2

Table of Contents

Administrator Regan’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Objective 1.1: Reduce Emissions that Cause Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Objective 1.2: Accelerate Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Objective 1.3: Advance International and Subnational Climate Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Objective 2.1: Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Federal, Tribal, State, and Local
Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Objective 2.2: Embed Environmental Justice and Civil Rights into EPA’s Programs, Policies, and
Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Objective 2.3: Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement in Communities with Environmental Justice
Concerns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Goal 3: Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Objective 3.1: Hold Environmental Violators and Responsible Parties Accountable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Objective 3.2: Detect Violations and Promote Compliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Goal 4: Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Objective 4.1: Improve Air Quality and Reduce Localized Pollution and Health Impacts. . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Objective 4.2: Reduce Exposure to Radiation and Improve Indoor Air. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Goal 5: Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Objective 5.1: Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water Infrastructure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Objective 5.2: Protect and Restore Waterbodies and Watersheds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Goal 6: Safeguard and Revitalize Communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Objective 6.1: Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses and Healthy Communities. . . . . . . . . . 73
Objective 6.2: Reduce Waste and Prevent Environmental Contamination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Objective 6.3: Prepare for and Respond to Environmental Emergencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

3
Goal 7: Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Objective 7.1: Ensure Chemical and Pesticide Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Objective 7.2: Promote Pollution Prevention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Cross-Agency Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Cross-Agency Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making. . . . . . . . . . 92
Cross-Agency Strategy 2: Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages and Other Vulnerable
Populations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Cross-Agency Strategy 3: Advance EPA’s Organizational Excellence and Workforce Equity . . . . . . . . . 99
Cross-Agency Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships and
Enhance Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
EPA Learning Agenda: Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
EPA Capacity Assessment: Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

4
Administrator Regan’s Message
The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply committed to
protecting human health and the environment for all Americans,
including those historically marginalized, overburdened,
underserved, and living with the legacy of structural racism. I am
proud to present the FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan that will serve
as the foundation to achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s
priorities and the critical mission of this Agency for years to come.

Growing up in eastern North Carolina, I suffered from asthma

that was exacerbated by the car exhaust from heavy traffic and
hog farm processing activities. From an early age, I understood
that living near sources of pollution meant lost school days or
being unable to enjoy spending time outdoors with my father
and grandfather. I know I am not alone in this experience. The
life-changing impact that pollution can have on an individual
happens all too often in underserved communities. Not long after
arriving at EPA, I had the privilege of meeting with underserved
communities throughout the Southeast region that have
been heavily affected by environmental injustices. I toured
neighborhoods severely impacted by pollution and met with environmental justice leaders to discuss ways
to address these deep-rooted problems. These discussions made it very clear that EPA has a responsibility
to pursue justice as we jointly confront environmental and climate challenges with our federal, Tribal, state,
and local partners, including through the vigorous enforcement of civil rights. That’s why, in this Strategic
Plan, we are taking the principles first outlined by EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus to follow the
science, follow the law, and be transparent, and adding a fourth foundational principle for the Agency:
advance justice and equity. As President Biden stated in announcing the Administration’s management
agenda, “While we have plenty of work ahead to build an equitable, effective and accountable government
that delivers results for all, we are building on a strong foundation, and the possibilities before us are
limitless.”

This Strategic Plan is bold and unprecedented in its commitment to advancing environmental justice and
civil rights, and tackling climate change. We sought to be more inclusive and accessible in developing
the Plan. For the first time, we conducted early outreach to hear from both traditional and new partners
and stakeholders on what is important and how we can work more effectively together. We considered
this input as we crafted our strategies and developed measures. We added new performance measures
on drinking water and sanitation and adjusted our strategy for solid waste management programs
and infrastructure. To support public comment on the Draft Plan, we translated the Strategic Plan
Communications Fact Sheet into eight languages. We received and considered comments from Tribes,
state agencies, local governments, associations, advocacy groups, businesses, and individuals, and have
incorporated feedback to make our Plan even stronger.

We will employ the full array of policy and legal tools at our disposal to incorporate environmental
and climate justice considerations in our analysis, rulemaking, permitting, enforcement, grantmaking,
operations, disaster response and recovery, and other activities. From replacing lead pipe drinking water

5
service lines to targeting enforcement in communities impacted by harmful air pollutants, communities
that have been plagued by multiple sources of pollution for decades should finally see progress. The
historic investment in EPA from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law 1will expand our capacity to deliver for the
American people.

EPA will also support the Administration’s Justice40 initiative by prioritizing benefits to underserved
communities in developing requests for grant applications and in making grant award decisions, to the
extent permitted by law. We have already seen an increase in external civil rights cases being referred to the
EPA, and we are investigating them to ensure that recipients of EPA dollars do not discriminate based on
race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or retaliation.

EPA plays a critical role in the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach to

tackling climate change. In 2021, EPA issued a rule to phase down production and consumption of
hydrofluorocarbons, a potent greenhouse gas. EPA will further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by issuing
rules to reduce pollution from the power sector, setting vehicle emission standards, and partnering with
the public and private sectors to increase energy and resource efficiency in the residential, commercial,
and industrial sectors. In addition, the Agency’s Climate Adaptation Action Plan describes our commitment
and the steps we will take to help the country anticipate, prepare for, and avoid disruptive impacts due
to climate change. EPA will lead by example and refocus our internal operations on carbon pollution-free
energy use and net-zero emissions in line with federal sustainability goals.

In addition, we will continue to advance EPA’s goal to protect public health and the environment from per-
and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), long-lasting “forever chemicals” that are present in our water, soil, air,
and food, exposing most people in the United States.2 To safeguard communities and ecological systems
from PFAS contamination, EPA will leverage the full range of statutory authorities, developing technologies,
and partnerships with other federal agencies to prevent PFAS from entering air, land, and water; accelerate
the cleanup of PFAS contamination; and invest in the necessary research.

How we work is critical to achieving the goals in EPA’s Strategic Plan. EPA will renew our Tribal government-
to-government relationships, expand our intergovernmental collaboration with our state and local
government partners, and reach out to the regulated community and key stakeholders. We are committed
to improving on-the-ground community engagement, enhancing our collaboration with the business
community, delivering high-impact environmental education programs, and increasing public trust and
transparency. We will protect our most vulnerable, especially children, where they live, learn, play, pray, and
work, to ensure their lifelong health and well-being. We will strive for organizational excellence by working
more effectively, efficiently, securely, equitably, and with a smaller carbon footprint. We will secure fair,
equitable, and transparent acquisitions. And most importantly, we will build a workforce of the future that is
representative of our diverse American population.

This is a transformational opportunity, and we are prepared to meet the moment. Working with the talented
and committed EPA team and our partners across this beautiful country, I have great confidence that we will
accomplish these ambitious goals together.

1 The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law on November 15, 2021. It is referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) in the Strategic Plan.
2 For more information, see: https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-explained.

6
Introduction
EPA’s FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan
communicates the Agency’s priorities
and provides the roadmap for achieving
its mission to protect human health and
the environment. In this Strategic Plan,
the Agency renews its commitment to
the three principles articulated by William
Ruckelshaus, who served as the EPA’s first
Administrator (1970 – 1973, and then again
EPA Mission
from 1983 – 1985), to follow the science,
To Protect Human Health and the Environment
follow the law, and be transparent. EPA
also adds a fourth foundational principle: Principles
advance justice and equity. It is time
to include this principle to infuse the Follow the Science
consistent and systematic fair, just, and Follow the Law
impartial treatment of all individuals into all Be Transparent
EPA policies, practices, and programs. These Advance Justice and Equity
principles form the basis of the Agency’s
culture and will guide its operations and Strategic Goals
decision making now and into the future.
Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis
Building on work already begun under
Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice
President Biden’s Executive Orders3, and and Civil Rights
in alignment with the Administration’s
whole-of-government approach, EPA is Goal 3: Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance
charting a course in this Strategic Plan
Goal 4: Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities
where tackling climate change and
advancing environmental justice and civil Goal 5: E nsure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities
rights are integral to all the Agency does
Goal 6: S afeguard and Revitalize Communities
in carrying out the mission. In accordance
with these priorities, EPA has established Goal 7: E nsure Safety of Chemicals for People and the
new strategic goals on addressing climate Environment
change and environmental justice to signal
the importance of these issues. The Agency
Cross-Agency Strategies
will embed this focus in its work toward
the five programmatic strategic goals for Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based
enforcement and compliance, air quality, Decision Making
water quality, land revitalization, and
chemical safety. Strategy 2: Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages
and Other Vulnerable Populations
3 Executive Order 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for
Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government Strategy 3: A
 dvance EPA’s Organizational Excellence and
(January 20, 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-
room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order- Workforce Equity
advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-
communities-through-the-federal-government/. Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships
Executive Order 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and and Enhance Engagement
Abroad (January 27, 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/
briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-
order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/.

7
The four cross-agency strategies describe the essential ways EPA will carry out its mission. These strategies
include reinforcing science as foundational to Agency decision making; protecting children’s environmental
health; building back EPA’s workforce with particular attention to equity and enhancing mission-support
functions to achieve organizational excellence; and renewing EPA’s commitment to its trust responsibility
to Tribal nations4 and engagement with Tribal, state, and local government partners, stakeholders, the
regulated community, and the public.
EPA’s Strategic Plan includes a suite of long-term performance goals (LTPGs) that reflect the quantifiable
outcomes the Agency will achieve for each strategic objective and cross-agency strategy by 2026. LTPGs will
help to understand, monitor, and tell the story of progress being made to partners and stakeholders, Agency
employees, and the public. LTPGs provide the means for accountability.
In addition, EPA has identified three FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goals (APGs), which are intended to
jumpstart actions and showcase progress toward Administrator Regan’s priorities:
• Phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs);
• D
 eliver tools and metrics for EPA and its Tribal, state, local, and community partners to advance
environmental justice and external civil rights compliance; and
• C
 lean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and
economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities.
For the first time, EPA’s Strategic Plan incorporates a Learning Agenda and Capacity Assessment, consistent
with the requirements of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018.5 The goal is
to achieve a culture of evidence-building, continuous learning, and evaluation in EPA’s operations and
decisions. The Learning Agenda will address key questions across priority areas by leveraging high-quality
data. The Capacity Assessment will guide Agency efforts to develop the skills, expertise, and infrastructure
that support routine, rigorous use of data. The Agency also identified emerging issues and external factors
for consideration in developing strategies to carry out the Plan. This included strategic foresight horizon
scanning, which involved literature reviews and interviews with experts to identify emerging issues on
selected topics.
Engaging with federal, Tribal, state, and local government partners and the Agency’s many stakeholders
is an integral part of strategic planning. For the first time, EPA conducted early outreach prior to issuance
of the Draft Plan. Through this engagement, the Agency sought to understand what matters most to its
Tribal and state partners and stakeholders as it works to achieve the mission and find ways to work together
to achieve the goals. EPA issued a Federal Register notice and used www.regulations.gov to encourage
and share feedback on the Draft Plan. EPA sent notification of the availability of the Draft Plan to partner
and stakeholder organizations. The Agency also initiated consultation with Tribal partners and Congress.
As a result of this concerted outreach, EPA received and considered comments from a wide range of
organizations and individuals6, which has made this Strategic Plan stronger and more inclusive.

4 In this Strategic Plan, the terms “Tribe” and “Tribal nation” are referring to federally recognized Indian Tribes. Federally recognized Indian Tribes are those Tribes that have met
criteria established by the Department of the Interior or are designated by law as eligible to receive federal benefits, federal services, and federal protections. The special
relationship federally recognized Tribes have with the United States is known as the government-to-government relationship.
5 Full-text of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4174/text.
6 Public comments are available at: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OA-2021-0403/comments.

8
 Strategic Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis
Objective 1.1: Reduce Emissions that Cause Climate Change
Objective 1.2: Accelerate Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts
Objective 1.3: Advance International and Subnational Climate Efforts

Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights
 Objective 2.1: Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Federal, Tribal,
State, and Local Levels
 Objective 2.2: Embed Environmental Justice and Civil Rights into EPA’s Programs,
Policies, and Activities
 Objective 2.3: Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement in Communities with
Environmental Justice Concerns

Goal 3: Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance

Objective 3.1: Hold Environmental Violators and Responsible Parties Accountable
Objective 3.2: Detect Violations and Promote Compliance

Goal 4: Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities

 Objective 4.1: Improve Air Quality and Reduce Localized Pollution and Health
Impacts
Objective 4.2: Reduce Exposure to Radiation and Improve Indoor Air

Goal 5: Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities

Objective 5.1: Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water Infrastructure
Objective 5.2: Protect and Restore Waterbodies and Watersheds

Goal 6: Safeguard and Revitalize Communities

 Objective 6.1: Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses and Healthy
Communities
Objective 6.2: Reduce Waste and Prevent Environmental Contamination
Objective 6.3: Prepare for and Respond to Environmental Emergencies

Goal 7: Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment

Objective 7.1: Ensure Chemical and Pesticide Safety
Objective 7.2: Promote Pollution Prevention

9
 Goal 1:
Tackle the Climate Crisis

10
 Goal 1:
Tackle the Climate Crisis
Cut pollution that causes climate change and increase the adaptive
capacity of Tribes, states, territories, and communities.

Introduction
The impacts of climate change affect people in every region of the country, threatening lives and livelihoods
and damaging infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems. Global annually-averaged surface air
temperature has increased by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) over the last 115 years (1901–2016), making this period the
warmest in the history of modern civilization. The last few years have
seen record-breaking, climate-related weather extremes; increased Definitions
droughts, flooding, and wildfires; increasing surface, atmospheric, Climate change refers to changes in
and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; global or regional climate patterns
shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing attributed largely to human-caused
atmospheric water vapor. increased levels of atmospheric
greenhouse gases.
Climate change also exacerbates existing pollution problems and
environmental stressors impacting the nation’s land, air, and water and Climate change adaptation or
the people who depend on them. Overburdened and underserved climate adaptation means taking
communities and individuals are particularly vulnerable to these action to prepare for and adjust
impacts, including low-income communities and communities to both the current and projected
of color, children, the elderly, Tribes, and indigenous peoples. 7 In impacts of climate change.
addition, climate-driven famine, property loss, mass migrations, human Climate change mitigation refers
conflict, species extinctions, and ecosystem failures have significant to actions limiting the magnitude
humanitarian and national security implications. and rate of future climate change by
reducing greenhouse gas emissions
EPA will take bold steps and align its actions to respond decisively to and/or advancing nature-based
the climate crisis. As part of a whole-of-government approach, EPA solutions.
must aggressively tackle the climate crisis by helping the nation reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and anticipate, prepare for, and adapt Adaptive capacity is the ability
of a human or natural system to
to or recover from the impacts of climate change. Policies to tackle
adjust to climate change (including
climate change must address the disproportionate vulnerability of low-
climate variability and extremes)
income communities and communities of color while also dealing with by moderating potential damages,
the legacy pollution those communities continue to endure. taking advantage of opportunities, or
coping with the consequences.
Climate change is a global issue and domestic action must go hand
in hand with international leadership. EPA will continue to share its Climate resilience can be generally
expertise internationally, while learning from the expertise of others. defined as the capacity of a system
EPA’s programs will not only drive emissions reductions and resilience to maintain function in the face of
across the country but will help the U.S. to lead by example on the stresses imposed by climate change
global stage and provide the foundation for science-based national and to adapt the system to be better
and international climate mitigation and adaptation goals. prepared for future climate impacts.

7 EPA. 2021. Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the United States: A Focus on Six Impacts. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 430-R-21-003.

11
 Objective 1.1:
Reduce Emissions that Cause Climate Change
Aggressively reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from all sectors while
increasing energy and resource efficiency and the use of renewable energy.

Introduction
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) from human activities are the most
significant driver of observed climate change since the mid-20th
Steep and swift reductions
century.8 As GHG emissions from human activities increase, they build
up in the atmosphere and warm the climate, leading to increasingly in GHG emissions are
destructive changes around the world—in the atmosphere, on land, essential to avoid the
and in the oceans. Steep and swift reductions in GHG emissions are most catastrophic
essential to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate consequences of climate
change.
change.
With its regulatory authority, technical and programmatic expertise,
and mission to protect human health and the environment, EPA can
drive significant emissions reductions to mitigate climate change. EPA will cut emissions by exercising its
authorities to regulate GHG pollutants, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs), across key sectors. As a complement, EPA will accelerate private and public sector mitigation with
partnership programs that address market barriers, encourage leadership, and support Tribal, state, and local
governments’ efforts to drive down emissions. Tackling the climate crisis will require deep gains in energy
8 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2013. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment
Report. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1.

12
efficiency and in decarbonization of buildings, transportation, and
the power and industrial sectors. EPA will collaborate closely with Climate change is a crisis
stakeholders to drive energy efficiency, grid decarbonization, and for the United States and
zero emissions mobility. the world, and EPA must
EPA publishes GHG emissions data and applies tools such as the respond accordingly and
social cost of greenhouse gases, multipollutant analysis, reviews make the transition to
of environmental impact statements, permitting, and technical a less carbon-intensive
assistance. EPA also promotes recycling and encourages reducing existence.
the use of resources. Together, these approaches will produce
measurable reductions in GHG emissions.
Deep emission reductions will require significant transitions in technologies and energy systems that must
be informed by community-level engagement, input, and analysis. Climate change is a crisis for the United
States and the world, and EPA must respond accordingly and make the transition to a less carbon-intensive
existence. EPA will take all measures within its authorities to speed this transition and will do so in a just,
equitable, and inclusive manner.

Long-Term Performance Goals

• B
 y September 30, 2026, promulgate final rules to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from
light duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles; electric utility generating units; and the oil and
gas industry.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, EPA’s climate partnership programs will reduce expected annual
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 545 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(MMTCO2e). EPA’s climate partnership programs reduced 518.6 MMTCO2e of annual GHG emissions
in 2019.

FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal (APG)

• P
 hase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). By September
30, 2023, annual U.S. consumption of HFCs will be 10% below the baseline9 of 303.9 million metric
tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) consistent with the HFC phasedown schedule in the
American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act and codified in the implementing regulations. A
10% reduction would decrease the U.S. consumption limit to less than 273.5 MMTCO2e in 2023.

Strategies
As part of the Administration’s comprehensive approach to tackling the climate crisis, EPA will act boldly to
drive down GHG emissions and reduce future climate change impacts. EPA will ensure a robust process of
engagement with communities that have historically experienced disproportionate exposure to pollution to
ensure policy solutions begin to repair this harmful legacy.

9 E PA’s final rule, “Phasedown of Hydrofluorocarbons: Establishing the Allowance Allocation and Trading Program under the AIM Act” establishes the HFC production and
consumption baselines from which the phasedown steps are measured. Using the equation provided in the AIM Act, and based on the data available to the Agency
through the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) and outreach conducted for this rulemaking, EPA determined that the production baseline is 382.6 mllion
metric tons of exchange value equivalent (MMTEVe) and the consumption baseline is 303.9 MMTEVe. EPA has determined that the exchange values included in subsection
(c) of the AIM Act are identical to the Global Warming Potentials included in IPCC (2007). Therefore, one million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) is
numerically equivalent to one MMTEVe. EPA is using the measurement MMTCO2e in this document since the public is more familiar with this term than MMTEVe. For more
information, see: https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/final-rule-phasedown-hydrofluorocarbons-establishing-allowance-allocation.

13
Regulatory Approaches: EPA
regulations will reduce the emissions
of GHGs from mobile and stationary
sources. Under the American
Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM)
Act of 2020,10 EPA will phase down the
production and import of HFCs, which
are highly potent GHGs commonly
used in refrigerators, air conditioners,
and ny other applications. The AIM
Act directs EPA to sharply reduce
production and consumption of these
harmful GHG pollutants by using
an allowance allocation and trading
program. EPA’s implementation of the
AIM Act will decrease the production
and import of HFCs in the United
States by 85 percent over the next
15 years. A global HFC phasedown
is expected to avoid up to 0.5°C of
global warming by 2100. EPA will
also consider complementary regulations consistent with the AIM Act to require sector-based transitions
away from high Global Warming Potential HFCs and establish additional HFC management requirements to
further reduce use and emissions of HFCs.
The transportation sector is the largest source of GHG emissions in the United States. EPA will reduce GHGs
from the two largest sources of GHG emissions in the transportation sector: light-duty and heavy-duty
vehicles. EPA will set robust federal GHG emissions standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks to
secure pollution reductions through Model Year (MY) 2026. EPA also will set standards for MY 2027 and
beyond to speed the transition of the light-duty vehicle fleet toward a zero emissions future and will update
air pollution standards for heavy-duty vehicles. The regulations will set the U.S. on a course to achieve
aggressive reductions in GHG and other harmful pollutant emissions from highway transportation. EPA will
drive GHG reductions while protecting fair competition in the marketplace by testing motor vehicles, heavy-
duty engines, nonroad engines, and fuels that enter the U.S. market to certify they comply with federal
clean air, GHG, and fuel economy standards. This will pave the way for faster adoption of zero-emission
technologies and substantial improvements in air quality, particularly in communities living near heavily
traveled corridors.
Electricity production generates the second largest share of GHG emissions. Approximately 62 percent
of U.S. electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas.11 Executive Order 13990:
Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis12 directs EPA
to revise and address, as appropriate, the regulation of GHGs from power plants under Section 111 of the
Clean Air Act. Section 111(d) specifically provides states with a central role in developing plans to implement
and enforce limits on pollution from existing sources, subject to emission guidelines issued by EPA. EPA will
issue and implement rules to reduce GHG pollution from fossil-fuel fired power plants and work closely with
Tribes, states, and local agencies to implement them.
10 For more information about the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, see: https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/aim-act#:~:text=The%20AIM%20
Act%20directs%20EPA,transition%20to%20next%2Dgeneration%20technologies.
11 Electricity Explained – Electricity in the United States: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php.
12 Executive Order 13990: Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis (January 20, 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/
briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/.

14
The oil and natural gas industry is the largest industrial source of U.S. emissions of methane, a potent
GHG, and its facilities and operations also emit smog-forming volatile organic compounds and toxic air
pollutants such as benzene. As part of the Administration’s comprehensive approach to tackling the climate
crisis, EPA will issue and implement rules to reduce methane and other harmful pollutants from new and
existing sources in the oil and natural gas industry. These actions meet the requirements of President Biden’s
Executive Order 13990 and are key steps toward EPA’s commitment to deliver public health protections from
methane pollution for communities across America.
Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program to reduce GHG emissions and expand the
nation’s renewable fuels sector while reducing reliance on imported oil. The RFS program requires a certain
volume of renewable fuel to replace or reduce the quantity of petroleum-based transportation fuel, heating
oil, or jet fuel. EPA will continue to implement the RFS program, including the associated credit trading
systems. Separately, EPA will continue work with partners on programs to control emissions from marine and
aircraft engines, which are significant contributors to U.S. and global GHG emissions.
EPA will facilitate net emission and air quality analyses of increased electric vehicle (EV) use.
Science and Disclosure: EPA will improve models of climate change impacts, including how risks and
economic impacts can be reduced under mitigation and adaptation scenarios. The Agency will advance
the scientific literature on climate impacts by publishing scientific assessments of climate impacts and
responses, including those developed through the Climate Impacts and Risk Analysis (CIRA) project and
by EPA’s research and development program, quantifying and monetizing the risk of climate change on
vulnerable populations, and by making EPA’s Climate Change Indicators website, which compiles key
indicators related to the causes and effects of climate change, more accessible. EPA will also continue its
role as a key contributor along with technical experts across the Federal Government to update estimates
of the social cost of GHGs to reflect the best available climate science and economics. This metric—a range
of estimates, in dollars, of the long-term damage imposed by one ton of GHG emissions—combines climate
science and economics to help policy makers and the public understand the benefits of reducing GHG
emissions and account for those benefits in decision making.
Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Clean Air Act Section 309, EPA will promote robust
consideration of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience in the reviews of proposed actions,
such as federal land management actions, transportation projects, and publicly owned facility construction,
as applicable. EPA fulfills its NEPA and Section 309 responsibilities, in part, by annually reviewing
approximately 280 Environmental Impact Statements developed by other federal agencies. EPA will review
the adequacy and acceptability of environmental impacts, including those related to climate change, and
will identify and recommend appropriate measures to avoid and mitigate significant environmental impacts
associated with each proposal.
EPA will continue to implement the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Under this Clean Air
Act regulatory program, EPA annually collects data from over 8,100 facilities from 41 large industrial
source categories in the U.S. to support federal and state-level policy development; support regulatory
development; and share GHG emissions and supply data with stakeholders, including state and local
governments, industry, academia, the research community, and the public in general.
EPA will continue to compile and publish the annual Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 13
to fulfill U.S. treaty obligations, under Article 4 of the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change. The
Inventory provides information on total annual U.S. emissions and removals by source, economic sector,
and GHG. The Inventory is used to inform U.S. policy and for tracking progress towards the U.S. Nationally

13 Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks.

