Environmental Protection Agency

The overarching mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment by implementing and enforcing environmental laws intended to improve the quality of our air and water and to protect our land. Key environmental laws include the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (or Superfund). The agency is comprised of major offices aligned with environmental laws, each headed by a politically appointed Assistant Administrator, and 10 regional offices, each headed by a politically appointed regional administrator. For fiscal year 2009, the agency requested $7.1 billion, including about $940 million for clean air and climate change, $2.58 billion for clean water, and $1.69 billion for land restoration.

• EPA's budget, like that of many civil agencies, has been declining over the past several years, exacerbating the implementation and enforcement of the nation's environmental laws.
• EPA shares responsibility for enforcement of environmental laws with its 10 semiautonomous regions as well as states, causing uneven enforcement from region to region and state to state.
• EPA must balance the cost (to industry and others) of implementing regulations to benefit public health and the environment — a controversial proposition depending upon one's point of view.
• EPA is often relegated to being reactionary rather than strategic in its approach to implementing environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Superfund program because of the need to comply with numerous court orders emanating from the myriad lawsuits brought against the agency by states, concerned citizens, special interest groups, and others.
• Lack of complete and comprehensive environmental information on air or water quality, for example, makes it difficult for EPA to evaluate the success of its policies and programs.

^ Back to topKey Reports

Environmental Protection: EPA-State Enforcement Partnership Has Improved, but EPA's Oversight Needs Further Enhancement

GAO-07-883, July 31, 2007

Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 51 pages)   Accessible Text   Recommendations (HTML)

Environmental Indicators: Better Coordination Is Needed to Develop Environmental Indicator Sets That Inform Decisions

GAO-05-52, November 17, 2004

Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 122 pages)   Accessible Text   Recommendations (HTML)

Measuring Our Nation's Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability: Highlights of a Forum Jointly Convened by the Comptroller General of the United States and the National Academy of Science

GAO-08-127SP, October 24, 2007

Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 38 pages)   Accessible Text