Draft FY 2014–2018 EPA Strategic Plan 

November 19, 2013 

For Public Comment November 19, 2013-January 3, 2014

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Washington, DC 20460 
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Table of Contents 

Message from the Administrator (reserved for final)...................................................................

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 

Strategic Goals ................................................................................................................................ 

Goal 1: Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality.................................................... 

Goal 2: Protecting America’s Waters .............................................................................................. 

Goal 3: Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development .............................. 

Goal 4: Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution .............................................. 

Goal 5: Protecting Human Health and the Environment by Enforcing Laws and Assuring 

Compliance ....................................................................................................................................... 

Summary of Program Evaluation...................................................................................................... 

Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategies......................................................................................... 

Working Toward a Sustainable Future ............................................................................................. 

Working to Make a Visible Difference in Communities .................................................................. 

 Launching a New Era of State, Tribal, Local, and International Partnerships ................................

Embracing EPA as a High-Performing Organization ....................................................................... 

Strategic Measurement Framework ............................................................................................. 

Goal 1: Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality.................................................... 

Goal 2: Protecting America’s Waters .............................................................................................. 

Goal 3: Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development .............................. 

Goal 4: Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution .............................................. 

Goal 5: Protecting Human Health and the Environment by Enforcing Laws and Assuring 

Compliance ....................................................................................................................................... 

Appendix: EPA’s Proposed FY2014-2015 Agency Priority Goals 
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Administrator’s Message

(reserved for final)
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Introduction 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) mission is to protect human health and 

the environment. The FY 2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan (the Plan) advances this mission, 

supports implementation of the Administration’s and the EPA’s priorities and will be used 

routinely by the Agency’s senior leadership as a management tool to guide our path forward. 

Administrator McCarthy identified seven themes [add link] that will drive the Agency’s efforts 

over the next four years, and this Plan encompasses these themes as part of the five strategic 

goals, four cross-cutting strategies, and overarching core values. 

EPA’s Strategic Goals

Goal 1: Addressing Climate Change 

and Improving Air Quality

Goal 2: Protecting America’s Waters

Goal 3: Cleaning Up Communities and 

Advancing Sustainable Development

Goal 4: Ensuring the Safety of 

Chemicals and Preventing Pollution

Goal 5: Protecting Human Health and 

the Environment by Enforcing Laws

and Assuring Compliance

EPA’s Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategies

Working Toward a Sustainable Future

Working to Make a Visible Difference in 

Communities

Launching a New Era of State, Tribal, Local,

and International Partnerships

Embracing EPA as a High-Performing 

Organization

EPA’s Core Values: Science, Transparency, Rule of Law

In implementing this FY 2014-2018 Plan, EPA will focus on developing and using creative, 

flexible, cost-effective, and sustainable actions that deliver significant benefits on the ground in 

protecting and improving human health and the environment. In support of the President’s 

Climate Action Plan (June 2013), we will implement strategies to cut carbon pollution while 

promoting innovation to drive economic growth. We will strengthen our partnerships by 

building new tools and strategies that enhance coordination and joint priority setting with our 

state and tribal partners and other federal agencies. We also will focus our grant and incentivebased programs, and provide sound credible scientific advice and technical assistance, to help 

states, tribes, both rural and urban communities, and the private sector address environmental 

and human health challenges that matter to them in ways that make sense to them. Additionally, 

EPA will continue to pursue advances in new tools and technologies and increase the 

transparency of our data to better serve our customers and deliver significant environmental 

progress. And we will continue to improve the way we do business as a high-performing 

organization for the benefit of both our workforce and the public we serve.

EPA’s Mission: To protect human health and the environment.
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Our five strategic goals represent the programmatic mission results we hope to achieve on behalf 

of the American people. These strategic goals embody the measurable environmental and human 

health outcomes the public can expect over the next four years and describe how we intend to 

achieve those results. The strategic goals identify targeted new opportunities and adjustments to 

ongoing work to protect people’s health and the environment. While we have made significant 

progress over the last few years, our five strategic goals highlight the increasingly complex 

environmental and human health concerns we are facing at a time of continuing fiscal 

constraints. This poses both challenges and opportunities for us to further enhance our efficiency 

and focus and leverage efforts at all levels to achieve results. 

The cross-cutting fundamental strategies in the FY 2014-2018 Plan focus on how we are working 

differently to achieve environmental results. Notably, the Administrator’s themes play a central 

role in these strategies. We will incorporate sustainability principles into regulatory, 

enforcement, incentive-based, and partnership programs. We will strive to enhance the livability 

and economic vitality of all communities, including those with environmental justice concerns.

Millions of minority, low-income, tribal, and indigenous persons are at risk of having poor health 

outcomes because they live in communities that are overburdened by environmental hazards. 

And, we will work in concert with the states, tribes, local governments, and sister federal 

agencies that constitute our country's environmental protection enterprise, to ensure the 

efficiency, efficacy, and coordination of our overlapping and complementary efforts. We will 

streamline our processes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs by modernizing business practices 

to make EPA a high-performing organization. 

We anticipate that these approaches will foster a renewed commitment to accountability, 

transparency, and inclusion, expanding the conversation and engaging with a broad range of 

stakeholders—federal, state, and local agencies, tribes, agricultural and manufacturing sectors, 

small businesses, industry, and other stakeholders, including those with which we have not 

traditionally worked. The continuing transformational changes to improve how we work 

together and take advantage of advances in technology, expanded access to environmental data, 

and enhanced outreach to communities and stakeholders through environmental education will 

usher in a new era of partnerships and broad-based participation in managing human health and 

environmental risks. 

We will continue to affirm the core values of science, transparency and the rule of law in 

addressing our environmental challenges. Our work will be guided by the best possible data and 

research and a commitment to transparency and the accountability that comes with it. Science 

and research are the foundation of all our work at the EPA and the scientific underpinning of 

decisions and regulatory actions. We have incorporated science and research efforts over the 

next four years throughout the Plan in both our strategic goals and cross-cutting fundamental 

strategies. Our research will continue to be focused on the most critical issues facing the 

Agency, and finding more sustainable solutions for addressing human health and environmental 

problems. 

With advances in both monitoring and information technology, we are developing new methods 

for focusing on the most serious violations and improving compliance. E-Enterprise for the 

Environment is a joint EPA and state initiative to modernize our business practices to increase 
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accessibility, efficiency, and responsiveness. Additionally, through Next Generation 

Compliance, we are promoting the use of advanced monitoring and electronic reporting, 

designing rules that are easier to implement, expanding transparency and sharing of data, and 

using innovative enforcement approaches to increase compliance and reduce pollution. 

While developing this revised Plan, we are also identifying new FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority 

Goals (APGs), which are a major cornerstone of this Administration’s performance management 

agenda and championed by Agency senior leadership to advance our mission results. 

Completion of our five FY 2012-2013 APGs informed the development of this new set of twoyear APGs. 

To achieve the strategic goals, objectives, and measures set out in this Plan, we will track 

progress through annual performance measures which are presented in EPA’s Annual 

Performance Plans and Budgets. We will report on our performance against these annual 

measures in our Annual Performance Reports and use this performance information as we 

establish priorities, develop future budget submissions, and manage programs. 

Our measures for the FY 2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan draw upon some of the indicators 

contained in EPA’s Report on the Environment (ROE).[1] The indicators help us to monitor 

trends in the condition of the nation’s environment and environmental influences on human 

health and are intended to inform strategic planning, priority setting, and decision making across 

EPA and provide information for the public on the state of the environment. 

As we work to implement the FY 2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan over the next four years, we 

recognize that the Agency and numerous entities vital to our success—federal, tribal, state, and 

local governments, and other cooperating partners and stakeholders—are all operating under 

resource constraints that could impede our mutual progress. We will collaborate in new ways to 

address the environmental and human health challenges that lie ahead of us, leverage resources 

to the greatest extent possible, and continually seek new opportunities to work more effectively

and efficiently.

End Note:

[1] See http://www.epa.gov/roe/indicators.htm.
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Goal 1: 

Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality 

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop adaptation strategies to address climate 

change, and protect and improve air quality. 

Overview 

Climate change poses risks to human health, the environment, cultural resources, the economy, 

and quality of life.[1] These changes are expected to create further challenges to protecting 

human health and welfare. Many effects of a changing climate are already evident and will 

persist into the future regardless of future levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For 

example, average U.S. temperatures are rising, snow and rainfall patterns are shifting, and more 

extreme climate events–like heavy rainstorms and record high temperatures–are already affecting 

society, human health and the environment. Potential climate change impacts may also make it 

more difficult to achieve clean air goals. To better protect human health and the environment, 

EPA must recognize and consider the challenge a changing climate poses to the environment. 

Notwithstanding this challenge, since passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990, 

nationwide air quality has improved significantly.[2] Levels of those pollutants linked to the 

greatest health impacts continue to decline. From 2003 to 2011, population-weighted ambient 

Objectives: 

Address Climate Change. Minimize the threats posed by climate change by reducing 

greenhouse gas emissions and taking actions that help to protect human health and help 

communities and ecosystems become more sustainable and resilient to the effects of climate 

change.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 

vehicles and trucks. Through September 30, 2015, EPA, in coordination with Department of 

Transportation’s fuel economy standards program, will be implementing vehicle and truck 

greenhouse gas standards that are projected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 6 

billion metric tons and reduce oil consumption by about 12 billion barrels over the lifetime of 

the affected vehicles and trucks.

Improve Air Quality. Achieve and maintain health- and welfare-based air pollution standards 

and reduce risk from toxic air pollutants and indoor air contaminants.

Restore and Protect the Ozone Layer. Restore and protect the earth's stratospheric ozone layer 

and protect the public from the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Minimize Exposure to Radiation. Minimize releases of radioactive material and be prepared to 

minimize exposure through response and recovery actions should unavoidable releases occur.

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.

Objectives: 

Address Climate Change. Minimize the threats posed by climate change by reducing 

greenhouse gas emissions and taking actions that help to protect human health and help 

communities and ecosystems become more sustainable and resilient to the effects of climate 

change.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 

vehicles and trucks. Through September 30, 2015, EPA, in coordination with Department of 

Transportation’s fuel economy standards program, will be implementing vehicle and truck 

greenhouse gas standards that are projected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 6 

billion metric tons and reduce oil consumption by about 12 billion barrels over the lifetime of 

the affected vehicles and trucks.

Improve Air Quality. Achieve and maintain health- and welfare-based air pollution standards 

and reduce risk from toxic air pollutants and indoor air contaminants.

Restore and Protect the Ozone Layer. Restore and protect the earth's stratospheric ozone layer 

and protect the public from the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Minimize Exposure to Radiation. Minimize releases of radioactive material and be prepared to 

minimize exposure through response and recovery actions should unavoidable releases occur.

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.
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concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone have decreased 26 percent and 16 

percent, respectively. Even with this progress, in 2010 approximately 40 percent of the U.S. 

population lived in counties with air that did not meet health-based standards for at least one 

pollutant. Long-term exposure to elevated levels of certain air pollutants has been associated 

with increased risk of cancer, premature mortality, and damage to the immune, neurological, 

reproductive, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems.[3] Because people spend much of their 

lives indoors, the quality of indoor air is also a major health concern. Indoor allergens and 

irritants play a significant role in making asthma worse and triggering asthma attacks. Over 25 

million Americans currently have asthma,[4] which annually accounts for over 500,000 

hospitalizations, more than 10 million missed school days, and over $50 billion in economic 

costs.[5] Exposure to indoor radon is responsible for an estimated 21,000 premature lung cancer 

deaths each year.[6] Twenty percent of the population spends the day indoors in elementary and 

secondary schools, where potential problems with leaky roofs and with heating, ventilation, and 

air conditioning systems can trigger a host of health problems, including asthma and allergies. 

Address Climate Change

EPA’s strategies to address climate change reflect the President’s call to action in his Climate 

Action Plan (June 2013), which, among other initiatives, tasks EPA with setting carbon dioxide 

(CO2) standards for power plants and applying its authorities and other tools to address 

hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and methane. These strategies support the President's goal to reduce

GHG emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020[7]. EPA and its partners are 

developing and implementing approaches to reduce GHG emissions domestically and 

internationally through cost-effective, voluntary programs while pursuing additional regulatory 

actions as needed. Our efforts address the following areas: 

Mobile Sources

Implementing three sets of GHG standards for vehicles and trucks, including: two sets of 

GHG standards for light-duty cars and trucks (model years 2012-2016 and 2017-2025); and 

the first set of standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses (model years 2014-

2018). These emission standards, finalized jointly with the National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration (NHTSA) fuel economy standards, will result in substantial reductions in new 

vehicle GHG emissions from model years 2012 through 2025. (Reducing greenhouse gas 

emissions from cars and trucks is a proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal.)[8]

Building on the progress achieved through the first phase of heavy-duty vehicle GHG 

standards, the Agency will develop proposal options for a second phase of GHG emission 

standards for these vehicles, including exploring a more complete vehicle standard-setting 

approach and encouraging a wider range of advanced technologies.

Assessing GHG control options for non-road sources, including evaluating whether and when 

to commence work on standards setting for GHG emissions from a wide range of non-road 

equipment, locomotives, marine vessels and aircraft, and transportation fuels.

Stationary Sources

Using authority under section 111(b) of the Clean Air Act, by September 20, 2013, EPA will 

issue a new proposal for GHG standards performance standards for new power plants and 

subsequently finalize that rule after consideration of public comment as appropriate. Using 
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authority under sections 111(b) and 111(d) of the Act, EPA will issue proposed GHG 

standards, regulations, or guidelines, as appropriate, for modified, reconstructed, and existing 

power plants by June 1, 2014, and finalize these standards, regulations, or guidelines by June 

1, 2015. 

Collecting and publishing high-quality GHG emissions data from large direct emitters and 

suppliers of GHGs through the greenhouse gas reporting program to inform the public and 

support sound, data-driven, policy decisions on climate change. 

Implementing permitting requirements for facilities that emit large amounts of GHGs to 

encourage design and construction of more sustainable, efficient, and advanced processes 

that will contribute to a clean energy economy. 

Applying the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program to promote the use of 

low global warming potential (GWP) HFCs and similar chemicals. 

International and Other Efforts 

Implementing proven voluntary programs that maximize GHG reductions through the greater 

use of technologies, products, and practices that promote energy efficiency, and renewables 

programs and policies that benefit the environment and human health. 

Identifying and assessing substitute chemical and ozone-depleting substances and processes 

for their global warming potential. 

Collaborating with countries and other international partners to reduce methane emissions 

and deliver clean energy to markets around the world through the Global Methane Initiative. 

Collaborating with international partners to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, including 

methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons, through the Climate and Clean Air 

Coalition. 

Educating the public about a changing change and actions people can take to reduce GHG 

emissions. 

Collaborating with state, local, and tribal governments on regulatory and policy initiatives, 

technical assistance, and voluntary programs related to climate change mitigation and 

adaptation. 

Adaptation 

Many of the outcomes the EPA is working to attain are sensitive to weather and climate. 

Consequently, various actions EPA takes, including promulgating regulations and implementing 

programs, should take these fluctuations into consideration. For example, potential increases in 

ground-level ozone due to a changing climate could make attainment or maintenance of the 

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) more challenging. 

EPA must adapt and plan for future changes in climate to continue fulfilling its statutory, 

regulatory, and programmatic requirements. The Agency will implement its Climate Change 

Adaptation Plan, and consider where it is appropriate, to integrate and mainstream considerations 

of a changing climate into its programs, to ensure they are effective under future climatic 

conditions. EPA will work with state, tribal, and local partners to enhance their adaptive 

capacity, and continue to collaborate with the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the 

Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force.[9] 
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Adaptation initiatives undertaken by EPA will carry out key elements of the President’s Climate 

Action Plan (June 2013) and aim to increase the resilience of communities and ecosystems to 

climate change by increasing their ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from 

the impacts of a changing climate. EPA is encouraging and supporting smarter, more resilient 

investments by integrating considerations of climate change impacts and adaptive measures into 

major grant, loan, contract, and technical assistance programs, consistent with existing 

authorities. For example, EPA is integrating climate adaptation criteria into the Clean Water and 

Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds and grants for brownfields cleanup. EPA is also 

partnering with states, tribes, and urban and rural communities to integrate climate change data, 

models, information, and other decision-support tools into their planning processes in ways that 

empower them to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to a changing climate. For example, EPA is 

developing a stormwater calculator that will enable users to evaluate the effectiveness of 

alternative strategies for limiting stormwater runoff that can overwhelm sewer systems and spill 

into rivers and streams, and identify strategies that ensure the systems are effective under future 

climatic conditions. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Energy and transportation policies continue to evolve and influence the Agency’s ability to 

improve air quality and address climate change issues. Impacts of a changing climate, such as 

changes in rainfall amount and intensity, shifting weather and seasonal patterns, and increases in 

flood plain elevations and sea levels, will also affect progress towards many of the goals. Yet 

other developments may have positive environmental impacts. The growth of alternative energy 

sources and increased investments in energy efficiency can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and 

improve local air quality.

Improve Air Quality

Taking into account the most current health effects research findings [10], EPA recently 

completed new, more health-protective national ambient air quality standards for particulate 

matter (December 2012), lead (October 2008), sulfur dioxide (June 2010), nitrogen dioxide

(January 2010), and carbon monoxide (August 2011), and is currently reviewing the standard for 

ozone. Over the next four years, we will work with states and tribes to develop and implement 

plans to achieve and maintain these standards. Our efforts provide the tools and information 

necessary for EPA, states, and tribes to implement air quality standards and controls. 

EPA will work with states and tribes to decrease the emissions that contribute to interstate 

transport of air pollution. These efforts will help many areas of the country attain the standards 

and achieve significant improvements in human health. Working with states and tribes, EPA 

will continue implementing cost-effective multi-state regional programs designed to control the 

significant contributions of power plant and other stationary source emissions of sulfur dioxide 

(SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) to air quality problems (i.e., nonattainment and interference with 

maintenance of ozone and PM2.5 NAAQS) in downwind areas. Operating programs in 2014 will 

include the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) or a replacement program for control of transported 

ozone and PM2.5 pollution [11] in addition to the national acid rain SO2 and NOx emission 

reduction programs. 
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As we implement national air quality standards, we will seek ways to increase efficiency and 

maximize results. These efforts include working with states to improve the state implementation 

plan approval process, including the use of full-cycle analysis (i.e., identifying specific actions 

along a time line needed to facilitate the timely issuance of implementation rules and guidelines), 

modernizing our training program for state, local, and tribal agencies through an e-learning 

system, and implementation of electronic emission reporting as part of the Agency’s EEnterprise initiative.

Additionally, EPA will work to ensure that our efforts to improve air quality considers lowincome and minority communities that are often disproportionately-impacted by sources of 

pollution. The Agency will continue to implement the goals of the EJ 2014 strategy that focus 

on protecting health in communities overburdened by pollution, empowering communities to 

take action to improve their health and environment, and establishing partnerships with local, 

state, tribal, and federal organizations to achieve healthy and sustainable communities.

EPA has finalized a number of air pollution control standards over the last decade that have 

substantially reduced, and will continue to reduce, PM, NOx, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), 

air toxics, and GHG emissions. These standards will cut emissions from new vehicles and 

engines by over 90 percent, with an estimated $290 billion in net health benefits by 2030. In 

addition, EPA partnership programs such as the Diesel Emission Reduction and SmartWay 

Transport programs are achieving important reductions in emissions from the existing fleet of 

diesel engines that are not subject to the new standards. 

Looking forward, EPA has conducted an analysis of the mobile source emission inventory that 

will help guide future program priorities. Key observations from this analysis will be used to 

guide future mobile source control strategies:

In the 2017-2030 timeframe, off-road engine emissions (including construction, agriculture, 

marine, locomotive, and aviation) will account for a larger percentage of the mobile source 

inventory for NOx, VOCs, and PM2.5, generally accounting for over 50 percent of the 

emissions.

Legacy engines—both on-road and non-road—although still a large portion of the inventory 

in the near term, will account for a much smaller portion of the NOx and PM2.5 emissions 

inventory by 2030.

Commercial marine sources will become the largest source of NOx by 2030, at about half the 

inventory by 2030.

Gasoline sources will also account for a larger share of PM2.5, estimated at about half the 

inventory by 2030.

The Agency also recognizes the importance of fuels work and the critical need to understand the 

challenges and opportunities this work presents. The EPA will continue to coordinate with the 

Department of Energy (DOE) and other interagency partners on these issues as appropriate. The 

Agency plans to focus on streamlining the implementation processes of the renewable fuel 

standard (RFS) program, including the annual standard-setting process and new fuel pathway 

approvals. EPA will also strengthen its oversight of industry compliance with RFS standards 
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and core fuels and fuels additive registration mandates through a voluntary third-party quality 

assurance program to verify that renewable identification numbers (RINs) have been validly

generated. In addition, proposed modifications to the exporter provisions of the RFS program 

will help to ensure an appropriate number and type of RINs are retired whenever renewable fuel 

is exported.

Air toxics and other air pollutants can be widespread and/or community-specific; they are 

emitted by large industry, small businesses, motor vehicles, and many other common activities.

While certain chemicals are ubiquitous throughout the country, in some areas of concentrated 

industrial and/or mobile-source activity, concentrations may be significantly greater. To support 

effective air toxic reduction policies, EPA uses data from our national toxics monitoring network 

and from national and local assessments to provide key information to better characterize risks 

and assess priorities. EPA also leverages air toxics, pollution prevention, and green expertise to 

reduce air toxic emissions and associated risk.

 

EPA recognizes that air toxics pose unique challenges both nationally and at the community 

level, and we focus on relatively high-risk sources, pollutants, and exposure situations. EPA will 

continue to set and enforce control technology-based air toxics emissions standards and, where 

needed, amend those standards to address residual risk and technology advancements. These 

regulations are aimed at reducing toxic air pollution from stationary sources and targeted priority 

source categories, reducing pollution in communities, utilizing a more cost-effective “sectorbased” approach, and providing tools to help communities and other stakeholders participate in 

rulemaking. Priority categories include petroleum refining, iron and steel manufacturing, 

chemical manufacturing, and Portland cement. EPA takes advantage of the natural overlap of 

certain air toxics and criteria pollutant rules and coordinates the development and 

implementation of Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards and NSPSs

where appropriate. By coordinating MACT standard development for specific source categories 

with other rulemaking efforts, EPA can substantially reduce the resources needed to develop 

standards; provide more certainty and lower cost for industry; simplify implementation for state, 

local, and tribal agencies; and, enhance cost-effective regulatory approaches. To address 

unacceptable risks that may remain after implementing national strategies, EPA works with 

states, tribes, and local agencies and organizations to understand the risks at the local level, target 

the problem areas, and tailor reduction strategies and approaches to the often unique situations in 

those areas. 