15
 Determined Contribution14
under the Paris Agreement.15
EPA will continue to improve
and refine inventory
methodologies in areas such
as oil and gas, land-use,
and waste, consistent with
Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC)
guidelines, and to meet
upcoming Paris reporting
requirements.
Market Drivers and
Incentives: EPA’s partnership
programs will help the
transition to a clean energy economy. These programs overcome market barriers, support state and local
partners in the public and private sectors, and channel marketplace ingenuity towards climate action.
Climate partnership programs will improve delivery of energy efficiency, transportation efficiency, clean
energy, and heat mitigation solutions to communities. For example, EPA’s domestic methane partnership
programs will focus on advancing methane reductions from agriculture, coal mines, landfills, oil and gas
systems, and municipal wastewater. ENERGY STAR will achieve significant and growing GHG reductions by
promoting the adoption of cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies and practices and by working with
state and local governments to improve efficiency in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.
ENERGY STAR also supports equitable energy solutions that can deliver significant cost savings for low-
income families and other underserved populations, prioritizing outreach to low-income populations on
products that have the greatest potential to save energy and dollars. EPA will continue to provide tools, data,
and technical expertise to help subnational governments implement clean energy policies and programs
that reduce emissions, maximize co-benefits, and prioritize overburdened and underserved communities.
EPA will also continue to drive down emissions of black carbon. This component of particulate matter
contributes the most to global warming when deposited on snow or ice, so it is important to prioritize
emission sources that impact the Arctic. Domestically, our regulatory and voluntary programs will continue
to reduce emissions from residential wood-burning appliances and diesel vehicles. New GHG regulations
on light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles, described above, will further lower emissions of particles and black
carbon. Also, implementation of the PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards will result in particulate
matter and black carbon emission reductions in many areas designated as not attaining standards. Relative
to 2013, EPA programs will lead to a 50 percent reduction in black carbon emissions by 2028. Globally,
emissions from household energy/cookstoves are the largest controllable source of black carbon (>50
percent). Cookstove emissions also include methane and CO2. More than 3 billion low-income people
around the world, including 600,000 low-income Americans, cook their food and/or heat their homes
with open fires or with rudimentary stoves. These activities are also a significant source of air pollutants
that adversely affect public health, especially of women and children.16 EPA will work with domestic and
international partners to reduce these exposures and address these inequities—for example, by supporting
cookstove design and performance standards and providing technical assistance to foster adoption of
improved fuels and stoves. Domestically and globally, these regulations and programs will deliver both
public health benefits by reduced exposure to particulate matter and climate change mitigation benefits.

14 T he United States of America Nationally Determined Contribution: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/United%20States%20of%20

America%20First/United%20States%20NDC%20April%2021%202021%20Final.pdf
15 For more information on the Paris Agreement, see: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement.
16 For more information, see: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health.

16
EPA will reduce GHG emissions by promoting a circular economy, which minimizes extraction of finite
resources, reduces waste and pollution, keeps products and materials in use, and regenerates natural
systems. Extraction and processing of natural resources, including fossil fuels, biomass, minerals, and
metals, comprise approximately 50 percent of global GHG emissions.17 Over one-third of the food produced
in the United States is never eaten, wasting the resources used to produce it and creating a myriad of
environmental impacts. Food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated in
the U.S., comprising 24 and 22 percent of landfilled and combusted municipal solid waste, respectively.
Reducing and preventing food waste can increase food security, foster productivity and economic efficiency,
promote resource and energy conservation, and address climate change.18 Investing in domestic recycling,
as well as solid waste and food waste infrastructure, that supports a circular economy will help resources
maintain their highest and best use and reduce GHG emissions. Through its National Recycling Strategy,19
EPA is working to develop a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective U.S. municipal solid waste recycling
system, a key component of a circular economy. By moving towards a system that designs out waste while
being restorative to the environment, the U.S. will be positioned to find more productive and sustainable
ways to extract, use, and manage materials and generate measurable GHG reductions. For more information
about EPA efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of materials across their lifecycle, see Objective 6.2.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Future GHG emissions levels and resulting impacts depend on many economic, political, and demographic
factors as well as other emerging issues, some of which are described below.
• T ransformation to Advanced Technology: There is an unprecedented transformation taking place
in many highly-emitting GHG sectors, including more widespread adoption of electrified vehicles,
electric heats pumps for space and water heating, and other advanced technologies. To prepare
for this change, EPA is investing in technologies to support anticipated future test requirements
for light-duty and heavy-duty electric vehicles and is preparing for testing of hydrogen fuel cell
technologies. EPA is also promoting the adoption of electric heat pump technologies in residential
and commercial buildings through ENERGY STAR and other partnership programs.
• M
 ulti-Environmental Media Analytics: The interaction of rising temperatures due to climate change,
more heat waves, and the heat island effect will be increasingly harmful to people’s health and the
air and water quality in communities. A rapid transition to low-carbon energy and transportation
systems and the deployment of heat mitigation strategies will have cross-media impacts, and EPA
will need to advance analytical efforts to better identify and evaluate these effects.
• L everaging EPA Emission Expertise Internationally: High-level diplomatic efforts to increase climate
mitigation may result in additional requests for EPA expertise related to quantifying current and
projected future emissions, assessing mitigation options in other countries, and implementing
programs and regulations. EPA is uniquely positioned to contribute to this effort given both its
sectoral expertise and emission quantification and modeling tools.

17 International Resource Panel’s Global Resources Outlook 2019: https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/global-resources-outlook.

18 For more information, see: https://www.epa.gov/land-research/farm-kitchen-environmental-impacts-us-food-waste.
19 The National Recycling Strategy is at: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-11/final-national-recycling-strategy.pdf.

17
 Objective 1.2:
Accelerate Resilience and Adaptation to
Climate Change Impacts
Deliver targeted assistance to increase the resilience of Tribes, states, territories, and
communities to the impacts of climate change.

Introduction
EPA is committed to taking necessary actions to anticipate, prepare for, adapt to, and recover from the
impacts of climate change while advancing the climate resilience of Tribes and indigenous peoples, states,
territories, and communities across the nation.
Climate change poses significant risks to EPA’s ability to EPA will provide targeted
fulfill its mission and affects how the Agency designs and assistance to Tribes and indigenous
implements its programs. EPA will ensure its programs, peoples, states, territories, local
policies, rulemaking processes, enforcement and governments, communities,
compliance assurance activities, and operations consider
the current and future impacts of climate change and businesses to transform
and how those impacts will disproportionately affect their environmental programs,
overburdened and underserved communities. Through strengthen their adaptive capacity,
adaptation planning and implementation activities, and increase the resilience of the
EPA will continue to protect human health and the nation, with a particular focus on
environment even as the climate changes.
advancing environmental justice.
EPA will provide targeted assistance to Tribes and
indigenous peoples, states, territories, local governments,

18
communities, and businesses to transform their environmental programs, strengthen their adaptive
capacity, and increase the resilience of the nation, with a particular focus on advancing environmental
justice. This includes preparing for and responding to climate-related impacts and disasters (e.g., wildfires,
extreme heat, droughts, floods, sea level rise, damage to estuaries and ecosystems, health impacts, storm
surge, and melting permafrost) and ensuring that infrastructure investments increase resilience to climate
change.
EPA’s commitments are part of a whole-of-government approach to pursue actions at home and abroad to
avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Long-Term Performance Goals

• B
 y September 30, 2026, implement all priority actions in EPA’s Climate Adaptation Action Plan and
the 20 National Program and Regional Climate Adaptation Implementation Plans to account for the
impacts of the changing climate on human health and the environment. 20
• B
 y September 30, 2026, assist at least 400 federally recognized Tribes to take action to anticipate,
prepare for, adapt to, or recover from the impacts of climate change.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, assist at least 450 states, territories, local governments, and communities,
especially communities that are underserved and disproportionally at risk from climate change, to
take action to anticipate, prepare for, adapt to, or recover from the impacts of climate change.

Strategies
In 2021, EPA issued a Policy Statement signed by Administrator Regan and a Climate Adaptation Action Plan,
which advance Executive Order (E.O.) 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. EPA’s Climate
Adaptation Action Plan accelerates and focuses attention on five priority actions the Agency will take over
the next four years to increase human and ecosystem resilience as the climate changes and disruptive
impacts increase:
1. Integrate climate adaptation into EPA programs, policies, rulemaking processes, and enforcement
activities.
2. Consult and partner with Tribes, states, territories, local governments, environmental justice
organizations, community groups, businesses, and other federal agencies to strengthen
adaptive capacity and increase the resilience of the nation, with a particular focus on advancing
environmental justice.
3. Implement measures to protect the Agency’s workforce, facilities, critical infrastructure, supply
chains, and procurement processes from the risks posed by climate change.
4. M
 easure and evaluate performance.
5. Identify and address climate adaptation science needs.
EPA will closely coordinate with other federal agencies on climate change adaptation challenges that cut
across Agency jurisdictions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the combined federal effort.

20 These plans are available at: https://www.epa.gov/climate-adaptation/climate-adaptation-plan.

19
Integrating Climate Adaptation into EPA Programs, Policies, and Operations: EPA programs and regions
will update or develop 20 Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plans to align with and advance the
five priorities in the 2021 EPA Adaptation Action Plan. Program and regional plans will focus on program-
or region-specific issues (e.g., the implications for water quality of more frequent and intense storms on
agricultural lands). Each plan will build on progress to date and identify actions that integrate climate
adaptation into remedies, permits, infrastructure investments, enforcement and compliance assistance,
grants, loans, technical assistance, and operations. In addition, programs and regions will identify climate
adaptation strategies, informed by the best available science, that deliver co-benefits for mitigation of GHG
and other pollution, public health, economic growth and job creation, national security, and environmental
justice—all of which will be central to building a more resilient future.
Increasing Resilience of Tribes, States, and Communities: EPA will ensure its grants, loans, and technical
assistance consider climate change to the greatest extent possible and help empower Tribes, states,
and communities across the nation to anticipate, prepare for, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of
climate change. Of particular concern is that the impacts of climate change across the U.S. and the world
will not be distributed equally. Certain communities and individuals are particularly vulnerable to the
impacts of climate change, including low-income communities, children, the elderly, communities of color,
Tribal communities, and indigenous peoples. EPA will actively engage with organizations representing
overburdened and underserved communities, such as the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council,
the National Tribal Operations Committee, and the Local Government Advisory Committee, with the goal of
attaining a more equitable, just, and climate-resilient future.
EPA will work with Tribes and indigenous peoples, states, territories, local governments, regional programs,
environmental justice organizations, community groups, businesses, other federal agencies, and other
partners to leverage existing efforts and provide targeted support to build adaptive capacity and resilience.
For example, EPA will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assist and support
communities with disaster mitigation and recovery planning. In addition, EPA will collaborate with, support,
and learn from international partners
on climate adaptation and capacity
building.
Climate Adaptation Literacy and
Science: EPA will increase the climate
literacy of EPA employees and Tribal,
state, local, and community partners.
EPA will equip staff and partners with
an understanding of projected climate-
related impacts and how to use climate
adaptation tools to incorporate climate
adaptation into decision making. EPA
will develop, update, and expand its
existing climate adaptation training
modules to prioritize two primary goals:
(1) to increase awareness about the
importance of climate adaptation and
encourage all EPA staff and partners
to consider the changing climate in
the normal course of business; and (2)
to introduce specific methods (e.g.,
nature-based solutions and green

20
infrastructure) and tools for
integrating climate adaptation
into decision-making
processes.
EPA will support an
Agencywide approach to
identify and update priority
climate adaptation research
needs. EPA will advance a
rigorous exploratory and
applied climate adaptation
science program by
conducting climate-related
research in its labs and centers,
supporting research through
its grants program, conducting
policy-relevant assessments,
communicating research and
assessment results, and delivering innovative and sustainable solutions. EPA will coordinate and collaborate
with other federal agencies and the scientific community to provide access to the best available science,
technologies, and practices.
EPA will establish a central repository of information and tools related to climate adaptation to facilitate the
ongoing sharing of information. EPA programs and regions will contribute to the repository by documenting
adaptation integration methods that may also be applicable to others within the Agency or its partners. EPA
will collaborate with other federal agencies to develop and maintain a means to ensure access to climate
adaptation data by all staff and partners.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Communities across the country are already feeling the impacts of climate change. More frequent and
intense extreme weather and climate-related events, as well as changes in average climate conditions,
are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems that provide essential
benefits to communities and the nation. The increasing frequency of climate-related disruptions may stress
already limited federal, Tribal, and state resources to support planning and preparedness to minimize long-
term impacts.
The transformation required to integrate climate adaptation planning and preparedness into EPA’s programs
and operations also must be undertaken by EPA’s Tribal, state, and local government partners. To anticipate,
prepare for, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change will require all levels of government to
transform together.
There is an increasing need to measure community climate risk and resiliency so limited resources can be
targeted most effectively; for example, to communities with environmental justice concerns at greatest risk.
Data related to local impacts and effective actions to reduce risk are not consistent or widely available. This
may limit the Agency’s ability to identify and invest in the most vulnerable communities using the highest
impact actions.

21
 Objective 1.3:
Advance International and Subnational Climate Efforts
Collaborate with Tribal, state, local, and international partners and provide leadership
on the global stage to address climate change.

Introduction
Climate change is a global issue that has far-reaching human health, social, economic, and biodiversity
impacts on the planet, with direct adverse effects in the United States. EPA is prioritizing efforts to help
countries respond to the climate crisis by reducing domestic GHG emissions as well as increasing equitable
adaptation and resiliency to climate change impacts. Building on EPA’s responsibilities for protecting
human health and the environment, EPA plays a critical role internationally by providing technical expertise,
guidance, and capacity building to help countries set and meet ambitious GHG reductions, improve
adaptive capacity, and strengthen climate governance.
E.O. 14008 directs federal agencies to develop plans for integrating climate considerations into their
international work, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law. In response, EPA developed an
International Climate Strategy Plan21 to advance climate assistance internationally at the national, city, and
local levels, including climate assistance to indigenous peoples, and provide leadership on the global stage
to address climate change.
EPA support will increase partner countries’ ability to integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation
actions and information into their relevant domestic policy and engagement decisions. This is consistent
with the Agency’s domestic climate work and its mission to protect human health and the environment,
including from transboundary pollution sources.
21 For more information, see https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-09/epa-climate-adaptation-plan-pdf-version.pdf.

22
Long-Term Performance Goal
• B
 y September 30, 2026, implement at least 40 international climate engagements that result in
an individual partner commitment or action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, adapt to
climate change, or improve resilience in a manner that promotes equity.

Strategies
EPA’s International Climate Strategy Plan outlines activities where EPA can help address the global climate
crisis. These activities include a focus on overburdened and underserved communities that are most
susceptible to impacts from climate change and so would derive even greater protections from climate
change mitigation and adaptation actions. To achieve the goals of E.O. 14008, EPA will promote tools and
initiate capacity building and technical assistance programs in countries where EPA expects to have the
greatest potential to make a difference in:
• Reducing potent climate forcers: black carbon, methane, ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
• Improving household and commercial energy efficiency.
• Reducing GHG emissions from the transport sector.
• Improving integrated air quality management.
• S upporting fulfillment of commitments under the Paris Agreement and other international climate
related agreements.
• S trengthening climate governance through a suite of model laws, regulations, partnerships, and
strategies that build countries’ capacity to strengthen, implement, and enforce domestic policies.
• B
 oosting national and local adaptation and resilience strategies to the impacts of climate change in
an equitable and just manner.
• Supporting resource efficiency actions to reduce GHG emissions from overlooked sources.
Reducing Potent Climate Forcers with Near-Term Benefits: EPA will partner with other countries to
establish a global methane emissions reduction goal and will provide technical assistance to build capacity
for countries to meet that goal. EPA will also partner with the European Union and the International Criminal
Police Organization to reduce illegal trading of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) through improved international
tracking and capacity-building activities. EPA will help countries reduce global black carbon emissions
from solid fuel combustion to meet household energy needs (e.g., cooking, heating) by partnering with
international organizations such as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Climate and Clean
Air Coalition (CCAC), and the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), to enable transitions to clean energy sources
through research and capacity-building programs.
Improving Household and Commercial Energy Efficiency: To address the rapidly expanding use
of air conditioning and refrigeration globally, EPA will collaborate with international organizations to
provide technical assistance to draft energy efficient cooling standards and permitting requirements
for air conditioning and refrigeration. EPA will collaborate with international organizations, including
the International Organization for Standards (ISO), to provide countries with information and technical
assistance on efficiency and emissions standards to improve the energy efficiency of residential and
commercial appliances. EPA will share tools and information on various solid waste management practices
and their associated GHG reductions to help incentivize commercial industries to reduce GHG emissions.

23
Reducing GHG Emissions from the
Transportation Sector: EPA will collaborate
with international organizations to equip
countries with information, knowledge,
and tools needed as they transition to zero
emissions transportation and improve efficiency
of their vehicle fleets. EPA will collaborate
with international organizations, such as the
International Maritime Organization (IMO),
to provide tools and technical assistance for
priority countries, including helping them
reach the IMO’s goal of zero emissions from
international shipping by 2050. EPA will also
continue working with the International Civil
Aviation Authority (ICAO) on programs to control emissions from aircraft.
Improving Integrated Air Quality Management, including Consideration of Clean Air and Climate
Co-Benefits and GHG Modeling, Monitoring, and Reporting: EPA will provide tools to countries to
improve GHG modeling, monitoring, and reporting. EPA will partner with UN bodies such as the Food
and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to
improve data and methods for specific source inventories and improve countries’ national GHG inventory
software. This assistance is in support of national requirements for reporting and review of GHG emissions
inventories under the Paris Agreement.
Strengthening Climate Governance and Equity at All Levels of Government: EPA will provide climate
and equity governance capacity building and technical assistance to help countries develop, implement,
and enforce laws, regulations, partnerships, and policies to reduce GHG emissions, enforce climate

24
regulations, and adapt to climate
impacts in pursuit of the goals of
the Paris Agreement in a manner
that engages and protects
vulnerable and underserved
communities. This work will also
improve adaptive capacity and
mitigation strategies of countries
at all levels of government,
including subnational
governments and vulnerable
and underserved communities.
EPA will also provide technical
assistance to countries to help
address the social impacts of
GHG emissions.
Boosting Strategies for
National and Local Adaptation
and Resilience: EPA will engage
internationally to assist countries with planning, monitoring, and managing climate change adaptation and
resilience strategies, factoring in equity for vulnerable and underserved communities. This includes sharing
information and technical assistance on adaptation and resilience strategies for protecting vulnerable
coastal ecosystems, building resilient water infrastructure, managing flood and fire risk, and mitigating
public health impacts of natural disasters and other extreme weather events.
Supporting Resource Efficiency Actions to Reduce GHG Emissions from Overlooked Sources: EPA
will collaborate with international organizations to provide technical assistance to help countries assess
environmental, economic, and social impacts of the production and consumption of goods and services,
including food loss and waste. This assistance will use models to incorporate GHG emission factors in the
evaluation of options for inputs and outputs to the supply chain and to increase the resilience of their
economic and natural resource systems. EPA will collaborate with multilateral partners to provide tools and
information for countries and the private sector in mineral supply-chain transparency for critical minerals
and rare-earth metals to incentivize climate-friendly decisions that shape more sustainable industrial
processes.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

EPA cannot control how countries will use the Agency’s climate change tools and information, capacity-
building trainings and guidance, and technical assistance to develop and implement climate governance
regulations and policy to reduce GHG emissions. Ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions could limit in-
country activities around the world.
EPA will target all engagement and technical assistance toward countries where EPA expects to have the
greatest potential impact and where EPA can leverage the work of other federal departments or agencies,
as appropriate. These expectations are predicated on the experience of past successes with bilateral
engagements and with existing multilateral agreements or partnerships, or with countries otherwise
identified by the White House’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

25
 Goal 2:
Take Decisive Action to
Advance Environmental
Justice and Civil Rights

26
 Goal 2:
Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice
and Civil Rights 22

Achieve tangible progress for historically overburdened and underserved

communities and ensure the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of
all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income in developing and
implementing environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Introduction
EPA will center its mission on the integration of justice, equity, and civil rights across the nation’s
environmental protection enterprise. This will hold as true for communities within the contiguous 48 states
as it will for communities in the non-contiguous states and all other territories and protectorates of the
United States. By doing so, EPA will advance the promise of clean air, clean water, and safe land to the many
communities across the country that have not received the full benefits from EPA’s decades of progress.
Centering its work on justice is especially important in
an era when EPA must simultaneously break the cycle
of historic environmental injustices while maximizing EPA will advance the promise of
protection for these same communities as they are too clean air, clean water, and safe land
often hit worst and first from the impacts of a changing to the many communities across
climate. the country that have not received
EPA’s ultimate goal of centering its mission on these the full benefits from EPA’s
priorities is to achieve measurable environmental, decades of progress.
public health, and quality of life improvements in the
most overburdened, vulnerable, and underserved
communities. Achieving this goal will require significant
transformations in how EPA understands and implements its work, including how EPA prioritizes program
resources, allocates funding, implements statutory authorities, and engages the communities most affected
by environmental and public health threats, especially as the climate changes. Critical to achieving this
goal is for EPA to proactively engage with Tribes, states, and local governments to discuss and address
disproportionate impacts through their implementation of EPA authorities and engage in meaningful joint
planning with communities to advance community visions and priorities.
The vigorous enforcement of civil rights is also key to addressing historical and systemic barriers. These
efforts lead to more responsible and equitable siting and permitting decisions by recipients of EPA funding;
reductions in racial and ethnic disparities in levels of air pollutants and exposure to toxins; reductions in
racial and ethnic disparities in access to clean and reliable water infrastructure that are free of lead and other
22 Civil Rights in this context refers to EPA’s responsibility to enforce several civil rights laws which, together, prohibit discrimination on the basis of: race, color, or national
origin (including on the basis of limited-English proficiency); sex; disability; age; and retaliation by applicants for and recipients of federal financial assistance from EPA.
(Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975,
respectively.) EPA is also responsible for enforcing Section 13 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination based on sex
under programs or activities receiving financial assistance under the Clean Water Act.

27
toxins; reductions in racial and ethnic disparities among communities enduring mismanaged solid waste
programs and processes; reductions of harmful exposures in communities by assessing and cleaning up
contaminated sites; better health outcomes in impacted communities; and increased public participation in
critical decision making.
This goal includes three objectives that focus EPA on: (1)
increasing the capacity of Tribes, states, and communities
...civil rights laws, taken together
working to address environmental justice and civil rights
concerns; (2) embedding environmental justice and civil with EPA’s environmental justice
rights in the Agency’s core work; and (3) strengthening efforts, can effectively target
civil rights enforcement in communities overburdened disparities in exposure to pollution
by pollution. The first focuses on EPA’s ability to advance on the basis of race, color, national
this priority outside of EPA — through the support the
origin, and other characteristics
Agency provides directly to communities, EPA’s direct
implementation of federal environmental programs, and such as disability.
the implementation of these programs by co-regulators.
The second objective focuses on advancing equity,
justice, and civil rights through EPA’s internal program
activities such as permitting actions, responding to emergencies, and cleaning up contamination. EPA
recognizes that environmental justice and external civil rights programs and their authorities are distinct
and they share a deep connection and ability to reinforce and leverage one another to make significant
progress in addressing disproportionate adverse impacts burdening communities. For example, civil rights
laws, taken together with EPA’s environmental justice efforts, can effectively target disparities in exposure
to pollution on the basis of race, color, national origin, and other characteristics such as disability. The final
objective focuses on EPA’s commitment to strengthen the EPA’s External Civil Rights Office and its ability
to enforce federal civil rights laws to their fullest extent, including by fully implementing its authority to
conduct affirmative investigations in overburdened communities, issue policy guidance, and secure timely
and effective resolutions to address discrimination.
Furthermore, this goal sets targets that align closely with Administration priorities set forth in Executive
Orders (E.O.s) 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal
Government and 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Both E.O.s require that EPA develop
implementation plans to ensure that underserved communities and individuals have full, fair, and equitable
access to the benefits of the Agency’s programs. The actions in these upcoming plans will be developed to
help achieve those objectives. The E.O.s also provide the platform for interagency collaboration since many
objectives benefit from actions by other federal agencies. EPA will take these and any other opportunities to
use the Administration’s whole-of-government approach to implementing environmental justice.

28
 Objective 2.1:
Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the
Federal, Tribal, State, and Local Levels
Empower and build capacity of underserved and overburdened communities to
protect human health and the environment.

Introduction
EPA has the potential to make transformative progress on environmental justice and civil rights at the Tribal,
state, and local levels, through a whole-of-government approach that involves communities as authentic
partners. This is evidenced by increasing commitments, innovations, and capacities at the state level. In
addition, communities are increasingly well organized and equipped to develop their own visions of well-
being and resilience, advocate for change, and influence public policy.
Fulfilling the promise of these opportunities requires pursuing three strategies:
• B
 uilding capacity and climate resilience and maximizing benefits to overburdened and
underserved communities.
• Engaging and supporting federal, state, and local governments to achieve results in communities.
• I ntegrating environmental justice principles into the implementation of federal environmental
programs in Indian country23 and in other areas of interest to Tribes, in partnership with federally
recognized Tribes.

