-Border Environmental Risks

Objective 1

Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C. 7601-7671q);

Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. 1251-

1387); Emergency Planning and Community

Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) (42 U.S.C.

11001-11050); Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,

and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136-

136y); Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) (42

U.S.C. 13101-13109); Resource Conservation

and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 U.S.C. 6901-

6992k); Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

(15 U.S.C. 2601-2692); V.A., H.U.D., and

Independent Agencies Appropriations Acts;

Water Quality Act of 1987 section 510; North

American Agreement on Environmental

Cooperation (NAAEC); U.S./Canada Agreements on Arctic Cooperation; U.S./Mexico

Agreement Establishing a Border Environmental Cooperation Commission and a North

American Development Bank; 1909 Boundary

Waters Agreement; U.S./Canada Great Lakes

Water Quality Agreement; 1997 Great Lakes

Binational Toxics Strategy; 1983 La Paz

Agreement on U.S./Mexico Border Region,

Annex 2, Article 3; 1989 U.S./Mexico Agreement on Mexico City; 1989 U.S./U.S.S.R.

Agreement on Pollution; 1991 U.S./Canada Air

Quality Agreement; Treaties with Indian tribes;

Border XXI

Objective 2

CAA, Framework Convention on Climate

Change, PPA

Objective 3

CAA, TSCA, 1987 Montreal Protocol on

Ozone Depleting Substances
EPA Strategic Plan C-3

Appendix C: Statutory and Other Authorities for EPA’s Goals

Objective 4

CAA; CWA; FIFRA; PPA; RCRA; TSCA;

NAAEC; 1996 Habitat Agenda, paragraph

43bb

Objective 5

EPCRA, PPA, North American Free Trade

Agreement, World Trade Organization Agreements

Goal 7: Quality Environmental

Information

Objective 1

Clean Air Act (CAA); Clean Water Act

(CWA); Emergency Planning and Community

Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA); Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA);

Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552);

Government Paperwork Elimination Act;

Paperwork Reduction Act; Pollution Prevention

Act (PPA); Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA); Safe Drinking Water

Act (SDWA); Toxic Substances Control Act

(TSCA)

Objective 2

CAA, CWA, EPCRA, FIFRA, Freedom of

Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), Government

Paperwork Elimination Act, Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), PPA, RCRA, SDWA, TSCA

Objective 3

PRA, Federal Property and Administrative

Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 471, et seq.)

Goal 8: Sound Science, Improved

Understanding of Environmental

Risk, and Greater Innovation to

Address Environmental Problems

Objective 1

Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C 7601-7671q);

Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. 1251-

1387); Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

(CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. 9601-9675); Federal

Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

(FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136-136y); Resource

Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42

U.S.C. 6901-6992k); Toxic Substances Control

Act (TSCA) (15 U.S.C. 2601-2692)

Objective 2

CAA; CERCLA; CWA; FIFRA; Food Quality

Protection Act/Federal Food, Drug, and

Cosmetic Act (FQPA/FFDCA); Safe Drinking

Water Act (SDWA) (42 U.S.C. 300f-300j-26);

TSCA

Objective 3

CAA, CWA, FIFRA, RCRA, SDWA, TSCA

Objective 4

CAA, CWA, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Pollution

Prevention Act (PPA), RCRA, SDWA, TSCA

Objective 5

Administrative Dispute Resolution Act (5

U.S.C. 571-584), CAA, CERCLA, CWA,

EPCRA (42 U.S.C. 11001-11050), FIFRA,

PPA, RCRA, SDWA, TSCA

Objective 6

CAA, CERCLA, CWA, EPCRA, FIFRA,

PPA, RCRA, SDWA, TSCA

Objective 7

CAA, CERCLA, CWA, EPCRA, FIFRA,

PPA, RCRA, SDWA, TSCA

Objective 8

CAA, CWA, EPCRA, FIFRA, FQPA/FFDCA,

RCRA, SDWA, TSCA

Goal 9: A Credible Deterrent to

Pollution and Greater Compliance

with the Law

Objective 1

Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C. 7601-7671q);

Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. 1251-

1387); Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

(CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. 9601-9675); Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know

Act (EPCRA) (42 U.S.C. 11001-11050);

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide

Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136-136y); Marine
C-4 EPA Strategic Plan

Appendix C: Statutory and Other Authorities for EPA’s Goals

Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act

(MPRSA); Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 U.S.C. 6901-6992k); Safe

Drinking Water Act (SDWA) (42 U.S.C. 300f300j-26); Toxic Substances Control Act

(TSCA) (15 U.S.C. 2601-2692); North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation;

1983 La Paz Agreement on U.S./Mexico

Border Region

Objective 2

CAA, CERCLA, EPCRA, Federal Compliance

Act, FIFRA, MPRSA, Pollution Prevention Act

(PPA) (42 U.S.C. 13101-13109); RCRA;

SDWA; Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note);

TSCA; Executive Order 12856, “Federal

Compliance with Right-to-Know Laws”

Goal 10: Effective Management

Objective 1

42 U.S.C. 2000e-16, Civil Rights Act of 1964;

Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

(42 U.S.C. 9601-9675)

Objective 2

Government Performance and Results Act

(GPRA); Chief Financial Officers Act (5

U.S.C. Chapter 5); Civil Service Reform Act

of 1978 (5 U.S.C. Chapter 3); Clinger-Cohen

Act (Public Law 104-106); Competition in

Contracting Act (41 U.S.C. 253 et seq.);

Contract Disputes Act (41 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);

Federal Claims Collection Act (31 U.S.C. 3711

et seq.); Federal Financial Management

Improvement Act of 1996 (Title VIII of the

1997 Treasury, Postal Service, and General

Government Appropriations Act); Federal

Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act (31

U.S.C. 6301 et seq.); Federal Managers

Financial Integrity Act of 1982 (31 U.S.C.

3512); Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. 3101 et

seq.); Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44

U.S.C. 3501-3520)

Objective 3

Federal Property and Administrative Services

Act (40 U.S.C. 471 et seq.); Public Buildings

Act (40 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); V.A., H.U.D., and

Independent Agencies Appropriations Act

Objective 4

Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (5

U.S.C. app.)
Photo credits:

Chris Hoff: Cover (3); pp. v, 11, 13, 14, 63, 64, 77, 78

S.C. Delaney: pp. 6, 7, 25, 28, 56, 65, 72, 84, 87, 88

PhotoDisc: Cover (2); pp. 1, 2, 14, 19, 26, 34, 46, 51, 59, 66, 80, 93