To improve indoor air quality, EPA deploys programs that educate the public about indoor air 

quality concerns, including radon, and promotes public action to reduce potential risks in homes, 

schools, and workplaces. The people most exposed to indoor air pollutants are often those most 

susceptible to the effects—the young, the elderly, and the chronically ill. In addition, EPA 

collaborates with state and tribal organizations, environmental and public health officials, 

housing, energy, and building organizations, school personnel who manage school environments, 

and health care providers, who treat children prone to or suffering disproportionately from 

asthma. The focus of these efforts is to create, expand, and leverage systems already in place to 

support communities’ efforts to address indoor air quality health risks. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues
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External factors that will affect air quality program implementation include the outcome of 

the appeal of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) decision and continuing legal 

challenges to stationary source rules.[12] 

Impacts from a changing climate may worsen existing indoor environmental problems and 

introduce new ones as temperatures change and the frequency and/or severity of adverse 

outdoor events increase. Examples include increased mold from water damage and more 

time spent indoors where air may be of poorer quality. 

Restore and Protect the Ozone Layer 

EPA will implement programs that reduce and control ozone-depleting substances (ODS), 

enforce rules on their production, import, and emission, and facilitate the transition to substitutes 

that reduce GHG emissions and save energy. EPA’s contributions to the Multilateral Fund for 

the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol will help continue support for cost-effective 

projects designed to build capacity and eliminate ODS production and consumption in over 60 

developing countries. EPA will also continue partnership programs that educate the public about 

the importance of protection from harmful ultraviolet radiation. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues 

Protection of the ozone layer is a global problem that cannot be solved by domestic action 

alone—it depends on the mobilization and phase-out efforts of all countries of the world. Much 

remains to be done in the U.S. and in the global community at large before the ozone layer will 

be considered safe for current and future generations. Critical emerging issues include the need 

to help ensure that: 

Ozone depleting substances are replaced by alternatives that reduce overall risk to health and 

the environment; 

Final controlled uses of the agricultural fumigant methyl bromide are phased out in a manner 

that continues to protect our vital needs for this substance for international trade; and, 

Remaining ODS phase-out, including the 2013 and 2015 developing-country ODS reduction 

requirements, is funded and complied with in a manner that is both cost effective and climate 

friendly. 

Minimize Exposure to Radiation 

Recognizing the potential hazards of radiation, Congress charged EPA with the primary 

responsibility for protecting people and the environment from harmful and avoidable exposures. 

In fulfilling this responsibility, the Agency will review and update its radiation protection 

regulations and guidance and operate RadNet, the Agency’s national environmental radiation 

monitoring system. EPA will also maintain personnel expertise, capabilities, and equipment 

readiness of the radiological emergency response program, including the Agency’s Radiological 

Emergency Response Team. In addition, EPA will provide regulatory oversight of the 

Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), inspect DOE WIPP waste 
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generator facilities, and evaluate WIPP’s compliance with EPA’s radioactive waste disposal 

standards and applicable environmental laws and regulations.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

There are several emerging issues and external factors that will have an impact on how we 

carry out our radiation program, including new designs and technologies for nuclear power 

plant facilities as well as new uranium extraction and processing technologies.

Applied Research

Protecting human health and the environment from the impacts of a changing climate and air 

quality in a sustainable way are central 21st century challenges. These challenges are 

complicated by the interplay between air quality, the changing climate, and emerging energy 

options. EPA’s air, climate, and energy research will provide cutting-edge scientific information 

and tools to support air quality and climate change efforts. In particular, EPA will:

Conduct integrated science assessments of criteria air pollutants and provide new data and 

approaches for improving these assessments;

Develop credible models and tools to inform sustainable policies, decisions, and responses to 

a changing climate;

Conduct research to change the paradigm for air pollution monitoring, with a focus on lower 

cost measurements;

Develop and evaluate models and decision support tools to integrate multi-media processes 

and systems;

Develop approaches to assess multi-pollutant exposures and the resulting human and 

ecological effects of air pollutant mixtures; and, 

Conduct research to inform policies protecting human and ecosystem health in an evolving 

energy landscape, including impacts of unconventional oil and gas and low-carbon energy 

sources.

End Notes:

[1] Thomas R. Karl, Jerry M. Melillo, and Thomas C. Peterson (eds.). 2009. Global Climate Change 

Impacts in the United States (New York, New York: Cambridge University Press). Available at 

http://downloads.globalchange.gov/usimpacts/pdfs/climate-impacts-report.pdf. 

[2] U.S. EPA, 2012. Our Nation's Air-Status and Trends through 2010. EPA-454/R-12-001. Available at 

http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/2011/. 

[3] U.S. EPA, 2007. The Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act. EPA-456/K-07-001. Available at 

http://www.epa.gov/air/peg/peg.pdf.

[4] Asthma Prevalence: Akinbami, L.J., Mooreman, J.E., Bailey, C., Zahran, H., King, M., Johnson, C., 

& Liu, X. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. (2012). 
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Trends in asthma prevalence, health care use, and mortality in the United States, 2001-2010. Retrieved 

from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db94.pdf . 

[5] Costs: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011, May). Asthma in the U.S. Vital Signs. 

Retrieved from http://cdc.gov/vitalsigns.

[6] U.S. EPA, 2003. EPA's Assessment of Risks from Radon in Homes. EPA 402-R-03-003. Available at 

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/assessment/402-r-03-003.pdf. 

[7] See 

http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_15/copenhagen_accord/application/pdf/unitedstatescphaccord_app.1.

pdf

[8] Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and 

trucks: Through September 30, 2015, EPA in coordination with Department of Transportation’s fuel 

economy standards program will be implementing vehicle and truck greenhouse gas standards that are 

projected to reduce GHG emissions by 6 billion metric tons and reduce oil consumption by about 12 

billion barrels over the lifetime of the affected vehicles and trucks.

[9] The U.S. Global Change Research Program coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in 

the global environment and their implications for society. It was mandated by Congress in the Global 

Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606). In 2009, the White House Council on Environmental 

Quality, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration initiated the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force. When the President 

signed Executive Order 13514, “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic 

Performance” in October 2009, he called on the Task Force to develop federal recommendations for 

adapting to climate change impacts both domestically and internationally.

[10] U.S. EPA, 2006. Air Quality Criteria for Lead (2006) Final Report. EPA/600/R-05/144aF-bF. 

Available at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=158823. 

U.S. EPA, 2008. Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) for Sulfur Oxides–Health Criteria (Final Report). 

EPA/600/R-08/047F. Available at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=198843.

U.S. EPA, 2008. Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen–Health Criteria (Final Report). 

EPA/600/R-08/071. Available at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=194645. 

[11] In 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit remanded CAIR to EPA but allowed the rule 

to remain in effect pending replacement by a valid rule. In August 2012, the same court vacated EPA’s 

replacement rule (CSAPR), a decision that the Department of Justice has petitioned the Supreme Court to 

review. Depending on whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear the appeal and, if so, the outcome of 

that appeal, CAIR’s ultimate replacement could be either CSAPR or the product of a new EPA 

rulemaking effort.

[12] In an August 21, 2012 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the CSAPR 

and ordered EPA to continue implementing CAIR pending development of a valid replacement. On 

March 29, 2013, the Department of Justice filed a petition seeking Supreme Court review of that decision. 

Please see http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/ for updates on CSAPR.
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Goal 2:

Protecting America’s Waters

Protect and restore waters to ensure that drinking water is safe and sustainably managed, and 

that aquatic ecosystems sustain fish, plants, wildlife, and other biota, as well as economic, 

recreational, and subsistence activities.

Overview

The nation’s water resources are the lifeblood of our communities, supporting our economy and 

way of life. Across most of the country, we enjoy and depend upon reliable sources of clean and 

safe water. Several decades ago, however, many of our drinking water systems provided water 

to the tap with very limited treatment. Drinking water was often the cause of illnesses linked to 

microbiological and other contaminants. Many of our surface waters would not have met 

today’s water quality standards. Some of the nation’s rivers were open sewers, posing health 

risks, and many water bodies were so polluted that safe swimming, fishing, and recreation were 

not possible.

We have made significant progress since enactment of the landmark Clean Water Act (CWA),

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act 

approximately 40 years ago. Today, although the enhanced quality of our surface waters and the 

greater safety of our drinking water are testaments to decades of environmental protection and 

Objectives: 

Protect Human Health. Achieve and maintain standards and guidelines protective of human 

health in drinking water supplies, fish, shellfish, and recreational waters, and protect and 

sustainably manage drinking water resources.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Improve public health protection for 

persons served by small drinking water systems by strengthening the technical, 

managerial, and financial capacity of those systems. By September 30, 2015, EPA will 

engage with an additional ten states (for a total of 30 states) and three tribes to improve small 

drinking water system capability to provide safe drinking water. 

Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems. Protect, restore, and sustain the 

quality of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands on a watershed basis, and sustainably manage and 

protect coastal and ocean resources and ecosystems.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Improve, restore, or maintain water 

quality by enhancing nonpoint source program accountability, incentives, and 

effectiveness. By September 30, 2015, 100 percent of the states with outdated programs will 

revise their nonpoint source programs according to new Section 319 grant guidelines that EPA 

released in April 2013.

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.

Objectives: 

Protect Human Health. Achieve and maintain standards and guidelines protective of human 

health in drinking water supplies, fish, shellfish, and recreational waters, and protect and 

sustainably manage drinking water resources.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Improve public health protection for 

persons served by small drinking water systems, which account for more than 97 percent

of public water systems in the U.S., by strengthening the technical, managerial, and 

financial capacity of those systems. By September 30, 2015, EPA will engage with an 

additional ten states (for a total of 30 states) and three tribes to improve small drinking water 

system capability to provide safe drinking water, an invaluable resource.

Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems. Protect, restore, and sustain the 

quality of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands on a watershed basis, and sustainably manage and 

protect coastal and ocean resources and ecosystems.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Improve, restore, and maintain water 

quality by enhancing nonpoint source program leveraging, accountability, and on-theground effectiveness to address the nation’s largest sources of pollution. By September 

30, 2015, 100 percent of the states will have updated nonpoint source management programs 

that comport with the new Section 319 grant guidelines that will result in better targeting of 

resources through prioritization and increased coordination with USDA.

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.
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investment, serious challenges remain. Small drinking water systems are particularly challenged 

by the need to improve infrastructure and develop the capacity to meet new and existing 

standards. Tens of thousands of homes, primarily in tribal and disadvantaged communities and 

the territories, still lack access to basic sanitation and drinking water. The rate at which new 

waters are listed for water quality impairments exceeds the pace at which restored waters are 

removed from the list.

Pollution discharged from industrial, municipal, agricultural, and stormwater sources continue to 

be causes of water quality problems, but other significant contributors include loss of habitat and 

habitat fragmentation, hydrologic alteration, the spread of invasive species, and a changing 

climate. For many years, nonpoint source pollution, principally nitrogen, phosphorus, and 

sediments, has been recognized as the largest remaining impediment to improving water quality. 

Recent national surveys have found that our waters are stressed by nutrient pollution, excess 

sedimentation, and degradation of shoreline vegetation, which affect upwards of 50 percent of 

our lakes and streams.[1] A changing climate will compound these problems, highlighting the 

need to work with our partners to evaluate options for protecting infrastructure, conserving 

water, reducing energy use, adopting “green” infrastructure and locally-driven watershed-based 

practices, and improving the resilience of infrastructural and natural systems, including utilities, 

watersheds, and estuaries.[2]

Over the next four years, EPA will reinvigorate efforts to improve waer quality, working with 

states, territories, and tribes to better safeguard human health and make America’s water systems 

sustainable and secure. We will assess the status of and changes in water quality through the 

National Aquatic Resource Surveys, strengthen the protection of our aquatic ecosystems, 

improve watershed-based approaches to reduce pollution, implement innovative technologies, 

implement comprehensive approaches to help maintain healthy watersheds, focus efforts in key 

geographic areas [3], and take measures to incorporate climate change considerations into clean 

water and drinking water program planning and implementation. EPA is proposing two Agency 

Priority Goals for FY 2014-2015 that are continuations from FY 2012-2013: to improve public 

health protection for persons served by small drinking water systems by strengthening the 

technical, managerial, and financial capacity of those systems[4]; and, to improve, restore, or 

maintain water quality by enhancing nonpoint source program accountability, incentives, and 

effectiveness[5]. In the first priority goal, EPA will continue to work with the states to improve 

their capacity development, operator certification, and treatment optimization programs. The 

Agency is continuing to partner with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural 

Utilities Service to promote drinking water and wastewater system sustainability, foster water 

sector workforce opportunities in rural America, and coordinate infrastructure funding as 

appropriate. EPA will continue to provide states with funds, through the drinking water state 

revolving fund (DWSRF) capitalization grants, for low-interest loans to assist utilities with 

financing drinking water infrastructure needs. In the second priority goal, EPA is implementing 

a strengthened nonpoint source (CWA Section 319) grant program[6] to continue yielding onthe-ground water quality results in watersheds nationwide. A significant component of this 

effort is working with state partners to update their nonpoint source programs, which guide 

overall priorities and investments for Section 319 funds. Updated nonpoint source programs, 

combined with collaboration efforts with USDA, state departments of agriculture, and other 

partners, will result in better protection of water quality from nonpoint sources of pollution. 
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Working with our partners, the Agency’s effort to protect our waters is aimed at two 

objectives—protecting human health and protecting and restoring watersheds and aquatic 

ecosystems.

Protect Human Health

Sustaining the quality and supply of our water resources is essential to safeguarding human 

health. More than 300 million people living in the United States rely on the safety of tap water 

provided by public water systems that are subject to national drinking water standards. Over the 

next four years, EPA will help protect human health and make America’s water systems 

sustainable and secure by: 

Providing financial assistance for public water system infrastructure to protect and maintain 

drinking water quality; 

Strengthening compliance with drinking water standards; 

Continuing to protect sources of drinking water from contamination; 

Developing new and revising existing drinking water standards to address known and 

emerging contaminants that endanger human health; and, 

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

While promoting sustainable management of drinking water infrastructure, we will provide 

needed oversight and technical assistance to states, territories, and tribes so that their water 

systems comply with or exceed existing standards and are able to comply with new standards. 

We will also promote the construction of infrastructure that brings safe drinking water into the 

homes of small, rural, and disadvantaged communities and increase efforts to guard the nation's 

critical drinking water infrastructure. 

 

In addition, EPA is actively working Agency-wide and with external partners and stakeholders to 

implement a multi-faceted drinking water strategy. With this approach, EPA seeks to: address 

chemicals and contaminants by group, as opposed to working on a chemical-by-chemical basis; 

foster the development of new drinking water treatment technologies; use the authority of 

multiple statutes in addressing drinking water contamination; and, encourage collaboration with 

states and tribes to share more complete data from monitoring at public water systems. To this 

end, the Agency is replacing the federal and state components of EPA’s Safe Drinking Water 

Information System (SDWIS) with a new system. SDWIS NextGen is designed to improve the 

efficiency of sharing drinking water data between states and the Agency. This will allow for 

better targeting of federal and state funding and technical assistance resources, and improving

data quality while increasing public access to drinking water data.

Science-based water quality criteria are essential to protect our public water systems, 

groundwater and surface water bodies, and recreational waters. These criteria are the foundation 

for state and tribal tools to safeguard human health such as advisories for beaches, fish 

consumption, and drinking water. Over the next four years, we will expand that science to 

improve our understanding of emerging potential waterborne threats to human health, develop 
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new criteria, and validate testing methods that provide quicker results and enable faster action on 

beach safety. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Underground Sources of Drinking Water: EPA’s underground injection control (UIC) program 

provides a framework to ensure protection of underground sources of drinking water from 

endangerment related to the construction, operation, permitting, and closure of injection wells 

that place fluids underground for storage, disposal, enhanced recovery of oil and gas, or minerals 

recovery. Natural gas plays a key role in our clean energy future. Hydraulic fracturing (HF) is a 

key way to recover natural gas from sources. EPA will ensure proper oversight of hydraulic 

fracturing operations where diesel fuel is used by implementing permitting guidance under 

SDWA's Class II UIC program for hydraulic fracturing. EPA is working with state and tribal 

organizations, along with other federal agencies to develop and implement voluntary strategies 

for encouraging the use of alternatives to diesel in hydraulic fracturing and improving 

compliance with other Class II regulations, including risks from induced seismic events and 

radionuclides in disposal wells. EPA is also continuing to work with state, tribal, and industry 

representatives to make state UIC Class II regulations and information more transparent and to 

implement best practices and promote coordination between UIC and oil and gas agencies.

Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems

People and the ecological integrity of aquatic systems rely on healthy watersheds. EPA employs 

a suite of programs to protect and improve water quality in the nation’s watersheds—rivers, 

lakes, wetlands, and streams—as well as in our estuarine, coastal, and ocean waters. In 

partnership with states, territories, local governments, and tribes, EPA’s core water programs 

help: 

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

infrastructure; 

Conduct monitoring and assessment; 

Establish pollution reduction targets; 

Update water quality standards; 

Issue and enforce discharge permits; and, 

Implement programs to prevent or reduce nonpoint source pollution. 

To provide information on the ecological and recreational condition of the nation’s waters and 

the key stressors impacting those waters, EPA will continue to work with states and tribes to 

implement the National Aquatic Resource Surveys, including the National Rivers and Streams 

Assessment, the National Coastal Condition Assessment, the National Wetland Condition 

Assessment, and the National Lakes Assessment.[7] These probability-based surveys provide 

nationally consistent and scientifically-defensible assessments of our nation's waters. These data 

will support EPA and our partners in identifying priority actions to protect and restore water 

quality, and, over time, in assessing whether our collective efforts are improving water quality.
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Over the next four years, EPA will continue efforts to restore water bodies that do not meet water 

quality standards, preserve and protect high quality aquatic resources, and protect, restore, and 

improve wetland acreage and quality. The Agency will improve the way existing tools are used, 

explore how innovative tools can be applied, and enhance efforts and cross-media collaboration 

to protect and prevent water quality impairment in healthy watersheds. The Agency will use the 

National Aquatic Resource Survey to track the effectiveness of these combined efforts at 

protecting and improving water quality over time.

Results from the National Aquatic Resource Survey reinforce EPA’s commitment to address 

nitrogen and phosphorus pollution as among the most serious and pervasive water quality 

problems. Programs for controlling nonpoint sources of pollution are key to reducing the 

number of impaired waters nationwide. The programs provide a multi-faceted approach to the 

problem, combining innovative development strategies to help leverage traditional tools. In 

addition to working with state, tribal, and local partners, EPA is collaborating with USDA to 

implement its National Water Quality Initiative and collaborating on other geographically-based 

initiatives. Coordination of EPA’s nonpoint source (Section 319) grant funds and USDA Farm 

Bill funds is intended to protect water quality more effectively from runoff from agricultural 

lands and demonstrate improved effectiveness. USDA launched the National Water Quality 

Initiative (NWQI) in FY 2012, which targets 5 percent of USDA’s Environmental Quality 

Incentives Program resources for water quality improvements in 165 specific watersheds across 

the nation. EPA is collaborating closely with USDA as it implements this program, and is now 

requiring states to assess water quality results in NWQI watersheds through Section 319 grant 

funds or other funding sources.

Development and implementation of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for CWA Section 

303(d) listed impaired waterbodies is a critical tool for meeting water quality restoration goals. 

The CWA 303(d) listing and TMDL program has engaged with states to implement a new 10-

year vision for the program to more effectively achieve the water quality goals of each state. The 

approach involves fostering effective integration across multiple programs, statutes, and 

agencies—CWA point and nonpoint source programs, other statutory programs within EPA’s 

jurisdiction (e.g., the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 

[CERCLA], Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA], SDWA, and Clean Air Act 

[CAA]), and the water quality efforts of other federal agencies (e.g., the Departments of 

Agriculture, Interior, and Commerce). As part of this effort, EPA will continue to encourage 

states to identify priority waters for assessment, development of TMDLs and other restoration 

plans for impaired segments, and pursuit of protection approaches for unimpaired waters. EPA 

will work with states and other partners to develop and implement activities and watershed plans 

to restore and protect these waters. 

In partnership with states, tribes, and local communities, EPA is implementing a clean water 

strategy that explores ways to improve the condition of the urban waterways that may have been 

overlooked or under-represented in local environmental problem solving. The Agency will 

continue to play an active role as a member of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership to promote 

more efficient and effective use of federal resources and build new partnerships with states, local 

entities, and the private sector. We will also work more aggressively to reduce and control 

pollutants that are discharged from industrial, municipal, agricultural, and stormwater sources, 
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and vessels, as well as to implement programs to prevent and reduce pollution that washes off 

the land during rain events. By promoting “green” infrastructure and sustainable landscape 

management, EPA will help restore natural hydrologic systems and reduce pollution from 

stormwater events.[8] 

EPA will also lead efforts to restore and protect aquatic ecosystems and wetlands, particularly in 

key geographic areas[3], to address complex and cross-boundary challenges. EPA is heading up 

a multi-agency effort to restore and protect the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Restoration 

Initiative.[9] In other parts of the nation, we will focus on nutrient pollution, which threatens the 

long-term health of important ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay. Further, given the 

environmental catastrophe resulting from the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill, EPA will continue 

to take necessary actions to support efforts of federal and state trustees in the natural resource 

damage assessment to restore the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. EPA shares in the role of being a 

Natural Resource Trustee to conduct the natural resource damage assessment from the spill. In 

addition, EPA is also a member of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, established 

under the RESTORE Act[10], to restore the ecosystem and economy of the Gulf Coast region. 

Monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico under the National Aquatic Resource Survey will be important 

to fully document the long-term impacts of the spill and track the recovery of wetland and nearshore estuarine resources. This long-term effort by EPA and the states is an important 

complement to the project-specific and special-focus monitoring efforts underway as part of the 

Natural Resource Damage Assessment and BP Research funds. 