23 Indian country is defined at 18 U.S.C. § 1151 to mean: (a) all land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government,
notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and, including rights-of-way running through the reservation, (b) all dependent Indian communities within the borders of
the United States whether within the original or subsequently acquired territory thereof, and whether within or without the limits of a state, and (c) all Indian allotments,
the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including rights-of-way running through the same. See EPA Policy on Environmental Justice for Working with
Federally Recognized Tribes and Indigenous Peoples: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-10/documents/ej-indigenous-policy.pdf?VersionId=_fETfCeyPmIV.
T5FztQcZWMsw.a5JgCG.

29
Long-Term Performance Goals
• B
 y September 30, 2026, all EPA programs that seek feedback and comment from the public will
provide capacity-building resources to communities with environmental justice concerns to
support their ability to meaningfully engage and provide useful feedback to those programs.24
• B
 y September 30, 2026, include commitments to address disproportionate impacts in all written
agreements between EPA and Tribes and states (e.g., grant work plans) implementing delegated
authorities.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, EPA programs with direct implementation authority will take at least 100
significant actions that will result in measurable improvements in Indian country.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, all state recipients of EPA financial assistance will have foundational civil
rights programs in place.25
• B
 y September 30, 2026, increase by 40% the number of Office of Research and Development (ORD)
activities related to environmental justice that involve or are applicable to Tribes, states, territories,
local governments, and communities.26

Strategies
Building Community Capacity and Climate Resilience and Maximizing Benefits to Overburdened
and Underserved Communities: EPA will increase support for community-led action by providing
unprecedented investments and benefits directly to communities with environmental justice concerns and
by integrating equity throughout Agency programs. E.O. 14008’s Justice40 mandate elevates this approach
to a national initiative to deliver at least 40 percent of the overall benefits from certain federal investments
to underserved communities. Over the next four years, EPA will strive to not only meet this goal but exceed
it. EPA’s programs – particularly regulatory programs whose policies and activities must be responsive to
the realities of communities with EJ concerns – will actively engage and support impacted communities to
influence program implementation and maximize the benefits from the investment of resources to achieve
meaningful change on the ground. Supporting communities as they adapt to and recover from climate
change is also central to this commitment.
E.O. 13985 mandates a comprehensive effort to advance equity throughout all of EPA’s policies, programs,
and activities. A fundamental element of achieving such equity and justice is ensuring communities have
the capacity they need to meaningfully engage government programs and for these programs to listen and
respond to commmunity voices. Critical to EPA’s success in this area is supporting the efforts of community
members and organizations to provide EPA with their expertise and viewpoints. To meet this responsibility,
EPA commits to establishing the necessary policies, tools, and other mechanisms to provide this support to
communities. In addition, the Agency must take concrete action to further include the voices, experiences,
and passions of the full diversity of the nation in EPA’s workforce.
Engaging and Supporting Federal, State, and Local Governments to Achieve Results in Communities:
Virtually all national programs interact with other federal agencies, state, and local governments in multiple
ways, including funding and oversight of delegated programs. EPA national and regional offices will work
proactively to integrate environmental justice and civil rights into policies and activities as a fundamental
element of the Agency’s relationships with federal, state, and local partners to jointly affect beneficial
24 First year activities of this LTPG will focus on definition and scope of program participation and what qualifies as capacity-building resources.
25 For reference only, and as an example from a smaller subset of state recipients - EPA’s proactive initiative involving foundational civil rights programs of state agencies in
Regions 1, 5, and 7, which consisted of 14 state agencies, the baseline from the proactive initiative in FY 2020 was 6.5%.
26 Baseline to be developed in FY 2022.

30
changes on the ground for communities. EPA will invest in oversight, guidance, and assistance for states and
local governments to advance environmental justice integration in coordination with enhanced civil rights
enforcement with an aim to increase accountability across the board.
EPA will also initiate a new era of proactive support and engagement with its federal partners. Through its
regulatory responsibility under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)27 and Section 309 of the Clean
Air Act, EPA will promote robust consideration and mitigation of environmental impacts on overburdened,
underserved communities in the review of other federal agencies’ environmental impact statements.
Proposed actions may include federal land management activities, transportation-related projects, and
publicly owned facility construction, as applicable.
Integrating Environmental Justice Principles into the Implementation of Federal Environmental
Programs in Indian Country and in Other Areas of Interest to Tribes, in Partnership with Federally
Recognized Tribes: Equity principles and equal protection require that implementation of federal
environmental law protections be as robust inside Indian country as EPA requires these protections to be
outside of Indian country. At this time, EPA directly implements the vast majority of federal environmental
programs in Indian country where EPA seeks to apply key environmental justice principles, such as equity,
meaningful involvement, and fair treatment. Ensuring EPA direct implementation of federal environmental
programs in Indian country is in keeping with the federal trust responsibility. When the Agency directly
implements federal environmental programs the agency also advances environmental justice for federally
recognized Tribes.
EPA will continue its long commitment to assisting Tribes in building the capacity to receive delegated
programs. In those instances when Tribal governments are authorized to implement federal programs, EPA
supports Tribal governments’ inclusion of environmental justice principles, community engagement, and
decision-making processes. Integration of environmental justice principles into all EPA activities with Tribal
governments and in Indian country is designed to be flexible enough to accommodate EPA’s Tribal program
activities and goals, while at the same time meeting the Agency’s environmental justice goals.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

EPA’s ability to effectively guide and oversee the integration of environmental justice and civil rights will be
challenging due to the structure of the nation’s environmental regulatory system, which places the bulk of
implementation responsibilities on partner agencies, such as in environmental permitting, contamination
clean-up, prioritization of infrastructure investments, facility siting, and transportation.
Additionally, while many communities face a legacy of environmental justice issues — such as toxic
chemical exposure, hazardous facilities siting, and lack of safe drinking water — these same communities
may also face a rapidly growing set of impacts from climate change. For example, the majority of Superfund
sites are located near communities with environmental justice concerns, and many of these communities
are subject to flooding from natural disasters. This will further compound problems for low-income
communities of color that have limited resources to anticipate, respond to, and recover from climate-related
changes and disasters. EPA will work with community partners and Tribal, state, and local governments to
provide support for climate adaptation, prioritizing areas with environmental justice concerns.

27 National Environmental Policy Act: https://www.epa.gov/nepa.

31
 Objective 2.2:
Embed Environmental Justice and Civil Rights into
EPA’s Programs, Policies, and Activities
Integrate environmental justice and civil rights in all of the Agency’s work to maximize
benefits and minimize impacts to underserved and overburdened communities.

Introduction
Commitments to achieving change on the ground and EPA must follow and implement
accountability for such change will be the ultimate
the Civil Rights Act as equally as
measure of the Agency’s success in advancing justice,
civil rights, and equity, including the implementation environmental statutes.
of E.O.s 13985 and 14008. These efforts include
incorporating feedback from impacted communities while analyzing and addressing disproportionate
impacts. EPA must not only better support community efforts to engage with the Agency but also advance
the Agency’s ability to engage in community-driven work through the regions and across all programs. EPA
must follow and implement the Civil Rights Act as equally as environmental statutes. Agency strategies to
achieve this include the following elements:
• M
 aking commitments on measurable environmental and public health improvements in
overburdened and underserved communities.
• E nsuring that EPA decision making incorporates meaningful community involvement and analyses
that identify disproportionate impacts.
• B
 uilding EPA capacity to support community-driven approaches to developing healthy, sustainable,
and climate-resilient communities.
• E nsuring consideration of civil rights by EPA programs (as distinct from civil rights enforcement
under Objective 2.3).

32
Long-Term Performance Goals
• B
 y September 30, 2026, reduce disparities in environmental and public health conditions
represented by the indicators identified through the FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal.28
• B
 y September 30, 2026, 80% of significant EPA actions with environmental justice implications will
clearly demonstrate how the action is responsive to environmental justice concerns and reduces or
otherwise addresses disproportionate impacts.29
• B
 y September 30, 2026, all EPA programs that work in and with communities will do so in ways that
are community-driven, coordinated and collaborative, support equitable and resilient community
development, and provide for meaningful involvement and fair treatment of communities with
environmental justice concerns.30
• B
 y September 30, 2026, all EPA programs and regions will identify and implement areas and
opportunities to integrate environmental justice considerations and achieve civil rights compliance
in their planning, guidance, policy directives, monitoring, and review activities.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, all EPA programs and regions will implement program and region-specific
language assistance plans.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, all EPA programs and regions will implement program and region-specific
disability access plans.
FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal (APG)
• D
 eliver tools and metrics for EPA and its Tribal, state, local, and community partners to
advance environmental justice and external civil rights compliance. By September 30, 2023,
EPA will develop and implement a cumulative impacts framework, issue guidance on external
civil rights compliance, establish at least 10 indicators to assess EPA’s performance in eliminating
disparities in environmental and public health conditions, and train staff and partners on how to
use these resources.

Strategies
Making Commitments on Measurable Environmental and Public Health Improvements in
Overburdened and Underserved Communities: EPA will set ambitious goals of achieving meaningful
change on the ground for communities with environmental justice concerns. EPA believes that setting
such ambitious goals that speak to priority environmental justice issues is critical to stimulating a deeper
assessment of the use of all EPA authorities and the Agency’s ability to lead and support efforts by public
and private sector partners to strive collectively towards attainment of those goals. EPA will focus on
several elements of progress towards achieving such ambitious commitments. These include delineating
the responsibilities of programs and regions towards meeting their objectives, identifying data gaps,
building tracking systems, and putting in place any needed policy, guidance, or regulatory changes. EPA
will also incorporate responsibility and measurable accountability for advancing environmental justice
28 EPA will monitor progress through a holistic system that tracks the actions and responsibilities individual national programs have identified to support reducing disparities
through the implementation of their statutory authorities, coordinated efforts of regulatory partners, support for community action, and other key actions.
29 First year activities of this LTPG will focus on definition and scope of significant EPA action and what qualifies as environmental justice implications, responsiveness to
community concerns, and addressing disproportionate impacts.
30 First year activities of this LTPG will focus on definition and scope of program participation and what qualifies as adoption of the community-driven approach.

33
into Agency plans, including the EPA annual operating plan and annual performance plans of key political,
senior executive, and general schedule staff. EPA will commit to at least ten measures of progress towards
achieving meaningful environmental and public health outcomes on the ground. Some examples include:
• P
 roviding access to safe and sustainable sources of drinking water and clean surface water for the
entire population of the United States.
• M
 inimizing public health disparities such as the difference in childhood blood lead levels and the
prevalence of asthma for children living in families below the federal poverty level and children
living in older housing, who are often children of color.
• R
 educing exposure to pollutants such as air toxics that disproportionately impact communities
with environmental justice concerns.
• Reducing harmful exposures in communities by assessing and cleaning up contaminated sites.
• Reducing pesticide exposure to farmworkers, their families, and the agricultural community.
Ensuring that EPA Decision Making Incorporates Meaningful Community Involvement and Analyses
that Identify Disproportionate Impacts: The knowledge attained from community engagement activities,
along with other actions to consider more fully environmental justice and civil rights, must be regularly
reflected and addressed throughout EPA’s documented decisions. As a first step, EPA will engage in a process
and establish all necessary policies to determine which actions are of major significance for environmental
justice and civil rights purposes. This will help ensure that the Agency’s most important decisions address
the needs of impacted communities; respond to policy analyses of potential environmental justice impacts;
and consider recommendations from the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.31
EPA must make significant and urgent progress in fundamentally grounding its work in addressing
disproportionality, which includes understanding of and reacting to issues of cumulative impacts and
cumulative risks, and rapidly advance its ability to conduct analyses that indentify disproportionate
impacts. One way to catalyze such progress is to ensure that all EPA programs develop guidance on using
environmental justice tools such as EJSCREEN to support their decision making.32
Building EPA Capacity to Support Community-Driven Approaches to Developing Healthy,
Sustainable, and Climate-Resilient Communities: Achieving meaningful change necessitates that EPA not
only improve its decision making and program implementation, but that the Agency significantly advance
its ability to work on the ground with communities as a regular means of achieving its mission. EPA will build
upon the many ways that programs and regions currently work with and in communities by elevating and
expanding the use of coordinated and collaborative community-driven partnerships to address community
priorities. EPA will leverage and coordinate its investments in communities and collaborate with partners
and other external stakeholders to advance comprehensive and strategic community-driven approaches.
EPA will ensure that its programs fully integrate the key principles of effective community-driven work and
over time increase the number of collaborative partnerships centered on community priorities initiated or
supported through EPA activities.
Ensuring Consideration of Civil Rights and Environmental Justice by EPA Programs: As a federal agency
charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws, EPA must ensure that all Agency programs and activities
comply with and implement civil rights obligations and integrate environmental justice considerations.
31 National Environmental Justice Advisory Council Recommendations: https://www.epa.gov/environmental-justice/national-environmental-justice-advisory-council-
recommendation-reports-0.
32 EJSCREEN: Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool: https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen.

34
To do so, EPA must recognize that in addition to the
enforcement and implementation of federal civil rights Civil rights vigilance is an EPA-wide
laws carried out through EPA’s external civil rights responsibility and a critical means
compliance program and addressed in Objective 2.3, for the Agency to advance justice
EPA program and regional offices also must recognize and equity.
and address civil rights and environmental justice
issues that arise as they implement their responsibilities
under environmental laws, such as their permit review responsibilities. Civil rights vigilance is an EPA-wide
responsibility and a critical means for the Agency to advance justice and equity. To accomplish this, EPA
will communicate requirements and expectations to agency staff through education, training, outreach,
and technical assistance. This training will enhance civil rights enforcement awareness and ability to
inegrate environmental justice considerations, strengthen intra-Agency collaboration, and help the agency
identify whether recipient programs and activities are abiding by civil rights laws or engaging in prohibited
discrimination. EPA programs must reference and/or include applicable civil rights requirements in non-
civil rights guidance documents, such as in program strategic plans and environmental policy directives.
In addition, all EPA program and regional office staff must understand and appreciate the civil rights
requirements that apply to federal agencies, including their responsibility to develop and implement
program and region-specific limited English language assistance and disability access plans that apply to all
of the public-facing activities of EPA program and regional offices.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Many of the problems that need to be addressed have been well-known but unsolved for decades.
Communities that have multiple industrial and energy facilities and are saturated with legacy pollution want
to see EPA realign its enforcement in a way that provides action, accountability, and guidance for taking
cumulative impacts and risks into account, even if they cannot be measured with precision.
Permitting and rulemaking have typically not reflected the reality of overburdened communities, which
means that it is often easier to site an eighth facility in a community that already has seven than in a
community that has none. Since permitting is primarily implemented by other governmental partners
with delegated authority from EPA, the work of integrating environmental justice and external civil rights
considerations throughout all EPA programs and activities will require commitment, relationship building,
and trust from partner agencies.

35
 Objective 2.3:
Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement in Communities with
Environmental Justice Concerns
Strengthen enforcement of and compliance with civil rights laws to address the
legacy of pollution in overburdened communities.

Introduction
To address the legacy of pollution in overburdened
…robust enforcement of civil
communities that results from discriminatory actions,
whether direct or indirect, intentional, or unintentional, rights law coupled with EPA’s
EPA must use the full extent of its authority and environmental justice efforts
resources to vigorously enforce federal civil rights provides EPA with the strongest
laws. EPA is required to enforce federal civil rights ability to address disparities.
laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of
race, color, national origin (including limited English
proficiency), disability, gender, and age, in programs or activities that receive Agency financial assistance.
To ensure EPA financial assistance is not being used in a manner that discriminates and subjects already
overburdened communities to further harm, EPA must support and promote a robust and mature external
civil rights compliance program for execution of EPA responsibilities and to provide a strong partner to its
environmental justice program. As stated earlier, robust enforcement of civil rights law coupled with EPA’s
environmental justice efforts provides EPA with the strongest ability to address disparities.

36
Long-Term Performance Goals
• B
 y September 30, 2026, initiate 45 proactive post-award civil rights compliance reviews to address
discrimination issues in environmentally overburdened and underserved communities.33
• B
 y September 30, 2026, complete 305 audits to ensure EPA financial assistance recipients are
complying with nondiscrimination program procedural requirements.34
• B
 y September 30, 2026, complete 84 information sharing sessions and outreach and technical
assistance events with overburdened and underserved communities and environmental justice
advocacy groups on civil rights and environmental justice issues.35

Strategies
The classifications protected by federal civil rights laws encompass most of the underserved and
overburdened communities that have been exposed to a disproportionate level of harmful environmental,
quality of life, and health impacts from pollution sources. Federal laws authorize agencies such as EPA
to enact rules, regulations, or orders to achieve the laws’ objectives. EPA’s nondiscrimination regulation
prohibits recipients of EPA financial assistance from taking actions in their programs or activities that
are intentionally discriminatory and/or have a discriminatory effect. It is EPA’s inherent mission and legal
mandate to dismantle discriminatory barriers and systematic injustice with respect to the federal programs
and statutes it implements — and the Agency must have a more robust and effective civil rights compliance
program to ensure achievement of this mandate.
EPA has begun revitalizing its external civil rights mission and will launch a significant number of critical
initiatives that will directly impact overburdened communities. The external civil rights compliance program
will strengthen enforcement of civil rights laws by increasing: the number of affirmative compliance
reviews targeting critical environmental health and quality of life impacts in overburdened communities;
the number of outreach, information sharing, and technical assistance sessions provided to improve
implementation; and timeliness and effectiveness of complaint investigations and resolutions.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

For EPA to move its external civil rights program from a reactive program, responding only to complaints,
to a proactive program, as the goals envision, involves: making expectations clear by providing clarifying
guidance to recipients; using the Agency’s affirmative authority to initiate compliance reviews and audits;
and providing enhanced outreach, technical assistance, and informal resolution facilitation opportunities.

33 For comparison, EPA did not initiate a civil rights compliance review in FY 2021.
34 For comparison, EPA completed no such audits in FY 2021.
35 For comparison, EPA completed five such sessions and events in FY 2021.

37
 Goal 3:
Enforce Environmental Laws
and Ensure Compliance

38
 Goal 3:
Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance
Improve compliance with the nation’s environmental laws and
hold violators accountable.

Introduction
A robust compliance monitoring and enforcement program is necessary to ensure communities get the
environmental and human health benefits intended by environmental statutes and EPA’s regulations. EPA
regulates more than 1.2 million facilities adhering to a variety of environmental statutes that protect human
health and the environment. Likewise, EPA regulates a wide range of products including automobiles and
pesticides. EPA, Tribes, states, and territories work cooperatively to achieve compliance, with delegated
or authorized states conducting most enforcement activities across the country. EPA collaborates with
Tribes in Indian country, by both directly implementing
compliance monitoring and enforcement programs and EPA will collaborate with Tribes,
through oversight of programs implemented by Tribes.
states, and territories to focus
EPA will collaborate with Tribes, states, and territories to federal enforcement resources on
focus federal enforcement resources on the most serious the most serious environmental
environmental problems where noncompliance with
problems
environmental statutes and regulations is a significant
contributing factor and where federal enforcement can
have a significant impact on the nation’s air, water, and land. In addition to EPA’s other core work, this will
include targeting and screening to prioritize inspections in communities facing substantial burdens from
environmental noncompliance. EPA will continue to identify a small number of key areas, called National
Compliance Initiatives36, where focused EPA attention will be especially value-added. EPA will seek to
increase inspections, prioritize enforcement cases, identify remedies with tangible benefits for impacted
communities, and increase engagement with communities about enforcement cases. EPA will continue to
initiate enforcement actions to protect against children’s health hazards in areas such as exposure to lead
paint, the presence of lead and other contaminants in drinking water, and particulate air emissions that
aggravate asthma.
The Agency will address climate change by directing resources to ensure effective enforcement responses
for those sources with noncompliant emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and develop remedies that are
consistent with GHG mitigation and climate resilience. In addition, EPA will enforce against the illegal import,
distribution and use within the United States of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are chemicals with potent
global warming potential, and pursue violators of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

36 More information on National Compliance Initiatives, see: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/national-compliance-initiatives.

39
 Objective 3.1:
Hold Environmental Violators and Responsible
Parties Accountable
Use vigorous and targeted civil and criminal enforcement to ensure accountability for
violations and to clean up contamination.

Introduction
Enforcement is essential to ensuring that everyone is protected by the nation’s environmental laws and
regulations. EPA strives to not only return violators to compliance but also to obtain the relief needed to
address the underlying causes of the violations, to prevent reoccurrence and, in appropriate cases, mitigate
the harm to the communities impacted by noncompliance.

Long-Term Performance Goal

• B
 y September 30, 2026, reduce to not more than 93 the number of open civil judicial cases more
than 2.5 years old without a complaint filed.37

Strategies
Taking Timely Enforcement Action: Timely enforcement is effective enforcement. EPA has set a long-term
performance goal that reflects the commitment of the enforcement program to address noncompliance
as expeditiously as possible. For example, one area of focus has been to reduce the number of Referred
No Complaint Filed (RNCF) cases; namely, the number of open civil judicial cases that EPA referred to the
Department of Justice (DOJ) more than 2.5 years ago and a complaint has not been filed.

37 For comparison, there were 129 cases more than 2.5 years old without a complaint filed as of June 30, 2018. The number of cases fluctuates and is therefore difficult to
predict how many cases will “age in” in a given year. EPA reduces the number of older cases using a number of different tools. For example, sometimes the United States
government needs to file a complaint in order to make progress in resolving a case; other times, it needs to drop a claim or shift its injunctive relief or penalty demand
because of litigation risk.

40
Complex cases often take longer to resolve; some of EPA’s enforcement cases involve national companies
with multiple facilities across the country. Many cases also involve extremely complex facilities that must
comply with multiple federal statutes based on the nature of their operations. Municipal cases often involve
multiple neighboring communities with varying economic means who share a failing sewer or drinking
water system and who must agree together on injunctive relief that is a very significant expense for the
defendants. These types of cases, justifiably, often take a long time to resolve. During the time it takes
to achieve case resolutions, EPA will endeavor to provide early injunctive relief and monitoring, where
appropriate, and will increase communication to affected communities about the progress of enforcement
efforts.
Since implementation of the RNCF measure in 2018, EPA has been steadily resolving older referred cases,
primarily through settlement. Through timely resolution of environmental violations EPA can address both
the public health concerns of overburdened, disproportionately affected communities and the emissions of
GHGs or other compounds that contribute to or exacerbate the effects of climate change.
Using All Appropriate Injunctive Relief Tools in Civil Enforcement Settlements:38 EPA is committed to
using the full array of policy and legal tools available to ensure that environmental laws and the policies to
implement them deliver benefits to all individuals and communities. In determining the most appropriate
resolution for a particular matter, EPA will first consider which compliance tools will be effective to promptly
ensure the regulated party returns to and remains in compliance. Tools like Advanced Monitoring, Audits
and Independent Third-party Verification, Electronic Reporting, and Increased Transparency of Compliance
Data can help provide information in a more readily available format to members of the public, who
can assist in monitoring compliance. Many tools also benefit the settling party. For example, third party
verification helps the facility identify future non-compliance early, allowing for a quick response to remedy
the problem; and electronic reporting provides a more transparent demonstration of compliance, which
may help the settling party’s relationship with its neighboring community. When appropriate, an Alternative
Dispute Resolution process is used to reach a solution that meets the needs of both EPA and the settling
party.
Strengthening Environmental Justice Through a Robust Enforcement Program: EPA will continue to
rely on mapping and screening tools, including EJSCREEN, in combination with local knowledge to help
identify overburdened communities that may be disproportionally impacted by pollution. EPA will focus on
strengthening enforcement and resolving environmental noncompliance through remedies with tangible
benefits for the impacted community, including:
• P
 reventing further pollution due to noncompliance, mitigating past impacts from pollution, and
securing penalties to recapture economic benefit of noncompliance and deter future violations.
• Seeking early and innovative relief (e.g., fenceline monitoring and transparency tools).
• I ncorporating Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) in settlements, where appropriate and
to the extent permitted by law and policy.39
• Seeking restitution for victims of environmental crimes.40
38 Memorandum: Using All Appropriate Injunctive Relief Tools in Civil Enforcement Settlements (April 26, 2021): https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-04/
documents/usingallappropriateinjunctiverelieftoolsincivilenforcementsettlement0426.pdf.
39 For more information on Supplemental Environmental Projects, see: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/supplemental-environmental-projects-seps. The inclusion
of SEPs in judicial settlements is currently severely limited by a regulation promulgated by the Department of Justice (28 C.F.R. § 50.28(c)(1)), as well as other DOJ policies.
Those are now under review at DOJ, and until further guidance is provided, inclusion of SEPs and stipulated remedies in civil judicial settlements should be limited to those
that involve diesel emission reductions. EPA is coordinating closely with DOJ about SEPs.
40 Memoranda: Strengthening Enforcement in Communities with Environmental Justice Concerns (April 30, 2021) https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-04/
documents/strengtheningenforcementincommunitieswithejconcerns.pdf; and Strengthening Environmental Justice through Criminal Enforcement (June 21, 2021)
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-07/strengtheningejthroughcriminal062121.pdf.

