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Office of Public Affairs
Structure and Responsibilities of the Office of Public Affairs
The Office of Public Affairs (OPA) is the primary office for all EPA communications and public outreach. The Associate Administrator for Public Affairs is the principal advisor to the Administrator on all issues concerning short-term and long-term strategic communications.
The work of OPA is planned, organized and directed by the Immediate Office for implementation by its unique and specialized offices of Media Relations which is comprised of the Press and Editorial Divisions; Public Outreach, which is comprised of the Public Liaison and Product Review Divisons and Web Communications. Below is the general structure of OPA and the roles, responsibilities and accountability of each major subdivision:
Immediate Office
- Provides short- and long-range strategic communications planning in support of the Agency’s mission.
- Manages the distribution of information to inform the public of the Agency’s mission, policies, environmental initiatives, and compliance assistance programs.
- Oversees collaborative relationships between EPA and a broad range of public and private sector organizations.
- Prepares speeches for the Administrator and senior managers.
- Provides management and financial integrity control for all activities of the subdivisions within the Office of Public Affairs.
Office of Media Relations
- Serves as the principal news media gateway for official Agency announcements, press releases and statements, op-eds, speeches, biographies of principal officers, and other documents of public interest.
- Provides support, guidance and assistance to senior Agency officials in their relationships with the news media in disseminating information to the press.
- Conducts media training to prepare Agency officials for interviews.
- Assists program offices in crafting key messages.
- Develops written communications materials in support of the Agency’s mission.
- Collaborates with program offices and laboratories to “translate” technical materials into plain English.
- Coordinates Agency’s external message for emergency response activities.
- Develops and implements guidelines for the effective use of media and other communications during emergency situations.
Office of Public Outreach
- Establishes and maintains through the Office of Public Liaison close working relationships with a broad range of public and private sector organizations to:
- anticipate and address stakeholder concerns regarding Agency and environmental matters;
- keep senior EPA officials apprised of stakeholder needs, perspectives, and issues;
- promote and support stakeholder involvement and public participation in Agency decision making; and
- identify opportunities for public/private partnerships.
- Serves through the Division of Product Review as the Agency-wide point of contact for the planning, developing, and reviewing of all Agency print, promotional, display, audiovisual and broadcast products (other than news and Web-based products) intended for the public.
- Coordinates the activities of the Agency-wide EPA Branding Committee to ensure consistent style and content in EPA communications.
- Manages EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force and directs Agency multilingual outreach and communications efforts.
Office of Web Communications
- Coordinates with program and regional offices to manage the content of EPA's Web site.
- Operates EPA's home page and associated pages; EPA's blog, Greenversations; and Agency-wide pages for widgets, RSS feeds, etc.
- Co-chairs and staffs the EPA Web Council, leading efforts to set standards for Web content.
- Promotes the use of Web 2.0, mapping, multimedia, and other tools that allow visitors to easily discover and interact with our information.
- Manages the creation of cross-Agency topical sites.
- Oversees development of crisis communications Web content.
- Operates the EPA Web training program for staff and contractors.
- Develops the Agency’s multilingual Web sites.
- Represents EPA on the Federal Web Managers Council.