To respond and adapt to the current and potential impacts of a changing climate on aquatic 

resources, including the current and potential impacts associated with warming temperatures, 

changes in rainfall amount and intensity, and sea level rise, EPA has developed a “National 

Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change.” This strategy sets out long-term 

goals and specific actions contributing to national efforts to prepare for, and build resilience to, 

impacts of a changing climate on water resources. EPA is working with state, tribal, and local 

governments, as well as other partners, to implement actions addressing climate change 

challenges to protecting water infrastructure, coastal and ocean waters, watersheds, and water 

quality.[11] 

External Factors and Emerging Issues 

Water Quality: Water quality programs face challenges such as increases in nutrient 

loadings and stormwater runoff, aging infrastructure, and population growth (which can 

increase water consumption and place additional stress on aging water infrastructures). The 

Agency is carefully examining the potential impacts of and solutions to these issues, 

including effects on water quality and quantity that could result in the long term from a 

changing climate. The Agency will continue implementing the National Aquatic Resource 

Surveys to support collection of nationally consistent data to support these efforts.

Population Density: In 2010, 52 percent of the U.S. population lived in coastal watershed 

counties which comprise less than 20 percent of the total land area of the U.S., excluding 

Alaska. The population density of coastal watershed counties is over five times greater than 

the corresponding inland counties. If current population trends continue, the already crowded 
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U.S. coast will see population grow from 123 million people to nearly 134 million people by 

2020, placing more of the population at increased risk from a changing climate and exposing 

these fragile coastal ecosystems to greater pressures. Population growth in coastal watershed 

counties is impacting water quality and other coastal resources within National Estuary 

Programs (NEP) study areas. NEPs work to address the impacts of growth by focusing their 

long-term management and annual work plans on priorities such as stormwater management, 

reduction of excess nutrient loadings, and promotion of low-impact development and green 

infrastructure. Also, EPA’s climate-ready estuaries program provides the capacity for NEPs 

and coastal stakeholders to develop vulnerability assessments.[12] 

Technology Market Opportunities: EPA is working both internally and with external 

partners and stakeholders to discuss plans for advancing innovative technologies that will be 

important to the continued protection and restoration of waters. Some key market 

opportunities for innovative technology identified in EPA’s “Blueprint for Integrating 

Technology Innovation into the National Water Program” to help address current and 

emerging water resource issues include: 

o Energy reduction and recovery at drinking water and wastewater facilities;

o Nutrient recovery from wastewater;

o Improving and "greening" of the nation's infrastructure;

o Water reuse;

o Improved and less expensive monitoring;

o Improving reliability of small drinking water systems;

o Technology evaluation and performance;

o Reducing water impacts from domestic energy production; 

o Resiliency of water infrastructure; and,

o Improving water quality of oceans, estuaries, and watersheds.[13]

Applied Research 

EPA’s research will help ensure that natural and engineered water systems have the capacity and 

resiliency to meet current and future water needs for the range of water use and ecological 

requirements. These efforts will help position the Agency to meet the future needs in water 

resources management by: 

Gathering, synthesizing, and mapping the necessary environmental, economic, and social 

information of watersheds, from local to national scales, to determine the condition, future 

prospects, and restoration potential of the nation’s watersheds; 

Conducting and integrating EPA nitrogen and co-pollutant research efforts across multiple 

media and various temporal and spatial scales including support for developing numeric 

nutrient criteria, decision support tools, and cost-effective approaches to nutrient reduction; 

Promoting the economic recovery of water, energy, and nutrient resources through 

innovative municipal water services and whole-of-system assessment tools; 

Developing innovative tools, technologies, and strategies for managing water resources 

(including stormwater); and, 
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Evaluating individual and groups of contaminants for the protection of human health and the 

environment.

End Notes: 

[1] U.S. EPA, 2006. Wadeable Streams Assessment: A Collaborative Survey of the Nation’s Streams.

EPA 841-B-06-002. Available at http://www.epa.gov/owow/streamsurvey. See also EPA, 2010. 

National Lakes Assessment: A Collaborative Survey of the Nation’s Lakes. EPA 841-R-09-001. 

Available at http://www.epa.gov/lakessurvey/pdf/nla_chapter0.pdf.

[2] Resilience is the ability of a system to absorb change and disturbance and retain its fundamental 

function and/or structure. 

[3] Key geographic areas in the national water program include the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, the 

Gulf of Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico Border region, the Pacific Islands, Long Island Sound, the South 

Florida Ecosystem, the Puget Sound Basin, the Columbia River Basin, and the San Francisco Bay Delta 

Estuary. For more information on these programs and their performance measures, see the annual 

National Water Program Guidance, available at http://www.epa.gov/water/waterplan/index.html. 

[4] Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Improve public health protection for persons served 

by small drinking water systems, which account for more than 97 percent of public water systems in the 

U.S., by strengthening the technical, managerial, and financial capacity of those systems. By September 

30, 2015, EPA will engage with an additional ten states (for a total of 30 states) and three tribes to 

improve small drinking water system capability to provide safe drinking water, an invaluable resource.

[5] Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Improve, restore, and maintain water quality by 

enhancing nonpoint source program leveraging, accountability, and on-the-ground effectiveness to 

address the nation’s largest sources of pollution. By September 30, 2015, 100 percent of the states will 

have updated nonpoint source management programs that comport with the new Section 319 grant 

guidelines that will result in better targeting of resources through prioritization and increased coordination 

with USDA.

[6] [Add citation for revised nonpoint source grant program guidance.]

[7] For information on National Aquatic Resource Surveys, see 

http://water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/monitoring/aquaticsurvey_index.cfm.

[8] For information on managing wet weather with green infrastructure, see 

http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=298. 

[9] Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, information available at http://greatlakesrestoration.us/. 

[10] [RESTORE Act citation to be added] 

[11]EPA National Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change, information available at 

http://water.epa.gov/scitech/climatechange/2012-National-Water-Program-Strategy.cfm. United States 

Global Change Research Program, information available at 

http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts. 
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[12] [Climate-ready estuary citation to be added]

[13] “Blueprint for Integrating Technology Innovation into the National Water Program,” information is 

available at http://water.epa.gov/blueprint.cfm.
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Goal 3: 

Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development 

Clean up communities, advance sustainable development, and protect disproportionately 

impacted low-income and minority communities. Prevent releases of harmful substances and 

clean up and restore contaminated areas. 

Overview 

Uncontrolled releases of waste and hazardous substances can contaminate our drinking water and 

land and threaten healthy ecosystems. Local land use and infrastructure investments can also 

generate unanticipated environmental consequences, such as increased stormwater runoff, loss of 

open space, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. EPA leads efforts to preserve, restore, and 

protect our land, air, and water so that these precious resources are available for both current and 

future generations. We will continue our work to prevent and reduce exposure to contaminants, 

accelerate the pace of cleanups and reduce the environmental impacts associated with land use 

across the country. EPA works collaboratively with international, state, and tribal partners to 

achieve these aims. In addition, we will work with communities to address risks posed by 

intentional and accidental releases of hazardous substances into the environment and ensure that 

communities have an opportunity to participate in environmental decisions that affect them. Our 

Objectives: 

Promote Sustainable and Livable Communities. Support sustainable, resilient, and livable 

communities by working with local, state, tribal, and federal partners to promote smart growth, 

emergency preparedness and recovery planning, redevelopment and reuse of contaminated 

and formerly contaminated sites, and the equitable distribution of environmental benefits. 

Preserve Land. Conserve resources and prevent land contamination by reducing waste 

generation and toxicity, promoting proper management of waste and petroleum products, and 

increasing sustainable materials management.

Restore Land. Prepare for and respond to accidental or intentional releases of contaminants and 

clean up and restore polluted sites for reuse.

Strengthen Human Health and Environmental Protection in Indian Country. Directly 

implement federal environmental programs in Indian country and support federal program 

delegation to tribes. Provide tribes with technical assistance and support capacity development for 

the establishment and implementation of sustainable environmental programs in Indian country.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Clean up contaminated sites to increase 

their use and value for ecological, commercial, residential and other productive 

purposes. By September 2015, an additional xx,xxx sites will be ready for anticipated use. 

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.

Objectives: 

Promote Sustainable and Livable Communities. Support sustainable, resilient, and livable 

communities by working with local, state, tribal, and federal partners to promote smart growth, 

emergency preparedness and recovery planning, redevelopment and reuse of contaminated 

and formerly contaminated sites, and the equitable distribution of environmental benefits. 

Preserve Land. Conserve resources and prevent land contamination by reducing waste 

generation and toxicity, promoting proper management of waste and petroleum products, and 

increasing sustainable materials management.

Restore Land. Prepare for and respond to accidental or intentional releases of contaminants and 

clean up and restore polluted sites for reuse.

Strengthen Human Health and Environmental Protection in Indian Country. Directly 

implement federal environmental programs in Indian country and support federal program 

delegation to tribes. Provide tribes with technical assistance and support capacity development for 

the establishment and implementation of sustainable environmental programs in Indian country.

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Clean up contaminated sites to enhance 

the livability and economic vitality of communities. By 2015, an additional 18,970 sites 

will be made ready for anticipated use protecting Americans and the environment one 

community at a time.

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.
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efforts are guided by scientific data, research, and tools that alert us to emerging issues and 

inform decisions on managing materials and addressing contaminated properties. 

Promote Sustainable and Livable Communities

EPA supports the goals of urban, suburban, and rural communities to grow in ways that improve 

the environment, human health, and quality of life for their residents.[1] With the support of 

partners working hand in hand across all levels of government, communities can grow in ways 

that also strengthen the economy, help them adapt to a changing climate, improve their resiliency 

to disasters, use public resources more efficiently, revitalize neighborhoods, and improve access 

to jobs and amenities. By making sustainable infrastructure investments, communities can 

successfully build innovative and functional systems on neighborhood streets and sidewalks to 

deal with the runoff from stormwater and still provide easy access for pedestrians, bicyclists, onstreet parking, and other beneficial uses. By adopting local planning and zoning codes that 

account for the environmental impacts of development, the private sector can more easily 

construct market-ready “green” buildings serving a range of housing needs. Communities also 

can benefit from tools, technology, and research that better engage citizens and inform local 

decision making to support smart and sustainable growth.

EPA recognizes environmental justice, children’s health, and sustainable development are all at 

the intersection of people and place. These goals are not mutually exclusive. Throughout all our 

work to achieve more livable communities, EPA is committed to ensuring we focus on children’s 

health and environmental justice.[2] Recognizing that minority or low-income communities may 

face disproportionate environmental risks, we work to protect these communities from adverse 

health and environmental effects and to ensure they are given the opportunity to participate 

meaningfully in environmental decisions and efforts to plan for future growth and development 

that directly affect residents.[3] EPA’s ability to optimize the benefits of sustainability requires 

making environmental justice a normal part of how EPA does business rather than an ad hoc 

activity. 

Sustainable and livable communities balance their economic and natural assets so that the 

diverse needs of residents can be met with limited environmental impacts. EPA’s communitybased programs help to accomplish these goals by working with communities, other federal 

agencies, state, tribal, and regional governments, private and nonprofit sectors, and national 

experts to encourage equitable development strategies that have better outcomes for air quality, 

water quality, and land preservation and revitalization. In particular, EPA’s smart growth 

program delivers technical assistance to communities through contract- and grant-based 

programs to help them base their growth and development decisions on strategies that are smart, 

sustainable, and supportive of improved environmental, public health, and economic outcomes. 

For example, EPA has been working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) since 2009 to align 

federal resources and improve the environmental outcomes from development. Through 

technical assistance, grants, and training, these three agencies have worked together to assist 

hundreds of communities to plan for and invest in growth that improves access to affordable 

housing, increases transportation options, and expands choices for all citizens.[4] All three 
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agencies use a common set of “livability principles” to better coordinate their efforts and 

investments in a manner that will better protect the environment, promote equitable 

development, and help address the challenges of a changing climate. 

EPA’s brownfields program emphasizes environmental and human health protection in a manner 

that stimulates economic development and job creation by awarding competitive grants to assess 

and clean up brownfield properties that are contaminated, or perceived to be contaminated, with 

hazardous substances and/or petroleum contamination and by providing job training 

opportunities, particularly in underserved communities.[5] A 2012 EPA program evaluation 

concluded that cleaning up brownfield properties leads to residential property value increases of 

5.1 to 12.8 percent.[6] In addition, a 2011 study of five pilot projects revealed that cleaning up 

contaminated properties for neighborhood commercial use may contribute to a 32 to 57 percent 

reduction in vehicle miles traveled compared to alternative development scenarios.[7] This 

reduction results from increased accessibility of neighborhood-based services and goods, 

requiring less frequent trips by residents outside the immediate area. 

The brownfields program also provides funding for state and tribal environmental response 

programs as well as outreach and technical assistance to communities. Area-wide planning 

approaches for brownfields work help identify important local factors in a coordinated manner: 

viable end uses of individual or groups of brownfield properties; beneficial air and water 

infrastructure investments in these areas; and, added environmental improvements in the 

surrounding area to revitalize the community. Taken together, these efforts will enhance the 

livability and economic vitality of neighborhoods in and around brownfield sites. 

In addition to the brownfields activities, EPA promotes livable communities though its efforts to 

prevent chemical accidents. EPA's risk management program requires facilities with one or 

more covered chemicals in a process to analyze the potential for accidental releases and possible 

consequences, develop an accident prevention program, and coordinate with the community to 

ensure that all are prepared for responding to a release. The facility must include this 

information in a Risk Management Plan (RMP) and submit this RMP electronically to EPA, 

which will make the information available to federal, state, and local officials (e.g., fire fighters) 

who work on chemical accident preparedness, prevention, and response. There are 

approximately 13,000 active RMPs currently on file. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues 

There are several external factors and emerging issues that may affect the overall success of the 

Agency’s brownfields, chemical risk management and smart growth programs. These include:

The continued challenges posed by foreclosures and vacant, blighted, and neglected 

properties. Increased attention may be required for the siting of new domestic manufacturing 

in formerly abandoned or blighted areas and the potential impacts on local communities. 

The impacts of increased extremes of weather on a community’s redevelopment and 

revitalization plans, including whether these projects are resilient enough to withstand the 

threat of flooding or loss of power from natural or man-made disasters. 
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The lack of capacity in many local, regional, and state governments to adequately identify the 

environmental outcomes associated with land use and infrastructure decisions, particularly 

given the demands on already tight budgets.

The importance of engaging in efforts that involve stakeholders beyond federal agencies, 

including supporting local responders, advancing additional chemical plant safety measures, 

and standardizing the best practices of industry leaders. 

The need to explore how EPA’s legal authorities and policies can be used to further improve 

coordination among federal agencies and these stakeholders in our efforts to identify and 

address the potential hazards in chemical plant safety. 

Preserve Land 

To prevent future environmental contamination and to protect the health of the estimated 20

million people living within a mile of hazardous waste management facilities [8], EPA and its 

state partners continue their efforts to issue, update or maintain Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act (RCRA) permits for approximately 20,000 hazardous waste units (such as 

incinerators and landfills) at these facilities. EPA also will issue polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) 

cleanup, storage, and disposal approvals each year since this work cannot be delegated to the 

states. With the January 2012 enactment of the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest 

Establishment Act, improving and modernizing hazardous waste transportation and tracking has 

become an important Agency focus. EPA will be working with state agencies, other partners and 

stakeholders, and the public to implement the requirements of the new law. These include the 

use of electronic tracking (e-Manifest), which will provide superior data availability, 

transparency, and cost savings when compared with the use of paper manifests, and the 

establishment of an advisory board to provide recommendations to the Agency on the 

implementation of this new e-Manifest approach. 

EPA is currently promoting three national strategies, the Federal Green Challenge, the 

Electronics Challenge, and the Food Recovery Challenge, focused on using less environmentally 

intensive and toxic materials and employing downstream solutions, like reuse and recycling, to 

conserve our resources for future generations.[9] EPA is working with other federal agencies, 

state and tribal governments, and non-governmental organizations to promote sustainability 

goals through these and other initiatives. For example, EPA and USDA are partnering through 

the U.S. Food Waste Challenge to address sustainable food management from farm to final 

disposition.[10] With respect to RCRA's mandate to conserve resources and energy, EPA will 

continue to create innovative strategies that emphasize sustainable materials management by 

identifying and reducing or minimizing the impact of waste and capturing resultant greenhouse 

gas (GHG) benefits at all life-cycle stages, from extraction of raw materials through end of 

life.[11] 

To reduce the risk posed by underground storage tanks (USTs) located at more than 200,000 

facilities throughout the country, EPA and states are working to ensure that every UST system is 

inspected at least once every 3 years and all facility operators are trained. As fuel types change, 
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UST systems must be equipped to safely store the new fuels. For example, EPA is working to 

ensure biofuels are stored in compatible UST systems. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues 

EPA must be prepared to address significant waste management issues anticipated for the future. 

The potential impacts of a changing climate, including extreme weather events, such as 

tornadoes and hurricanes. 

Continued changes in technology and the emergence of new waste streams that result from 

new methods of domestic energy development, among other contributing sources. 

General trend away from landfills and toward the recycling of materials using new 

technologies that will require further evaluation. 

Restore Land

Challenging and complex environmental problems, such as contaminated soil, sediment, and 

groundwater that can cause human health concerns, persist at many contaminated properties. 

Together with our federal, state and tribal partners, EPA's Superfund program, RCRA corrective 

actions, leaking underground storage tank and brownfields cleanup programs, and the Toxic 

Substances Control Act (TSCA) cleanups of PCBs reduce risks to human health and the 

environment through site cleanup and the return of restored land to productive use. EPA is 

proposing an Agency Priority Goal for FY 2014-2015, which is a continuation of the Priority 

Goal for FY 2012-2013, to measure and report progress in reducing risks to human health and 

the environment by assessing and cleaning up sites to maintain or put them back into productive 

use. EPA’s Superfund, RCRA corrective action, leaking underground storage tank (LUST), and 

brownfields cleanup programs all contribute to the Priority Goal to make sites ready for 

anticipated use.[12] 

There are multiple benefits associated with cleaning up contaminated sites: reducing mortality 

and morbidity risk; preventing and reducing human exposure to contaminants; making land 

available for commercial, residential, industrial, or recreational reuse; and promoting community 

economic development. A 2011 study suggests that Superfund cleanups reduce the incidence of 

congenital anomalies in infants by roughly 20-25 percent to mothers living within 2,000 meters 

of a site.[13] In another case, EPA contracted with researchers at Duke University and the 

University of Pittsburgh to conduct a study to determine the effects of Superfund site status on 

housing values. The study found that when sites are cleaned up and deleted from the National 

Priorities List (NPL), properties within three miles of the sites experience an 18.6 to 24.5 percent 

increase in value.[14] 

Over the past three years, EPA has implemented the Integrated Cleanup Initiative (ICI) in an 

effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its land cleanup programs. More than 150 

different actions were conducted under ICI from FY 2010 through FY 2012 by the various land 

cleanup programs involved in the effort. These actions to improve efficiency and effectiveness 
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are now part of current business procedures and cleanup processes. For example, EPA initiated a 

series of project management pilots to explore options for accelerating the pace of Superfund site 

cleanups from the remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) phase of cleanup through site 

completion. Three of these pilots improved the remedial design/remedial action (RD/RA)

process and were completed in FY 2012. EPA’s Superfund program will consider applying the 

time- and cost-saving approaches examined in these pilots wherever appropriate.[15] 

EPA's Superfund program is undertaking a comprehensive review of all aspects of the program. 

The goal of this review is to determine the best way to maintain the program's effectiveness in 

protecting human health and the environment by more efficiently managing its site cleanup

process and program resources. In the same spirit, in early 2013, EPA worked with state 

partners and stakeholders to pilot an ambitious effort to apply “Lean” principles to the facility 

investigation phase of RCRA corrective action cleanup as a means to accelerate the process for a 

typical facility by several years.[16] By applying Lean techniques, EPA expects to achieve 

performance improvements and to continue setting and achieving ambitious goals for 

environmental progress. The Agency will continue to solicit new ideas and practices to improve 

EPA’s cleanup programs.

Another challenge to protecting our land resources from contamination is pollution from leaking 

underground storage tanks (USTs). While considerable progress has been made to clean up 

leaks from USTs, a backlog of over 80,000 sites remains. To understand the makeup of 

remaining UST releases and why thenumber of cleanups per year is decreasing, EPA undertook a 

two-phase, data-driven analysis of UST cleanups as of 2006 and 2009. The study compiled and 

analyzed available data from 14 state [L]UST programs and identified key findings and potential 

opportunities to help reduce the number of remaining UST cleanups. To address new and 

existing LUST sites, EPA, in partnership with state and tribal programs, is developing and 

implementing strategies to address technical challenges, leverage best practices, and support 

management, oversight and enforcement activities. In addition, as EPA has implemented 

improvements in the LUST prevention program by increasing inspection frequency and other 

prevention efforts, there has been a decrease in new confirmed releases. The efforts of the 

prevention program and the continued reduction in new confirmed releases, along with the 

earlier detection of releases, will remain critical factors in backlog reduction.[17] 

In addition to cleanup and revitalization, EPA’s hazardous waste programs also are working to 

reduce the energy use and environmental footprint during the investigation and remediation of 

hazardous waste sites. As part of this effort, EPA’s Superfund program evaluated its “green”

remediation strategy to assess its experiences in implementing the strategy, to determine a 

baseline against which to measure future progress and to develop the best metrics for measuring 

the program’s success. The evaluation’s findings are being used to prepare the next phase of the 

strategy to reduce the energy, water and materials used during site cleanups while at the same 

time ensuring that protective remedies are implemented.[18] 

Throughout this work, EPA is enhancing its engagement with local communities and 

stakeholders so that they may meaningfully participate in decisions on land cleanup, emergency 

response, and management of hazardous substances and waste. Enhancing community 

engagement helps to ensure transparent and accessible decision-making processes, to deliver 
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information that communities can use to participate effectively, to improve EPA responsiveness 

to community perspectives and to ensure timely cleanup decisions. 