41
The Agency uses its statutory authorities under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) to protect overburdened communities by requiring responsible parties to take early and expedited
cleanup actions, developing more robust enforcement instruments, ensuring the oversight of those
enforcement instruments, and building trust and capacity through community engagement. Superfund
enforcement efforts maximize Potentially Responsible Parties’ (PRP) involvement at Superfund sites,
ensuring that viable, liable PRPs clean up sites, rather than taxpayers, and by recovering costs if the EPA
expends Superfund-appropriated dollars to clean up sites.41
In addition, EPA will strengthen tools for the detection of environmental crimes in overburdened
communities, improve outreach to the victims of such crimes, and ensure that investigations are structured
to provide maximum assistance to DOJ in its exercise of prosecutorial discretion and pursuit of remedies that
will guarantee adequate protection for those communities.
Tackling Climate Change Through Enforcement: To advance Agency efforts to tackle the climate crisis
and mitigate GHG emissions, EPA will target violators of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM)
Act, the Renewable Fuel Standard, and regulations that apply to oil and gas sources and landfills. EPA will
make effective use of civil judicial litigation and, if appropriate, administrative orders to achieve suitable
remedies. EPA also will include climate change adaptation measures, flare efficiency and flare gas recovery
requirements, and clean renewable energy projects in case resolutions as appropriate. Case teams will assess
climate vulnerabilities and ensure that the injunctive relief measures implemented to resolve environmental
violations are resilient to the impacts of climate change. EPA will vigorously enforce its regulations to
prevent and deter illegal importation of HFCs.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

To address pollution caused by contaminants of emerging concern (e.g., per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS), which are a current priority), the enforcement program will continue to use the Agency’s
enforcement authorities to ensure the manufacturers and generators of these dangerous compounds
are held responsible. The civil enforcement program will take action to compel parties that manufacture
or release PFAS or other chemicals in violation of the law to return to compliance. Where such parties are
causing or may cause an imminent and substantial endangerment, the EPA enforcement program can also
compel the parties to address the potential endangerment.
COVID-19 has presented unique challenges, and to ensure the safety of EPA personnel and the public, the
Agency decreased the number of onsite inspections. However, EPA’s enforcement program has used many
off-site compliance monitoring techniques, including remote and virtual inspections, expanded use of
information requests, and desk audits, to bolster the compliance assurance program.
Many environmental justice advocates have raised concerns about the number of facilities permitted and re-
permitted in their communities. EPA cannot take enforcement action against these facilities unless they are
in violation of the law and therefore faces constraints in addressing the concerns of cumulative impacts in
these communities through enforcement alone. Advocates have also called for strengthening enforcement
of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to address claims that siting numerous facilities in communities of color
imposes disparate pollution impacts in violation of the law. Title VI issues in a community often serve as a
prompt to consider conducting an environmental compliance review.

41 Memorandum: Strengthening Environmental Justice through Cleanup Enforcement Actions (July 1, 2021). https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-07/
strengtheningenvirjustice-cleanupenfaction070121.pdf.

42
 Objective 3.2:
Detect Violations and Promote Compliance
Ensure high levels of compliance with federal environmental laws and regulations
through effective compliance tools – including inspections, other monitoring activities,
and technical assistance supported by evidence and advanced technologies.

Introduction
Effective targeting of compliance monitoring, including inspections in communities with environmental
justice concerns, plays a critical role in achieving the goals EPA has set forth for protecting health and the
environment. Achieving high rates of compliance with
environmental laws and regulations requires the use of
Achieving high rates of compliance
a wide range of compliance tools, including compliance
monitoring. EPA and Tribal, state, and territorial co- with environmental laws and
regulators conduct inspections, investigations, and review regulations requires the use of a
of self-reported compliance monitoring information wide range of compliance tools,
to determine if regulated entities are complying including compliance monitoring.
with environmental statutes as well as applicable
regulations and permit conditions. These activities help
identify conditions that may present imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the
environment and thereby warrant immediate response. EPA works with co-regulators to achieve the shared
goals of considering environmental justice concerns in its enforcement and compliance work and timely
returning violators to compliance with environmental laws.
Achieving high rates of compliance with environmental laws and regulations is aided by the use of other
compliance tools, including technical assistance to the regulated community (e.g., Enforcement Alerts
and Compliance Advisories), and sharing information with affected communities to help them monitor
compliance.

43
Long-Term Performance Goals
• B
 y September 30, 2026, send 75% of EPA inspection reports to facilities within 70 days of
inspection.42
• B
 y September 30, 2026, conduct 55% of annual EPA inspections at facilities that affect communities
with potential environmental justice concerns.43

Strategies
Through its ongoing process of selecting National Compliance Initiatives in collaboration with Tribes, states,
and territories, EPA will focus its work on critical areas of noncompliance. Recent examples include National
Compliance Initiatives to address toxic Clean Air Act (CAA) and RCRA air emissions, improve drinking water
compliance, reduce the rate of Clean Water Act (CWA) significant noncompliance, and reduce the number
of chemical accidents. Notably, EPA is carrying out evidence-building activities to address priority questions
related to drinking water systems out of compliance, one of EPA’s Learning Agenda priority areas. By
proactively working with Tribes, states, and territories to identify areas of serious noncompliance and then
bringing the right compliance and enforcement tools to bear, EPA will make the most effective use of its
resources.
EPA’s Compliance Assistance Centers Program (CACP) and Local Government Environmental Assistance
Network (LGEAN) also help to improve compliance with environmental laws and regulations, and EPA will
continue to fund the CACP and LGEAN grants.
EPA will continue to promote innovative enforcement remedies that are based on reliable data or other
robust evidence to substantiate their effectiveness, through the development of a compliance Learning
Agenda. The Agency will identify the most pressing programmatic questions and create a venue for EPA,
Tribes, states, and territories to collaborate in the development of evidence-based enforcement tools and
techniques that will ensure the biggest impact on environmental compliance.
Producing Timely Inspection Reports: EPA has set a long-term performance goal to reduce the time
from when EPA conducts an on-site inspection to the time that EPA provides the facility with a completed
inspection report notifying it of any potential compliance issues. Improving the timeliness of these activities
allows the facility to address compliance issues more quickly, which would directly benefit the communities
affected by the environmental and human health impacts of the alleged violations. EPA balances the
desire for fast action against the fundamental need to ensure quality inspections. Thus, where inspections
are extremely complex and multi-faceted, more time for the completion of the inspection report may be
needed.
Focusing Compliance Assurance Activities on Communities, Especially Those with Environmental
Justice Concerns: EPA has set a long-term performance goal to increase the percentage of inspections at
facilities affecting overburdened communities. Communities that are already burdened with high pollution
levels are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of permit violations and are a high priority for inspections
and compliance review. These efforts will advance the detection and resolution of noncompliance activities
in communities with environmental justice concerns.
EPA also will provide greater public access to compliance data to help communities better understand
and manage risks. The Agency will increase engagement with communities so that communities and
42 For comparison, 46% of inspection reports were sent within 70 days of inspection at the end of FY 2018.
43 The baseline for this measure is 27% based on average of FY 2017 - FY 2019.

44
EPA can share resources and work together to improve compliance. EPA is also continuing to expand its
Compliance Advisor Program (formerly known as the Circuit Rider Program) to help small drinking water
and wastewater systems – many in communities with environmental justice concerns – to return to, and
maintain, compliance. EPA has found that many such systems are unable to maintain compliance due to
lack of technical, managerial, and financial capacity as well as aging infrastructure, workforce shortages,
and declining rate bases. Part trainer and part consultant, compliance advisors troubleshoot issues, develop
plans to return systems to compliance, and increase the technical capacity of operators. EPA will continue
work to ensure that funded activities increase systems’ capacity, including those in vulnerable communities
and Indian country.
Improving Compliance Assurance Data Management and Enforcement Targeting Capabilities:
Effective compliance monitoring and enforcement increasingly depends on effective use of data
management and data science capabilities. EPA will improve its collection and management of compliance
monitoring information through modernization of existing data systems and creation of new tools to
streamline the compliance monitoring process.
EPA will modernize its key compliance information system, the Integrated Compliance Information System
(ICIS), and will support better integration with the Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO)
website. Improvements to ICIS and ECHO will facilitate better access to compliance data and community
information (e.g., from EPA’s EJSCREEN tool) for the Agency, Tribes, states, and the public. This will enhance
EPA’s efforts to address compliance concerns in underserved communities and help EPA and authorized
Tribes and states ensure better compliance with clean air and clean water requirements.
EPA will also continue to expand software solutions for field inspectors to improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of compliance inspections conducted by the Agency and authorized states. EPA’s Smart
Mobile Tools for Inspectors software streamlines the process of documenting field inspections and
preparing reports on their results. This software will allow EPA, Tribes, and states to use their compliance
monitoring resources more efficiently, including monitoring for noncompliance, which affects underserved
communities, or which may have climate impacts. ICIS Modernization and Smart Mobile Tools for Inspectors
are two of the key efforts under the Agency’s E-Enterprise for the Environment program.
Tackling Climate Change Through Compliance Assurance: EPA will advance its efforts to address
climate change mitigation and adaptation issues through targeting, monitoring, and technical assistance.
For example, EPA will direct monitoring and targeting efforts to sources with the most potential for
noncompliant emissions of GHGs and other compounds that contribute to or exacerbate climate change,
such as oil and gas wells that are a large source of methane emissions. In addition, EPA’s compliance
advisors for sustainable water systems will continue to provide technical assistance on climate resilience to
wastewater and drinking water facilities. Further, EPA will vigorously enforce its regulations to prevent and
deter the illegal importation of HFCs.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Advanced monitoring technology and information technology continue to evolve, and advances in these
fields offer great opportunities for improving the ability of EPA, Tribes, and states to ensure compliance.
While continuing research and growing knowledge may offer innovative approaches, EPA, Tribes, states,
and territories often face challenges in keeping up with emerging technologies. Through its evidence-based
approach, EPA, in collaboration with Tribes and states, is working with the academic community to identify
new ways to improve compliance.

45
 Goal 4:
Ensure Clean and Healthy Air
for All Communities

46
 Goal 4:
Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities
Protect human health and the environment from the harmful
effects of air pollution.

Introduction
All people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income deserve to breathe clean air outdoors
and indoors, and it is especially important that the health of vulnerable and sensitive populations, such
as children and persons adversely affected by
persistent poverty or inequality, be protected. Levels
of pollutants linked to health impacts continue to
decline as the economy has grown significantly
over the long term. Between 1970 and 2020, the
combined emissions of six key pollutants dropped
by 78 percent, while the U.S. economy remained
strong — growing 272 percent over the same time.
EPA will continue to build on this progress and work
to assure clean air for all Americans, with a particular
focus on those in underserved and overburdened
communities, who are impacted disproportionately.
Numerous scientific studies have linked air
pollution and specific pollutants to a variety of
health problems and environmental impacts.
Long-term exposure to elevated levels of certain
air pollutants is associated with increased risk of
cancer, premature mortality, and damage to the
immune, neurological, reproductive, cardiovascular,
and respiratory systems. Over the next four years,
EPA will work to ensure clean and healthy air for
communities by reducing emissions of ozone-
forming pollutants, particulate matter, and air
toxics. EPA will also work to address high-risk
indoor air quality pollutants in homes, schools, and
workplaces. EPA will rely on proven approaches
including regulatory tools, innovative market-based
techniques, public and private-sector partnerships,
community-based approaches, technical assistance
programs that promote environmental stewardship,
and programs that encourage adoption of cost-
effective technologies and practices.

47
 Objective 4.1:
Improve Air Quality and Reduce Localized Pollution
and Health Impacts
Reduce air pollution on local, regional, and national scales to achieve healthy air
quality for people and the environment.

Introduction
The United States is continuing to see strong improvement in air quality on the national level as the
combined emissions reductions efforts by EPA and
Tribal, state, and local air agencies have proven to be Approximately 97 million Americans
very effective. Between 1970 and 2020, the combined
lived in counties with air quality
emissions of the six common National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) pollutants (particulate matter concentrations above the level of
(PM2.5 and PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen one or more NAAQS in 2020
(NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon
monoxide (CO), and lead (Pb)) dropped by 78 percent.
Also, the number of days each year reaching the “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” level or above on the Air
Quality Index has continued to trend downward since 2000.44
Despite this national record of success, air quality disparities due to disproportionate pollution impacts
exist in multiple areas across the country. Approximately 97 million Americans lived in counties with air
quality concentrations above the level of one or more NAAQS in 2020.45 Studies show substantial disparities
exist in PM2.5-related risk between groups. Nonwhites, particularly blacks, are at increased risk for PM2.5-
related health effects, in part due to disparities in exposure.46 One study estimated people of color were
exposed to 25 percent higher PM2.5 (as compared to the rest of the population) in 2014 from domestic

44 Our Nation’s Air: Trends through 2020: https://gispub.epa.gov/air/trendsreport/2021/#home.

45 Our Nation’s Air: Trends through 2020: https://gispub.epa.gov/air/trendsreport/2021/#home.
46 Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) for Particulate Matter (Final Report, Dec 2019) (EPA/600/R-19/188) https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/isa/recordisplay.cfm?deid=347534.

48
anthropogenic sources.47 Neighborhoods with the highest poverty rates had 14 percent higher PM2.5 levels
in 2016 compared with neighborhoods with the lowest poverty rates.48 Multiple areas are disproportionately
impacted by local sources emitting air toxics, and the scientific understanding of health risks related to
exposure to air toxics continues to emerge.49
All people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income deserve to breathe clean air, and it is especially
important that the nation’s laws protect the health of vulnerable and sensitive populations, such as children
and those with preexisting respiratory conditions. Over the next four years, EPA will work collaboratively
with air agencies to maintain and improve the nation’s air quality. EPA will particularly focus on advancing
environmental justice by engaging with communities on key activities including technical assistance,
regulation development, and financial assistance.

Long-Term Performance Goals

• B
 y September 30, 2026, reduce ozone season emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from electric
power generation sources by 21% from the 2019 baseline of 390,354 tons.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, improve measured air quality in counties not meeting the current National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) from the 2016 baseline by 10%.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, strive to ensure all people with low socio-economic status (SES) live in
areas where the air quality meets the current fine particle pollution (PM2.5) National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS).
• B
 y September 30, 2026, ensure U.S. consumption of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) is less than
76.2 tons per year of ozone depletion potential.50

Strategies
Taking into account the most current research on health effects and changing conditions from a warming
climate, EPA will continue to periodically review the NAAQS. The Agency will reconsider the December 2020
decision to retain the PM NAAQS because available scientific evidence and technical information indicate
that the current standards may not be adequate to protect public health and welfare, as required by the
Clean Air Act.51 In reviewing the NAAQS, the Agency will assess whether the current standards provide
adequate protection for the people most at-risk, including people with heart or lung disease, children and
older adults, and nonwhite populations.
The Agency will focus on evaluating environmental justice considerations related to the NAAQS during
review and implementation. EPA will continue to work closely with air agencies to ensure that they are
working to improve air quality in areas that do not meet the NAAQS, including the 2010 SO2 NAAQS, the
2012 PM2.5 and PM10 NAAQS, and the 2008 and 2015 Ozone NAAQS. EPA will also continue to work closely
with air agencies on the regional haze program to improve visibility in the larger national parks and
wilderness areas.
Stationary fuel combustion sources, such as electric utilities and industrial boilers, continue to represent a
47 Tessum, CW, Paolella, DA, Chambliss, SA, Apte, JS, Hill, JD, Marshall, JD. PM2.5 polluters disproportionately and systemically affect people of color in the United States. Sci
Adv, 28 APR 2021: EABF4491.
48 Colmer, J, Hardman, I, Shimshack, J, Voorheis, J. Disparities in PM2.5 air pollution in the United States. Science, 31 JUL 2020: 575-578.
49 National Air Toxics Assessment: https://www.epa.gov/national-air-toxics-assessment.
50 The U.S. HCFC consumption baseline is 15,240 ODP-weighted metric tons effective as of January 1, 1996.
51 For more information on the Clean Air Act, see: https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/clean-air-act-text.

49
significant proportion of the nation’s emissions inventory.52 In meeting statutory and legal requirements to
regulate stationary sources, EPA will maximize public health benefits and make environmental justice and
community outreach central in these rulemaking efforts. EPA will lead the development of comprehensive
and cost-effective emission reduction strategies and multipollutant regulations governing air emissions
from stationary sources, including technology and health-based standards and voluntary or non-regulatory
initiatives.
EPA will continue to operate nationwide and multi-state programs, such as the Acid Rain Program and the
Cross-State Air Pollution Rules, that address major global, national, and regional air pollutants from the
power sector and other large stationary sources. These flexible, cost-effective, and environmentally effective
air pollution control programs help reduce air toxics emissions, regional haze, and interstate pollution that
interferes with the attainment and maintenance of the NAAQS.
EPA will also continue to set and enforce technology-based air toxics emissions standards and, where
appropriate, amend those standards to address residual risk and technology advancements. This includes
revisiting aspects of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants, as directed by Executive
Order 13990: Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.
These regulations limit toxic air pollution from stationary sources, reducing pollution in communities and
providing tools to help communities and other stakeholders meaningfully engage in the process. EPA will
consider multipollutant impacts in the development and implementation of Maximum Achievable Control
Technology standards and New Source Performance Standards, where appropriate. To address unacceptable
risks that may remain after implementing national strategies, EPA works with air agencies to understand the
risks at the local level, target problem areas, and tailor reduction strategies and approaches to the unique
situations in those areas.
EPA will promote early integration of environmental justice considerations in the regulatory process. For
example, the Agency will develop new and enhanced applications of environmental justice analytics to
inform how power sector rules can mitigate impacts on overburdened communities. This effort will include
modeling of power sector emissions down to the county level as well as improved representation of fine
particulate matter that includes
toxic heavy metals.
The Agency will continue to
develop and make available
the necessary technical data
and tools to support air quality
planning and environmental
justice analyses. This includes
critical information on emissions
and ambient concentrations of
air pollution, and associated data
systems, such as AirNow, the Air
Quality System, and the National
Emissions Inventory. In addition,
EPA will work with air agencies
and, as appropriate, with other
federal agencies to develop
improved measurement methods
(e.g., for woodsmoke, PM
emissions, PFAS, and air toxics,
52 Our Nation’s Air: Trends Through 2020: https://gispub.epa.gov/air/trendsreport/2021/#home.

50
such as ethylene oxide)
and emissions data (e.g.,
for agricultural sources and
for air toxics). To support air
agencies, promote national
consistency, and ensure
information is publicly
available, EPA will continue
to operate, maintain, and
upgrade as needed the
State Planning Electronic
Collaboration System
(SPeCS), the Combined Air
Emissions Reporting System
(CAERS), and the Electronic
Permit System (EPS). EPA will
also test, evaluate, and refine
draft tools for incorporating
environmental justice considerations into EPA-issued permits and ensure opportunities for meaningful
public involvement in the permit process.
EPA will work with air agencies and local communities to prioritize engagement with low-income and
marginalized communities that for decades have been overburdened with air pollution and other
environmental hazards. EPA will undertake air monitoring and other assessment approaches to address
these long-neglected air quality and public health problems. The Agency will work to assess the current
state of the nation’s monitoring network and pursue collaborative approaches to modernize the
technologies, equipment, and network design used to measure air quality as well as enhance the quality and
security of critical data collection, handling, and reporting from the network.
EPA will collect and evaluate mobile source emission data to help guide future program priorities related
to reducing criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from light-duty cars and trucks, heavy-duty
trucks and buses, nonroad engines and equipment, and from the fuels that power these engines. The
Agency will develop the next round of multi-pollutant emission standards for light-duty and highway
heavy-duty vehicles, which will improve air quality and reduce pollution near roads and other areas of
high truck activity, such as warehouses and ports. EPA will also continue to work to ensure that Clean Air
Act requirements are met for new transportation projects with heavy-duty diesel traffic, such that they do
not worsen air quality near communities with environmental justice concerns. The Agency will address
air quality concerns in these communities through implementing regulations, developing improved air
quality models and mitigation measures, and collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders — including
state air quality agencies and communities with environmental justice concerns — to develop targeted,
sector-based, and place-based strategies for diesel fleets (including school buses, ports, and other goods
movement facilities). EPA will support and oversee projects for the replacement of existing school buses
with low- or zero-emission school buses funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will be
implemented in alignment with Justice40.
EPA will implement its Air Toxics Strategy 53 to more effectively identify and address existing, emerging, and
future air toxics issues in the U.S. Identifying air toxics issues and appropriate approaches for addressing
them requires strong communication, coordination, and collaboration between EPA, regulatory partners,
and stakeholders as well as sound technical information and analyses to support technical and policy
53 EPA Air Toxics Strategy: https://www.epa.gov/haps/air-toxics-strategy.

51
solutions. EPA will assess risks to
public health from exposure to
air toxics such as ethylene oxide,
chloroprene, and benzene from
stationary sources. This will be done
in support of upcoming regulatory
and other program efforts, including
for source categories with significant
disproportionate impacts such as
chemical manufacturing, to ensure
that the air toxics rules appropriately
protect public health, especially for
neighboring communities. EPA will
also improve delivery of information
to the public on the status of air toxics
pollution and potential exposure and
risk levels through the Air Toxics Data
Update. The Agency is developing an approach to provide annual emissions, air quality, and risk information
nationally as well as how to best provide interim risk information to communities as needed.
EPA is continuing to implement provisions of Title VI of the Clean Air Act Amendments and the Montreal
Protocol, to protect and restore the stratospheric ozone layer by reducing the use, emissions, import,
and production of ozone-depleting substances in the United States. By 2022, U.S. consumption of
hydrochlorofluorocarbons, chemicals that deplete the Earth’s protective ozone layer, will be less than
76.2 tons per year of ozone depletion potential from the 2015-2019 target of 1,520 tons per year. EPA will
continue to use regulatory approaches to reduce the production import, use, and production of ozone-
depleting substances, including reviewing and listing alternatives that are safer for the ozone layer.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

The increasing intensity, duration, and scale of wildfires occurring in the western United States as the
climate changes worsens air quality across the country.
Older adults, children, pregnant women, people with Low-income communities of color
cardiovascular or respiratory disease, people of low suffer disproportionately from
socio-economic status, and outdoor workers may be at asthma and substandard housing
heightened risk for severe health effects from exposure
and lack of access to care underlie
to smoke.54 In partnership with other federal partners,
EPA is working to protect public health during wildfire- this disparity. Indoor allergens
smoke events by improving smoke forecasting abilities, and irritants play a significant
identifying and communicating when and where smoke role in making asthma worse and
events are occurring, building local capacity to be Smoke triggering asthma attacks.
Ready, and providing tools and resources for communities
for health protection during smoke events.

54 Which Populations Experience Greater Risks of Adverse Health Effects Resulting from Wildfire Smoke Exposure?: https://www.epa.gov/wildfire-smoke-course/which-
populations-experience-greater-risks-adverse-health-effects-resulting.

52
 Objective 4.2:
Reduce Exposure to Radiation and Improve Indoor Air
Limit unnecessary radiation exposure and achieve healthier indoor air quality,
especially for vulnerable populations.

Introduction
To improve indoor air and reduce exposure to radiation, EPA leads programs that educate the public about
radiation and indoor air quality concerns, including radon, asthma triggers, and poor ventilation. These
programs promote public action to reduce potential risks in homes, schools, and workplaces. Included
among the people most exposed to indoor air pollutants are those most susceptible to the effects—the
young, the elderly, and the chronically ill. Recognizing the potential hazards of radiation, Congress charged
EPA with the primary responsibility for protecting people and the environment from harmful and avoidable
exposures.
Because Americans spend most of their time indoors, where pollutant levels are often significantly higher
than outdoors, poor indoor air is a major health concern. For example, radon is the second leading cause of
lung cancer, responsible for 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually. Nationally, one in 15 homes is estimated to
have elevated radon levels. In many communities, this ratio is much higher. Low-income families often lack
resources to test for and mitigate radon in their homes. As another example, nearly 24 million Americans
have asthma. Low-income communities of color suffer disproportionately from asthma and substandard
housing and lack of access to care underlie this disparity. Indoor allergens and irritants play a significant role
in making asthma worse and triggering asthma attacks. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the
importance of healthy indoor air quality and ventilation in homes, schools, and other buildings.
To address these and other hazardous indoor air pollutants, EPA collaborates with Tribal and state
organizations; environmental and public health officials; housing, energy, and building organizations;
personnel who manage school environments; and health care providers who treat children prone to or
suffering disproportionately from asthma. The focus of these non-regulatory efforts is to create, expand,
and leverage policy, systems, and individual action to promote healthy indoor environments and reduce
exposure to harmful indoor air pollutants.

