An agency of the federal government, the United States Environment Protection Agency is tasked with protecting human health by safeguarding the environment and by enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.
Led by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the agency monitors activities that have the potential to negatively impact air, water and land quality, such as fuel consumption by cars and trucks, energy use in appliances and electronics, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA is also involved in reducing oil pollution. The Facility Response Plan (FRP) and the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rules developed by the EPA require oil development facilities to to submit plans on how to respond to worst-case discharges of oil.
After the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded, rupturing an oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the EPA began collecting data on the quality of air, water and sediment along the Gulf Coast. The EPA has also approved waste management plans outlining how to recover oil and waste generated by the BP oil spill.
In late May, the EPA ordered BP to stop using potentially harmful dispersants use to break up the spilled oil.
EPA in the news
Michigan oil spill cause may be revealed today
The July 25, 2010, pipeline rupture spread oil across roughly 35 miles of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Mich., fouling wildlife habitat and closing a large swath of the river to boaters and anglers.
Cleanup plan for Tittabwassee River 'a couple years away'
Federal officials say they're still a couple years away regarding a plan to clean up a 24-mile section of the Tittabawassee River polluted with dioxin from a Dow Chemical Co. plant.
High court to hear environmental case from Idaho
Supreme Court could use Idaho couple's legal fight to make major change in environmental law
EPA rules threaten older power plants
AP IMPACT: Survey shows more than 32 power plants to be retired because of new pollution rules
Dr. Oz finds arsenic in many apple juice brands
Does this make you think twice before filling up your glass or your child’s cup?