National preparedness is an essential component in EPA’s work responding to large-scale 

emergencies that may involve chemicals, oil, biological agents, radiation, weapons of mass 

destruction, or natural catastrophes. In recent years, the U.S. has faced considerable challenges 

in responding to nationally significant incidents, including Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater 

Horizon oil spill, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant emergency in Japan, and Super 

Storm Sandy. Maintaining our preparedness level and ensuring that emergency responders are 

able to address chemical spills, other unplanned releases of hazardous materials, and other 

catastrophes is a vital responsibility. Consistent with the government-wide National Response 

Framework and the National Disaster Recovery Framework, EPA prepares for the possibility of 

multiple, simultaneous, nationally significant incidents across several regions and provides 

guidance and technical assistance to state, tribal, and local planning and response organizations. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Hazardous waste programs are intended to provide permanent solutions to contamination at sites 

or facilities to the extent practicable. As appropriate, EPA must incorporate emerging science 

into decision making to maintain its commitment to provide permanent solutions. 

Complications can arise when new scientific information (e.g., new toxicity information or a 

new analytical method) calls into question previous determinations about the need for or 

scope and methods of cleanup at a site. Such scientific and technological developments may 

complicate relations with affected communities, risk communication, site investigation, 

remedy selection and resource allocation within the program. 

Changes in precipitation, sea level rise, and storm surge, for example, may impact remedies 

and alter their effectiveness. Some evidence of this was apparent during the Hurricane Sandy 

event along the coasts and waterways of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode 

Island. EPA might appropriately consider the effects on planned, current, and completed 

cleanups that will occur from the impacts of a changing climate. 

Strengthen Human Health and Environmental Protection in Indian Country

Under federal environmental statutes, EPA is responsible for protecting human health and the 

environment in Indian country. EPA’s commitment to tribal environmental and human health 

protection has been steadfast for nearly 30 years, as formally established in the Agency’s 1984 

Indian Policy.[19] EPA works with over 560 federally-recognized tribeslocated across the 

United States to improve environmental and human health outcomes. Indian country totals more 

than 70 million acres with reservations ranging from less than ten acres to more than 14 million 

acres. [20] Difficult environmental and health challenges remain in many of these areas, 

including lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, adequate waste facilities and other 

environmental safeguards taken for granted elsewhere.
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In collaboration with our tribal government partners, EPA will engage in a two-part strategy for 

strengthening human health and environmental protection in Indian country. First, EPA will 

ensure that its environmental protection programs are implemented in Indian country either by 

EPA or through implementation of environmental programs by tribes themselves. Second, EPA 

will provide resources through grant funds and technical assistance for federally-recognized 

tribes to create and maintain effective environmental program capacity. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues 

Tribal environmental and human health needs are significant. For example, the lack of access to 

safe drinking water and basic sanitation for tribes continues to threaten the public health of 

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Approximately 12 percent of AI/AN 

homes do not have safe water and/or basic sanitation facilities.[21] This is high compared with 

the 0.6 percent of non-native homes in the U.S. that lacks such infrastructure. EPA, along with 

over 20 federal departments and agencies, collectively provide a range of federal programs to 

tribes, consistent with our legal authorities and the federal trust responsibility. 

There is a broad spectrum among tribes with respect to population, culture, income, geography, 

economic development, environmental program management expertise, and priorities. EPA also 

recognizes that many tribes may not have the capacity to implement programs in a manner 

similar to a state (TAS), where programmatically available. Further, the decision to be treated in 

a manner similar to a state is voluntary, and may not be a priority to a tribe. Currently, over 200 

tribes are not legally able to apply for TAS, yet they are building programmatic capacity in other 

ways. EPA continues to play a critical role in ensuring environmental protection in Indian 

country. 

Applied Research 

In the area of cleaning up communities, research will allow EPA to identify and apply 

approaches that better inform and guide environmentally sustainable behavior, protect and 

promote human health and ecosystems, and provide the products and services needed for 

mitigation, management, remediation and long-term stewardship of contaminated sites. It will 

provide Agency, state, tribal, and local decision makers with the knowledge needed to make 

smart, systems-based decisions that will inform a balanced approach to their cleanup and 

development needs, resulting in: 

More options for eliminating waste, safer options for disposal of unavoidable waste, and 

access to more options for beneficial re-use and recovery of materials and energy from waste. 

Reduced risk from contaminated sites, less costly remediation and faster return of property to 

economic use and more comprehensive protection of valuable ground water resources. 

Enhanced ability to adequately consider children’s unique susceptibilities and vulnerabilities. 
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End Notes:

[1] For more information about the impact of the built environment on the natural environment and public 

health, see “Our Built and Natural Environments: A Technical Review of the Interactions Between Land 

Use, Transportation, and Environmental Quality (Second Edition, 2013)” at 

http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/built.htm.

[2] For more information about EPA’s focus on Environmental Justice. Please see

http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/index.html

[3] For more information about the connections between smart growth and environmental justice, see 

“Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities: Strategies for Advancing Smart Growth, 

Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development” (EPA 231-K-10-005, 2013) at 

http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/equitable_development_report.htm

[4] For more information about the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities, see 

http://www.sustainablecommunities.gov.

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

[6] Haninger, Kevin; Ma, Lala; and Timmins, Christopher. 2012. “Estimating the Impacts of Brownfields 

Remediation on Housing Property Values.” Duke Environmental Economics Working Paper Series. 

Working Paper EE12-08. The program evaluation is available at 

http://sites.nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/environmentaleconomics/files/2013/01/WP-EE-12-08.pdf

[7] U.S. EPA, Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, Air and Water Impacts of Brownfields 

Redevelopment: A Study of Five Communities, April 2011, EPA-560-F-10-232.

[8] Estimate drawn from OSWER Near Site Population Database, an internal EPA database that merges 

facility size and location information from RCRAInfo with population data, at the block and block group 

levels, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 Census. The demographics were captured around the total 

number of facilities that have approved controls in place that result in the protection of this population (20 

million people).

[9] For more information on the Federal Green Challenge, see http://www.epa.gov/federalgreenchallenge. 

For more information on the Electronics Challenge, see 

http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/smm/electronics/. For more information on the Food Recovery 

Challenge, see http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/smm/foodrecovery/. 

[10] For more information on the U.S. Food to Waste Challenge, see [link to be provided].

[11] For more information on sustainable materials management, see Sustainable Materials Management: 

The Road Ahead. EPA 530R-09-009. Available at http://www.epa.gov/smm/pdf/vision2.pdf

[12] Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Clean up contaminated sites to enhance the livability 

and economic vitality of communities. By 2015, an additional 18,970 sites will be made ready for 

anticipated use, protecting Americans and the environment one community at a time.

[13] Currie, Janet; Michael Greenstone, and Enrico Moretti. 2011. "Superfund Cleanups and Infant 

Health." American Economic Review, 101(3): 435-41.
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[14] S. Gamper-Rabindran, C. Timmins. 2013. "Does cleanup of hazardous waste sites raise housing 

values? Evidence of spatially localized benefits," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

[15] A recent directive from EPA’s Superfund program shares the lessons learned from these RD/RA 

pilot studies. This directive can be found at 

http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/ici/broader_applications_rd_ra_pilot_project_lessons_learned.pdf

[16] Lean principles focus on identifying and enhancing valuable process steps while reducing wasteful 

steps and managing toward perfection. See also http://www.epa.gov/lean.

[17] For more information, please see The National LUST Cleanup Backlog: A Study of Opportunities at 

http://www.epa.gov/swerust1/cat/backlog.html. 

[18] More information about Superfund and green remediation at EPA is available at 

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/greenremediation.

[19] The “EPA Policy for the Administration of Environmental Programs on Indian Reservations” can be 

found at http://www.epa.gov/tp/pdf/indian-policy-84.pdf.

[20] US Census Bureau: Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 - United States --

American Indian Area/Alaska Native Area.

[21] [Citation to be added.]
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Goal 4: 

Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution

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

Overview 

The Agency’s chemical safety and pollution prevention programs are at the forefront of EPA’s 

efforts to advance a sustainable future. Chemicals are often released into the environment as a 

result of their manufacture, processing, use, and disposal. The Agency uses a variety of 

approaches and tools to assess, prevent, and reduce chemical releases and exposures (e.g., 

conducting risk assessments, assessing chemical alternatives, and taking other risk management 

actions). The Agency engages and empowers a variety of stakeholders and partners to drive 

innovation and address related social and economic issues, especially in communities with 

vulnerable populations or environmental justice concerns. Vulnerable populations including 

low-income and minority and indigenous populations, may be disproportionately impacted by, 

and thus particularly at risk from, exposure to chemicals. In addition, research shows that 

children receive greater relative exposures to chemicals because they inhale or ingest more air, 

food, or water on a body-weight basis than adults do.[1] The Agency empowers stakeholders by 

working to ensure access to the latest data, information, analytical tools, and expertise.

Chemicals are involved in the production of everything from our homes and cars to the cell 

phones we carry and the food we eat. Thousands of chemicals have become ubiquitous in our 

everyday lives and everyday products, as well as in our environment and our bodies. The 

Agency continues to believe that the principles it announced in 2009 for modernizing the Toxic 

Substances Control Act (TSCA) are critical to EPA’s ability to assess the safety of industrial 

Objectives: 

Ensure Chemical Safety. Reduce the risk and increase the safety of chemicals that enter our 

products, our environment, and our bodies. 

Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Assess and reduce risks posed by 

chemicals and promote the use of safer chemicals in commerce. By September 30, 

2015, EPA will have completed more than 250 assessments of pesticides and other 

commercially available chemicals to evaluate risks they may pose to human health and 

the environment, including the potential for some of these chemicals to disrupt 

endocrine systems. These assessments are essential in determining whether products 

containing these chemicals can be used safely for commercial, agricultural and/or 

industrial uses. 

Promote Pollution Prevention. Conserve and protect natural resources by promoting pollution 

prevention and the adoption of other sustainability practices by companies, communities, 

governmental organizations, and individuals. 

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.
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chemicals and adequately protect against unreasonable environmental or public health risks.[2] 

TSCA is outdated and should be revised to provide stronger and clearer authority for EPA to 

collect and act upon critical data regarding chemical risks. There remain large, troubling gaps in 

the available data and state of knowledge on many widely used chemicals in commerce, and

EPA’s authority to require development and submission of information and testing data is 

limited by legal hurdles and procedural requirements. Accordingly, the Administration in 

September 2009 issued a statement on Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals 

Management Legislation to help inform efforts by the Congress to reauthorize and strengthen 

TSCA. The enactment of legislation reflecting those principles would give EPA the mechanisms 

and authorities it needs to expeditiously assess and regulate new and existing chemicals.

Another statute that helps EPA in its work to address chemical risks is the 1990 Pollution 

Prevention Act (PPA).[3] Under this law, which established as a national policy the prevention

of pollution before it is generated, EPA fosters the development of source reduction innovations 

and practices, and promotes the adoption, use, and market penetration of those innovations and 

practices. These strategies have proven highly effective in advancing sustainability, resulting in 

major reductions in hazardous materials, greenhouse gases, and water use while at the same time 

increasing the use of safer products and stimulating economic growth, and job creation. EPA 

will continue these successful strategies, which include: providing technical assistance and 

training to states, tribes, businesses, and others on pollution prevention (P2) solutions; 

developing resources and tools, such as calculators and guidelines, to facilitate P2 solutions; and, 

further enhancing the ability of the public and the business sector to make environmentallyfriendly purchasing decisions and other important choices. 

Ensure Chemical Safety

Chemical safety remains one of EPA’s highest priorities. EPA employs a variety of strategies 

under several statutes to ensure the safety of chemicals, adequately protect against unreasonable 

public health or environmental risks, and foster sustainability. These include: 

Acting under TSCA to ensure that new industrial and commercial chemicals do not pose 

unreasonable risk before they are introduced into commerce;

Assessing the thousands of existing chemicals already in use before TSCA took effect and 

acting to reduce identified risks and to identify and promote safer alternatives;

Empowering the public and other decision makers by making chemical safety information 

more widely available and usable;

Acting under the Federal Insecticide, Rodenticide, and Fungicide Act (FIFRA) and the 

Endangered Species Act to ensure that pesticides are used safely and effectively; and,

Developing and applying protocols to assess chemicals’ potential to interact with the 

endocrine system.

EPA uses predictive techniques to assess the safety of new chemicals in the face of information 

limitations imposed by TSCA. More daunting has been the challenge of assessing and acting 

where needed on the more than 60,000 existing chemicals “grandfathered” in under TSCA. On 

that front, the Agency has made considerable progress in recent years, working in cooperation 

with stakeholders by using all available information to put these chemicals through a 
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prioritization methodology. This effort led to the identification of a set of more than 80 

chemicals (TSCA “work plan” chemicals) for risk assessment. EPA believes that these 

chemicals are most in need of risk assessment and that adequate data exists to support such 

assessment. The first five of these risk assessments were made available by EPA for public and 

peer review less than a year later. Assessments of 23 additional chemicals—including 20 flame 

retardants—were announced in 2013. Looking forward, EPA plans to conduct risk assessments 

for all of the remaining work plan chemicals, to initiate risk management actions as appropriate, 

and to identify a second set of work plan chemicals for subsequent priority assessment. EPA is 

proposing an FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal for this effort.[4]

Recognizing the crucial role that the public, state, tribal, and local partners, institutions, and 

industry play in ensuring chemical safety, EPA has expanded web access to the Agency’s 

chemical information and assessment tools, with a focus on identifying safer chemicals. At the 

same time, two newly developed electronic tools will greatly improve data quality and public 

accessibility. These are the Chemical Information System (CIS), which will speed the Agency’s 

transition to electronic reporting and processing for required chemical safety information; and 

the interactive ChemView Portal, which will enable both internal and external users to access 

TSCA chemical data stored in EPA systems quickly and easily. Planned enhancements to CIS 

will extend electronic reporting to nearly all required TSCA submissions and integrate the 

system with scientific tools, dashboards, and models used in making chemical management 

decisions. In addition, EPA is working to expand the Chem View Portal to further broaden 

public access to TSCA chemical information and has, plans to enable faster, automated posting 

of non-confidential TSCA data to EPA’s public websites. 

EPA will make major strides in guarding against exposure to chemicals that continue to pose 

potential risks to human health and the environment even after their hazards have been identified 

and certain uses have been phased out. For example, to continue to reduce childhood blood lead 

levels, EPA is working in partnership with states and tribes to certify hundreds of thousands of 

renovators and contractors on lead hazard management (more than 461,000 individuals certified 

by EPA alone and nearly 130,000 firms certified by EPA and states through April 2013). We are 

also working with these partners to expand public awareness of lead risks in accordance with 

requirements for the use of lead-safe practices in renovation, remodeling, and painting activities 

in millions of older homes.[5][6] 

On a broader scale, EPA is looking comprehensively across statutes to determine the best tools to 

apply to specific problems. For example, the Agency is exploring how to use FIFRA and TSCA 

to ensure that drinking water is protected from pesticides and industrial chemicals, and that 

chemicals found in drinking water are being screened for endocrine disrupting properties using 

the authorities of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 

Act (FFDCA), and FIFRA.

Over the next four years, EPA will manage a comprehensive pesticide risk reduction program 

through science-based registration and reevaluation processes, a worker safety program, 

certification and training activities, and support for integrated pest management. 
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EPA’s current pesticide review processes focus on ensuring that pesticide registrations 

comply with the Endangered Species Act and achieve broader Agency objectives for water 

quality protection. The review processes will continue to place emphasis on the protection of 

potentially sensitive populations, such as children, by reducing exposures from pesticides 

used in and around homes, schools, and other public areas. 

EPA’s new data requirement rule for antimicrobial pesticides will ensure that pesticide risk 

management decisions are based on the best available science and will contribute to a more 

efficient and transparent registration process through increased certainty about the data 

requirements. EPA’s review processes ensure that pesticides can be used safely and are 

available for use to maintain a safe and affordable food supply, to address public health 

outbreaks, and to minimize property damage that can occur from insects and pests.[7] 

EPA has reviewed its agricultural worker protection regulation and its pesticide applicator 

certification regulation and will publish for public comment proposed changes to both. The 

proposed rulemakings are designed to ensure improved pesticide worker safety standards and 

pesticide applicator competency standards in the coming years. 

EPA is implementing a comprehensive testing program to screen for chemicals’ potential to 

interact with the endocrine system.[8] In response to a recently-concluded program 

evaluation, EPA has developed a comprehensive management plan for the endocrine 

disruptor screening program, providing a clear workplan, projected milestones, and vision for 

developing a more efficient and effective screening and testing program through the 

application of computational toxicological methods. 

To ensure the continued effectiveness of the various chemical programs, EPA will conduct 

several evaluations over the next 4 years. In FY 2014, EPA will initiate a review of critical 

factors that have an impact on the effectiveness of the Agency’s risk assessment efforts for 

TSCA work plan chemicals. In FY 2015, the Agency will evaluate the effectiveness of recently 

implemented efficiencies to the registration review process to identify further enhancements and 

efficiencies to the process. EPA will also conduct biennial reviews in 2015 and 2017 to 

determine whether the level of fees charged to the submitters of New Chemical Pre-Manufacture 

Notices and to the applicants for certification to perform lead renovation, repair, and painting 

work and lead abatement work are appropriate.

External Factors and Emerging Issues 

As we look to the future, it is important to continue working together with Congress and 

stakeholders to modernize and strengthen the tools available under TSCA to prevent harmful 

chemicals from entering the marketplace and to increase confidence that those chemicals that 

remain are safe and do not endanger the environment or human health, especially for consumers, 

workers, and sensitive subpopulations like children. Potential legislative action to reauthorize 

the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is both a key external factor and a key emerging issue. 

Consistent with the Administration’s essential principles, EPA’s authority under TSCA should 

be modernized and strengthened to increase confidence that chemicals used in commerce are 

safe and do not endanger public health and welfare. EPA is committed to working with the 
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Congress, members of the public, the environmental community, and industry to reauthorize 

TSCA. 

On April 30, 2013, the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council (NRC) 

released their recommendations for assessing risks from pesticides to listed species under the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act 

(FIFRA). The Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service are working collaboratively and 

expeditiously to review the report and identify improvements in the current scientific procedures 

used in evaluating the potential impacts of pesticides to endangered and threatened species. The 

federal agencies expect to develop an implementation plan within the next 90 days to provide a 

time line and approach for responding to the panel’s recommendations and implementing the 

appropriated revisions to these procedures and approaches. We currently anticipate that 

implementation of the recommendations could take 18-24 months, which could have an impact 

on our progress in developing preliminary risk assessments and completing decisions for 

pesticides as part of the registration review program.

Finally, a number of chemical safety programs are affected by changing levels of economic 

activity. For example, EPA’s work in certifying firms to perform lead renovation, repair and 

painting work depends partly on fluctuations in the level of demand for such services, which are 

related in turn to economic conditions in the housing market. 

Promote Pollution Prevention 

The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 established national policy for the use of pollution 

prevention (P2) as the first choice in addressing pollution at the source. Time and experience 

have added to our understanding and appreciation of the value of preventing pollution before it 

occurs. Pollution prevention is central to all of EPA’s sustainability strategies, and EPA will 

continue to incorporate P2 principles into its policies, regulations, and actions. 

EPA strives to prevent pollution by fostering the development of P2 innovations and practices 

and promoting increased use of those approaches. The aim of these strategies is to achieve 

significant reductions in the use of hazardous materials, energy, and water and in the generation 

of greenhouse gases, while significantly increasing the use of safer chemicals and products, and 

enabling businesses and governments to reduce their costs. These strategies are key elements of 

EPA’s approach to achieving a sustainable future. Specific activities conducted to implement 

these strategies include: 

Fostering the development of P2 innovations: 

o Promoting green chemistry and green engineering, and developing educational curricula; 

o Establishing technical criteria for chemical alternatives assessments; 

o Participating in the development of voluntary consensus standards and other safer 

chemicals products criteria, including participating in international cooperative efforts; 

o Establishing greener purchasing and management practices (i.e., environmentally 

preferable purchasing); and 

o Incorporating P2 solutions in regulatory options or requirements. 
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Promoting increased use of P2 innovations: 

o Providing and promoting technical assistance, such as establishing Economy, Energy and 

Environment (E3) Partnerships (in conjunction with the Departments of Agriculture, 

Commerce, Energy, and Labor and the Small Business Administration) or providing 

technical assistance on manufacturing, green sports, or other business sectors; 

o Demonstrating the benefits of P2 solutions; 

o Labeling safer products by working with key stakeholders through the Design for the 

Environment (DfE) program; and,

o Leveraging the power of federal purchasing. 

External Factors and Emerging Issues 

The Agency’s multi-media pollution prevention efforts are affected by changes in economic 

conditions. Much of EPA’s pollution prevention work is voluntary, so success depends in part 

on participation levels by industry, government agencies, and members of the public. 

Applied Research 

EPA chemicals research will provide the scientific foundation required to support safe, 

sustainable use of chemicals to promote human and environmental health, as well as to protect 

vulnerable species and populations. This work includes enhancing the Integrated Risk 

Information System (IRIS) program to ensure the highest quality human health assessments are 

produced in a timely fashion. Innovative research will provide the tools to: 

 

Assess safety of high priority chemicals and advance our understanding of the cumulative 

risks that may result from multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors. 

Enhance chemical screening and testing approaches for priority-setting and context-relevant 

chemical assessment and management. 

Inform Agency actions and help local decision makers manage and mitigate exposures to 

contaminants of greatest concern. 

Promote innovations in “green” chemistry and “green” engineering to help encourage use of 

safer chemicals in commerce. 

Evaluate human health and ecological risks associated with new chemical substitutes 

designed to promote safer alternatives.

Provide the systems understanding needed to adequately protect the health of children and 

other vulnerable groups. 

EPA homeland security research helps the Agency carry out its mission to prepare for and 

respond to man-made disasters (e.g., terrorism, industrial accidents) and natural disasters (e.g., 

hurricanes, floods), leading to more resilient communities. Specifically, EPA conducts research 

on: 

Improving the resiliency of the nation’s water infrastructure to disasters.

Cleanup of indoor and outdoor contamination following a disaster. 
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Analytical methods for EPA’s Environmental Response Laboratory Network that tests 

samples from disaster sites.