53
Long-Term Performance Goal
• B
 y September 30, 2026, prevent 2,250 lung cancer deaths annually through lower radon exposure
as compared to the FY 2020 baseline of 1,684 prevented lung cancer deaths.

Strategies
The COVID-19 pandemic, along with increased prevalence of
wildfires and other natural disasters that impact indoor air,
generated unprecedented awareness and demand for healthier
indoor air in homes, schools, and other buildings. EPA will work
to restore, leverage, and scale up programs to reduce exposures
to radon through home testing and mitigation, promote in-home
asthma management, improve air quality in homes and schools,
and build capacity for Tribes, states, and communities with
environmental justice concerns to comprehensively address indoor
air risks.
EPA estimates that there are 12,000 avoidable lung cancer deaths
annually attributable to indoor radon exposure.55 To reduce this
high public health risk, EPA will co-lead the National Radon Action
Plan (NRAP), a multisector public-private coalition committed to
eliminating avoidable radon-induced lung cancer in the United
States and addressing radon as a health equity challenge. It is
estimated there are more than seven million homes in the U.S. at
or above the EPA radon action level.56 EPA will continue to provide
State Indoor Radon Grant funding, and technical assistance to
Tribes and states, with a focus on increasing access to testing and mitigation in underserved communities.
In-home asthma management is a critical component of asthma care, particularly in low-income
populations. EPA, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Federal Asthma Disparities Action Plan,57 is
supporting state Medicaid programs and private health plans to pay for in-home asthma interventions
through reimbursement mechanisms. In addition, EPA is working to reduce asthma disparities for low-
income people and communities of color by supporting public health and housing organizations to train
and deploy community health workers to deliver in-home asthma interventions and care.
EPA will continue to reduce indoor air quality risks in schools through the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools
program, with a focus on technical assistance, training, assessments, and implementation support for in-
need communities. EPA will expand technical assistance to advance best indoor air quality practices through
ventilation improvements, operation and preventive maintenance, and appropriate sanitation in school
and childcare buildings. EPA will also expand federal coordination and collaboration through the Federal
Partners in School Health, a multi-agency collaboration led by the Department of Education, CDC, and EPA.
EPA will update the Indoor airPLUS new home construction specifications and expand the program to
address indoor air quality (IAQ) protections during home renovations and upgrades. EPA will work with
55 National Research Council. 1999. Health Effects of Exposure to Radon: BEIR VI. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Report available for purchase at: https://doi.
org/10.17226/5499.
56 Overview of EPA’s State Indoor Radon Grants Program: A Focus on Activities Conducted during 2019: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/documents/
sirg_2019_annual_summary_report_final.revised.pdf.
57 Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities: https://www.epa.gov/asthma/coordinated-federal-action-plan-reduce-racial-and-
ethnic-asthma-disparities.

54
federal, state, and local weatherization and energy efficiency programs to incorporate IAQ protective
practices through the Energy Savings Plus Health suite of guidances and tools. EPA will provide technical
assistance and other support to Tribes through the Tribal Air Monitoring Support (TAMS) Center and tools
to build local expertise and indoor air quality capacity among Tribal air quality professionals to help reduce
exposure to harmful indoor air pollutants, including through radon testing and mitigation technologies.
EPA will review and update the Federal Radiation Protection Guidance, currently based on protecting
an adult male, to include protection for all members of the U.S. population, with particular emphasis on
the most vulnerable. These updates will address considerations for all ages, genders, and the increased
sensitivity of pregnant individuals and children to radiation exposure. EPA will provide clear, accurate,
and accessible risk communications products that allow individuals and communities to make informed
decisions about reducing radiation exposure.
EPA will maintain personnel expertise, capabilities, and equipment readiness of the radiological emergency
response program under the National Response Framework and the National Contingency Plan, including
the Agency’s Radiological Emergency Response Team. EPA will provide oversight of the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant (WIPP), including review of the Department of Energy plans for additional waste panels and surplus
plutonium disposal, to ensure safe, long-term disposal of radioactive waste and the continued cleanup of
nuclear weapons program legacy sites. EPA will also meet its Clean Air Act obligation to control radionuclide
emissions by updating and bolstering inspector training programs and guidance to ensure a sustainable
level of expertise.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Impacts from a changing climate and the continued threat of disease may worsen existing indoor
environmental problems and introduce new ones as temperatures change and the frequency or severity of
wildfires, heatwaves, floods, and other climate-driven events increase. These impacts include increased mold
from water damage and more time spent indoors where air may be of poorer quality.
The use of novel or advanced nuclear fuel for power generation and for space application, both foreign
and domestic, is an emerging issue with direct impact to EPA’s core mission areas of radiation protection,
response, and waste management. EPA will fill gaps in expertise to meet these emerging needs to support,
as appropriate, advanced nuclear energy applications while responding to concerns raised by communities
living near nuclear facilities.

55
 Goal 5:
Ensure Clean and Safe Water
for All Communities

56
 Goal 5:
Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities
Provide clean and safe water for all communities and protect our nation’s
waterbodies from degradation.

Introduction
Clean and safe water is a vital resource
that is essential to the protection of
human health. Without clean water,
communities and economies cannot
thrive. EPA is committed to ensuring
clean and safe water for all, especially
for vulnerable communities of color,
underserved communities, and
Tribal communities. EPA has made
significant progress in protecting
water resources since the enactment
of the Clean Water Act (CWA);58 Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA);59 and
Marine Protection, Research, and
Sanctuaries Act.60 As a result, most
communities enjoy and depend
upon reliable sources of clean and safe water. Many formerly impaired waters have been restored and now
support recreational and public health uses. Still, the nation faces significant challenges, including water
equity and affordability, aging infrastructure, legacy lead pipes, nutrient pollution, per- and polyfluoroalkyl
Substances (PFAS) contamination, cybersecurity threats, and the climate crisis.
Many communities need upgrades in both drinking
water and wastewater infrastructure as well as greater
capacity to comply with new and existing risks and EPA is committed to prioritizing
standards. Tens of thousands of homes, primarily in equity, environmental justice, and
Tribal communities and underserved communities the lived experience of those most
and territories, lack access to basic sanitation and
impacted by water pollution in the
drinking water. EPA is committed to prioritizing equity,
environmental justice, and the lived experience of Agency’s policy and regulatory
those most impacted by water pollution in the Agency’s development.
policy and regulatory development. Climate change
compounds these problems. For example, warmer
temperatures are exacerbating harmful algal blooms
58 For more information on the Clean Water Act, see: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act
59 For more information on the Safe Drinking Water Act, see: https://www.epa.gov/sdwa.
60 For more information on the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, see: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-marine-protection-research-
and-sanctuaries-act.

57
in freshwater lakes and storms of increasing intensity are further stressing aging infrastructure. These
challenges highlight the need to work with EPA’s partners to evaluate options and implement programs for
protecting and improving the resilience of both built and natural infrastructure.
Over the next four years, EPA will work to protect and improve the quality of groundwater, surface waters,
and drinking water. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directs significant investments in the health, equity,
and resilience of American communities. With unprecedented funding to support upgrades to our aging
national infrastructure, and in alignment with Justice40, EPA will improve people’s health and safety, help
create good paying jobs, and increase climate resilience throughout the country.
EPA is committed to strengthening collaborative problem-solving with federal agencies, Tribal, state, and
local governments, communities, and nongovernmental partners; advancing science; completing key
rulemakings (e.g., Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, definition of “waters of the United States,” Clean Water
Act Section 401 water quality certification); protecting underground sources of drinking water; providing
technical assistance; improving data accessibility and risk communication; facilitating innovative program
action; and using its authority to help protect the health of all people and the nation’s waterbodies. EPA will
ensure that science is respected, elevated, and prioritized in all decisions and is released to the public in a
timely and transparent manner. EPA will also address a critical public health issue by working with states and
water utilities to remove lead service lines that contribute to high lead levels in drinking water. EPA will help
utilities identify their lead service lines and work with federal and state funding authorities to help utilities
remove the lines.

58
 Objective 5.1:
Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water
Infrastructure
Protect public health from the risk of exposure to regulated and emerging
contaminants in drinking and source waters by improving the reliability, accessibility,
and resilience of the nation’s water infrastructure to reduce the impacts of climate
change, structural deterioration, and cyber threats.

Introduction
The United States enjoys one of the world’s most reliable and safest supplies of drinking water. More than
93 percent of the population receives safe drinking water from approximately 50,000 community water
systems. Similarly, the use of sewage collection systems has provided dramatic improvements in public
health. Today, approximately 15,000 municipal wastewater treatment facilities operate nationwide, serving
more than 76 percent of the population.61
Some communities across the country, however, face the challenge of aging or inadequate drinking water,
wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. Many marginalized, underserved, or Tribal communities lack
crucial access to clean and safe water and are the most vulnerable to exposure to contaminants such as lead
and PFAS. The COVID-19 pandemic, cyber-attacks, and climate change have compounded these challenges
and heightened the urgency to reinvest in water infrastructure (i.e., gray and green infrastructure, or natural
systems such as wetlands). EPA is committed to investing in water infrastructure improvements to address
these challenges so that all communities have access to clean and safe drinking water.

61 For more information on the Clean Watersheds Needs Survey 2012 Report to Congress, see: https://www.epa.gov/cwns/clean-watersheds-needs-survey-cwns-2012-
report-and-data.

59
Long-Term Performance Goals
• B
 y September 30, 2026, reduce the number of community water systems still in noncompliance
with health-based standards since March 31, 2021 from 752 to 500.62
• B
 y September 30, 2026, reduce the number of community water systems in Indian country still in
noncompliance with health-based standards since March 31, 2021 from 110 to 70.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, leverage an additional $45 billion in non-federal dollars through EPA’s
water infrastructure finance programs (CWSRF, DWSRF and WIFIA).
• B
 y September 30, 2026, in coordination with other federal agencies, provide access to basic
sanitation for an additional 36,500 American Indian and Alaska Native homes.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, provide 2,203 Tribal, small, rural, or underserved communities with
technical, managerial, or financial assistance to improve operations of their drinking water or
wastewater systems.
FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal (APG)
• C
 lean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and
economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities. By September 30, 2023, EPA
will provide technical assistance to at least 10 communities to help achieve clean and safe water
and reduced exposures to hazardous substances.

Strategies
EPA’s water infrastructure programs can deliver
multiple benefits including improving public health With a small expenditure of federal
and environmental protection while creating jobs, funds, the WIFIA program creates
collaborating with community partners, and setting the
powerful leverage resulting in
stage for long-term economic development. EPA’s State
Revolving Funds (SRFs) are invested in partnership with significant funding for water
states.63 This federal investment is designed to be used infrastructure projects that
in concert with other sources of funds to address water protect public health and deliver
quality needs. EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving environmental benefits while
Fund (DWSRF) is designed to assist public water systems
supporting local economies and
in financing the costs of drinking water infrastructure
improvements needed to achieve or maintain compliance creating jobs.
with SDWA requirements, protect public health, and
support state and local efforts to protect and provide
drinking water. EPA works in close partnership with states to build on the federal investment to protect
public health, safeguard valuable aquatic resources, and meet environmental standards benefiting
hundreds of millions of people. Furthermore, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA)
loan program provides low interest loans with flexible repayment options for qualified borrowers. With a
small expenditure of federal funds, the WIFIA program creates powerful leverage resulting in significant
funding for water infrastructure projects that protect public health and deliver environmental benefits while
supporting local economies and creating jobs. Eligible public and private borrowers can finance a wide
variety of wastewater, drinking water, water reuse, stormwater, and other water quality improvement capital
projects with WIFIA loans. In addition, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016
62 This baseline is a subset of the 3,508 systems, including systems in Indian country, that have been in long-term noncompliance since September 30, 2017.
63 For additional information, see: http://www.epa.gov/cwsrf.

60
(WIIN) and America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA)
strengthened many existing programs within EPA while
creating new programs to tackle significant public health
concerns and environmental needs. They range from the
creation of grant programs to promoting water workforce
development. These programs are vital to protecting public
health, growing the American economy, and ensuring that
rural and urban communities from coast-to-coast can thrive.
Low-income, people of color, Tribal, smaller, and rural
communities are disproportionately impacted by
water related challenges and face historical hurdles in
accessing water infrastructure funding. EPA will ensure
that infrastructure investments reach communities that
need them the most, which will be supported by work
to implement the Justice40 initiative and advance racial
equity and environmental justice for communities who too
often have been left behind. EPA will support this effort
by identifying and addressing barriers to support these
communities (including how best to pursue SRF loans or grants for infrastructure funding); assisting and
training state programs, Tribal water officials, and technical assistance providers to achieve and maintain
compliance at water systems; developing best practices; and strengthening Tribal and state program
capacity.
EPA also will support water sector efforts to strengthen the workforce by providing assistance to state
agencies and external stakeholders and promoting the importance of water operators, who are critical
to providing safe drinking water. EPA will ensure that the water sector is aware of threats posed by cyber-
attacks and will provide resources and assistance to states and systems so they understand how to prepare
for, identify, respond to, and recover from cyber-attacks. Work under this objective will support the FY 2022-
2023 Agency Priority Goal to clean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the
livability and economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities. Under this Agency Priority
Goal, EPA plans to engage with communities that are overburdened and underserved to provide technical
assistance supporting community-identified needs addressing water and clean-up challenges.
Many water systems and communities are facing challenges with lead and PFAS. Some communities do not
know where their lead service lines are located. Many system operators and communities are not familiar
with emerging contaminants like PFAS with respect to decisions, for example, about the best treatment
solutions or remediation options. EPA will work with states to identify and prioritize infrastructure projects
supported by the BIL and in alignment with Justice40 to replace lead service lines and address PFAS
contamination, particularly in small and underserved communities.
EPA is taking multiple actions to reduce drinking water lead exposure in underserved communities that
have been disproportionately impacted by this public health crisis. In 2021, EPA completed the review of
the Lead and Copper Rule Revision under Executive Order 13990 and announced the development of a
new regulation, Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), to better protect communities form exposure
to lead in drinking water. EPA is working with partners to test for lead in the drinking water of schools and
childcare facilities and to provide resources for remediation. EPA is completing guidance documents to
assist communities in identifying lead service lines, the most significant sources of lead in drinking water,
to prioritize their replacement. EPA will provide training and technical assistance to drinking water service
providers to protect children and households in impacted communities and will help providers improve
outreach to drinking water consumers to take actions to reduce their lead exposure.

61
PFAS contamination is another urgent public health and environmental threat facing communities across
the United States, with significant potential equity and environmental justice implications. EPA created a
cross-agency Council on PFAS, staffed by senior policy and technical experts, to coordinate and accelerate a
whole-of-agency response to this crisis and leverage partnerships with other federal agencies. The Council
developed the PFAS Strategic Roadmap64 – laying out a whole-of-agency approach that maximizes the use
of existing authorities and scientific capacity to research, restrict, and remediate PFAS. The roadmap sets
timelines by which EPA plans to take specific actions and commits to bolder new policies to safeguard public
health, protect the environment, and hold polluters accountable. As described in the Roadmap, EPA will
publish a proposed PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation. EPA will also begin PFAS monitoring
under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule and conduct occurrence analyses in FY 2023 through
2025. In addition, EPA has determined that effluent limitation guidelines under the CWA should be
developed to address PFAS in industrial wastewater discharged by the PFAS manufacturing and the metal
finishing industries and is initiating rulemaking to do so. EPA is committed to lifting up the voices of all
communities, particularly those who have suffered disproportionately from the impacts of PFAS; supporting
those least able to access technical assistance, filtration, and other control and remediation solutions; and
working together to address this complex environmental challenge. EPA will confront the issue of PFAS by
fully leveraging the Agency’s authorities and working closely with federal, Tribal, state, and local partners.
While advances in science, sensor, and measurement technologies may improve EPA’s ability to identify
additional contaminants in drinking and source waters, understanding and communicating the potential
health risks of individual and mixtures of contaminants, especially those with little to no toxicity data,
remains a challenge. A good example of this challenge is the detection in water of multiple PFAS, for which
no toxicity data currently exists.
Understanding the potential risks of drinking water
contaminants to the public remains a key priority for
EPA. The Agency will continue to evaluate health effects Safeguarding the integrity of
information for drinking water contaminants to support the nation’s public health and
SDWA activities. Considering those potentially most at communities requires that the
risk — including sensitive populations and children at all nation’s water infrastructure is of
life stages — is essential when developing health effects sufficient capacity and properly
assessments for water contaminants. EPA will also update
maintained, and that the workforce
and develop new health advisories and benchmarks that
can be used by federal and state partners, drinking water that supports it is well-trained and
utilities, and others to better characterize the potential resourced.
health risks associated with drinking water contaminants.
To protect source waters such as lakes, reservoirs and
rivers, EPA will continue to take an integrated approach to source water protection by leveraging CWA tools,
particularly national-scale recommended ambient water quality criteria.
In addition, EPA is carrying out evidence-building activities to address priority questions related to drinking
water systems out of compliance, one of EPA’s Learning Agenda priority areas. EPA will gather existing
reports and analyses on the quality of its drinking water compliance data to address priority questions on
federal and state drinking water program policies, identify what additional data are needed, search for other
sources of information, and identify ways to fill data gaps. With this data analysis, EPA will identify system
characteristics that support compliance and those that cause compliance challenges and use the findings to
inform and develop policy instruments that are more effective in increasing drinking water compliance.

64 For additional information, see: https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-strategic-roadmap-epas-commitments-action-2021-2024.

62
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Changing and more extreme precipitation
patterns, including drought and flooding, as well
as increasingly sophisticated and prevalent cyber-
attacks, pose serious challenges to drinking water,
wastewater, and storm water infrastructure and
facilities. Safeguarding the integrity of the nation’s
public health and communities requires that the
nation’s water infrastructure is of sufficient capacity
and properly maintained, and that the workforce
that supports it is well-trained and resourced.
Another challenge is the capacity limitations of
states that are facing heavy demands on annual
budgets because tax revenues and system
revenues are down due to the COVID-19 pandemic
and other reasons. EPA continues to work with
states regarding this issue and explore sources
of matching funds and other potential resource
options.
In addition, the potential scaling up of carbon
capture to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and
safely sequester it underground may pose new
scientific, technological, and permitting capacity
challenges to EPA and its regulatory partners.
To help address these challenges, the Agency
has established the Water Workforce Initiative,
collaborating with partners to work with
stakeholders across the water sector to ensure that
the sector workforce is strong, diverse, resilient,
and attracts and retains talented individuals from
many different backgrounds. EPA’s Critical Infrastructure Protection program provides water utilities access
to information, tools, training, and protocols designed to enhance the security (including cybersecurity),
preparedness, and resiliency from terrorist threats and all-hazard events.
The frequency and potential severity of cyber-attacks against critical water infrastructure continues to grow.
EPA, states, and sector partners have offered guidance, training, and technical assistance to promote the
voluntary adoption of cybersecurity best practices; however, water utilities continue to be highly vulnerable
to cyber-attacks. The risk to the environment and public health from cyber-attacks and the limited adoption
of cybersecurity practices within the water sector gives urgency to federal-state engagement on improving
the operational security of public water systems and publicly owned treatment works.
EPA also is assisting the water sector in developing a clear understanding of climate change impacts on
utilities and water supplies, and potential long-term adaptation and risk management options for decision
making related to water utility infrastructure. EPA also will work to facilitate compliance with updated
Federal Flood Risk Management Standards for critical infrastructure, which includes many water systems.

63
 Objective 5.2:
Protect and Restore Waterbodies and Watersheds
Address sources of water pollution and ensure water quality standards are protective
of the health and needs of all people and ecosystems.

Introduction
Clean and safe water is an essential resource that provides for healthy ecosystems, communities, and
economies across the nation. Pollution and degradation of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands endangers
aquatic ecosystems, threatens the safety of drinking water, compromises water quality planning and flood
protections, impacts commercial and recreation opportunities (e.g., fishing, hunting, kayaking, swimming),
and reduces the natural benefits these resources provide to communities. EPA needs to protect these
resources against threats such as climate change, drought, sea level rise, invasive species, plastics, and
nutrient pollution.
EPA’s water programs will maintain, restore, and improve water quality and availability and ecosystem
services. EPA is focused on its core mission to protect the nation’s waters and reiterates the principles of
science, equity, environmental justice, and Tribal sovereignty as fundamental standards that should be
woven throughout its programs.

64
Long-Term Performance Goal
• B
 y September 30, 2026, increase by 41,000 square miles the area of watersheds with surface water
meeting standards that previously did not meet standards.65

Strategies
EPA uses a suite of programs to protect and improve water quality and ecosystem health in the nation’s
watersheds—as well as estuarine, coastal, and ocean waters. In partnership with other federal agencies,
Tribes, states, territories, local governments, and a broad range of non-governmental partners, EPA
recognizes the disproportionate impact of pollution and climate stress on communities with environmental
justice concerns and Tribal treaty rights and will work collaboratively with public and private sector
stakeholders nationally and locally to establish innovative, location-based programs to achieve the Agency’s
goals. EPA water programs will:
• Conduct monitoring and assessments.
• C
 ollect and share data following Internet of Water66 principles, which will help connect water data
to inform policy and community decision making.
• I mprove tools for early and rapid detection of harmful algal blooms and pathogens in recreational
waters.
• E nsure the protection of ecosystems, endangered and threatened species, and designated critical
habitat by continuing to consult on discretionary federal actions with National Marine Fisheries
Service and Fish and Wildlife Service (the Services) under the Endangered Species Act.
• Review and update regulations, such as:
◊  ork with the Department of the Army to revise the definition of “waters of the United
W
States”. This process anticipates completing and implementing two rulemakings: a
foundational rule to restore longstanding protections, and an anticipated second rule that
builds on that regulatory foundation.
◊  econsider and revise the 2020 CWA Section 401 Certification Rule, which provides states
R
and authorized Tribes an important tool to help protect the water quality of federally
regulated waters within their borders.
◊  roduce effluent limitation guidelines for chemical manufacturers and metal finishing
P
companies to address PFAS, for steam electric power generators to address toxics and other
pollutants, and for meat and poultry products to address nutrient discharges.
◊ E valuate state-specific rules that arise based on an EPA review of changes to state Water
Quality Standards (WQS).
◊  eview rules related to improving CWA protections on Tribal reservations and considering
R
Tribal treaty rights when acting on state WQS that impact those rights.
• Augment water supplies by safe reuse practices and stormwater capture to recharge aquifers.
• Develop climate-related tools and technical assistance and support green infrastructure and
65 Draft July 2021 baseline: 425,198 square miles of watersheds with surface water meeting standards and 652,609 square miles of watersheds with surface water not meeting
standards. Final baseline will be available the second half of FY 2022.
66 For additional information, see: https://internetofwater.org/.

65
 nature-based solutions to protect and improve water quality and habitat, while also providing
climate mitigation and adaptation benefits.
• Identify impaired waters.
• D
 evelop water quality plans to restore and protect waters and wetlands, including total maximum
daily loads (TMDLs) and protection approaches.
• Update WQS.
• Establish pollution reduction targets.
• Issue and enforce discharge and ocean disposal permits.
• I mplement coastal and estuarine programs to reduce coastal wetland loss, adapt to sea level rise,
protect coral reefs, and address other coastal hazards.
• I mplement programs to prevent or reduce nonpoint source pollution, including nutrients and
plastic pollution.
• U
 se geographic partnership programs to implement consensus-based actions that address critical
issues such as climate resiliency and water equity in watersheds and communities.
EPA understands that the benefits of clean, safe water are not shared equally by all communities and
ecosystems. Moving forward, EPA will work with its partners to protect and restore water quality and
wetlands, especially in low-income and underserved communities. To address water quality challenges, EPA
will apply the fundamental building blocks of the CWA, including the development and implementation
of TMDLs for CWA Section 303(d) listed impaired waterbodies, development of technology-based and
water-quality based standards, and the implementation of permit programs such as the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System and Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act programs. Another
approach could include taking full advantage of the flexibilities in the CWSRF programs to help achieve
broader watershed protection and restoration. Partnership, science, technology, and innovation will be key
to EPA’s efforts to reduce and control pollutants that are discharged from industrial, municipal, agricultural,
and stormwater sources, as well as to implement programs to prevent and reduce pollution that washes off
the land during rain events, including nutrients and plastic pollution.
The Agency will improve the way existing initiatives are used to create and protect healthy watershed
tools, 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 data collected,
for example, under the National
Aquatic Resource Survey, to
track the effectiveness of these
combined efforts at protecting
and improving water quality
over time. In addition, EPA will
work with government and non-
governmental partners to bring
appropriate and effective solutions
to small, rural, and underserved
communities.

