page_title: United States Environmental Protection Agency
section_title: Offices
hierarchical_section_title: United States Environmental Protection Agency / Organization / Offices
caption_attribution_description: English: United States Environmental Protection Agency| Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center in Cincinnati in 2019
context_page_description: The Environmental Protection Agency is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its administrator, who is appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The current administrator is former deputy administrator Andrew R. Wheeler, who had been acting administrator since July 2018. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank.
  The EPA has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., regional offices for each of the agency's ten regions, and 27 laboratories. The agency conducts environmental assessment, research, and education. It has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments.
context_section_description: Office of the Administrator (OA). As of March 2017 the office consisted of 11 divisions:
  Office of Administrative and Executive Services
  Office of Children's Health Protection
  Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee
  Office of Civil Rights
  Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations
  Office of the Executive Secretariat
  Office of Homeland Security
  Office of Policy
  Office of Public Affairs
  Office of Public Engagement and Environmental Education
  Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
  Science Advisory Board
  Office of Air and Radiation (OAR)
  Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP)
  Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)
  Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA)
  Office of General Counsel (OGC)
  Office of Inspector General (OIG)
  Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA)
  Office of Mission Support (OMS) 
   Office of Research and Development (ORD) which as of March 2017 consisted of:
  National Center for Computational Toxicology
  National Center for Environmental Assessment
  National Center for Environmental Research
  National Exposure Research Laboratory
  National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
  National Homeland Security Research Center
  National Risk Management Research Laboratory
  Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) which as of March 2017 consisted of:
  Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation
  Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery
  Office of Underground Storage Tanks
  Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization
  Office of Emergency Management
  Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office
  Office of Water (OW) which as of March 2017 consisted of:
  Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW)
  Office of Science and Technology (OST)
  Office of Wastewater Management (OWM)
  Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds (OWOW)
caption: The Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center in Cincinnati is EPA's second-largest R&D center.[54]
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