End Notes:

[1] The following links are to selected government sources that provide useful information on 

environmental health risks to children:

A Framework for Assessing Health Risk of Environmental Exposures to Children (2006) 

Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook (2008) 

Guidance on Selecting Age Groups for Monitoring and Assessing Childhood Exposures to 

Environmental Contaminants (2005) 

Guide to Considering Children's Health When Developing EPA Actions: Implementing 

Executive Order 13045 and EPA's Policy on Evaluating Health Risks to Children (PDF) (42 pp, 

728KB) (2006) 

Policy on Evaluating Risk to Children (1995) 

Summary Report of the Technical Workshop on Issues Associated with Considering 

Developmental Changes in Behavior and Anatomy When Assessing Exposure to Children (2001) 

Supplemental Guidance for Assessing Susceptibility from Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens

(2005)

[2] Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation. Available at 

http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/principles.html.

[3] The text of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) can be found at 

http://www.epa.gov/p2/pubs/p2policy/act1990.htm

[4] Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal: Assess and reduce risks posed by chemicals and 

promote the use of safer chemicals in commerce. By September 30, 2015, EPA will have completed 

more than 250 assessments of pesticides and other commercially available chemicals to evaluate risks 

they may pose to human health and the environment, including the potential for some of these chemicals 

to disrupt endocrine systems. These assessments are essential in determining whether products containing 

these chemicals can be used safely for commercial, agricultural, and/or industrial uses. 

[5] Information about childhood lead poisoning is available at http://www.leadfreekids.org

[6] EPA Lead-Safe Certification Program. Available at http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/toolkits.htm

[7] EPA pesticides program information is available at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides. 

[8] Information about the EPA Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program is available at 

http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/oscpendo/index.htm.
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Goal 5: Protecting Human Health 

and the Environment by Enforcing Laws and Assuring Compliance

Protect human health and the environment through vigorous and targeted civil and criminal 

enforcement. Use Next Generation Compliance strategies and tools to improve compliance 

with environmental laws.

Overview

Vigorous enforcement supports EPA’s ambitious mission to protect human health and the 

environment. Achieving our goals for water that is safe to drink, lakes and streams that are 

fishable and swimmable, air that is clean to breathe, and communities and neighborhoods that are 

free from chemical contamination requires both new strategies and compliance with the rules we 

already have. By addressing noncompliance swiftly and effectively, state, tribal, and EPA civil 

and criminal enforcement cases directly reduce pollution and risk, and deter others from 

violating the law.

EPA is also investing in a new paradigm called “Next Generation Compliance” to improve 

compliance and reduce pollution. Robust enforcement is critically important for addressing 

violations and promoting deterrence. But enforcement alone will not be enough to achieve 

compliance results that protect public health or to assure that businesses that comply with the law 

do not have to compete with companies that do not play by the rules. Next Generation 

Compliance takes advantage of new information and monitoring technologies to enable EPA, 

states, and tribes to get better compliance results, and tackle today’s compliance challenges.

Enforce Environmental Laws to Achieve Compliance

Vigorous civil and criminal enforcement plays a central role in achieving the goals EPA has set 

for protection of health and the environment.

Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality: EPA will continue to take 

effective actions to reduce air pollution from the largest sources, including coal-fired power 

plants and the cement, acid, glass, and other sectors, to improve air quality. Enforcement to 

cut toxic air pollution in communities improves the health of communities, particularly 

communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution. EPA will work to assure 

Objective: 

Enforce Environmental Laws to Achieve Compliance. Pursue vigorous civil and criminal 

enforcement that targets the most serious water, air, and chemical hazards in communities to 

achieve compliance. Assure strong, consistent, and effective enforcement of federal 

environmental laws nationwide. Use Next Generation Compliance strategies and tools to improve 

compliance and reduce pollution.

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.

Strategic measures associated with this Goal are on pages XX through XX.
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compliance by the energy extraction sector, where violations can lead to air and water 

impacts that pose a potential risk to human health. EPA will also work to ensure compliance 

with climate change standards, including the Greenhouse Gas Reporting rules. 

Protecting America’s Waters: EPA has been working with states and cities to make 

progress on the most important water pollution problems. The Agency will continue to focus 

on getting raw sewage out of water and reducing pollution from stormwater runoff, using 

common sense and affordable approaches to tackle the most important problems first and 

incorporating green infrastructure for cost-effective reduction of pollution while enhancing 

communities. EPA is committed to working with communities to incorporate green 

infrastructure, such as green roofs, rain gardens, and permeable pavement, into permitting 

and enforcement actions to reduce stormwater pollution and sewer overflows where 

applicable. The enforcement program is also working to address pollution from animal 

waste, helping to clean up large aquatic ecosystems (“Great Waters”) like the Chesapeake 

Bay, and assisting in revitalizing urban communities by protecting urban waters. 

Enforcement will also support the goal of assuring safe drinking water for all communities, 

including in Indian country, and improve the quality of Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) 

data reported by states to ensure compliance.[1] 

Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development: EPA protects 

communities by requiring responsible parties to conduct cleanups, saving federal dollars for 

sites where there are no other alternatives. Aggressively pursuing these parties to clean up 

sites ultimately reduces direct human exposures to hazardous pollutants and contaminants, 

provides for long-term human health protection, and makes contaminated properties 

available for reuse. 

Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution: Reforming chemical 

management and reducing exposure to pesticides and other toxics will help protect human 

health. Enforcement reduces direct human exposures to toxic chemicals and pesticides and 

supports long-term human health protection. 

Criminal enforcement underlines our commitment to pursuing the most serious pollution 

violations. EPA’s criminal enforcement program will focus on cases across all media that 

involve serious harm or injury; hazardous or toxic releases; ongoing, repetitive, or multiple 

releases; serious documented exposure to pollutants; and violators with significant repeat or 

chronic noncompliance or prior criminal conviction. EPA's criminal enforcement program will 

continue to work collaboratively with its state and local law enforcement counterparts, as well as 

the U.S. Department of Justice. Many successful and important EPA criminal investigations 

result from enhanced coordination among all levels of government. An example is the 

prosecutions surrounding the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which led to the death of 11 people 

and was the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. EPA's criminal enforcement program 

worked with multiple federal and state agencies and the U.S. Department of Justice which 

resulted in the single largest criminal resolution in the history of the U.S. as of 2013.

EPA shares accountability for environmental and human health protection with states and tribes. 

We work together to target the most important pollution violations and ensure that companies 
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that do the right thing and are responsible neighbors are not put at a competitive disadvantage. 

The Agency also has a responsibility to oversee EPA-authorized state and tribal implementation 

of federal laws to ensure that the same level of protection for the environment and the public 

applies across the country.

Enforcement can help to promote environmental justice by tackling noncompliance problems 

that disproportionately impact low-income, minority, and tribal communities. Ensuring 

compliance with environmental laws is particularly important in communities that are exposed to 

greater environmental health risks. EPA fosters community involvement by making information 

about compliance and government action available to the public.

EPA’s investment in a new paradigm called “Next Generation Compliance” will improve 

compliance and reduce pollution. Next Generation Compliance will achieve better compliance 

results by taking advantage of new information and monitoring technologies. Advanced pollution 

monitoring technologies allow us to identify pollution issues, and can be used by both 

government and industry to find and fix pollution and violation problems. Next Generation 

Compliance supports EPA’s new E-Enterprise initiative by promoting electronic reporting, 

advanced monitoring, and transparency. Electronic reporting allows for more accurate and 

timely information on pollution sources, as well as public access to pollution and compliance 

information. 

EPA can also do more to design regulations and permits that are easier to implement and that 

will result in higher compliance and improved environmental outcomes. Regulations and 

permits are easier for regulated entities and government alike to implement when they are clear 

and easily understood, and when they build in approaches that drive better compliance, such as 

improved monitoring, self- and third-party certifications, public disclosure/transparency, and 

easily monitored product designs or physical structures in facilities. As part of Next Generation 

Compliance, EPA is building upon recent, measureable successes in innovative compliance 

approaches such as its “Drinking Water Targeting Tool,” developed in 2009 to prioritize noncompliant public water systems for enforcement response based on the number and severity of 

violations those systems were experiencing. Use of the tool resulted in a decrease of 

approximately 69 percent in the number of public water systems classified as “priority” between 

January 2010 and April 2013. EPA is enhancing the Agency’s ability to find and document 

violations through new targeting tools and data analysis to better identify, publicize, and respond 

to the most serious violations. 

The Agency is also exploring innovative enforcement approaches such as providing electronic 

responses to electronically reported violations, and expanding the use of Next Generation 

Compliance tools in enforcement settlements. Through these and other Next Generation 

Compliance efforts, EPA will design the compliance programs of the future and work to improve 

compliance even in a time of declining resources. EPA, states, tribes, and other partner agencies 

are beginning to invest in this transformation together–and anticipate realizing both efficiencies 

and cost savings while protecting human health and the environment. The proposed NPDES 

Electronic Reporting Rule, as one example, will save money for states, tribes, and territories as 

well as EPA and NPDES permittees, while resulting in a more complete, accurate, and 

nationally-consistent set of data about the NPDES program. Upon successful implementation, 
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the proposed rule would provide states with regulatory relief from reporting associated with the 

Quarterly Noncompliance Report (QNCR), the Annual Noncompliance Report (ANCR), the 

Semi‐Annual Statistical Summary Report, and the biosolids information required to be submitted 

to EPA annually by states.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Advanced monitoring technology and information technology are rapidly evolving fields. Until 

recently, for example, air pollution measurement was primarily left to trained scientists and 

technicians employing sophisticated instruments and methodologies to evaluate data quality. 

New breakthroughs in sensor technology, as well as advances in smart phone, GPS and other 

information technology, have made inexpensive, portable monitoring and measurement of air 

pollution possible today, not only for government regulators, but for the public as well. In 

promulgating rules, developing policies, and targeting compliance monitoring and enforcement, 

EPA has always welcomed and considered relevant data from all sources. EPA will need to 

work closely with states, tribes, and the public to help interpret and provide context for data 

derived from such new technologies. 

End Note:

[1] An FY 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report highlighted the seriousness of 

underreporting SDWA data. EPA followed up and will continue to take action to improve the 

quality of data reported by states.
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Summary of Program Evaluation 

The Administration is encouraging departments and agencies across the federal government to 

use a broad range of analytical and measurement tools (“an evidence infrastructure”) to learn 

what works and what does not to improve performance results.[1] Among the most important 

analytical tools is program evaluation, producing rigorous evidence about program effectiveness 

as well as identifying lessons that may be helpful in shaping agency strategic planning in the 

future. EPA has used program evaluation and applied research to inform its approach to meeting 

the strategic objectives in the FY 2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan. 

Program evaluation results may affirm existing strategies or identify opportunities for 

improvement or may lead to changes in policy, resource decisions, or program implementation. 

For example, EPA undertook an evaluation of how effectively the Agency is managing the 

human health and environmental risks of nanomaterials, substances smaller than one tenth of a 

micrometer because of their unique properties. The evaluation has led to a more concerted effort 

to promote research on nanomaterials and make more effective use of our regulatory 

authorities—the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Toxics Substances 

Control Act—to address these chemicals. Nanomaterials increasingly are being used in a wide 

range of scientific, environmental, industrial, and medical applications, and there is growing 

concern about the lack of environmental and health and safety data about them. Results from an 

Agency evaluation of the Superfund Green Remediation Strategy are being used to determine 

whether the program’s 40 specific action items are adequately encouraging environmentally 

beneficial clean up and resource conservation at Superfund sites. An assessment of the 

ENERGY STAR product labeling program has given us a better understanding of which 

products are delivering the greatest program savings and which product categories still have 

untapped potential for greater gains. Other findings have helped the program revise or augment 

marketing and communication strategies to get the most impact from public recognition of the 

ENERGY STAR label and consumer buying patterns and habits. 

We also look to the results of planned upcoming program evaluations projects to inform our 

program strategies in the future. Three of these planned evaluations include: (1) a mid-point 

assessment of the progress toward meeting and maintaining reduced nutrient and sediment 

pollution loads in the Chesapeake Bay as part of the 2025 goals of the Chesapeake Bay Program 

Partnership; (2) an examination of third-party inspection and clean-up programs in the 

underground storage tank program to identify key components of successful programs that can 

be shared with state partners and used as models for state adoption; and, (3) research under the 

National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA), which will continue the work done in 2005, to identify 

and prioritize air toxics, types of emission sources, and geographic locations that pose the 

greatest potential risk to the population and to serve as a basis for determining further steps 

toward reduction of emissions, as necessary. 

EPA has included in the goal chapters some illustrative examples of how the results of program 

evaluations and applied research have informed Agency strategies in this Strategic Plan. 

Additional information about recently completed program evaluations and research that informed 

the EPA Strategic Plan and a preliminary list of future program evaluations is available at the 

EPA Strategic Plan website.[2] 
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End Notes: 

[1] Fiscal Year 2014 Budget, Analytical Perspectives, Performance and Management Section, Chapter 7 

“Delivering High Performance Government” and Chapter 8, “Program Evaluation and Data Analysis.” 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Analytical_Perspectives

[2] Information is available at [insert web site]. [Reserved for final]
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Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategies

Introduction 

Since EPA's inception over 40 years ago, we have focused not only on our mission to achieve 

environmental and human health results, but also on how we work to accomplish those results. 

Achievement of each of these goals and objectives is shared across EPA. Through this Plan, 

EPA is placing an increased focus on how we work to achieve those results. 

We have developed a set of cross-cutting strategies that stem from the Agency’s priorities and 

are designed to fundamentally change how we work, both internally and externally, to achieve 

the mission outcomes articulated under our five strategic goals and core values of science, 

transparency, and the rule of law. This Plan describes the vision and operating principles for 

each of the cross-cutting strategies: 

Working toward a sustainable future; 

Working to make a visible difference in communities; 

Launching a new era of state, tribal, local, and international partnerships; and, 

Embracing EPA as a high-performing organization.

For each of these strategies, the Agency will develop annual action plans with commitments that 

align with existing planning, budget, and accountability processes, and that support EPA’s 

research and development agenda as appropriate. In implementing these strategies through 

annual action plans, we are committing to a focused effort to undertake tangible, measurable 

actions to transform the way we deliver environmental and human health protection. 
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Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategy:

Working Toward a Sustainable Future

Advance sustainable environmental outcomes and optimize economic and social outcomes 

through Agency decisions and actions, which include expanding the conversation on 

environmentalism and engaging a broad range of stakeholders.

EPA will consider and apply sustainability principles to its work on a regular basis, collaborating 

closely with stakeholders. Our traditional approaches to risk reduction and pollution control can 

only go so far to deliver the long-term and broad environmental quality we seek. The interplay 

between different environmental statutes and programs also requires renewed attention to 

improve “synergy” and long-term solutions. To this end, EPA will also embrace a commitment 

to focused innovation to support solutions that will advance sustainable outcomes. This CrossCutting Fundamental Strategy advances the Administrator’s theme of Working Toward a 

Sustainable Future, and the national goal established in the National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA) and repeated in President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 (2009), to create and 

maintain “conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill 

the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.” 

To integrate sustainability into the Agency’s day-to-day operations, all headquarters and regional 

offices will routinely consider the following principles in their decisions and actions, as 

appropriate: 

1. Conserve, protect, restore, and improve the supply and quality of natural resources and 

environmental media (energy, water, materials, ecosystems, land, and air) over the long term;

2. Align and integrate programs, tools, incentives, and indicators to achieve as many positive 

outcomes as possible in environmental, economic, and social systems; and, 

3. Consider the full life cycles of multiple natural resources, processes, and pollutants in order 

to prevent pollution, reduce waste, and create a sustainable future. 

We will work within and across programs, use all available tools, and implement innovative

approaches. We will build on our wide range of existing sustainability-related activities, 

including community-based sustainability activities. We will use incentive-based efforts to 

complement our foundation of regulations. We will encourage technology-based innovation 

through challenges and partnerships. We will review new and key existing regulations to 

examine sustainable enhancements. We will integrate efforts with a new commitment to 

innovation and greater and more strategic (“high level”) use of sustainability-related data and 

information. This strategy specifically focuses on several actions to enhance EPA’s 

sustainability work: 

Identify selected cross-program opportunities that maximize EPA’s ability to advance 

sustainability objectives and take appropriate actions to: 

o Incorporate sustainability principles into regulatory, enforcement, incentive-based, and 

partnership programs; 

o Use available incentives, education, information, and disclosure to enhance the ability of 

markets to reward sustainability; 
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o Coordinate grants, contracts, and technical assistance to promote sustainable outcomes; 

o Advance sustainability science, indicators[1], and tools; 

o Promote new ways to encourage technology-focused innovation that supports Agency 

priorities for sustainability. Use EPA’s Technology Innovation Roadmap to guide EPA 

in stimulating and supporting technology innovation around key environmental 

challenges; and 

o Use systems-based approaches that account for linkages between different environmental 

systems. 

Engage and empower EPA staff. Build on staff knowledge of and experience with 

sustainability and innovation through multiple forms of in-reach, education, and guidance for 

incorporating sustainability principles into Agency work in a multi-disciplinary way. 

Develop clear Agency leadership expectations for training at all levels to help equip 

employees with necessary data and tools to identify appropriate opportunities, network 

internally and externally, establish governance and accountability structures, provide 

everyday encouragement and recognition, and lead by example in our own operations. These 

efforts will improve the ability of all staff to be effective environmental stewards and to help 

secure a healthy, just, and flourishing quality of life for current and future generations. 

Expand the conversation on environmentalism by engaging and empowering 

stakeholders, including groups with which EPA has not traditionally worked, using 

multiple forms of outreach, collaboration, and information. Beginning with the priority 

program and cross-program opportunities identified, we will communicate and partner with 

key stakeholders, including federal, state, and local agencies, tribes, the agricultural and 

manufacturing sectors, small businesses, industry, non-governmental organizations, the 

research community, international organizations, communities with environmental justice 

concerns, citizens, and other partners, both urban and rural, including those who have been 

underrepresented, to achieve more innovative and sustainable outcomes. In keeping with our 

objective to strengthen partnerships, EPA will emphasize transparency and clarity in its 

communications, including environmental education outreach. Through collaboration and 

research, we will improve our ability to drive innovation and expand the conversation on 

environmentalism to address related social and economic issues, especially in communities 

with vulnerable populations or environmental justice concerns. 

End Note: 

[1] EPA has developed a Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal for sustainability indicators: 

Advance sustainability by collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders to select sustainability 

indicators that can be widely understood and that can help drive the diverse public and private actions that 

are essential for achieving the long-term environmental quality. By September 30, 2015, EPA will 

collaborate with a broad range of stakeholders to select a small set of sustainability indicators covering 

three initial topics—energy use, water use, and materials use—and prepare to pilot them within and 

across EPA programs. 
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Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategy:

Working to Make a Visible Difference in Communities

Align community-based activities to provide seamless assistance to communities, both urban 

and rural, while maximizing efficiency and results. Expand support of community efforts to 

build healthy, sustainable, green neighborhoods and reduce and prevent harmful exposures 

and health risks to children and underserved, overburdened communities.

EPA must work collaboratively across all programs and hand in hand with other federal 

agencies, states, tribes, and local communities to improve the health of all families and protect 

the environment. EPA must expand the work we do to enhance the resiliency, health, and 

economic vitality of neighborhoods through increased analysis, better science, and enhanced 

community engagement while continuing to advance environmental justice and ensure the 

protection of basic fundamental rights.

Public health and environmental protection impacts most significantly affect us where we live—

at the community level. Both urban and rural communities reap the benefits of a healthier 

environment in the form of safe drinking water, less polluted air, greater access to green space, 

and more environmentally-sustainable choices for daily living. Community partnerships are 

integral to EPA efforts to, among other things, work for environmental justice, protect children’s 

health, and reduce exposures and consider cumulative risks for vulnerable populations. The 

benefits of these efforts and commitments lead to better results for all communities.

While EPA efforts have a direct, positive impact on the health and environmental quality of 

communities, EPA will place additional focus on changing the way we work so that communities 

can easily identify and achieve their full potential. EPA believes environmental progress can be 

better supported, demonstrated, and measured in communities, including communities with 

environmental justice concerns, so that all are on an equal footing and receive the benefits of 

human health and environmental protection. Millions of minority, low-income, tribal, and 

indigenous individuals are at risk of having poor health outcomes because they live in 

underserved, overburdened communities. EPA can make a greater and more visible difference 

by embracing strategies that incorporate an Agency-wide focus on communities. Specifically, 

EPA will rely on a variety of approaches, including improved meaningful outreach to 

communities, better internal alignment and coordination of resources across community-based 

programs, increased incorporation of EPA community-focused approaches and analyses within 

regulatory and enforcement actions, and expanded technical assistance and research. Partnering 

with federal, state, and local governments, as well as other entities, is key to cultivating healthy 

and sustainable neighborhood solutions that reflect effective land use, green development, and 

social and economic growth.

To achieve this goal, EPA will proactively work to:

Improve internal coordination, alignment, and accountability for EPA communitybased activities, programs, and tools in order to advance environmental results for 

communities. Incorporate community-based strategies as a fundamental, organizing 

principle in EPA core programs and policies by consistently sharing experience and 
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expertise, adopting promising tools, and replicating relevant models (e.g., Promising 

Practices to Improve Community Performance and Sustainability[1], Plan EJ 2014, Urban 

Waters Initiative). These models engage multiple partners in the community (local and 

federal government partners, nonprofits, local businesses, and residents) to identify issues 

and solutions across environmental media, and deliver funding and technical assistance to 

address the environmental risks, train the community, and share best practices. Leverage 

EPA resources, increase awareness and understanding of community needs and risks and 

related solutions, invest in innovative research and science-based approaches, develop and 

use appropriate indicators, coordinate data, and track accomplishments. An ongoing priority 

area will be to continue to advance the work on environmental justice and children’s 

environmental health in rulemaking, permitting, enforcement and compliance, grants, and 

policy-making decisions (e.g., use potential supplemental environmental projects to address 

community needs and increase technical assistance efficiencies). 

Increase public access to EPA community-based resources, helping communities 

recognize their full engagement potential and problem-solving capacity. Empower 

community dialogue, engagement, understanding, and action through effective information 

sharing, including outreach and environmental education that informs the public about policy 

choices and environmental stewardship to benefit current and future generations. The 

sharing of critical, up-to-date information (such as skills and services, best practices and 

success stories, useful contacts, relevant grants and technical assistance, data, and multimedia strategies) supports effective community involvement. Improved information sharing 

builds public capacity to engage in citizen science (e.g., contribute to environmental research, 

complement EPA science in support of state or local problem solving, and enhance 

environmental protection), and encourages environmental education and environmental 

justice activities. Create mechanisms at the regional and program levels to better 

communicate the community-based benefits of EPA’s work in terms of improved public 

health and the environment at the local level. 