66
The Agency will continue to develop new and revised CWA national recommended water quality criteria
for the protection of human health and aquatic life that Tribes, states, and territories may adopt into
water quality standards for their waterbodies. Water quality criteria consider the health protection for
susceptible populations and lifestages (e.g., pregnant individuals, children) but can be limited by data
availability. EPA also is reviewing the water quality criteria methodology to further advance the health
protection of communities and individuals who are disproportionately impacted by high pollution levels or
susceptibilities (e.g., Tribes, underserved and overburdened communities, pregnant individuals, children).
EPA is developing the necessary tools and obtaining data needed to conduct efficient, standardized human
health risk assessments for PFAS and other chemicals found in biosolids. EPA is also fully committed to
implementing programs that protect Tribal water resources—EPA will revise WQSs regulations to explicitly
and sustainably protect Tribal reserved (e.g., treaty) rights in state waters.
EPA will continue to promote multi-benefit solutions, such as integrated planning for wastewater and
stormwater management, to achieve water quality goals while considering community needs and
priorities. Robust stakeholder engagement and collaboration across state and local government can lead to
effective long-range plans that implement green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and more resilient
infrastructure that is less vulnerable to flooding and the effects of the changing climate. To respond and
adapt to the current and potential impacts of climate
change on aquatic resources, EPA has developed Climate change will continue
working relationships with partners across the country. to pose risks to wetlands,
Through planning tools, technical resources, and funding groundwater, and freshwater
programs, EPA will promote adaptive solutions to meet
habitat quality and quantity.
the challenges communities face.
EPA and its partners will accelerate progress to protect
and restore ecologically, economically,67 and intrinsically valuable watersheds across the nation through its
place-based and geographic programs such as the National Estuary Program and the Urban Waters Federal
Partnership, by strategically focusing on the biggest threats to their ecosystems and associated human
health issues. Using a collaborative watershed approach, these programs incorporate in their environmental
protection work the principles of environmental justice and Tribal treaty rights and sovereignty. EPA’s
leadership, at the regional and national levels, provides a foundation using technical expertise, science-
67 The economic value of coastal recreation in the United States – for beach going, angling, bird watching, and snorkeling/diving – has been estimated by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to be in the order of $20 billion to $60 billion annually.

67
based support, and funding to develop long-term strategies and actions to improve water quality, restore
habitat, and foster sustainable human use. Through place-based and geographic programs, EPA plays an
important role as a convener and facilitator with federal, Tribal, state, and local partners to align resources
and authorities within regional, watershed, and basin-scaled collaborative networks. More specifically,
EPA’s place-based and geographic programs deliver technical and financial assistance to solve problems
and support healthy, climate-resilient ecosystems that address water quality, water infrastructure, nutrient
pollution, habitat loss, treaty rights, equity, and environmental justice.
EPA, in partnership with other federal agencies, has shown time and again that collaboration can deliver
multiple benefits to achieve common goals. EPA will continue to foster partnerships, such as with the
Hypoxia Task Force and U.S. Department of Agriculture, to protect sources of drinking water and overall
water quality. This can be accomplished through watershed management and more effectively managed
runoff from agricultural lands using nature-based approaches; participation in the Urban Waters Federal
Partnership to promote more efficient and effective use of federal resources and build new partnerships
to help local communities achieve their water quality priorities and increase their resilience to climate
change; partnering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and others on both pre-disaster planning and post-disaster
recovery; and serving as a Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Trustee in partnership
with federal and state co-Trustees, for restoring Gulf resources and services impacted by the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Climate change will continue to pose risks to wetlands, groundwater, and freshwater habitat quality and
quantity. Sea-level rise will result in loss and compression of habitat for fish and wildlife and salt-water
intrusion to coastal groundwater sources. Extreme weather events due to climate change also pose
challenges such as increases in nutrient loadings and stormwater runoff, which place additional stress

68
on waterbodies and ecosystems. There also are potential emerging risks to water and water quality from
increased domestic mining for critical and rare earth elements needed to produce electric vehicles, motors,
wind turbines, and other technologies that will be important to decarbonize the economy and reduce CO2
emissions.
Microplastics, defined as
pieces of plastic between 1
nanometer and 5 millimeters
in length (about the size
of a sesame seed), present
potential risks to human health
and the environment. While
much remains unknown,
microplastics leaking into
the environment have been
estimated to increase from 1.4
megatons per year in 2016 to
3.0 megatons per year in 2040.
Another study estimates the
concentrations of microplastics
in some ocean areas are 60
times greater today than
just 15 years ago. There are
many potential sources of
microplastic input to aquatic systems, including degradation of plastic waste, tire wear particles, textiles,
improperly disposed fishing gear, scrubbers in cosmetics and other personal care products, and protective
hull coatings on ships.
To address these challenges, EPA will support communities in developing water quality plans, promoting
green infrastructure to achieve multiple benefits, and providing resources and training to reduce stormwater
pollution. EPA will support Tribal, state, and local partners to understand and respond to the risks to human
health and the environment due to coastal hazards and climate change. EPA also will engage in both
domestic and international partnerships to support trash pollution prevention programs, recycling efforts
in rural and suburban communities, and waterfront revitalization. Research into the sources, fates, and
effects of microplastics continues to be a priority and EPA participates on the Interagency Marine Debris
Coordinating Committee, which plans for how federal agencies, in partnership with other stakeholders, can
best pursue opportunities to reduce microfiber pollution substantially during the five-year period following
the enactment of the Save Our Seas Act. The Agency also will help states and local communities address
PFAS. EPA is pursuing a number of activities related to PFAS in ambient water, including development of
national recommended water quality criteria, biosolids risk assessment, fish tissue monitoring, analytical
method development, and a multi-industry wastewater study examining available information about PFAS
use and discharge across several industries.

69
 Goal 6:
Safeguard and Revitalize
Communities

70
 Goal 6:
Safeguard and Revitalize Communities
Restore land to safe and productive uses to improve
communities and protect public health.

Introduction
EPA works directly with, in, and for thousands of communities across the country, protecting their health
and the environment by cleaning up contaminated land, managing the safe disposal of solid, industrial,
and hazardous waste, and planning for and responding to environmental emergencies. Sixty-one percent
of the United States population, including 62 percent of children under the age of five, live near sites where
EPA assesses and restores contaminated land. While there is no single way to characterize communities
located near contaminated sites, the legacy of pollution disproportionally affects communities of color,
low-income, linguistically isolated populations, and those without a high school education. EPA will engage
early and collaborate with Tribal, state, local partners, and affected communities to improve the livelihood
of all Americans by cleaning up and returning these sites to productive use, especially in underserved and
overburdened communities.
Uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances,
pollutants, and contaminants impact air, land, and water With unprecedented funding to
and threaten healthy ecosystems. Nationally, there clean up Superfund sites, scale-
are thousands of contaminated sites with challenging up community-led brownfields
and complex environmental problems, including soil, revitalization, and support local
sediment, and groundwater contaminated by chemicals
waste management infrastructure
such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Over the next four years, EPA will prioritize the cleanup and recycling programs, EPA will
of legacy contamination and emerging pollutants and improve people’s health and safety,
facilitate site redevelopment in collaboration with help create good paying jobs,
communities, local governments, businesses, and other and increase climate resilience
stakeholders. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), throughout the country.
implemented in alignment with Justice40, advances these
efforts by investing in the health, equity, and resilience
of American communities. With unprecedented funding to clean up Superfund sites, scale-up community-
led brownfields revitalization, and support local waste management infrastructure and recycling programs,
EPA will improve people’s health and safety, help create good paying jobs, and increase climate resilience
throughout the country.
As it addresses existing contamination, EPA also will focus on reducing waste and preventing pollution.
EPA and states manage the safe disposal of 2.96 billion tons of solid, industrial, and hazardous waste every
year. This includes protective standards for the roughly 60,000 facilities in the United States that annually
generate and manage more than 30 to 40 million tons of hazardous waste. EPA, in partnership with Tribes,
states, local governments, and other organizations, will work to prevent releases of contaminants, reduce
waste by increasing materials recovery and recycling, and support sustainable materials management

71
practices. Through prevention activities, EPA protects groundwater from releases from underground storage
tanks (USTs). Through materials recovery and recycling, EPA also provides direct, measurable reductions in
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since natural resource extraction and processing make up more than 50
percent of total GHG emissions.
EPA also has mission-essential functions to prepare for and respond to environmental emergencies, which
are growing in frequency and risk because of climate change. EPA strives to prevent emergencies through
inspections of high-risk facilities and maintains the capabilities to respond to emergencies through planning
and preparedness efforts. EPA follows the government-wide National Response Framework (NRF)68 in
responding to large-scale emergencies that involve chemicals, oil, biological agents, radiation, or natural
disasters. As part of the framework, EPA supports other federal agencies on significant incidents, and works
with Tribes, states, and local planning and response organizations. Due to their proximity to facilities,
fenceline communities, often with environmental justice concerns, bear a disproportionate risk of exposure
to releases. Over the next four years, EPA will work to find solutions for these disproportionately impacted
communities by prioritizing inspection of high-risk facilities.

68 For more information about the National Response Framework, see: https://www.epa.gov/emergency-response/national-response-framework-nrf.

72
 Objective 6.1:
Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses
and Healthy Communities
Clean up and restore contaminated sites to protect human health and the
environment and build vibrant communities, especially in underserved and
overburdened areas.

Introduction
Contaminated soil, sediment, mine waste, groundwater,
and sub-slab vapor intrusion into indoor air space expose EPA will improve the health
communities across the United States to dangerous and livelihood and reduce the
pollution. Twenty-two percent of the U.S. population lives environmental and health effects
within three miles of a Superfund site. Similarly, within
of exposure to contamination
a half mile of a brownfields site receiving EPA funding,
21 percent of people live below the national poverty in communities, especially
level, 17 percent have less than a high school education,69 overburdened communities.
56 percent are people of color, and seven percent are
linguistically isolated. Children are disproportionately
exposed to health risks and safety hazards, especially from lead in soil. At Superfund residential lead sites,
18 percent of the population live below the national poverty level, 15 percent do not have a high school
degree, and 51 percent are people of color. By cleaning up and returning contaminated land to productive
use, EPA will improve the health and livelihood and reduce the environmental and health effects of exposure
to contamination in communities, especially overburdened communities. This includes lowering the risk of
elevated blood lead levels for children living near lead-contaminated sites.70
69 U.S. EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management 2020. Data collected includes brownfields site information from EPA’s Assessment, Cleanup and Redevelopment
Exchange System (ACRES) database at the end of FY 2020 and population data from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey.
70 Klemick, H., Mason, H., & Sullivan, K. (2019). Superfund cleanups and children’s lead exposure. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 100, https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jeem.2019.102289.

73
Together with federal, Tribal, and state
partners, EPA’s cleanup programs will
reduce risks to human health and the
environment while also returning them
to productive reuse and providing
economic and additional environmental
benefits. Thousands of sites across the
country have been transformed—from
abandoned, contaminated industrial
sites into parks, landfills into solar
farms, and former smelters into health
clinics. By assessing and cleaning up
brownfields properties, EPA will bring
direct economic and environmental
gains to communities. Through FY
2020, on average, $20.13 was leveraged
for each EPA brownfields dollar, and
10.3 jobs were leveraged per $100,000 of EPA brownfields funds expended on assessment, cleanup, and
revolving loan fund cooperative agreements.71 Several studies have shown that environmental benefits
accrue when brownfields sites are used for redevelopment, such as reduction of paved surfaces and vehicle
miles traveled.72

Long-Term Performance Goals

• By September 30, 2026, bring human exposures under control at an additional 60 Superfund sites.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, complete 225 Superfund cleanup projects that address lead as a
contaminant.
• By September 30, 2026, clean up an additional 650 brownfields properties.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, make an additional 425 RCRA corrective action cleanups Ready for
Anticipated Use.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, conduct an additional 35,000 cleanups at Leaking Underground Storage
Tank facilities.

Strategies
To return a formerly contaminated site to productive reuse takes strong local and regional economies
and supportive federal, state, and local land use, housing, and transportation policies. EPA will collaborate
with its partners to clean up sites and return them to productive use, and involve people in decisions
that affect their environment or health, especially communities with environmental justice concerns.
EPA will engage with and increase involvement of communities to develop their visions for revitalization
by identifying economic drivers and connecting community needs to federal investments. In carrying
out Superfund removal actions, EPA will partner with communities to ensure that their concerns are
identified and accounted for while working with Tribal, state, local, and other stakeholders. Work under
71 U.S. EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management 2020. FY 2020 program accomplishments from EPA’s ACRES Database.
72 2020 Environmental Benefits of Brownfields Redevelopment — A Nationwide Assessment. For more information, see: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/2020-
environmental-benefits-brownfields-redevelopment-nationwide-assessment-0.

74
this objective will support the FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal to clean up contaminated sites and
invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and economic vitality of overburdened and
underserved communities. Under this Agency Priority Goal, EPA plans to engage with communities that are
overburdened and underserved to provide technical assistance supporting community-identified needs
addressing water and clean-up challenges.
During FY 2019-2020, over 40 percent of Superfund removal completions were in communities with
environmental justice concerns. EPA will continue to support marginalized and overburdened communities
by removing or mitigating exposure to harmful substances and remediating contaminated land for reuse.
EPA has identified nearly 1,200 Superfund National Priority List (NPL) and Superfund Alternative Approach
(SAA) sites where lead is a contaminant of concern, potentially exposing children in communities across
the country.73 EPA will continue a cross-program effort focusing on environmental lead exposure reduction
with emphasis on where the burden of lead exposure disproportionately impacts communities with lower
socioeconomic status. EPA also will address lead-contaminated soil at Superfund sites by developing site-
specific cleanup levels accounting for total lead exposure at a site. EPA also will work with Tribal and state
agencies to advance cleanup of abandoned uranium mining impacted lands. In addition, EPA will consider
climate change and weather science as part of standard operating practices in Superfund cleanup projects74
and take steps to reduce the carbon footprint of Superfund remedies.
EPA will help build vibrant communities by supporting Tribes, states, local governments, and nonprofit
organizations as they assess, cleanup and plan reuse of brownfields properties and by providing job training
opportunities, particularly in underserved communities. Additionally, EPA will provide Tribal nations and
states with critical financial and technical assistance resources to build their brownfields response programs.
EPA will provide direct technical assistance to communities to support community visioning, engagement,
market and feasibility studies, and project financing options. In carrying out cleanup and redevelopment
efforts, EPA will continue to strengthen community-driven approaches by working with neighborhoods,
towns, and regions to help them revitalize in ways that support improved environmental outcomes and
disaster resilience and respond to challenges of the 21st century. EPA will leverage federal, state, and local
resources to strengthen partnerships across all levels of government and with the private sector, allowing
these partners to build on each other’s successes.
EPA is undertaking an
Agencywide effort to
determine the best way to
mitigate and reduce PFAS
pollution. EPA, responsible
parties, and other federal
agencies will assess
the nature and extent
of PFAS contamination
and other contaminants
of concern at sites, and
EPA will coordinate with
responsible parties and
lead federal agencies to
identify and use effective
remediation approaches.
As part of its oversight
73 For more information, see: https://www.epa.gov/leadactionplanimplementation/implementation-status-report-epa-actions-under-december-2018-federal.
74 For more information, see: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-climate-resilience.

75
responsibility at federal facility sites, EPA will establish best practices for PFAS investigation and cleanup.
EPA will work to keep pace with the surging number of actions for PFAS at Department of Defense and
other federal facility sites and oversee cleanup efforts where PFAS releases have been identified as a risk to
human health or the environment. EPA also will consider statutory and regulatory authorities to address
PFAS contamination. For example, EPA is considering a proposal to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous
substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
EPA will support states in cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks (LUST),75 and directly implement
assessments and cleanups of petroleum contamination in Indian country. EPA will provide technical
assistance and training to Tribes and states on how to conduct cleanups and improve the efficiency of
state programs. Along with Tribal and state partners, EPA will work to revitalize abandoned facilities by
implementing strategies to reduce the number of sites that have not reached cleanup completion and to
address new releases as they are confirmed. EPA will create an environmental indicator with UST and LUST
data in EJSCREEN, EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool. The new indicator will include
national information from active UST and LUST sites, including sites in Indian country. EPA will work to
integrate environmental justice into cleanups’ prioritization and decision making to ensure that the most
vulnerable communities are protected from further environmental harm.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Cleanup remedies at contaminated sites may be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including fires,
floods, and extreme weather events.
The potential releases from emerging fuels (such as E15 and higher blends of ethanol) stored with
incompatible tanks and equipment or corroded diesel fuel UST systems could significantly impact resources
available for cleanup. A 2016 study76 found moderate to severe corrosion inside 83 percent of examined
diesel fuel tanks. EPA’s coordination and cooperation efforts with the UST stakeholder community remains
critical. The impacts of an aging UST infrastructure could lead to more frequent and more catastrophic
releases. This would strain state resources to ensure appropriate oversight as well as negatively impacting
available resources for cleanup.
New scientific information, including new toxicity information or a new analytical method, can call previous
determinations into question. For example, the discovery of new pathways, such as vapor intrusion, and
emerging contaminants make remediating contaminated sites more challenging.
State programs are likely to encounter resource challenges and have less money to support cleanup efforts
as states experience declines in gas tax revenues associated with the emergence of electric vehicles and a
downward trend in the amount of gasoline sold annually. Possible impacts of economic transition to electric
vehicles, including battery recycling and legacies of petroleum-era infrastructure, pose challenges. Lead
battery recycling facilities are a common type of cleanup the Superfund removal program conducts and, if
recycling of lithium becomes a valuable economic venture in the future with minimal oversight, the pattern
would likely repeat.

75 States as referenced here also include the District of Columbia and five territories as described in the definition of state in the Solid Waste Disposal Act.
76 EPA’s July 2016 research report, Investigation of Corrosion-Influencing Factors in Underground Storage Tanks with Diesel Service (EPA 510-R-16-001). July 2016. https://
www.epa.gov/ust/investigation-corrosion-influencing-factors-underground-storage-tanks-diesel-service.

76
 Objective 6.2:
Reduce Waste and Prevent Environmental Contamination
Prevent environmental pollution by preventing releases, reducing waste, increasing
materials recovery and recycling, and ensuring sustainable
materials management practices.

Introduction
To prevent future environmental contamination and
protect the health of the approximately 5.3 million EPA is working to develop a
people living within one mile of a hazardous waste stronger, more resilient, and cost-
facility, EPA and its state partners issue RCRA permits effective U.S. municipal solid waste
for approximately 6,700 hazardous waste units (such recycling system.
as incinerators and landfills) at 1,300 facilities. EPA will
ensure that permit decisions, including decisions to issue,
renew, or deny permits, reflect the latest technology and standards, and remain protective under changing
conditions, such as climate change. EPA will also ensure that all communities, including those who are
marginalized and overburdened, have an equitable opportunity to engage in the permitting process.
Through its National Recycling Strategy,77 EPA is working to develop a stronger, more resilient, and cost-
effective U.S. municipal solid waste recycling system. Recycling has been a long-standing critical component
of EPA’s waste management efforts and is the foundation for Sustainable Materials Management, which
aims to reduce the environmental impacts of materials across their lifecycle. Recycling is an important part
of a circular economy, which refers to a system of activities that is restorative to the environment, enables
resources to maintain their highest values, and designs out waste. A circular economy approach provides
direct, measurable reductions in GHG emissions as natural resource extraction and processing make up
77 For more information on the National Recycling Strategy, see: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-11/final-national-recycling-strategy.pdf.

77
approximately 50 percent of total global
GHG emissions. Reducing waste helps
alleviate burdens on populations that
bear the brunt of poorly run waste
management facilities and transfer
stations and underinvestment in waste
management infrastructure. When
applied to critical minerals, a circular
economy approach facilitates end-of-
life recycling and the recovery of critical
minerals in order to support a secure
supply chain.
To protect groundwater sources from
releases of petroleum from USTs, EPA
will continue to work with Tribal and
state partners to prevent these releases.
This work will help mitigate the negative
environmental impacts to communities that are historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely
affected by persistent poverty and inequality. As of September 2020, approximately 53 million people live
within one-quarter mile of an active UST facility, and they tend to be minority populations and have lower
income than the average U.S. wage earner.78

Long-Term Performance Goal

• B
 y September 30, 2026, increase the percentage of updated permits at RCRA facilities to 80% from
the FY 2021 baseline of 72.7%.

Strategies
EPA will update the RCRA solid and hazardous waste regulations, as necessary, to ensure protective
standards for managing solid and hazardous waste. From 2016 to 2019, EPA issued and implemented
regulatory improvements for hazardous waste generators, recyclers, and for pharmaceutical waste.
These revisions affect tens of thousands of manufacturers and businesses that generate, recycle, and
otherwise manage solid and hazardous waste. EPA will continue to develop outreach and guidance to help
stakeholders implement these protective requirements while encouraging resource conservation.
In implementing regulations for coal combustion residuals, EPA is taking action to ensure that the concerns
of nearby communities are addressed in a protective manner. EPA is emphasizing proper monitoring
of groundwater, protective closure, and corrective actions to address contamination. Furthermore, as
authorized in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016,79 EPA will continue to work
to approve state permit programs for coal ash disposal as well as a federal coal ash permit program.
EPA has set goals through 2030 for recycling and reducing food waste as well as decreasing lifecycle
environmental impacts of materials. EPA will collaborate with federal, Tribal, state, and local organizations,
and other stakeholders to develop additional strategies for food waste and the built environment. EPA
78 U.S. EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management 2021. Data collected includes: (1) LUST information as of late-2018 to mid-2019, from the Office of Research and
Development and Office of Underground Storage Tanks UST Finder, https://gispub.epa.gov/ustfinder; and (2) population data from the 2015-2019 American Community
Survey.
79 For more information about the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN Act), see: https://www.epa.gov/coalash/permit-programs-coal-
combustion-residual-disposal-units.

78
will administer grant programs to improve Tribal, state, and local solid waste management programs
and infrastructure and education and outreach on waste prevention. EPA also will address land-based
contributions to the mismanagement of post-consumer materials and plastic waste.
In order to support the Administration’s efforts to secure supply chains for critical minerals, EPA will work
with public and private sector partners on strategies to increase the circularity and recycling of products,
such as batteries, that contain critical minerals as well as the recovery of critical minerals from mining waste.
To reduce risk posed by USTs located at nearly 200,000 facilities throughout the country, EPA and state
partners will work to ensure that every UST system is inspected at least once every three years, as required
by statute.80 EPA is working to ensure biofuels and other emerging fuels are stored in compatible UST
systems. In addition, EPA will implement these UST regulations in Indian country in partnership with the
Tribes. EPA will focus on
supporting all aspects
of the Tribal prevention
programs, including the
development of inspection
and compliance assistance
capacity. EPA will provide
facility-specific compliance
assistance for UST facility
owners and operators
in communities with
environmental justice
concerns in Indian country.
EPA will work to integrate
environmental justice
into release prevention
prioritization and decision
making, ensuring the most
vulnerable communities
are protected from further
environmental harm.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

The potential impacts of a changing climate, including extreme weather events such as tornadoes, fires, and
hurricanes on hazardous waste and UST facilities across the nation will affect EPA’s work. Also, new waste
streams continue to emerge as technology advances and new products are designed and manufactured.
The general trend away from landfills and toward the recycling of materials using new technologies will
require further evaluation. In addition, the impacts of an aging UST infrastructure could lead to increased
difficulty in preventing more frequent and more catastrophic releases. This would strain state resources for
release prevention activities such as inspections because of the enhanced need to focus on riskier sites. The
potential incompatibility of emerging fuels (such as E15 and higher blends of ethanol) stored with existing
tanks and equipment, or increased corrosion in diesel fuel UST systems, also could create challenges to
preventing releases.

80 For information about the Energy Policy Act of 2005, see: https://www.epa.gov/ust/energy-policy-act-2005-and-underground-storage-tanks-usts.

79
 Objective 6.3:
Prepare for and Respond to Environmental Emergencies
Prevent, prepare, and respond to environmental emergencies and support other
agencies on nationally significant incidents, working with Tribes, states, and local
planning and response organizations.

Introduction
Environmental emergencies
are caused by both natural and
anthropogenic effects. Those
emergencies caused by natural
forces are growing in frequency
and in the risks they pose. EPA will
strive to prevent such emergencies
and be ready to respond when
they occur, in coordination with
and through the support of partner
organizations. EPA’s leadership
for national preparedness for
emergency responses is designated
as a Primary Mission Essential
Function. Agency coordination with
Tribes, states, local communities,
and industry helps to ensure national safety and security during responses.
EPA will continue to develop and implement regulations and policies that aim to prevent environmental
emergencies and enhance the ability of communities and facilities to prepare for and respond to
emergencies. EPA’s highly trained corps of on-scene coordinators and special teams will prepare for the
possibility of significant incidents by maintaining and providing guidance and technical assistance to Tribal,
state, and local planning and response organizations to strengthen their preparedness.

Long-Term Performance Goal

• B
 y September 30, 2026, ensure that 40% of annual emergency response and removal exercises that
EPA conducts or participates in incorporate environmental justice.