Build on existing partnerships to create lasting, inclusive, collaborative community networks that 

include government and other public and private entities. Work with federal agencies through 

existing partnerships (e.g., the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Department of 

Transportation-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities, Environmental Justice Interagency 

Workgroup), as well as with states, tribes, communities, and other stakeholders to leverage 

resources, funding opportunities, and technical expertise and assistance to support healthy, 

sustainable, and green neighborhood solutions. Partner with research organizations and 

academic institutions to focus and advance basic research and create models and measures to 

expand the conversation on environmental and human health concerns to address priorityfocused, locally based problems, specifically including environmental justice and children’s 

environmental health issues. 

End Note: 

[1] Putting Community First: A Promising Approach to Federal Collaboration for Environmental 

Improvement, A Report by a Panel of the National Academy of Public Administration for the United 

States Environmental Protection Agency. May 2009. 
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Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategy:

Launching a New Era of State, Tribal, Local, and International Partnerships

Strengthen partnerships with states, tribes, local governments, and the global community that 

are central to the success of the national environmental protection program through 

consultation, collaboration, and shared accountability. Modernize the EPA-state relationship,

including revitalizing the National Environmental Performance Partnership System and 

jointly pursuing E-Enterprise, a transformative approach to make environmental information 

and data more accessible, efficient, and evidence-based through advances in monitoring, 

reporting, and information technology. 

Good government, as well as the reality of scarcer resources, requires that EPA work in concert 

with our partners to improve coordination, promote innovation, and maximize efficiencies to 

ensure our continued success. As we work together, our relationships must continue to be based 

on integrity, trust, and shared accountability to make the most effective use of our respective 

bodies of knowledge, our existing authorities, our resources, and our talents. 

Successful partnerships will be based on four working principles: consultation, collaboration, 

cooperation, and accountability. By consulting, we will engage our partners in a timely fashion 

as we consider approaches to our environmental work so that each partner can make an early and 

meaningful contribution toward the final result. By collaborating, we will not only share 

information, but we will actively work together with our partners to develop innovative 

approaches that use and leverage all available resources to achieve our environmental and human 

health goals. As our work progresses, we will cooperate, viewing each other with respect as 

allies who must work successfully together if our goals are to be achieved. Through shared 

accountability, we will ensure that environmental benefits are consistently delivered nationwide. 

In carrying out these responsibilities, EPA will ensure that state, tribal, and federal

implementation of federal laws achieves a consistent level of protection for the environment and 

human health. 

With States

Under our federal environmental laws, EPA and the states share responsibility for protecting 

human health and the environment. With this relationship as a key component of the nation's 

environmental protection system, EPA will: 

Improve implementation of national environmental programs through closer consultation and 

collaboration to seek the most efficient use of resources, leverage all available opportunities 

to share work and expertise, develop and promote innovative solutions, and further our 

shared governance framework by revitalizing the National Environmental Performance 

Partnership System (NEPPS).[1] We will strengthen joint EPA-state priority setting by 

better aligning NEPPS with EPA’s national program manager guidances[2], focusing on 

flexible, innovative approaches to achieve results.

Work collaboratively with state partners to develop innovative strategies and modernize our 

environmental programs through the E-Enterprise Initiative[3], a 21st century approach that 

will support the nation’s environmental protection responsibilities through enhanced 
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information sharing, increased transparency, and reduced regulatory burden, supported by 

advanced monitoring tools and information technologies.

Consult with state governments on a routine basis to ensure that the development and 

implementation of rules is consistent with EPA’s Action Development Process: Guidance on 

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism), which recognizes the division of governmental 

responsibilities between the federal government and the states.

Strengthen state-EPA shared accountability by focusing oversight on the most significant and 

pressing state program performance challenges, using data and analysis to accelerate program 

improvements. 

Ensure a level playing field across states to improve compliance and address the most serious 

violations. 

Collaborate with state research organizations to share information on EPA’s scientific and 

technical capabilities and solicit input to make our tools, models, and research useful and 

practical for the states in carrying out their environmental responsibilities.

With Tribes 

The relationship between the United States government and federally-recognized tribes is 

unique; we work with tribes on a government-to-government basis on Agency decisions that may 

affect tribal interests. Our responsibility to consult with tribal governments is distinct from the 

general consultations we have with states and nations outside the U.S. border; as such, our 

consultations with tribes are governed by the EPA Policy for the Administration of 

Environmental Programs on Indian Reservations, November 8, 1984, Executive Order 13175 and 

the Agency’s Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes, May 4, 2011. In 

strengthening this relationship with tribes, EPA will: 

Focus on increasing tribal capacity to establish and implement environmental programs while 

ensuring that our national programs are as effective in Indian country as they are throughout 

the rest of the nation.[4] 

Enhance our effort to work with tribes on a government-to-government basis, based upon the 

Constitution, treaties, laws, executive orders, and a long history of Supreme Court rulings. 

Strengthen our cross-cultural sensitivity with tribes, recognizing that tribes have cultural, 

jurisdictional, and legal features that must be considered when coordinating and 

implementing environmental programs in Indian country. 

With Local Partners: 

EPA has a unique relationship with local governments given that local governments can be both 

co-implementers and regulated entities under national and state environmental laws. 

Recognizing that local governments vary considerably[5], are dealing with significant resource 

constraints as they work to build capacity (particularly in smaller communities), and often 

provide innovative leadership in environmental stewardship, EPA will: 

Maintain consistent and meaningful communications with local officials and optimize 

outreach efforts to improve environmental program implementation at the local level and 

receive recommendations on environmental issues that are important to local governments. 
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Consult with local governments, as with states, on rules and policies that impact them, 

consistent with the principles of EPA’s Action Development Process: Guidance on Executive 

Order 13132 (Federalism). 

Promote and facilitate best practices among local officials to address pressing local 

environmental matters that advance shared priorities.

With International Partners

To achieve our domestic environmental and human health goals, international partnerships, 

including those with the business community and entrepreneurs, are essential. Pollution is often 

carried by winds and water across national boundaries, posing risks to human health and 

ecosystems many hundreds and thousands of miles away. Many concerns, like climate change, 

are universal and, to address these and other environmental challenges in the international arena, 

EPA will:

Enhance sustainability principles through expanded partnership efforts in multilateral forums 

and in key bilateral relationships. 

Strengthen existing and build new international partnerships to encourage increased 

international commitment to sustainability goals and to promote a new era of global 

environmental stewardship based on common interests, shared values, and mutual respect.

End Notes:

[1] NEPPS is an environmental performance system established in 1995 and designed to improve the 

efficiency and effectiveness of state environmental programs and EPA-state partnerships. It is a system 

of principles and tools to drive performance, efficiency, and flexibility in the EPA-state relationship. It 

enables EPA and states to leverage their collective resources most efficiently and effectively by taking 

full advantage of the unique capacities and capabilities of each partner to achieve the maximum 

environmental and human health protection. The primary tools for establishing priorities and deploying 

resources are Performance Partnership Agreements (PPAs) and Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs). 

PPGs allow states to combine categorical grants for greater spending flexibility on state priorities. PPAs 

are strategic negotiated plans that articulate joint goals and priorities, key activities, and roles and 

responsibilities.

[2] EPA’s national program manager (NPM) guidances translate the Agency’s budget decisions into 

operational program priorities, strategies, and performance measures. Issued by the five major 

environmental programs (air, water, waste, chemical safety and pollution prevention, and enforcement 

and compliance assurance), the NPM guidances inform the development of EPA work plans and grant 

agreements with states and tribes, including Performance Partnership Agreements, Performance 

Partnership Grants, and/or programmatic grants.

[3] EPA has developed a Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal for E-Enterprise for the 

Environment: Use advanced monitoring, information technologies, optimized business processes, and 

increased transparency to improve environmental outcomes and enhance service to the regulated 

community. By September 30, 2015 reduce reporting burdens to EPA by one million hours through 

streamlined regulations, provide real-time environmental data to at least two communities, and establish a 

new portal to service the regulated community and public.
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[4] EPA recently issued new guidance for the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program, 

“Guidance on the Award and Management of General Assistance Agreements for Tribes and Intertribal 

Consortia,” May 15, 2013. The General Assistance Program Guidance is designed to enhance the EPAtribal partnership by establishing a framework for joint strategic planning, identification of mutual 

responsibilities, and targeting resources to build tribal environmental program capacities. Additionally, it 

augments existing GAP Guidance with a Guidebook of program development indicators, providing 

“pathways” for capacity building and ways to measure development of programs over time.

[5] Local governments can include counties, cities, water districts, air districts, ports, municipal waste 

management associations, economic development councils, metropolitan councils of government, and 

other entities.
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Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategy:

Embracing EPA as a High-Performing Organization

Maintain and attract EPA’s diverse and engaged workforce of the future with a more 

collaborative work environment. Modernize our business practices, including through EEnterprise, and take advantage of new tools and technologies. Improve the way we work as a 

high performing Agency by ensuring we add value in every transaction with our workforce, 

our co-regulators, our partners, industry, and the people we serve.

As today’s environmental problems continue to increase in complexity, EPA’s ability to respond 

creatively, flexibly, and effectively will demand cross-Agency approaches to problem-solving 

and the use of new tools and technologies. EPA will support these efforts by establishing a highperforming organization characterized by business practices that are modern, efficient, and costeffective, as well as a work environment that supports staff growth and development, and is 

collaborative and results-driven. 

EPA’s compelling mission to protect human health and the environment attracts workers eager to 

make a difference. EPA cultivates a highly skilled and diverse workforce, with employees 

energized by opportunities to learn and work collaboratively, and equipped to do their best work 

for the American people. In building a high-performing organization, the Agency is working to 

provide employees with a modern, inclusive, and flexible work environment, enabled by 

advanced information technologies and tools that enhance communication, transparency, and 

cooperative problem solving across the Agency and with our partners.

E-Enterprise for the Environment is a major joint EPA and state initiative to modernize our 

business practices to increase accessibility, efficiency, and responsiveness. This effort will move 

us from using paper to electronic transactions, increase the use of advanced monitoring 

technologies to obtain better, more complete information on environmental conditions and 

pollution sources, and deliver data that is transparent, readily available, and understandable to 

EPA, the states, and the general public. Through E-Enterprise, the entire environmental 

protection enterprise (federal, state, local, and tribal partners) will be able to regularly conduct 

two-way business electronically in an integrated way, reducing costs while enhancing 

environmental protection. 

Consistent with E-Enterprise, EPA is also moving forward to adopt Next Generation Compliance 

tools and processes, which position us to take advantage of advances in research and pollutant 

monitoring and information technology to reduce pollution and improve results. These tools, 

combined with a focus on designing rules and permits that are easier to implement, enable EPA, 

states, and tribes to focus on the most serious environmental problems and to better protect 

communities. 

The Agency will focus on streamlining internal business processes and decision making at all 

levels. To stay current, programs must be constantly reevaluated to ensure they are well focused 

and cutting edge. Promulgated regulations should maximize environmental benefit while 

minimizing costs. EPA is committed to process improvement through the application of Lean 

methodologies and other business practice improvement techniques, as well as the engagement 
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of the expertise and insights of Agency employees to identify opportunities to increase efficiency 

and effectiveness. 

By combining the strengths of a supportive work environment with a streamlined and 

collaborative business culture, EPA will establish itself as a high-performing organization known 

for advancing the talents, drive, and interests of employees, as well as the collaborative work in 

support of our common mission and the public we serve. EPA will: 

Maintain and attract the workforce of the future to ensure that EPA’s employees represent 

diverse backgrounds and perspectives, are equipped with the most current technical skills, 

tools and knowledge, and are positioned to effectively accomplish the Agency’s mission and 

meet evolving environmental and sustainability challenges. 

Cultivate a work environment that offers a high quality work life for all employees by 

engaging them in shaping Agency decisions and improving processes, and providing flexible 

work practices, fair and inclusive employee-friendly policies, and opportunities for 

continuous learning. EPA will modernize the workplace and develop and promote 

collaboration tools to improve communication, cross-program integration, access to 

information, and transparency. 

Advance the E-Enterprise for the Environment initiative to improve environmental outcomes, 

enhance service to the regulated community and public, and reduce burden and improve 

collaborative management among EPA, states, tribes and others. E-Enterprise will increase 

collaboration with the states as we modernize regulations to make e-reporting the “new 

normal” and use advanced monitoring to provide more complete and useful environmental 

data. Key parts of E-Enterprise will be shared information technology services and tools that 

states and EPA programs use and, in collaboration with the states, the development of a 

regulatory portal that will help regulated entities electronically report to the states and EPA.

The development of E-Enterprise is one of EPA’s Priority Goals.[1] 

Implement Next Generation Compliance by promoting the use of advanced monitoring and 

electronic reporting, designing rules that are easier to implement, expanding transparency, 

and using innovative enforcement approaches to increase compliance and reduce pollution. 

Streamline the Agency’s internal business practices, core program processes, and decision

making in areas such as acquisition and grants management, rulemaking, and permitting to 

ensure they are cutting edge, enhance collaboration, and improve efficiency and costeffectiveness while maximizing environmental benefits. 

Practice outstanding financial resource stewardship to ensure that all Agency programs use 

resources efficiently, operate with fiscal responsibility and management integrity, are 

effectively and consistently delivered nationwide, and demonstrate results. 

Achieve or exceed federal sustainability targets. These efforts, enhanced by sustainable 

workplace choices that can be routinely practiced by Agency employees, will continue to 

reduce EPA’s environmental footprint by increasing energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse 
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gas emissions, advancing water conservation, and reducing waste, and will provide lessons 

learned to share with other federal agencies. 

End Note: 

[1] See the Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goal for E-Enterprise for the Environment under the 

cross-cutting strategy entitled “Launching a New Era of State, Tribal, Local, and International 

Partnerships.”
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Strategic Measurement Framework 

 

Introduction 

The Strategic Plan provides the foundation for EPA’s performance management system—

planning, budgeting, performance measurement, and accountability. The Plan contains EPA’s 

strategic measurement framework of long-term goals, objectives, and strategic measures, which 

describe the measurable human health and environmental results the Agency is working to 

achieve over the next four years. 

To achieve the long-term goals, objectives, and strategic measures set out in this Plan, EPA 

designs annual performance measures which are presented in EPA’s Annual Performance Plans 

and Budgets. The Agency reports on our performance against these annual measures in Annual 

Performance Reports, and uses this performance information to help establish priorities and 

develop future budget submissions. The Agency also uses this performance data to evaluate our 

progress and develop future Strategic Plans. 

EPA’s strategic planning and decision making benefits from other sources of information 

including program evaluations and environmental indicators. A number of the strategic 

measures in this Strategic Plan are closely related to indicators in EPA’s Report on the

Environment (ROE). The ROE identifies a set of peer-reviewed human health and 

environmental indicators that track trends in environmental conditions and environmental 

influences on human health. This information also helps us better articulate and improve the 

strategic measurement framework in EPA’s Strategic Plan. EPA’s updated ROE will provide 

web-based access to explore, display, and analyze the underlying data for 85 indicators for air, 

water, land, human exposure and health, and ecological conditions along with several new 

sustainability indicators. 

The Agency continues to look for new data and information sources to better characterize the 

environmental conditions targeted by our programs to improve our understanding of the 

integrated and complex relationships involved in protecting human health and the environment. 

Planned Changes in the Strategic Measurement Framework 

Using the FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan as a foundation, we have continued our focus on 

creating the smallest, most meaningful set of strategic measures that the Agency leadership can 

use as a management tool. We have also updated the strategic measures to reflect targets and 

baselines appropriate for the FY 2014-2018 time horizon. 

 We will continue over the next several years to make further revisions in key areas. Our 

anticipated future efforts are described below. 
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Tribal Capacity Building 

The Agency will begin to revise how it measures and reports on the progress tribes have made in 

developing and implementing environmental protection programs in Indian country. This effort 

will build on the new Indian General Assistance Program (GAP) guidance[1] designed to 

improve tribal capacity development milestones beyond the current indicator, which shows the 

percent of tribes implementing federal regulatory programs. 

For example, while some tribes may not seek primacy, authorization, approval, or delegation of 

federal programs, they nonetheless remain important partners in ensuring environmental 

protection. In other cases, a tribal government works with EPA to assist with the implementation 

of federal environmental programs in Indian country. The Agency will establish effective 

measures that capture the capacity development progress of tribes seeking to establish and 

implement programs in these two areas while also continuing to measure and report on tribes that 

EPA treats in a manner similar to a state.[2]

New measures to reflect the progress EPA is making in building tribal capacity will be derived 

from a multi-year effort. As a first step, the Agency recently completed the development of a 

suite of environmental protection program capacity-building indicators and published them in the

new GAP guidance. Tribes will use these indicators as they develop specific program capacities 

under the GAP. These indicators reflect examples of the range of program capacities that tribes 

develop, up to the program implementation phase. EPA will collect baseline data in FY 2014 to 

help inform the development of appropriate measures and targets in FY 2015 for reporting in FY 

2016-FY 2018.

Water Quality

EPA is evaluating and seeking comment on a new approach for measuring local improvements in 

water quality. This new approach would use the National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) 

to calculate watershed area for priority areas where waters that had not previously been attaining 

water quality standards are now attaining standards. To complete the picture on water quality, 

EPA will continue to encourage the use of state-wide indicators for water quality for areas 

beyond the focus of state priority areas. State survey results contribute information to help set 

future priorities and to communicate with the public on state-wide water quality status and trends 

as a supplement to reporting on waters within priority areas.

EPA is also evaluating this new NHDPlus approach as a means for tracking water quality 

improvements using the watershed approach. This new calculation would be used for tracking 

incremental improvements in water quality conditions for watershed boundaries established at 

the “12-digit” scale by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 

New measures developed through this effort would replace existing strategic measures for 

attaining water quality standards and for improving water quality conditions in impaired 

waterbodies.
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Enforcement and Compliance Assurance

The FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan provides an opportunity to re-assess the usefulness of our 

current performance measures and to consider new ones. Historically, the enforcement 

program’s measures in the Strategic Plan have focused on counting our level of activity (e.g., 

numbers of inspections) and also case specific results for enforcement cases (e.g., pounds of 

pollutants reduced) to communicate the environmental benefits of our enforcement actions. 

These measures provide information about how the Agency is actively and consistently 

performing the activities necessary to find polluters, take appropriate action, and monitor 

defendants’ compliance with settled enforcement cases, targeting these activities toward the most 

serious human health and environmental problems across a variety of regulatory programs. 

These metrics tell only part of the story. An effective program should target the biggest 

problems first. Under this approach, the environmental outcomes for many conventional 

performance measures should continually decrease over time. For example, as EPA addresses 

the worst pollution first in identified sectors, the pounds of pollution reduced in that sector as a 

result of enforcement actions should decrease over time. Our historic enforcement measures also 

treat all pollution the same, even though different pollutants pose different risks. We recognize 

that preventing problems is both cheaper and more effective than taking action after they happen; 

however, our traditional metrics do not adequately account for work to prevent pollution. By 

focusing only on enforcement actions the measures can have the inadvertent effect of 

discouraging innovative approaches that could improve compliance, and undervalue strong work 

by states to improve compliance. 

These challenges in our performance measures have led us to think about new ways to measure 

the effectiveness of our work. Fortunately, advances in both pollution monitoring and 

information technologies may help to provide answers. These advances are at the heart of our 

new paradigm called Next Generation Compliance. 

Next Generation Compliance is focused on the following five areas: 

1. Designing regulations and permits that are easier to implement, with a goal of improved 

compliance and environmental outcomes. 

2. Using and promoting advanced emissions/pollutant detection technology so that regulated 

entities, the government, and the public can more easily see quantified pollutant discharges, 

environmental conditions, and noncompliance. 

3. Shifting toward electronic reporting by regulated entities so that we have more accurate, 

complete, and timely information on pollution sources, pollution, and compliance, saving 

time and money while improving effectiveness and public transparency. 

4. Expanding transparency by making the information we have today more accessible, and 

making new information obtained from advanced emissions monitoring and electronic 

reporting more readily available to the public. 

5. Developing and using innovative enforcement approaches (e.g., data analytics and targeting) 

to achieve more widespread compliance. 
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Progress toward Next Generation Compliance should eventually make new measures of 

effectiveness possible. For example, if we and our state and tribal partners were able through 

electronic reporting to more reliably measure compliance across the universe of a regulated 

sector, something that cannot be done for most sectors today, we could have a measure that is 

closer to a compliance “rate.” Such a measure would credit innovative work to avoid violations, 

include state, tribal, and federal work toward this shared objective, and allow us to promote 

prevention as well as pollution reductions. If we and the states were able through advanced 

monitoring technologies to more reliably measure actual pollution, and rely less on estimates as 

is done today, we could have a measure that accounted for the amount of pollution over 

permitted limits, allowing us to know what kinds of violations matter the most to real pollution 

problems. Next Generation approaches will also support our ability and that of the states to 

adopt more evidence-based approaches, as measurement of effectiveness becomes easier, faster, 

and cheaper.

While these new strategies should allow us to improve our measures in the future, we are not 

there yet. We are working with states and tribes to increase electronic reporting, but it will take 

years to fully implement this transition. Advanced monitoring is being used increasingly in 

government and by industry, but is far from widespread. Rather than wait, and continue to rely 

exclusively on measures that tell an incomplete and sometimes misleading story, we plan to 

experiment with interim measures. These interim measures do not reflect where we want to end 

up, but they help to shine a light on the path ahead, and draw attention to our investment in these 

new approaches. We expect that these ideas will lead in the future to both better results and 

stronger metrics to measure our success and the success of our state and tribal partners. Through 

this Strategic Plan we are hoping to begin a dialogue with states, tribes, and the public on these 

new directions. 

Table 1 sets out a few examples of new measures that illustrate the kind of metrics that may be 

discussed as part of the national dialogue we expect to have on this issue. The measures in 

italics are not currently part of our suite of measures. We are keenly aware of the need to avoid 

increasing reporting burden, so after the dialogue with states and the public, we expect to select 

only a limited number of new interim measures. Of course, for any new interim measures, we 

will need to define what they mean and how they will be counted. We are also reassessing the 

usefulness of current measures (i.e., measures in the first two columns of Table 1).
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Table 1: Strategic Enforcement and Compliance Measures

Enforcement Presence 

Measures

Compliance, Deterrence, and 

Outcome Measures

Next Generation Compliance Measures

EPA is initiating a discussion with states 

and the public about ways to incorporate 

Next Gen approaches into our measures. 

Below are a few examples of the types of 

measures that may be discussed.

• Inspections & evaluations 

• Initiated & concluded civil 

judicial & administrative 

enforcement cases 

• Compliance status of open, 

non-Superfund consent decrees 

• Address cost recovery statute 

of limitations cases with total 

past costs above $500,000 

• Reaching settlement with 

potentially responsible parties 

(PRPs) 

• Criminal cases with charges 

filed 

• Criminal cases with defendants 

convicted 

• Air, water, hazardous waste, 

toxic, and pesticide pollutants 

reduced as a result of 

enforcement actions

• Contaminated media reduced 

through enforcement actions

• Criminal cases with most 

significant impacts 

• Criminal cases with individual 

defendants 

• Number of enforcement settlements that 

resulted from or that incorporate 

advanced monitoring technologies

• Regulated sources using advanced 

monitoring to measure their own 

emissions

• Percent of facilities electronically 

reporting Clean Water Act NPDES data to 

authorized states and tribes and EPA

• Public use of compliance transparency 

tools (ECHO, pollutant loading tool, etc.) 

• Sectors for which measureable 

compliance rate strategies adopted

EPA’s Proposed FY 2014-2015 Priority Goals (Agency Priority Goals)

As part of this Plan revision, we are identifying new FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goals 

(APGs), our third round of APGs. In addition to our long-term strategic measures, these Agency 

Priority Goals, which have 18- to 24-month operational targets, advance our strategic goals and 

serve as key indicators of our near-term work. EPA will report progress on the FY 2014-2015 

APGs in the Annual Plan and Budget and results will be available quarterly via 

www.Performance.gov [3]. A complete list of the proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority 

Goals can be found in the Appendix. 

End Notes: 

[1] Final guidance on EPA’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (GAP) with indicators 

was published May 15, 2013 and is available at www.epa.gov/tribal. 

[2] For more information on TAS, please see http://www.epa.gov/tp/laws/tas.htm.
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[3] The EPA also participates in one mission-focused and several management Cross-Agency Priority

(CAP) Goals. The EPA directly contributes to the Energy Efficiency CAP goal through work currently 

conducted under the Agency’s Energy Star and Transportation and Air Quality programs. The EPA also 

provides data via existing mechanisms (e.g., databases used for other reporting requirements such as the 

Federal Information Security Management Act) toward the achievement of the following management 

goals: Cybersecurity, Sustainability, Real Property, Improper Payments, Data Center Consolidation, and 

Closing Skills Gaps. Per the GPRA Modernization Act requirement to address CAP Goals in the Agency 

Strategic Plan, the Annual Performance Plan, and the Annual Performance Report, please refer to 

www.Performance.gov for the Agency’s contributions to these goals and progress, where applicable. 
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Strategic Measurement Framework 

Goal 1: Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality. Reduce greenhouse gas 

emissions and develop adaptation strategies to address climate change, and protect and improve 

air quality. 

Objective 1.1: Address Climate Change. Minimize the threats posed by climate change by 

reducing greenhouse gas emissions and taking actions that help to protect human health and help 

communities and ecosystems become more sustainable and resilient to the effects of climate 

change. 

Strategic Measures: 

Address Climate Change 

By the end of 2018, implementation of the EPA and NHTSA national program to reduce 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve fuel economy from light-duty and heavy-duty 

vehicles will achieve a cumulative reduction of 460 MMTCO2Eq. (Baseline 2011: 0 

MMTCO2Eq.) 

By 2018, additional programs from across EPA will promote practices to help Americans 

save energy and conserve resources, leading to expected greenhouse gas emissions 

reductions of 1,095.5 MMTCO2Eq. from a baseline without adoption of efficient practices. 

Building Programs 215.5 MMTCO2Eq. 

Industrial Programs[1] 651.4 MMTCO2Eq. 

Smartway Transportation Partnership 48 MMTCO2Eq. 

Pollution Prevention Programs 40 MMTCO2Eq. 

Sustainable Materials Management Programs[2] 117.4 MMTCO2Eq. 

WaterSense Program 23 MMTCO2Eq. 

Executive Order 13514[3] GHG Reduction Program 0.21 MMTCO2Eq. 

This reduction compares to 616.8 MMTCO2Eq. reduced in 2011. Baseline FY 2011: 

Building Programs 189.0 MMTCO2Eq. 

Industrial Programs[1] 357.9 MMTCO2Eq. 

Smartway Transportation Partnership 23.6 MMTCO2Eq. 

Pollution Prevention Programs 17 MMTCO2Eq. 

Sustainable Materials Management Programs[2] 22.1 MMTCO2Eq. 

WaterSense Program 7 MMTCO2Eq. 

Executive Order 13514[3] GHG Reduction Program 0.18 MMTCO2Eq. 

By 2018, 240 state, tribal, and community partners will integrate climate change data, 

models, information, and other decision support tools developed by EPA for climate change 

adaptation into their planning processes. [Baseline to be developed.][4][5] 
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By 2018, 240 state, tribal, and community partners will incorporate climate change 

adaptation into the implementation of their environmental programs supported by major EPA 

financial mechanisms (grants, loans, contracts, and technical assistance agreements). 

[Baseline to be developed.] [5] 

By 2018, 6 existing or new EPA-developed training programs will incorporate climate 

change adaptation planning for EPA staff, state, tribal, and community partners (includes 

programmatic and cross-programmatic trainings). [Baseline to be developed.] [5] 

Objective 1.2: Improve Air Quality. Achieve and maintain health and welfare based air 

pollution standards and reduce risk from toxic air pollutants and indoor air contaminants. 

Strategic Measures: 

Reduce Criteria Pollutants and Regional Haze 

By 2018, the population-weighted average concentrations of ozone (smog) in all monitored 

counties will decrease to 0.072 ppm compared to the average of 0.076 ppm in 2011, a 

reduction of 5%. 

By 2018, the population-weighted average concentrations of inhalable fine particles in all 

monitored counties will decrease to 9.5 μg/m3 compared to the average of 10.4 μg/m3 in 

2011, a reduction of 9%. 

Through 2018, maintain emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) from electric power generation 

sources to 5.0 million tons per year compared to the 2009 level of 5.7 million tons emitted. 

(In 2011, these sources emitted 4.5 million tons.) (Rationale for baseline year: 2009 is the 

year immediately preceding the first year of SO2 compliance under the Clean Air Interstate 

Rule [CAIR] and full implementation of Acid Rain’s permanent cap on utility SO2

emissions.) 

By 2018, visibility in scenic parks and wilderness areas will improve by 15 percent in the 

East and 5 percent in the West, on the 20 percent worst visibility days, as compared to 

visibility on the 20 percent worst days during the 2000-2004 baseline. 

By 2018, with EPA support including training, policy, and administrative and technical 

assistance, tribes will receive 15 additional approvals to implement the Clean Air Act in 

Indian country (as demonstrated by successful completion of an eligibility determination 

under the Tribal Authority Rule). The cumulative total will be 62 approved eligibility 

determinations, from the 2012 baseline of 47. 

Reduce Air Toxics 

Through 2018, maintain air toxics (toxicity-weighted for cancer) emissions reductions to 4.2 

million tons from the 1993 toxicity-weighted baseline of 7.2 million tons. [6] 
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Reduce the Adverse Ecological Effects of Acid Deposition 

Through 2018, maintain improvements to approximately 10 percent of the chronically-acidic 

lakes and stream reaches in the east identified in the 2001 baseline survey of stream and lake 

measurements conducted in the 1990s and maintain associated ecosystem health gains in 

acid-sensitive regions of the northern and eastern United States. 

Reduce Exposure to Indoor Air Pollutants 

By 2018, the number of future premature lung cancer deaths prevented annually through 

lowered radon exposure will increase to 1,056 from the 2008 baseline of 756 future 

premature lung cancer deaths prevented. The 2011 benchmark is 905 future premature lung 

cancer deaths prevented.

By 2018, the number of people taking all essential actions to reduce exposure to indoor 

environmental asthma triggers in homes and schools will increase to 9 million from the 2003 

baseline of 3.0 million. EPA will place special emphasis on reducing racial and ethnic 

asthma disparities among children. The 2012 benchmark is 6.5 million people taking all 

essential actions to reduce exposure to indoor environmental asthma triggers. 

Objective 1.3: Restore and Protect the Ozone Layer. Restore and protect the earth's 

stratospheric ozone layer and protect the public from the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) 

radiation. 

Strategic Measure: 

Reduce Consumption of Ozone-Depleting Substances 

By 2015, U.S. consumption of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), chemicals that deplete 

the Earth’s protective ozone layer, will be less than 1,520 tons per year of ozone depletion 

potential from the 2009 baseline of 9,900 tons per year. By this time, as a result of 

worldwide reduction in ozone-depleting substances, the level of “equivalent effective 

stratospheric chlorine” (EESC) in the atmosphere will have peaked at 3.185 parts per billion 

(ppb) of air by volume and begun its gradual decline to less than 1.800 ppb (1980 level). 

[Note: This strategic measure will not be adjusted at this time because the baseline dates and 

milestones are set through the international treaty, the Montreal Protocol.] 

Objective 1.4: Minimize Exposure to Radiation. Minimize releases of radioactive material 

and be prepared to minimize exposure through response and recovery actions should unavoidable 

releases occur. 

Strategic Measure: 

Prepare for Radiological Emergencies 
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Through 2018, EPA will maintain a 93 percent level of readiness of radiation emergency 

response program personnel and assets that meet functional requirements necessary to 

support federal radiological emergency response and recovery operations. (The 2012 

readiness baseline is 91.5 percent. The level of readiness measure is based on the Agency’s 

Core National Approach to Response assessment process.[7])

End Notes: 

[1] Industrial Programs include ENERGY STAR for Industry, Natural Gas STAR, Coalbed Methane 

Outreach Program (CMOP), Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), Green Power Partnership, 

Combined Heat and Power Partnership (CHP), Voluntary Aluminum Industry Partnership (VAIP), HFC23 Emission Reduction Partnerships, Mobile Air Conditioning Climate Protection Partnership (MAC), 

Environmental Stewardship Initiative, Significant New Alternatives Policy Program (SNAP), Responsible 

Appliance Disposal Program (RAD), GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, and Landfill Rule. 

[2] For this Plan, Sustainable Materials Management Programs include 10% National Recycling Tonnage 

and 100% Electronics Challenge Participant, Federal Green Challenge Participant, and Food Recovery 

Challenge Participant Results. 

[3] The Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance Executive Order was 

signed on October 5, 2009. The Executive Order sets sustainability goals for federal agencies and focuses 

on making improvements in their environmental, energy, and economic performance. 

[4] EPA maintains strong partnerships with other federal agencies by working closely with them to 

develop decision-support tools for climate adaptation. EPA often uses data, models, and tools from other 

agencies as it develops new decision-support tools focused specifically on integrating adaptation planning 

into its programs and policies. For example, EPA’s Water Erosion Prediction Project Climate 

Assessment Tool (WEPPCAT) provides users with a capability to assess the potential impacts of climate 

change on sediment loading to streams using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Water Erosion 

Prediction Project (WEPP) Model. Similarly, EPA shares decision tools that it develops, such as the 

Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT), with other federal agencies. EPA actively 

pursues these collaborative efforts through the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Agency 

Adaptation Working Group, through the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Adaptation Science 

Work Group, and through project-based collaborations. 

[5] This measure reflects outcomes from the cumulative efforts across all of the Agency’s media 

programs (air, water, waste, and toxics and pesticides programs) and regional offices. 

[6] The 2018 target is an estimate based on the 2008 National Emissions Inventory (NEI) released in 

2011. 

[7-6] The level of readiness measure is based on the Agency’s Core-NAR (National Approach to 

Response) assessment process. Core-NAR is an Agency-wide process that provides a comprehensive 

numerical assessment of each aspect of the Agency's emergency response programs, including the 

Radiological Emergency Response Team and supporting radiation emergency response program. 
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Goal 2: Protecting America’s Waters. Protect and restore waters to ensure that drinking water 

is safe and sustainably managed, and that aquatic ecosystems sustain fish, plants, wildlife, and 

other biota, as well as economic, recreational, and subsistence activities. 

Objective 2.1: Protect Human Health. Achieve and maintain standards and guidelines 

protective of human health in drinking water supplies, fish, shellfish, and recreational waters, 

and protect and sustainably manage drinking water resources.

Strategic Measures: 

Water Safe to Drink 

By 2018, 92 percent of community water systems will provide drinking water that meets all 

applicable health-based drinking water standards through approaches including effective 

treatment and source water protection. (2005 baseline: 89 percent. FY 2012 universe: 300.7 

million people served by community water systems. Status as of FY 2012: 91 percent.) 

By 2018, 88 percent of the population in Indian country served by community water systems 

will receive drinking water that meets all applicable health-based drinking water standards. 

(2005 baseline: 86 percent. FY 2012 universe: 984,236 people in Indian county served by 

community water systems. Status as of FY 2012: 84 percent.) 

By 2018 in coordination with other federal agencies, provide access to safe drinking water 

for 148,100 American Indian and Alaska Native homes. (FY 2012 Baseline: 104,000 

homes, Universe: 406,000 homes.) 

Fish and Shellfish Safe to Eat 

By 2018, reduce the percentage of women of childbearing age having mercury levels in 

blood above the level of concern to 2.1 percent. (2012 baseline (2009-2010 data): 2.3 

percent of women of childbearing age have mercury blood levels above levels of concern 

identified by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).) 

Water Safe for Swimming

By 2018, maintain the percentage of days of the beach season that coastal and Great Lakes 

beaches monitored by state beach safety programs are open and safe for swimming at 95 

percent. (2012 baseline (2011 data): Beaches open 95 percent of the 694,191 days of the 

beach season (beach season days are equal to 3,650 monitored beaches multiplied by variable 

number of days of beach season at each beach). Status as of FY 2012: 95 percent.) 

Objective 2.2: Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems. Protect, restore, 

and sustain the quality of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands on a watershed basis, and 

sustainably manage and protect coastal and ocean resources and ecosystems. 

Strategic Measures: 
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Improve Water Quality on a Watershed Basis 

[Under Development] EPA is evaluating and seeking comment on a new approach for 

measuring local improvements in water quality. This new approach would use the National 

Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) to calculate watershed area for priority areas where 

waters that had not previously been attaining water quality standards are now attaining 

standards. As part of this effort, EPA will continue to encourage states to identify priority 

waters for assessment, protection, and restoration and to keep track of conditions statewide 

using statistical surveys.[1] 

[Under Development] EPA is also evaluating this new NHDPlus approach as a means for 

tracking water quality improvements using the watershed approach. This new calculation 

would be used for tracking incremental improvements in water quality conditions for 

watershed boundaries established at the “12-digit” scale by the U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS).[1] 

Through 2018, ensure that the condition of the Nation’s rivers and streams, lakes, wetlands, 

and coastal water does not degrade (i.e., there is no statistically significant increase in the 

percent rated “poor” and no statistically significant decrease rated “good.”) (2006 baseline 

for streams: 28 percent in good condition; 25 percent in fair condition; 42 percent in poor 

condition. 2010 baseline for lakes: 56 percent in good condition; 21 percent in fair 

condition; 22 percent in poor condition; 2014 baseline for wetlands TBD. 2014 baseline for 

coastal: TBD.) 

By 2018, improve water quality in Indian country at 50 or more baseline monitoring stations 

in tribal waters (cumulative) (i.e., show improvement in one or more of seven key 

parameters: dissolved oxygen, pH, water temperature, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, 

pathogen indicators, and turbidity) and identify monitoring stations on tribal lands that are 

showing no degradation in water quality (meaning the waters are meeting uses). (2006 

baseline: 185 monitoring stations on tribal waters located where water quality has been 

depressed and activities are underway or planned to improve water quality, out of an 

estimated 2,037 stations operated by tribes.) 

By 2018, in coordination with other federal agencies, provide access to basic sanitation for 

91,900 American Indian and Alaska Native homes. (FY 2012 baseline: 63,000 homes. 

Universe: 406,000 homes.) 

Improve Coastal and Ocean Waters 

By 2018, improve regional coastal aquatic ecosystem health, as measured on the 

“good/fair/poor” scale of the National Coastal Condition Report. (FY 2012 baseline: 

National rating of “fair” or 3.0 where the rating is based on a 4-point system ranging from 

1.0 to 5.0 in which 1 is poor and 5 is good using the National Coastal Condition Report 

indicators for water and sediment, coastal habitat, benthic index, and fish contamination.) 
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By 2018, 95 percent of active dredged material ocean dumping sites, as determined by 3-year 

average, will have achieved environmentally acceptable conditions (as reflected in each site’s 

management plan and measured through onsite monitoring programs). (2012 baseline: 97 

percent. FY 2012 universe is 67.) (Due to variability in the universe of sites, results vary 

from year to year (e.g., between 85 percent and 99 percent). While this much variability is 

not expected every year, the results are expected to have some change each year.) 

By 2018, working with partners, protect or restore an additional (i.e., measuring from 2012 

forward) 600,000 acres of habitat within the study areas for the 28 estuaries that are part of 

the National Estuary Program. (2012 baseline: 1,167,733 acres of habitat protected or 

restored, cumulative from 2002-2012. In FY 2012, 114,579 acres were protected or 

restored.) 

Increase Wetlands 

By 2018, working with partners, achieve a net increase of wetlands nationwide, with 

additional focus on coastal wetlands, and biological and functional measures and assessment 

of wetland condition. (2012 baseline: 110.1 million acres of wetlands in the conterminous 

United States, and 62,300 wetland acres were lost over 2004-2009.) 

Great Lakes 

By 2018, implement all management actions necessary for later delisting at 12 Areas of 

Concern in the Great Lakes (cumulative). (2012 baseline: 2)[2] 

By 2018, implement and evaluate actions necessary to protect, restore, or enhance 20 percent 

of U.S. Great Lakes coastal wetlands greater than 10 acres. (2012 baseline: 0)[3] 

Chesapeake Bay 

By 2018, achieve 45 percent attainment of water quality standards for dissolved oxygen, 

water clarity/underwater grasses, and chlorophyll a in Chesapeake Bay and tidal tributaries. 

(2011 Baseline: 40 percent)[4] 

Gulf of Mexico 

By 2018, support best management practices and projects to reduce releases of nutrients 

throughout the Mississippi River Basin to aid in the reduction of the size of the hypoxic zone 

in the Gulf of Mexico to less than 5,000 km2, as measured by the 5-year running average of 

the size of the zone. (Baseline: 2005-2009 running average size is 15,670 km2.)[5] 

Long Island Sound 

By 2018, reduce the maximum area of hypoxia in Long Island Sound by 15 percent from the 

pre-TMDL average of 208 square miles as measured by the 5-year running average size of 

the zone. (Baseline: Pre-total maximum daily load (TMDL) average conditions based on 

1987-1999 data is 208 square miles. Post-TMDL includes years 2000-2017. Universe: The 
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total surface area of Long Island Sound is approximately 1,268 square miles; the potential for 

the maximum area of hypoxia would be 1,268 square miles.) 

Puget Sound Basin 

By 2018, improve water quality and enable the lifting of harvest restrictions in 6,000 acres of 

shellfish bed growing areas impacted by degraded or declining water quality in the Puget 

Sound. (2012 baseline: 2,489 acres of shellfish beds with harvest restrictions in 2006 had 

their restrictions lifted. Universe: 30,000 acres of commercial shellfish beds with harvest 

restrictions in 2006.) 

U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health 

By 2018, provide access to safe drinking water and adequate wastewater sanitation to 75 

percent and 90 percent, respectively, of the homes in the U.S.-Mexico Border area that 

lacked access to either service in 2003. (2003 Universe: 98,515 homes lacked drinking 

water and 690,723 homes lacked adequate wastewater sanitation based on a 2003 assessment 

of homes in the U.S.-Mexico Border area. 2018 target: 73,886 homes provided with access 

to safe drinking water and 621,651 homes with adequate wastewater sanitation.

End Notes: 

[1] The two new measures under development will substitute for the following two measures: 

By 2018, attain water quality standards for all pollutants and impairments in more than 5,000 

water bodies identified in 2002 as not attaining standards (cumulative). (2002 universe: 39,798 

water bodies identified by states and tribes as not meeting water quality standards. Water bodies 

where mercury is among multiple pollutants causing impairment may be counted toward this 

target when all pollutants but mercury attain standards, but must be identified as still needing 

restoration for mercury; 1,703 impaired water bodies are impaired by multiple pollutants 

including mercury, and 6,501 are impaired by mercury alone. Status as of FY 2012: 3,527 water 

bodies attained standards.) 

By 2018, improve water quality conditions in 620 impaired watersheds nationwide using the 

watershed approach (cumulative). (2002 baseline: Zero watersheds improved of an estimated 

4,800 impaired watersheds of focus having one or more water bodies impaired. The watershed 

boundaries for this measure are those established at the “12-digit” scale by the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS). Watersheds at this scale average 22 square miles in size. “Improved” means that 

one or more of the impairment causes identified in 2002 are removed for at least 40 percent of the 

impaired water bodies or impaired miles/acres, or there is significant watershed-wide 

improvement, as demonstrated by valid scientific information, in one or more water quality 

parameters associated with the impairments. Status as of FY 2012: 332 improved watersheds.) 

[2] “Great Lakes management actions necessary for later delisting” are the identified local, state, and 

federal actions that are believed to be necessary to remove the beneficial use impairments of the Area of 

Concern. Once taken, these actions are expected to allow environmental conditions to improve over time 

which will lead to eventual delisting of the Area of Concern. 
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[3] Only about 600 coastal wetlands greater than 10 acres in size remain on the roughly 5,500 miles of 

Great Lakes shoreline in the U.S. Coastal wetlands are immensely important ecologically and 

economically. The proposed actions will demonstrate quantitative and qualitative results from strategic 

efforts to protect, restore, and enhance the coastal wetlands assessed under the Great Lakes Restoration 

Initiative.