Strategies
During an incident, EPA plays a central role in working to prevent, mitigate, or contain the release of
chemical, oil, radiological, biological, or hazardous substances. The Agency will coordinate with Tribes, states,
local communities, and industry to help ensure national safety and security during responses.
To strengthen its prevention and readiness framework for responding to environmental emergencies
(including from climate and extreme weather), EPA will develop and update regulations under its statutory
authorities, establish policies, and develop supporting capabilities and information. EPA also will coordinate
with and provide technical assistance and training to support federal, Tribal, state, and local partner

80
organizations to better prepare for and respond to environmental emergencies and ensure communities
have access to chemical safety information. EPA will continue to operate RadNet, the Agency’s national
environmental radiation monitoring system, providing officials with access to data and improving their
ability to make decisions during and after a radiological incident. The Agency also will maintain a robust
physical and information security and preparedness infrastructure, ensuring that its numerous facilities and
information systems are secured and protected in line with federal requirements.
Exercises are a key component of EPA’s preparedness – they provide an opportunity to plan and assess
capabilities needed to accomplish EPA’s prevention and readiness objectives and address areas for
improvement. Results of these exercises identify strengths and areas for improvement that enhance the
Agency’s emergency response capabilities. Unannounced preparedness exercises at facilities subject to
EPA’s Facility Response Plan (FRP) requirements are an essential compliance monitoring activity performed
by EPA Regions. For example, these field exercises help assess whether a facility is prepared to respond
to a discharge of oil. As part of these exercises, EPA recognizes the importance of reflecting the needs and
interests of communities with environmental justice concerns.
The Agency will continue to deploy its assets to support emergency response. The Portable High-
throughput Integrated Laboratory Identification System (PHILIS) mobile laboratory asset provides on-
site analysis of chemical warfare agents and environmental samples contaminated with toxic industrial
compounds. This resource is part of EPA’s Environmental Response Laboratory Network and will be pre-
deployed in anticipation of incidents or deployed anywhere in the U.S. after an incident. The Airborne
Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) is the nation’s only airborne real-time
chemical and radiological detection, infrared, and photographic imagery platform. EPA will use ASPECT to
assist local, national, and international agencies with hazardous substance responses, radiological incidents,
and situational awareness.
EPA’s chemical safety and oil programs will prioritize inspection activities at high-risk facilities to protect
communities, including those with environmental justice concerns. EPA will review the programs to
determine if risks posed by climate change warrant modifications to the programs.
EPA homeland security research fills critical scientific and technological gaps that enhance the Agency’s
ability to carry out its national preparedness and emergency response and recovery obligations and
inform disaster response and guidance. EPA will develop tools, methods, and data needed to implement
environmental statutes effectively and support federal, Tribal, state, and local emergency responders in
characterizing chemical, oil, biological, or radiological contamination; assessing exposure and risks to human
health and the environment; cleaning up impacted areas; and improving community resilience. EPA also
will consider regulatory modifications under Clean Air Act Section 112(r) to help prevent serious industrial
chemical accidents, mitigate those that occur, and provide communities with better access to information
about industrial chemical hazards.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

The risks posed by climate change are growing, with previously unforeseen risks developing and worsening,
increasing the need for emergency response efforts. Chemical and oil facilities can be vulnerable to rising
seas, wildfires, high heat, flooding, and other events that can endanger these facilities and result in, or
worsen, an incident.
As infrastructure becomes more tightly coupled and dependent on remotely accessed or internet-
connected data acquisition and control technologies, the threat of cyber terrorism will increase the potential
for oil and chemical releases. EPA will need to continue to work with federal, Tribal, state, and local agency
partners to prepare for and respond to this threat.

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 Goal 7:
Ensure Safety of Chemicals for
People and the Environment

82
 Goal 7:
Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment
Increase the safety of chemicals and pesticides and
prevent pollution at the source.

Introduction
EPA is responsible for ensuring the
safety of chemicals and pesticides
for people at all life stages and the
environment, improving access
to information, and preventing
pollution at the source before it
occurs. The Agency focuses on
assessing, preventing, and reducing
releases and exposures resulting
from the manufacture, processing,
use and disposal of chemicals
and pesticides, and advancing
community right-to-know. Through
risk evaluation/assessment and
management, encouragement of
safer alternatives, and effective data
management, EPA strives to ensure
protection of communities and the
environment from unsafe exposures,
especially to children, the elderly,
and those with environmental justice
concerns (including low income,
people of color, and Indigenous peoples) who may already be disproportionately impacted by and at risk
from exposure to other stressors. In addition, EPA works to ensure public access to chemical and pesticide
data, analytical tools, and other sources of information and expertise; and promotes source reduction,
integrated pest management, and other pollution prevention strategies by organizations and businesses.

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 Objective 7.1:
Ensure Chemical and Pesticide Safety
Protect the health of families, communities, and ecosystems from the risks posed by
chemicals and pesticides.

Introduction
Chemicals are ubiquitous in the products Americans use daily and are present in the environment and
people’s bodies. EPA has significant responsibilities under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for
ensuring the safety of chemicals in or entering commerce and addressing unreasonable risks to human
health and the environment. This work will play an important role in enhancing environmental justice and
tackling the climate crisis as described in Executive Orders 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for
Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government and 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and
Abroad. Also, under TSCA, EPA is responsible for collecting and managing vast amounts of chemical data/
information, securely managing Confidential Business Information, and reducing exposure to lead in paint
and dust, especially in disproportionately affected communities.
The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which amended TSCA in 2016, introduced
far-reaching improvements to America’s chemical safety scientific, regulatory, and information infrastructure
and enhanced EPA’s ability to protect human health and the environment from chemical risks. Under Section
5,81 EPA assumed responsibility for making safety determinations in its review of hundreds of new chemical
submissions annually. Under Section 6,82 EPA assumed new responsibilities for systematically prioritizing and
comprehensively evaluating at least 20 chemicals at a time, assessing additional chemicals at manufacturers’
request, and managing identified unreasonable risks—all under statutory deadlines.
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and
81 Actions under TSCA Section 5: https://www.epa.gov/reviewing-new-chemicals-under-toxic-substances-control-act-tsca/actions-under-tsca-section-5.
82 Regulation of Chemicals under Section 6(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/regulation-
chemicals-under-section-6a-toxic-substances.

84
Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), and the Pesticide
Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018 (PRIA 4), EPA is charged with protecting people and the
environment from the risks that pesticide use can pose. EPA reviews and makes determinations on whether to
register new pesticides andnew uses for existing pesticides and other registration requests in accordance with
statutory requirements. EPA also makes sure exposure to subgroups and sensitive life stages, including infants
and children, are reflected in the human health risk assessments supporting these regulatory determinations
and that pesticides do not pose unreasonable adverse effects to the environment. In addition, under the
registration review process the Agency reevaluates pesticides that are already in the market against current
scientific standards for human health and the environment. Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA),83 EPA
is charged with ensuring that pesticide registration and registration review decisions do not jeopardize the
continued existence of federally-listed threatened and endangered species or adversely modify designated
critical habitat.

Long-Term Performance Goals

• B
 y September 30, 2026, complete at least eight High Priority Substance (HPS) TSCA risk evaluations
annually within statutory timelines compared to the FY 2020 baseline of one.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, initiate all TSCA risk management actions within 45 days of the completion
of a final existing chemical risk evaluation.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, review 90% of past risk mitigation requirements for TSCA new chemical
substances decisions compared to the FY 2021 baseline of none.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, recertify before the expiration date 36% of lead-based paint Renovation,
Repair, and Painting (RRP) firms whose certifications are scheduled to expire compared to the FY
2021 baseline of 32%.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, complete 78 pesticide registration review cases with statutory due dates
that fall after October 1, 2022.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, consider the effects determinations or protections of federally threatened
and endangered species for new active ingredients in 90% of the risk assessments supporting
pesticide registration decisions for new active ingredients compared to the FY 2020 baseline of
50%.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, consider the effects determinations or protections of federally threatened
and endangered species in 50% of the risk assessments supporting pesticide registration review
decisions compared to the FY 2020 baseline of 27%.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, support Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) pesticide safety
training for 20,000 farmworkers annually compared to the FY 2018-2020 annual average baseline of
11,000.

83 Summary of the Endangered Species Act: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-endangered-species-act.

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Strategies
Over the next four years, EPA will focus on meeting
EPA will focus on meeting statutory
statutory requirements and mandatory deadlines for
ensuring that its chemical reviews are efficient, effective, requirements and mandatory
and transparent to EPA’s stakeholders. EPA will ensure deadlines for ensuring that its
that decisions stemming from chemical reviews are chemical reviews are efficient,
transparent, use methods and tools based on the weight effective, and transparent to EPA’s
of scientific evidence, are consistent with the best
stakeholders.
available scientific information, and are reasonable and
consistent with the intended use of the information.
EPA is responsible for reviewing all new chemical submissions before they enter commerce to determine
whether the chemicals may pose unreasonable risks to human health or the environment. EPA will conduct
risk assessments for more than 500 new chemical notice and exemption submissions annually and make
affirmative determinations on whether unreasonable risks are posed under those chemicals’ conditions
of use. This involves managing identified risks, publishing Significant New Use Rules, and requiring
development of additional data when information is insufficient to conduct a reasoned evaluation.
EPA will continue to ensure that the public has access to as much chemical safety information as allowed by
law to increase transparency and support stakeholder engagement in the agency’s activities on chemical
risks. EPA also will continue to reduce exposures to lead in paint by establishing standards for inspection,
risk assessment, and abatement of lead-based paint hazards, along with training and certification programs,
among other efforts.
Consistent with its statutory responsibilities,84 85 86EPA will continue to review and register new pesticides and
new uses for existing pesticides, and other covered applications under PRIA and act on other registration
requests in accordance with FIFRA and FFDCA standards. Many of these registration actions will be for
reduced-risk conventional pesticides and biopesticides, which, once registered and used by consumers,
will increase benefits to society, including infants and children, and reduce ecological impacts. Additionally,
EPA will continue to reevaluate existing pesticides in the marketplace every 15 years to ensure the FIFRA
standard for registration continues to be met based on current science. Working together with the affected
communities, through integrated pest management (IPM) activities, the Agency plans to accelerate the
adoption of lower-risk products.
The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP)87 is an EPA partnership program that works with
the nation’s pesticide-user community to promote IPM practices. Resources are focused on funding projects
that reduce the impacts of pesticide use in agricultural settings, including reduced use of pesticides.
Selected projects could address pesticide use in rural areas or in Indian country, promoting IPM practices
that benefit these communities.
The Agency will partner in the development of training, outreach, tools, and informational brochures
to promote IPM efforts and provide guidance to schools, farmers, other partners, and stakeholders.
Millions of America’s workers are exposed to pesticides in occupations such as agriculture, lawn care,
food preparation, and landscape maintenance. The Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS)88 and
the Certification of Pesticide Applicators (CPA)89 revised rules (finalized in FY 2015 and FY 2017, respectively)
84 Summary of Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-federal-insecticide-fungicide-and-rodenticide-act.
85 Summary of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-federal-food-drug-and-cosmetic-act.
86 Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018 (PRIA 4): https://www.epa.gov/pria-fees.
87 Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program: https://www.epa.gov/pesp.
88 Agricultural Worker Protection Standard: https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-worker-safety/agricultural-worker-protection-standard-wps.
89 Revised Certification Standards for Pesticide Applicators: https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-worker-safety/revised-certification-standards-pesticide-applicators.

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are key elements of EPA’s strategy for reducing occupational exposure to pesticides. EPA will continue to
support the implementation of the regulations through education and outreach, guidance development,
and grant programs. Efforts to implement the WPS include addressing environmental justice issues in rural
communities, especially for farmworkers and their families.
Under the ESA,90 EPA is responsible for ensuring that pesticide regulatory decisions will not destroy or
adversely modify designated critical habitat or jeopardize the continued existence of species listed as
threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS). EPA will assess in its FIFRA registration and registration review regulatory determinations whether
listed endangered or threatened species or their designated critical habitat may be affected. Where risks
are identified in a biological evaluation, EPA will work with the Services through a consultation91 process to
ensure these new or existing pesticide registrations also will meet the ESA standard.92 EPA will also continue
to develop processes to protect listed species earlier in the regulatory and consultation processes and
pursue other major improvements to its ESA compliance work in coordination with the Services.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Advances in science and technology are continually expanding the range and nature of chemicals
submitted for EPA review, which demands that the Agency keep pace with scientific knowledge and
technological capabilities. As an example, the program has received submissions for new chemicals used in
nanotechnology, batteries, and semiconductors. Likewise, new understandings of chemical exposures and
risks can require EPA to reprioritize activities to protect human health and the environment. Chemical safety
programs may be affected by changing levels of economic activity, as exemplified by the impacts of housing
market fluctuations on lead renovation, repair, and painting work.
The impacts of climate change and subsequent alteration of ecosystems likely will change where crops
are grown and result in more pests and diseases in many areas. This is expected to pose growing workload
demands, including increases in ecological risk assessments to support new pesticide and registration
review decisions that evaluate potential endangered species impacts.
In addition, there is great value in tracking occupational pesticide exposure incidents but there are
limitations to existing systems in providing national trends. In the future and as resources allow, EPA will
strive to improve its ability to track trends using available pesticide incidence data sources (e.g., NIOSH
SENSOR-Pesticides data).

90 For additional information on the Endangered Species Protection Program, see: https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/about-endangered-species-protection-program.
91 For additional information, see: https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/assessing-pesticides-under-endangered-species-act.
92 For additional information on how EPA protects endangered species from pesticides, see: https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species.

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 Objective 7.2:
Promote Pollution Prevention
Encourage the adoption of pollution prevention and other stewardship
practices that conserve natural resources, mitigate climate change, and
promote environmental sustainability.

Introduction
EPA’s implementation of pollution prevention (P2) practices under the Pollution Prevention Act of 199093 is
one of the Agency’s primary tools for advancing environmental stewardship and sustainability by federal,
Tribal, and state governments, businesses, communities, and individuals. These practices focus on reducing
the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering a waste stream or released into
the environment prior to recycling of discarded material, treatment, or disposal, as well as conserving the
use of natural resources. P2 grants contributed to the elimination of 16.9 million metric tons of greenhouse
gases (GHGs) between 2011 and 2019.
Through these approaches, the Agency helps business, consumers, procurement officials, organizations, and
others reduce costs and access market opportunities while achieving significant reductions in hazardous
releases to air, water, and land; hazardous materials use; GHG generation; and water use. EPA’s Toxics Release
Inventory (TRI)94 tracks implementation of pollution prevention activities by reporting releases from facilities
and serves as a critical source of public chemical release, management, and P2 information to support
community-right-to-know and advance EPA’s chemical safety goals.

93 Summary of the Pollution Prevention Act: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-pollution-prevention-act.

94 Toxics Release Inventory Program: https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program.

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Long-Term Performance Goals
• B
 y September 30, 2026, reduce a total of 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(MMTCO2e) released attributed to EPA pollution prevention grants.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, EPA’s Safer Choice program will certify a total of 2,300 products compared
to the FY 2021 baseline of 1,950 total certified products.

Strategies
EPA will focus on carrying out sector-focused P2 National Emphasis Areas95 and enabling the replication
and leveraging of business successes. This work will be supported by the annual funding for administering
P2 grants provided through 2026 by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, implemented in alignment with
Justice40. The Agency will customize, develop, and deliver training to identify and deploy source reduction
and engineering solutions to companies, consumers, and communities. EPA also will implement training and
outreach for disproportionately affected communities, as well as Tribal, state, and local governments, to help
with product and service procurement choices that are environmentally sound and promote human and
environmental health.
EPA plans to update and strengthen the standards of the Safer Choice (SC) program,96 which advances
chemical safety by increasing the availability and identification of products containing ingredients that
meet stringent health and environmental criteria, through a notice and comment process after consultation
with stakeholders. The Agency will conduct outreach with federal, Tribal, state, and local government
procurement officials, and institutional and industrial purchasers, to communicate the benefits of SC and
other environmentally preferable products, and work to make SC-certified products more widely available
to people of color and low-income communities. EPA will offer technical assistance to businesses to help
custodial staff and house cleaning companies gain access to protections from occupational exposure-
related conditions (e.g., asthma) and to SC-certified products. EPA also will update the Safer Chemical
Ingredients List to enhance transparency and facilitate expansion of safer chemical choices and products,
including increasing the number and volume of SC-certified products.97
EPA will work to expand its recommendations for addressing product categories with positive climate
change impacts in support of E.O. 14008, which directs federal agencies to align management of federal
procurement in support of climate action. EPA will implement the Framework for the Assessment of
Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels to provide a transparent, fair, and consistent approach
to evaluating the environmental sustainability of product standards and ecolabels for federal purchasing.
EPA also will contribute to the development of sustainability standards associated with critical minerals.
EPA will continue to facilitate market adoption and penetration of new commercially successful chemistries
and technologies through the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, which raise the profile and credibility
of innovative green and sustainable chemistry technologies. This initiative has resulted in awards to 123
technologies from more than 1,800 nominations over the last 25 years. Winning technologies are estimated
to eliminate 7.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents released to air each year, which is equivalent to
taking 770,000 cars off the road.
The TRI program has provided data to support partnerships between community groups and companies
that resulted in decreased air emissions.98 EPA will continue research on tools that can quickly and accurately
95 P2 National Emphasis Areas: https://www.epa.gov/p2/p2-national-emphasis-areas-neas.
96 For additional information on Safer Choice, see: https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice.
97 Safer Chemical Ingredients List: https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice/safer-ingredients.
98 TRI for Communities: https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/tri-for-communities.

89
identify vulnerable communities near TRI facilities, which would support prioritization of P2. EPA will
continue to publish the TRI and use analyses of toxic chemical releases from industrial facilities located near
overburdened and disproportionately affected communities to identify and develop sector-specific P2 case
studies, best practices, outreach, and training. This will help facilitate adoption of P2 practices in the facilities
and in the communities themselves.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Interest and participation in P2 activities can be driven by economic conditions, the regulatory climate,
and public pressure for industry to adopt P2 solutions such as safer alternatives to chemicals and products
currently in the marketplace. The program will continue to engage with public and private sector
stakeholders to facilitate adoption — and showcase accomplishments — of green chemistry advances,
explore opportunities to further integrate green chemistry into federal procurement through product
standards/specifications/ecolabels, and provide leadership on green chemistry across federal agencies.

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 Cross Agency Strategies

STRATEGY 1:
Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making

STRATEGY 2:
Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages
and Other Vulnerable Populations

STRATEGY 3:
Advance EPA’s Organizational Excellence and Workforce Equity

STRATEGY 4:
Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships and
Enhance Engagement

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 Cross-Agency Strategy 1:
Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making
Deliver rigorous scientific research and analyses to inform evidence-based
decision making.

Introduction
EPA’s ability to protect human health and the environment depends on the integrity and quality of
the information, data, and evidence that provide the scientific foundation for Agency decisions. EPA
is committed to restoring the public’s trust in government through scientific integrity and science-
based decision making. As both a producer and user of scientific information, data, and evidence, EPA is
responsible for delivering scientific research and analyses to inform science-based decision making and
for using the best available scientific information, data, and evidence to inform decisions and develop
environmental policies, guidance, and regulations. EPA’s cross-agency strategy will strengthen EPA’s culture
of scientific integrity, advance the delivery of rigorous and independent scientific evaluation and analyses,
and ground EPA’s actions in the best available science.
Science touches all parts of EPA, from regional laboratories that analyze scientific data to inform immediate
and near-term decisions on environmental conditions, emergency response, compliance and enforcement,
to national program scientists and engineers who conduct and use science to inform regulations and
national compliance and enforcement initiatives. A major component of EPA’s science enterprise is the

92
research and development program,99 which focuses on delivering leading-edge research to meet near-term
and long-term science needs of the Agency, informing EPA decisions, and supporting the emerging needs of
Tribal, state, and community partners.

Long-Term Performance Goals

• B
 y September 30, 2026, increase the annual percentage of Office of Research and Development
(ORD) research products meeting partner needs to 95% from a baseline of 93% in FY 2021.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, implement 126 actions for scientific integrity objectives that are certified
by Deputy Scientific Integrity Officials in each EPA program and region.

Actions
Over the next four years, EPA will strengthen the policies
and procedures surrounding scientific integrity and the use EPA is committed to restoring
of science and evidence to inform Agency decision making. the public’s trust in government
There are a number of key actions that support the outcomes through scientific integrity and
for this strategy. science-based decision making.
Ensuring Scientific Integrity: Scientific integrity results
from adherence to professional values and practices when conducting, communicating, supervising, and
using science. It ensures objectivity, clarity, reproducibility, and utility, and it provides insulation from
bias, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, outside interference, censorship, and inadequate procedural and
information security. At a fundamental level, scientific integrity safeguards the science that informs EPA’s
mission-driven work. EPA will advance and strenghten a culture of scientific integrity across the Agency by
ensuring adherence to the scientific and ethical standards outlined in EPA’s Scientific Integrity Policy.100 EPA
will make sure that every EPA employee, contractor, grantee, and collaborator understands their personal
responsibility to use and communicate science with honesty, integrity, and transparency, both within and
outside the Agency. Agency officials also have the responsibility to recognize the distinction between
scientific information and the decisions that are informed by such information and, in so doing, not suppress
or alter scientific findings or impede the timely release of scientific findings or conclusions.
To improve and strengthen the Agency’s culture of scientific integrity, EPA’s national program offices and
regional offices will reaffirm their commitment to fostering open, objective, and honest investigation
and discussion of scientific activities, data, and conclusions. This includes supporting robust discussion of
different scientific points of view,101 which helps to guard against inadequate science and flawed analyses,
and proactively taking action to enhance implementation of EPA’s Scientific Integrity Policy throughout
the Agency. EPA will also continue to provide employees and officials with access to a network of deputy
scientific integrity officials to whom they can turn for advice to prevent lapses in scientific integrity or to
report allegations of a loss of scientific integrity.
Delivering Rigorous Scientific Research and Analyses: EPA will develop and deliver rigorous scientific
research, assessments, and analyses to meet near-term and long-term science needs of the Agency, inform
EPA decisions, and support the emerging needs of Tribes, states, territories, and communities. The Agency
carries out this effort through a network of scientists, engineers, and laboratories that span EPA’s regional
offices, national program offices, and research and development program. EPA will evaluate the quality,
99 About the Office of Research and Development: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-research-and-development-ord.
100 EPA’s Scientific Integrity Policy: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-02/documents/scientific_integrity_policy_2012.pdf.
101 Approaches for Expressing and Resolving Differing Scientific Opinions: https://www.epa.gov/scientific-integrity/approaches-expressing-and-resolving-differing-scientific-
opinions#:~:text=EPA%20expects%20and%20encourages%20all,plausible%20explanations%20of%20that%20evidence.

93
usability, and timeliness of select Agency scientific products to ensure that Agency science is relevant,
timely, and of sufficient quality to inform evidence-based decision making and work to increase the percent
of scientific products that meet decision makers’ needs.
As part of its overall portfolio of scientific work, the EPA will renew and refocus efforts to develop the science
and quality data needed to tackle climate change, advance environmental justice, and protect children’s
environmental health. To do this, EPA will restore the role of science and evidence in addressing the climate
change crisis and advance a rigorous exploratory and applied climate adaptation science program. EPA
will conduct climate-related research in its laboratories and centers, support research through its grants
program, conduct policy-relevant assessments, communicate research and assessment results, and deliver
innovative and sustainable solutions. EPA will conduct scientific research on cumulative impacts to better
inform decisions aimed at advancing environmental justice. For example, EPA will conduct scientific
research to improve understanding of disproportionate impacts that can arise from unequal environmental
conditions and exposure to multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors, as well as how to evaluate
interventions that would mitigate or eliminate such disproportionate impacts. EPA will also provide tools,
training, and technical support to advance community-led projects that develop scientific information, data,
and evidence that inform local decisions. Finally, where feasible based on availability of data and methods,
EPA will explicitly and consistently assess risks to childhood lifestages and other vulnerable populations as
part of the Agency’s approach for developing risk assessments and in its research agenda.
Underlying the Agency’s scientific activities is a commitment to rigorous quality assurance, appropriate peer
review, and the timely release of scientific information. EPA’s quality program102 provides the framework for
planning, implementing, documenting, and assessing work performed by EPA, contractors, and grantees
and for carrying out required quality assurance and quality control activities. EPA’s quality program also
includes the Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of
Information Disseminated by the Environmental Protection Agency,103 which contain EPA’s policy and
procedural guidance for ensuring and maximizing the quality of information the Agency disseminates.
Independent peer review is integral to ensuring the rigor of Agency analyses, methodologies, and scientific
and technical products. EPA’s Peer Review Handbook104 provides a roadmap to ensure the Agency’s
peer review policy105 is implemented effectively and that the integrity of its peer review activities can be
demonstrated transparently to the public. EPA’s Public Access Plan106 details the Agency’s commitment to the
timely release of scientific information to the public. EPA’s Best Practices for Clearance of Scientific Products at
EPA107 promotes the development of clearance procedures that are transparent, clear, timely, predictable, and
consistent.
Under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, EPA is developing and will fully
implement an Agencywide policy for evaluations and other evidence-building activities to ensure that
evaluations and evidence that inform policies and decisions are relevant, rigorous, independent and
objective, transparent, equitable, and ethical.
Using Science in Decision Making: To restore public trust in EPA’s decision making, the Agency is
committed to reinforcing science as foundational to decision making. This means that EPA will strive to use
and communicate science with honesty, integrity, and transparency and to make this information accessible
to the public, including to overburdened and underserved communities. EPA is committed to ensuring that
102 How EPA Manages the Quality of its Environmental Information: https://www.epa.gov/quality.
103 Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by the Environmental Protection Agency: https://www.
epa.gov/quality/guidelines-ensuring-and-maximizing-quality-objectivity-utility-and-integrity-information.
104 EPA’s Peer Review Handbook: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/documents/epa_peer_review_handbook_4th_edition.pdf.
105 EPA’s Peer Review Policy: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-01/documents/peer_review_policy_and_memo.pdf.
106 Plan to Increase Access to Results of EPA-Funded Scientific Research: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-12/documents/
epascientificresearchtransperancyplan.pdf.
107 Best Practices for Clearance of Scientific Products at EPA: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-05/documents/best_practices_for_clearance_of_scientific_
products_at_epa_final_21may2018.pdf.