[4] Achievement of the 2018 target will be evaluated using monitoring data from 2015, 2016, and 2017 to 

assess attainment of applicable water quality standards in each of the Bay’s 291 designated-use segments. 

The 2011 baseline reflects monitoring data from 2008, 2009, and 2010.

[5] The size of hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico is influenced by multiple factors, including releases of 

nutrients. The reduction of nutrient releases from the Mississippi River Basin is influenced by action, 

practices, and resources from the collaboration of federal, state, tribal, and local stakeholders.
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Goal 3: Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development. Clean up 

communities, advance sustainable development, and protect disproportionately impacted lowincome and minority communities. Prevent releases of harmful substances and clean up and 

restore contaminated areas.

Objective 3.1: Promote Sustainable and Livable Communities. Support sustainable, 

resilient, and livable communities by working with local, state, tribal, and federal partners to 

promote smart growth, emergency preparedness and recovery planning, redevelopment and reuse 

of contaminated and formerly contaminated sites, and the equitable distribution of environmental 

benefits. 

Strategic Measures: 

Promote Sustainable Communities 

By 2018, reduce the air, water, land, and human health impacts of new growth and 

development through the use of smart growth and sustainable development strategies in 600 

(cumulative) communities, which includes tribal governments, local municipalities, regional 

entities, and state governments, through activities resulting from EPA and federal partner 

actions. (Baseline: In FY 2013, an estimated 102 communities will be assisted.)[1] 

Assess and Clean Up Brownfields 

By 2018, conduct environmental assessments at 26,350 (cumulative) brownfield properties. 

(Baseline: As of the end of FY 2012, EPA assessed 19,154 properties.)

By 2018, make an additional 16,800 acres of brownfield properties ready for reuse from the 

2012 baseline. (Baseline: As of the end of FY 2012, EPA made 25,408 acres ready for 

reuse.)

Reduce Chemical Risks at Facilities and in Communities 

By 2018, conduct 2,300 inspections at risk management plan (RMP) facilities. (Baseline: 

Between FY 2000 and FY 2012, more than 7,400 RMP inspections were completed.)

Objective 3.2: Preserve Land. Conserve resources and prevent land contamination by 

reducing waste generation and toxicity, promoting proper management of waste and petroleum 

products, and increasing sustainable materials management. 

Strategic Measures: 

Waste Generation and Recycling 

By 2018, increase by 500,000 tons the amount of virgin materials that were offset by the 

reuse or recycling of waste products through the use of sustainable materials management. 
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(Baseline: In FY 2013, an estimated 8,500,000 tons of waste products will be reused or 

recycled through sustainable materials management practices.) 

By 2018, increase by 50 the number of tribes covered by an integrated waste management 

plan compared to FY 2013. (Baseline: As of March 2013, 160 of 574 federally recognized 

tribes were covered by an integrated waste management plan.)[2] 

Minimize Releases of Hazardous Waste and Petroleum Products 

By 2018, prevent releases at 500 additional hazardous waste management facilities by 

issuing initial approved controls or updated controls resulting in the protection of an 

estimated 20 million people living within a mile of all facilities with controls.[3] (Baseline: 

At the end of FY 2013, an estimated 1,220 facilities will require these controls out of the 

universe of 6,600 facilities, with over 20,000 process units.) 

By 2018, prevent exposures at polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) sites by issuing 750 approvals 

for PCB cleanup, storage, and disposal activities. 

Each year through 2018, increase the percentage of underground storage tank (UST) facilities 

that are in significant operational compliance (SOC) with both release detection and release 

prevention requirements by 0.5 percent over the previous year's target. (Baseline: This 

means an increase of facilities in SOC from an estimated 70 percent in 2014 to 72 percent in 

2018.) 

Each year through 2018, reduce the number of confirmed releases at UST facilities to 5 

percent fewer than the prior year’s target. (Baseline: Between FY 2008 and FY 2012, 

confirmed UST releases averaged 6,500.) 

Objective 3.3: Restore Land. Prepare for and respond to accidental or intentional releases of 

contaminants and clean up and restore polluted sites for reuse.

Strategic Measures: 

Emergency Preparedness and Response 

By 2018, achieve and maintain at least 85 percent of the maximum score on the Core 

National Approach to Response (NAR) evaluation criteria. (Baseline: In FY 2012, the 

average Core NAR Score was 76 percent for EPA headquarters, regions, and special teams 

prepared for responding to emergencies.)[4] 

By 2018, complete an additional 1,700 Superfund removals.(Baseline: In FY 2012, there 

were 428 Superfund removal actions completed.) 

By 2018, bring into compliance 60 percent of FRP inspected facilities found to be noncompliant. (Baseline: In FY2010, 268 FRP facilities were inspected and 121 were found to 

be non-compliant, an initial compliance rate of 55 percent.) 
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By 2018, bring into compliance 60 percent of SPCC inspected facilities found to be noncompliant. (Baseline: In FY2010, 781 SPCC facilities were inspected and 456 were found to 

be non-compliant, an initial compliance rate of 42 percent.) 

Clean Up Contaminated Land 

By 2018, complete 95,500 assessments at potential hazardous waste sites to determine if they 

warrant Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 

(CERCLA) remedial response or other cleanup activities. (Baseline: As of 2012, the 

cumulative total number of assessments completed was 91,300.) 

By 2018, increase to 92 percent the number of Superfund sites and RCRA facilities where 

human exposures to toxins from contaminated sites are under control. (Baseline: As of 

October 2013, an estimated 83 percent of Superfund sites and 85 percent of RCRA facilities 

will have human exposures under control out of a combined universe of 5,451.)[5] 

By 2018, increase to 86 percent the number of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 

(RCRA) facilities with migration of contaminated groundwater under control. (Baseline: At 

the end of FY 2013, the migration of contaminated groundwater will be controlled at an 

estimated 73 percent of all 3,779 facilities needing corrective action.) 

By 2018, increase to 73 percent the number of RCRA facilities with final remedies 

constructed. (Baseline: At the end of FY 2013, all cleanup remedies will be constructed at 

an estimated 51 percent of all 3,779 facilities needing corrective action.) 

By 2018, increase to 25 percent the number of RCRA facilities with corrective action 

performance standards attained (Baseline: At the end of FY 2013, performance standards will 

be attained at an estimated 20 percent of all 3,779 RCRA facilities requiring corrective 

action.) [6] 

Each year through 2018, reduce the backlog of LUST cleanups (confirmed releases that have 

yet to be cleaned up) that do not meet risk-based standards for human exposure and 

groundwater migration by 1 percent. This means a decrease from 16 percent in 2012 to 10 

percent in 2018. (At the end of FY 2012, there were 82,903 releases not yet cleaned up.) 

Each year through 2018, reduce the backlog of LUST cleanups (confirmed releases that have 

yet to be cleaned up) in Indian country that do not meet applicable risk-based standards for 

human exposure and groundwater migration by 1 percent. This means a decrease from 23

percent in 2012 to 17 percent in 2018. 

By 2018, ensure that 946 Superfund sites are "sitewide ready for anticipated use." (Baseline: 

As of October 2012, 606 Superfund sites had achieved "sitewide ready for anticipated use" 

out of a universe of 1,742 sites.)[7] 
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Objective 3.4: Strengthen Human Health and Environmental Protection in Indian 

Country. Directly implement federal environmental programs in Indian country and support 

federal program delegation to tribes. Provide tribes with technical assistance and support 

capacity development for the establishment and implementation of sustainable environmental 

programs in Indian country. 

Strategic Measures:

Improve Human Health and the Environment in Indian Country 

By 2015, increase the percent of tribes implementing federal regulatory environmental 

programs in Indian country to 25 percent. (FY 2009 baseline: 22 percent of 572 tribes.) 

By 2015, increase the percent of tribes conducting EPA-approved environmental monitoring 

and assessment activities in Indian country to 58 percent. (FY 2012 baseline: 54 percent of 

572 tribes) 

End Notes: 

[1] Included in the cumulative number are communities receiving assistance from: (1) direct EPA 

technical assistance programs; (2) EPA-funded grants and cooperative agreements to non-governmental 

organizations; and (3) in a limited number of communities (i.e., 6 of the total 34 communities in the FY 

2010 baseline), technical assistance done in collaboration with other EPA programs (such as EPA’s 

brownfields program) and other federal agencies (such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

and the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development). 

[2] The number of inspections may change based on higher priorities coming from the Executive 

Order on Chemical Plant Safety and Security.

[3] EPA is discontinuing the tribal open dump closure and clean up measure in this Strategic Plan to 

focus on EPA’s main tribal solid waste priority, which is the promotion of sustainable tribal waste 

management programs through the development and implementation of Integrated Waste Management 

Plans (IWMPs). 

[4] Estimate drawn from OSWER Near Site Population Database, an internal EPA database that merges 

facility size and location information from RCRAInfo with population data, at the block and block group 

levels, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 Census. The demographics were captured around the total 

number of facilities that have approved controls in place that result in the protection of this population (20 

million people). 

[5] Consistent with the government-wide National Response Framework (NRF), EPA will work to fully 

implement the priorities under its internal NAR so that the agency is prepared to respond to multiple 

nationally significant incidents. Core NAR builds upon the core emergency response concept while 

integrating the priority elements of EPA’s NAR Preparedness Plan, and the Homeland Security Priority 

Workplan, to reflect an agency-wide assessment of progress. 

[6] Superfund sites include sites placed on or deleted from the Final National Priorities List (NPL) and 

sites addressed under the Superfund Alternative Approach process. EPA is currently revising its dioxin 
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risk assessment which may affect the targets and baselines for the human exposures under control and 

sitewide ready for anticipated use measures. 

[7] Attaining performance standards is the final cleanup step for a corrective action facility (e.g., soil 

cleanup standards met, groundwater cleanup levels achieved). Other measures for controlling human 

exposures and groundwater migration and for completing remedy construction identify critical interim 

steps in the cleanup process. 

[8] Superfund sites include sites placed on or deleted from the Final National Priorities List (NPL) and 

sites addressed under the Superfund Alternative Approach process. 
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Goal 4: Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution. Reduce the risk and 

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

Objective 4.1: Ensure Chemical Safety. Reduce the risk and increase the safety of chemicals 

that enter our products, our environment and our bodies. 

Strategic Measures: 

Protect Human Health from Chemical Risks 

By 2018, reduce by 30 percent the number of moderate to severe exposure incidents 

associated with organophosphates and carbamate insecticides in the general 

population.(Baseline for moderate to severe exposure incidents reported during 2011 is 274, 

as reported in the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poisoning Data 

System (NPDS) for organophosphates and carbamate pesticides.) 

Through 2018, work to ensure that the percentage of children with blood lead levels above 5 

μg/dl does not rise above the 1.0 percent target for FY 2014 and work to make further 

reductions in blood lead levels. (Baseline is 2.6 percent of children ages 1-5 had elevated 

blood lead levels (5 ug/dl or greater) in the 2007-2010 sampling period according to the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Health and Nutritional 

Evaluation Survey (NHANES).) 

By 2018, reduce the percent difference in the geometric mean blood lead level in low-income 

children 1-5 years old as compared to the geometric mean for non-low income children 1-5 

years old to 10.0 percent. (Baseline is 28.4 percent difference in the geometric mean blood 

lead level in low-income children ages 1-5 years old as compared to the geometric mean for 

non-low income children 1-5 years old in 2007-2010 sampling period according to CDC 

National Health and Nutritional Evaluation Survey (NHANES).) 

By 2018, reduce the concentration of perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA) in blood serum in the 

general population by 20 percent. (PFOA baseline is based on 2009-2010 geometric mean 

data in serum (3.07 μg/L) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National 

Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).) 

By 2018, complete Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) decisions for 100 

percent of chemicals for which complete EDSP data is expected to be available by the end of 

2017. (Baseline is 15 decisions have been completed through 2012 for any of the chemicals 

for which complete EDSP information is anticipated to be available by the end of 2017. 

EDSP decisions for a chemical can range from determining potential to interact with the 

estrogen, androgen, or thyroid hormone systems to otherwise determining whether further 

endocrine related testing is necessary.) 

By 2018, reduce rodenticide exposure incidents by 75 percent in children ages 1-6. (The 

baseline total number of confirmed and likely rodenticide exposures to children ages 1-6 in 
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2011 is 10,259 according to data by the Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data 

System.) 

By 2018, EPA will have issued draft risk assessments for all currently identified TSCA Work 

Plan Chemicals. (Baseline is zero risk assessments finalized for the 83 initially identified 

TSCA Work Plan Chemicals through 2012.) 

Protect Ecosystems from Chemical Risks 

By 2018, no watersheds will exceed aquatic life benchmarks for targeted pesticides. (Data for 

2012 provides the most recent percent of agricultural watersheds sampled by the USGS 

National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program that exceeds the National Pesticide 

Program aquatic life benchmarks for azinphos-methyl (7 percent) and chlorpyrifos (7 

percent). Urban watersheds sampled by the NAWQA program that exceeds the National 

Pesticide Program aquatic life benchmarks for diazinon (0 percent), chlorpyrifos (0 percent), 

and carbaryl (9 percent).) 

Objective 4.2: Promote Pollution Prevention. Conserve and protect natural resources by 

promoting pollution prevention and the adoption of other sustainability practices by companies, 

communities, governmental organizations, and individuals. 

Strategic Measures: 

By 2018, reduce 17 billion pounds of hazardous materials cumulatively through pollution 

prevention. (Baseline is 9 billion pounds reduced through 2011.) 

By 2018, reduce 45 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2Eq.) 

cumulatively through pollution prevention. (Baseline is 17.7 MMTCO2Eq. reduced through 

2011. The data from this measure are also calculated into the Agency’s overall GHG 

measure under Goal 1.) 

By 2018, reduce 297 billion gallons of water use cumulatively through pollution prevention. 

(Baseline is 141 billion gallons reduced through 2011.) 

By 2018, save $ 10 billion in business, institutional, and government costs cumulatively 

through pollution prevention improvements. (Baseline is $ 6 billion saved through 2011.) 

By 2018, increase the use of safer chemicals cumulatively by 30 percent. (Baseline: 770

million pounds of safer chemicals used in 2012 as reported to be in commerce by Design for 

the Environment program.) 
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Goal 5: Protecting Human Health and the Environment by Enforcing Laws and Assuring 

Compliance. Protect human health and the environment through vigorous and targeted civil and 

criminal enforcement. Use Next Generation Compliance strategies and tools to improve 

compliance with environmental laws. 

Objective 5.1: Enforce Environmental Laws to Achieve Compliance. Pursue vigorous civil 

and criminal enforcement that targets the most serious water, air, and chemical hazards in 

communities to achieve compliance. Assure strong, consistent, and effective enforcement of 

federal environmental laws nationwide. Use Next Generation Compliance strategies and tools to 

improve compliance and reduce pollution. 

Strategic Measures: 

Note: The enforcement measures in this Plan reflect: (1) the enforcement presence and level-of-effort 

measures that reflect the Agency's continued and strong investment in enforcement work; and, (2) the 

reductions in pollution achieved through enforcement cases (i.e., case-specific outcome indicators) which 

are dominated by the very largest cases and will typically vary widely over time depending on the 

pollution problems being addressed. In this Plan, EPA also notes that it is beginning to solicit comments 

on measures that would focus on the Next Generation Compliance approach in order to evaluate the 

effectiveness of the Agency’s enforcement and compliance program.

Maintain Enforcement Presence 

By 2018, conduct 70,000 federal inspections and evaluations (5-year cumulative). (FY 2005-

2009 baseline: 21,000 annually. Status for FY 2012: 20,000.) 

By 2018, initiate 11,600 civil judicial and administrative enforcement cases (5-year 

cumulative). (FY 2005-2009 baseline: 3,900 annually. Status as of FY 2012: 3,000.) 

By 2018, conclude 10,000 civil judicial and administrative enforcement cases (5-year 

cumulative). (FY 2005-2009 baseline: 3,800 annually. Status as of FY 2012: 3,000.) 

By 2018, maintain review of the overall compliance status of 100 percent of the open consent 

decrees. (Baseline 2009: 100 percent. Status as of FY 2012: 91 percent.) 

Each year through 2018, support clean ups and save federal dollars for sites where there are 

no alternatives by: (1) reaching a settlement or taking an enforcement action before the start 

of a remedial action at 99 percent of Superfund sites having viable responsible parties other 

than the federal government; and, (2) addressing all cost recovery statute of limitation cases 

with total past costs greater than or equal to $500,000. ((1) FY 2007-2009 annual average 

baseline: 99 percent of sites reaching a settlement or EPA taking an enforcement action. 

(Status as of FY 2012: 100 percent); (2) FY 2009 baseline: 100 percent cost recovery statute 

of limitation cases addressed. (Status as of FY 2012: 100 percent.)) 

Support Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality 
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By 2018, reduce, treat, or eliminate 1,360 million estimated pounds of air pollutants as a 

result of concluded enforcement actions (5-year cumulative). (FY 2005-2008 baseline: 480 

million pounds, annual average over the period. Status as of FY 2012: 250 million pounds.) 

Support Protecting America’s Waters

By 2018, reduce, treat, or eliminate 1,100 million estimated pounds of water pollutants as a 

result of concluded enforcement actions (5-year cumulative). (FY 2005-2008 baseline: 320 

million pounds, annual average over the period. Status as of FY 2012: .500 million pounds.) 

Support Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development 

By 2018, treat, minimize, or properly dispose of 9,200 million estimated pounds of 

hazardous waste as a result of concluded enforcement actions (5-year cumulative). (FY 2008 

baseline: 6,500 million pounds. Status as of FY 2012: 4,400 million pounds.) 

By 2018, obtain commitments to clean up 905 million cubic yards of contaminated soil and 

groundwater media [1] as a result of concluded CERCLA and RCRA corrective action 

enforcement actions (5-year cumulative). (FY 2007-2009 baseline: 300 million cubic yards 

of contaminated soil and groundwater media, annual average over the period. Status as of 

FY 2012: 400 million cubic yards.) 

Support Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution 

By 2018, reduce, treat, or eliminate 11 million estimated pounds of toxic and pesticide 

pollutants as a result of concluded enforcement actions (5-year cumulative). (FY 2005-2008 

baseline: 3.8 million pounds, annual average over the period. Status as of FY 2012: 1,400 

million pounds.) 

Enhance Strategic Deterrence through Criminal Enforcement 

By 2018, increase the percentage of criminal cases having the most significant health, 

environmental, and deterrence impacts to 45 percent. (FY 2010 baseline: 36 percent. Status 

as of FY 2012: 45 percent.)[2] 

By 2018, maintain 75 percent of criminal cases with an individual defendant. (FY 2006-

2008 baseline: 75 percent. Status as of FY 2012: 70 percent.) 

By 2018, increase the percentage of criminal cases with charges filed to 45 percent. (FY 

2006-2010 baseline: 36 percent. Status as of FY 2012: 44 percent.) 

By 2018, maintain an 85 percent conviction rate for criminal defendants. (FY 2006-2010 

baseline: 85 percent. Status as of FY 2012: 95 percent.) 
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End Notes:

[1] Contaminated groundwater media, as defined for the Superfund and RCRA corrective action 

programs, is the volume of physical aquifer (both soil and water) that will be addressed by the response 

action. All numbers used throughout the measures section are rounded.

[2] EPA collects data on a variety of case attributes to describe the range, complexity, and quality of our 

criminal enforcement national docket. Cases are tiered depending on factors such as the human health 

(death, injury) and environmental impacts, the nature of the pollutant and the its release into the 

environment, and the characteristics of the subject(s). This measure reflects the percentage of cases in the 

upper tiers.
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Appendix: EPA Proposed FY 2014-2015 Agency Priority Goals

Goal 1: Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality *Continues FY 2012-2013 APG

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and trucks. Through September 30, 

2015, EPA, in coordination with Department of Transportations’ fuel economy standards 

program, will be implementing vehicle and truck greenhouse gas standards that are projected 

to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 6 billion metric tons and reduce oil 

consumption by about 12 billion barrels over the lifetime of the affected vehicles and trucks.

Goal 2: Protecting America’s Waters *Continues FY 2012-13 APGs

Improve public health protection for persons served by small drinking water systems, 

which account for more than 97 percent of public water systems in the U.S., by 

strengthening the technical, managerial, and financial capacity of those systems. By 

September 30, 2015, EPA will engage with an additional ten states (for a total of 30 states) 

and three tribes to improve small drinking water system capability to provide safe drinking 

water, an invaluable resource.

Improve, restore, and maintain water quality by enhancing nonpoint source program 

leveraging, accountability, and on-the-ground effectiveness to address the nation’s 

largest sources of pollution. By September 30, 2015, 100 percent of the states will have 

updated nonpoint source management programs that comport with the new Section 319 grant 

guidelines that will result in better targeting of resources through prioritization and increased 

coordination with USDA.

Goal 3: Cleaning up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development *Continues FY 

2012-13 APG

Clean up contaminated sites to enhance the livability and economic vitality of 

communities. By 2015, an additional 18,970 sites will be made ready for anticipated use,

protecting Americans and the environment one community at a time.

Goal 4: Ensuring the Safety of Chemicals and Preventing Pollution *New APG 

Assess and reduce risks posed by chemicals and promote the use of safer chemicals in 

commerce. By September 30, 2015, EPA will have completed more than 250 assessments 

of pesticides and other commercially available chemicals to evaluate risks they may pose to 

human health and the environment, including the potential for some of these chemicals to 

disrupt endocrine systems. These assessments are essential in determining whether products 

containing these chemicals can be used safely for commercial, agricultural, and/or industrial 

uses. 

Cross-Program: E-Enterprise *Continues/expands FY 2012-13 APG on e-Reporting
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Use advanced monitoring, information technologies, optimized business processes, and 

increased transparency to improve environmental outcomes and enhance service to the 

regulated community. By September 30, 2015 reduce reporting burdens to EPA by one 

million hours through streamlined regulations, provide real-time environmental data to at 

least two communities, and establish a new portal to service the regulated community and 

public.

Cross-Program: Sustainability *New APG

Advance sustainability by collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders to select 

sustainability indicators that can be widely understood and that can help drive the 

diverse public and private actions that are essential for achieving the long-term 

environmental quality. By September 30, 2015, EPA will collaborate with a broad range of 

stakeholders to select a small set of sustainability indicators covering three initial topics—

energy use, water use, and materials use—and prepare to pilot them within and across EPA 

programs.