94
scientific integrity is upheld when conducting scientific, technical, or risk assessments and analyses and in
the decisions that are informed by such assessments and analyses. Scientific assessments and analyses are
of particular importance for informing the development of many decisions and include, but are not limited
to, health or environmental effects, exposure, and impact or risk assessments; cost-benefit analyses; and
other technical support documents. These assessments and analyses use, evaluate, and integrate existing
and emerging information and data from diverse scientific disciplines to form scientific conclusions. Because
of their importance to evidence-based decision making, EPA is committed to following well established,
scientifically rigorous protocols and guidelines for conducting scientific, technical, or risk assessments or
analyses, which help to guard against political interference and bias and promote consistency in scientific
assessments and analyses. EPA will continue to use its cross-agency Science and Technology Policy Council,
and the Risk Assessment Forum that it oversees, to develop high-quality, scientifically rigorous guidelines for
conducting risk assessments that incorporate new advancements in science.
Restoring public trust and confidence in EPA’s actions also means being transparent about how EPA makes
decisions, including being transparent about the use of science in Agency actions. EPA will strive to clearly
articulate the role of science in every major action the Agency undertakes. This includes identifying the
science EPA considered and clearly describing how EPA evaluated and used the science and the confidence
the Agency has in the resulting scientific conclusions. It also includes allowing for public review and
comment on EPA’s use of science in regulatory decisions (with appropriate protections for privacy). In
addition, EPA’s programs will review existing internal procedures and, if needed, modify them to explicitly
document the integrity and quality of the relevant scientific information, data, and evidence and how
that information, data, and evidence were considered in the decision-making process. This includes any
discussion of differing scientific opinions or other scientific integrity issues raised during the process.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

Several external factors and emerging issues could impact EPA’s ability to achieve the outcomes under
this cross-agency strategy. EPA must continue to be able to attract and retain world-class scientists and
engineers to bring innovation and cutting-edge scientific and technical expertise to inform EPA’s work.
This strategy may also be impacted by human-made or natural disasters—including climate-related
disasters—that require EPA scientists and engineers to quickly pivot from conducting planned scientific
activities to generating critical scientific information, data, and evidence to inform immediate or near-
term human health and environmental actions or decisions at the federal, Tribal, state, and local levels. For
example, the COVID-19 global pandemic brought unforeseen and unprecedented challenges to EPA. While
EPA successfully pivoted to virtual work, some field and laboratory work was delayed and some scientific
resources were redirected to assist with the federal response to the pandemic, including new research
to reduce the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Future pandemics could
impact the Agency’s ability to conduct field and laboratory work in a similar fashion. In addition, advances
in science and technology (e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology) may bring new
opportunities for solving environmental challenges, while also presenting new challenges for the Agency
(e.g., resources, training, ethics).

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 Cross-Agency Strategy 2:
Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages and Other
Vulnerable Populations
Focus on protecting and improving the health of children at all life stages and other
vulnerable populations in implementing our programs.

Introduction
By being able to live, learn, and play free from Protecting children against toxic
environmental exposures that contribute to harmful exposures is essential to human
health effects, children and vulnerable populations are
health protection and therefore,
given the best opportunity to thrive throughout their
lives. Protecting children against toxic exposures is must be included in all relevant EPA
essential to human health protection and therefore, must decisions and programs
be included in all relevant EPA decisions and programs,
both regulatory and voluntary. Throughout its programs,
EPA strives to apply and promote the use of science, policy, partnerships, communications, and action to
protect children at all life stages and vulnerable populations from adverse health effects resulting from

96
harmful environmental exposures. EPA also will take actions to protect children and vulnerable populations
in underserved communities who suffer disproportionately from the effects of exposures enhanced by
socio-economic determinants of health, and to address any impacts that are exacerbated by climate change.
Children’s environmental health refers to the effect of the environment on an individual’s growth,
wellness, development, and risk of disease at all life stages. EPA actions will be informed by two important
considerations: (1) the scientific understanding of childhood as a sequence of life stages, from conception
through infancy and adolescence to early adulthood (age 21); and (2) the recognition that protecting
children’s health at all life stages is necessary to achieve the Agency’s mission. Children may be at greater risk
to environmental contaminants than adults if exposure occurs during windows of enhanced toxicological
susceptibility. Children may also experience greater exposure than adults as they eat more, drink more, and
breathe more in proportion to their body size and due to their unique behaviors, such as breast feeding,
crawling, and hand-to-mouth activity. Children can be exposed to environmental contaminants that their
caregivers may inadvertently bring home from their workplace, while adolescent workers may be directly
exposed to harmful chemicals in the workplace. Finally, the effects of early life exposures may become
apparent during childhood and/or may not arise until adulthood or in later generations.

Long-Term Performance Goal

• B
 y September 30, 2026, assess and consider environmental health information and data for
children at all life stages for all completed EPA actions that concern human health.

Actions
Use Science and Policy to Strengthen Protections for Children at All Life Stages and Vulnerable
Populations: To best protect children’s environmental health at all life stages and vulnerable populations,
EPA will identify, evaluate, develop, and promote the use of science to support its policies, decisions, and
actions, including regulations and voluntary programs. EPA will ensure that Agency toxicity, exposure, and
risk assessments consider all relevant and available science to address the unique vulnerabilities of children
and vulnerable populations, including disproportionate impacts related to racial, ethnic, income, or other
social determinants of health. These assessments will inform the evaluation and selection of the levels of
exposure for regulatory action that are protective of children and vulnerable populations, including the
extent to which cumulative or concurrent exposures to chemical and social stressors can modify exposure or
hazard considerations.
EPA will support the development of new science to address uncertainties related to the environmental
health of children and vulnerable populations, including through intramural and extramural research. EPA
will update existing and develop new environmental health indicator data, including factors related to social
determinants of health, to track progress, communicate trends, and identify areas that warrant additional
attention. EPA will develop additional measures of benefits arising from protecting the environmental health
of children and vulnerable populations and take them into account in decision making. EPA will promote
training of environmental and health professionals to respond to children’s health issues related to climate
change, such as natural disasters.
Strengthen and Expand Partnerships and Provide Leadership: EPA will provide national leadership by
working with governmental and non-governmental environmental and health organizations and provide a
forum to support understanding and application of evidence-based information to children’s environmental
health exposure and effects. EPA will develop and support internal and external partnerships and implement
programs to support the protection of children particularly at home, in dependent child-care settings, and

97
in school and childcare settings. The Agency will leverage the capabilities of diverse groups by engaging
partners and stakeholders, providing forums to develop and share evidence-based information, and
distributing information through training, tool sharing, conferences, and publicly available media. EPA will
support healthcare professionals, including those who provide pediatric and obstetric expertise, to better
address risks from childhood exposures.
EPA will co-chair the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children108 with
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, the Agency will make recommendations
to the President on federal strategies to advance children’s health nationwide by exchanging information,
planning targeted research, establishing concerted planning and program implementation, and enhancing
public outreach to support reduction in exposure and risks to children’s environmental health throughout
the country. EPA will also consult with the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee109 to seek input
and advice on how the Agency can improve the effectiveness of its work aimed at protecting children’s
environmental health.
Address Disparities: EPA will protect children and vulnerable populations who live in disproportionately
impacted communities. EPA will consider how social determinants of health affect children and vulnerable
populations, especially as these challenges may reduce resiliency or ability to recover from exposure to
environmental hazards. As the climate changes, it is especially critical that the Agency collaboratively
develops solutions and implements strategies to protect children and sensitive populations from
disproportionate impacts.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

EPA’s ability to strengthen regulatory protections for children and vulnerable populations depends in large
measure on the availability of robust science and information to inform decision making. Environmental
and public health statutes also differ in the extent to which they require protection of children and sensitive
populations. Nationally, children’s environmental health stakeholders share common goals but face
challenges in being heard due to the breadth and depth of children’s environmental health topics that
require attention.

108 For more information on the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children, see: https://ptfceh.niehs.nih.gov/.
109 Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee: https://www.epa.gov/children/chpac.

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 Cross-Agency Strategy 3: Advance EPA’s Organizational
Excellence and Workforce Equity
Foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce within an
effective and mission-driven workplace.

Introduction
To support its mission to protect human health and the environment, EPA will advance organizational
excellence and equity through a workforce that reflects the diversity of the American public and maintains
and promotes a culture of inclusion and accessibility. The Agency will remove barriers that may prevent
small and underserved businesses from doing business with EPA and focus on developing a workforce and
workplace of the future that will meet the demands of the 21st century.
In support of Executive Order 14035: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce,110 the
Agency will strengthen workforce planning of mission-critical positions and continue to prioritize equity and
diversity across all aspects of work life at EPA including recruitment, hiring, development, and succession
management for the next generation of workers. Additionally, the Agency will work to implement the
Agency’s Gender Equity and Equality Action Plan to create a more gender equitable workforce.
In support of the President’s Management Agenda,111 EPA will modernize information technology systems,
improve Agency permitting efficiencies by developing and implementing automation solutions, enhance
the physical workplace for a hybrid workforce, support employee-friendly work policies, and transition to
a paperless work environment. EPA will implement efficient and effective processes across the Agency. The
use of proven techniques and training will equip staff to solve problems, make improvements, and enhance
110 Executive Order 14035: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce (June 25, 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-
actions/2021/06/25/executive-order-on-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-in-the-federal-workforce/.
111 President’s Management Agenda, https://www.performance.gov/pma/.

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EPA’s ability to accomplish its mission. Additionally, EPA will continue to safeguard against cybersecurity risks
to protect Agency assets and infrastructure from potentially malicious attacks. Further, EPA will be a leader
in the Federal Government in advancing the sustainability of facilities and operations while developing
resiliency to respond to the risks of climate change.

Long-Term Performance Goals

• B
 y September 30, 2026, EPA will be in full compliance with the five high-priority directives in
Executive Order 14028: Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity.112
• B
 y September 30, 2026, award 4% of EPA contract spending to small businesses located in
Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones) compared to the FY 2018-2020 average
annual baseline of 2.2%.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, initiate all priority climate resiliency projects for EPA-owned facilities within
24 months of a completed facility climate assessment and project prioritization.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, EPA will achieve the highest Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility
(DEIA) Maturity Level of “Leading and Sustaining” as defined by the November 2021 Government-
wide Strategic Plan to Advance DEIA in the Federal Workforce and achieve all EPA goals identified in
the Agency’s Gender Equity and Equality Action Plan.
• By September 30, 2026, automate all priority internal administrative processes.
• By September 30, 2026, automate the major EPA permitting programs.
• By September 30, 2026, improve 1,000 operational processes.

Actions
Fostering Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in EPA’s Workforce
Recruit and Maintain a Workforce Representative of the American Public: EPA strives to be a model employer
for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the Federal Government. EPA will strengthen its ability
to recruit, hire, develop, promote, and retain a workforce that reflects the diversity of the American people.
EPA will expand and further promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility principles and will identify
and eliminate barriers that hinder such efforts. The Agency will promote diversity among EPA leadership by
providing opportunities in management positions, including the Senior Executive Service. EPA will increase
outreach to underrepresented and underserved communities, including minority-serving institutions,
improve accessibility to Agency systems and applications, and better leverage special hiring authorities,
such as Federal internship programs, to provide entry-level career development opportunities to students
and recent graduates and Schedule A Hiring Authority for persons with disabilities.
In implementing Executive Order 14035 and in support of the Government-Wide Strategic Plan to Advance
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce,113 EPA will develop an EPA Diversity, Equity,
Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Plan. EPA’s DEIA Plan will set goals for cultivating a balanced work-life-
wellness environment for employees and establish measures for tracking progress. EPA will engage staff
to shape Agency decisions, improve processes, and strengthen flexible work practices. EPA will strengthen
112 Adoption of Multifactor Authentication and Encryption; Encryption of Data at Rest and Data in Transit; Adoption of Enhanced Logging; and Adoption of Zero Trust
Architecture.
113 Government-Wide Strategic Plan To Advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Accessibility In The Federal Workforce (November 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2021/11/Strategic-Plan-to-Advance-Diversity-Equity-Inclusion-and-Accessibility-in-the-Federal-Workforce-11.23.21.pdf.

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its partnership with labor unions and advance equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity
across the Agency. EPA will champion fair and inclusive employee-friendly policies and opportunities for
continuous learning. EPA also will develop collaboration tools to improve communication, cross-program
integration, access to information, and transparency. EPA will use a maturity model to assess implementation
across three levels of compliance as established in the Government-Wide Strategic Plan To Advance Diversity,
Equity, Inclusion, And Accessibility In The Federal Workforce. The maturity model methodology will support EPA
in effectively building an infrastructure for supporting DEIA according to EPA’s specific structure and needs.
Implement Workforce Planning/Succession Management: EPA’s mission to protect human health and the
environment requires a highly skilled and dedicated workforce. More than 25 percent and growing of EPA’s
workforce is or will be eligible for retirement in three years, which will impact every region and program.
Along with changing workforce demographics, this presents a unique opportunity for EPA to transform its
human capital processes, including workforce planning, knowledge transfer, and succession management.
EPA is carrying out evidence-building activities to address priority questions related to workforce planning,
one of EPA’s Learning Agenda priority areas. The Agency will use the results to inform and develop policies
and approaches that equip employees with the needed competencies, knowledge, and most up-to-date
tools to advance EPA’s mission.
Promoting an Effective and Mission-Driven Workplace
Create the EPA Workplace for the Future: EPA will work to modernize and enhance governance of information
technology (IT), information management (IM) systems, and the associated infrastructure as well as
enterprise software development and architecture capabilities. EPA will build capacity to conduct
meaningful customer and stakeholder engagement and incorporate Customer Experience (CX) design
practices into IT/IM systems. EPA will provide IM expertise and solutions that support programmatic
planning, capacity building, and decision making. This includes geospatial capabilities, web support, access
to IM solutions, and data collection, analytics, and visualization.
EPA will implement the Federal Data Strategy to leverage federal data in carrying out the Agency’s work.114
EPA also will continue to operate and maintain existing financial and administrative federal shared service IT
solutions, and where appropriate, adopt additional federal shared services. EPA will incorporate remaining
smaller legacy financial systems into the Agency’s core financial system, leverage business process
automation to improve efficiency, and increase transparency of financial data for internal Agency decision
making while implementing appropriate security controls and data governance.
EPA will adopt new workforce and workplace innovations to support the future of work. The re-envisioned
physical workspace will require adapting space to support the seamless collaboration and engagement of
a hybrid workforce. It will allow the Agency to optimize its real estate portfolio, thus reducing the Agency’s
environmental footprint and facility costs in the long term through lease, utility, and security savings. EPA
will adopt new IT tools to better manage shared space, reduce paper-based processes, and bridge the
technology gaps in the workplace that exist when operating in a hybrid work environment. EPA also will
evaluate workforce flexibilities to support the hybrid workforce transition. These actions will reimagine EPA
as a model federal employer and strengthen the ability to attract, recruit, retain, and empower top talent
while advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
As EPA envisions the future of work with a hybrid workforce, it is imperative that EPA rethinks paper and low-
tech forms and processes to move toward a paperless work environment based on electronic workflows for
administrative and programmatic functions. For example, as Information Collection Requests are renewed,
the Chief Data Officer of the Agency will work to transition new requests to electronic submission to
modernize how EPA receives data from outside parties.
114 For more information on the Federal Data Strategy, see: https://strategy.data.gov/.

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EPA will advance the paperless transformation
through the automation of permit application,
review, and issuance processes for EPA’s
permitting programs.115 Automation of the permit
application process will reduce processing time
on issuing permits, decrease the time between
receiving monitoring data and engaging in
enforcement actions, and foster transparency
by allowing communities to search, track, and
access permitting actions easily. Further, permit
automation will enable the integration of climate
change and environmental justice considerations
into permit processes and ensure that they are
addressed within the terms and conditions of the
permit.
EPA will continue to digitize legacy paper records and information through the operations of EPA National
Digitization Centers. The Agency will work to enhance the EPA content management system, which will
leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning for content tagging in the records digitization process
to improve the quality and overall availability of
digitized permanent records. This will enable access to
permanent records regardless of physical work location EPA will implement all
and the ability to access environmental health and Administration Executive Orders
safety information across organizational boundaries or on climate and will refocus its
environmental media. internal operations on the carbon
Enhance Cybersecurity: EPA, in line with Executive Order pollution-free energy use and net-
14028: Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity,116 will zero emissions in line with federal
modernize its cybersecurity defenses to protect EPA sustainability goals.
networks and IT assets and strengthen EPA’s ability
to respond to incidents as they occur. EPA will ensure
Agency IT systems support multifactor authentication and encryption, address cybersecurity protection
gaps through the continuous diagnostics and mitigation program, and quickly identify and respond to
federal-wide cybersecurity threats and incidents. The Agency will implement a Zero Trust Architecture,
which includes comprehensive security monitoring; granular risk-based access controls; and system security
automation coordinated throughout all aspects of the infrastructure to focus on protecting data in real-time
within a dynamic threat environment.
Advance Justice and Equity in EPA Acquisition and Grants: Working with EPA’s Equity Team and Agency
partners, EPA will focus on removing barriers that may prevent small and underserved businesses from
conducting business with EPA. The Agency will increase spending significantly on small and underserved
businesses and specifically target businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones
(HUBZones).117 EPA will accomplish this by eliminating barriers to its procurement processes through greater
diversification of the Agency’s vendor base, increasing engagement and technical assistance, and enhancing
the Agency’s contracts with new vendors. For assistance agreements, EPA will develop requirements for
tracking and reporting on grant place of performance, which is the location where grant dollars are spent
115 B road statutory frameworks for the permitting programs are found in Sections 165, 173, and 502 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 7475, 7503, and 7661a), Section 402
of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1342), Section 3006 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. § 6926), and Section 1422 and Section 1425 of the Safe
Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 300h and 300h-4).
116 Executive Order 14028: Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity (May 21, 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/12/
executive-order-on-improving-the-nations-cybersecurity/.
117 Small Business Administration’s HUBZone Program: https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/hubzone-program.

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and/or benefits are received, and incorporate equity and environmental justice considerations into the
grant decision-making process to the maximum extent practicable. EPA also will partner with organizations
that assist underserved communities to use EPA’s acquisition and grant processes to benefit underserved
communities through providing technical assistance and outreach to support grantees in meeting federal
requirements for sound financial management and lowering the barriers to federal funding opportunities.
Support Administration Climate Sustainability and Resiliency Priorities: EPA will implement all Administration
Executive Orders on climate and will refocus its internal operations on the carbon pollution-free energy use
and net-zero emissions in line with federal sustainability goals. Specifically, EPA will work to implement the
goals established in Executive Order 14057: Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal
Sustainability.118 To accomplish this, EPA will invest in energy infrastructure retrofits to mechanical systems
for existing facilities, incorporating climate sustainability and resiliency into new facility commissioning,
and transition its vehicle fleet to zero-emission electric vehicles, including charging infrastructure for EPA
facilities. EPA will prioritize sustainable workplace choices that Agency employees can easily practice, such as
recycling and composting initiatives and eliminating single-use containers to divert and reduce solid waste
from landfills. The Agency will prioritize the acquisition of sustainable products that it can reuse, refurbish, or
recycle in line with statutory purchasing requirements.
EPA is committed to the safety of its personnel, the
integrity of its buildings, the efficiency of its operations, Environmental outcomes are best
and the sustainability of the communities in which its achieved through collaborative and
facilities are located. However, the impacts of climate effective partnerships across all
change, including more frequent and intense storms,
levels of government
wildfires, water shortages, and sea level rise, pose
challenges to meeting these objectives. Adaptation
planning to protect EPA’s workforce, operations, underlying infrastructure, and supply chains is crucial. EPA
will implement activities that protect the Agency’s workforce, facilities, critical infrastructure, supply chains,
and procurement processes from the risks posed by climate change. Further, EPA will leverage procurement
practices to increase the energy and water efficiency of its buildings where it is feasible to do so, and ensure
they are climate ready.

External Factors and Emerging Issues

EPA faces several factors that may impede its ability to advance organizational excellence and workforce
equity. Faced with an aging workforce that is increasingly retirement eligible, the Agency’s ability to attract
staff for mission-critical occupations is a continuing challenge that impedes succession management and
knowledge transfer. EPA competes with the private sector as well as other federal agencies for the diverse
talent pool with skills needed for tomorrow’s workforce. Additionally, there may be barriers to federal
employment that disproportionally impact underserved populations and limit the ability to recruit a
workforce representative of the American public. Furthermore, continually changing IT/IM and cybersecurity
technologies and requirements pose challenges to implementing Agencywide enterprise architecture
standards, cybersecurity readiness, and ability to modernize systems and infrastructure. Lastly, the impacts
of climate change on EPA operations and physical infrastructure continue to be an unknown for which EPA
must prepare.

118 E xecutive Order 14057: Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability (December 8, 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/
presidential-actions/2021/12/08/executive-order-on-catalyzing-clean-energy-industries-and-jobs-through-federal-sustainability/.

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 Cross-Agency Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local
Partnerships and Enhance Engagement
Collaborate and engage effectively with Tribal nations in keeping with the Federal
Government’s trust responsibilities, state and local governments, regulated entities,
and the public to protect human health and the environment.

Introduction
Protecting human health and the environment is a shared responsibility of EPA and its Tribal, state, and local
government partners. State and local governments provide the majority of on-the-ground environmental
protection in this country, implementing federal environmental laws as well as their own. In Indian country
EPA directly implements the majority of federal programs. Many innovative and effective public health
and environmental programs are initiated at the Tribal, state, and local levels. Environmental outcomes
are best achieved through collaborative and effective partnerships across all levels of government,
successful oversight of federally delegated programs, and robust engagement with non-governmental
organizations, national and community groups, industry, and the public, built on a foundation of public
trust and transparency, including through timely responses to information requests. Through a renewed
focus on intergovernmental relationships, improving on-the-
ground community engagement, enhancing collaboration
In keeping with the Federal
with the business community, delivering high-impact
environmental education programs, and increasing public Trust Responsibility, the Agency
trust and transparency, EPA will forge stronger partnerships. will endeavor to protect the
As a result, EPA will advance durable policies to its most environmental interests of Indian
pressing challenges and ensure the equitable protection of Tribes when carrying out its
all communities, including those who have historically been responsibilities that may affect
underserved and overburdened.
Indian country.

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Long-Term Performance Goals
• B
 y September 30, 2026, consider Tribal treaty rights as part of all EPA Tribal consultations that may
affect Tribal treaty rights.
• B
 y September 30, 2026, eliminate the backlog of overdue Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
responses, compared to the FY 2021 baseline of 1,056.

Actions
Strengthening the Nation-to-Nation Relationship with Sovereign Tribal Partners: In accordance
with Executive Order 13175: Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation
Relationships,119 and in light of the disproportionate impact of environmental pollution on Native Americans,
EPA is committed to strengthening its nation-to-nation relationship with American Indian and Alaska
Native Tribal Nations. In keeping with the Federal Trust
Responsibility, the Agency will endeavor to protect the
environmental interests of Indian Tribes when carrying out
its responsibilities that may affect Indian country.
Consistent with the trust responsibility, EPA will continue
its existing consultation activities under the EPA Policy on
Consultation and Coordination with Tribes.120 EPA will also
renew focus on integrating consideration of Tribal treaty and
reserved rights early into decision making and regulatory
processes. EPA will continue to improve the Agency’s
web-based Tribal Consultation Opportunities Tracking System, a publicly accessible database used to
communicate upcoming and current EPA consultation opportunities to Tribal governments.
In addition, EPA will focus on building Tribal capacity to increase the number of Tribal co-regulators and
Tribes’ ability to meaningfully participate and engage in environmental protection activities that inform,
support, or enhance EPA direct implementation under federal environmental statutes. EPA will continue
capacity-building activities under the Indian General Assistance Program, the development of mutual
environmental goals on a government-to-government basis through EPA-Tribal Environmental Agreements,
and active use of the flexibilities under the Tribal Performance Partnership Grants rule. The Agency will work
through the EPA National Tribal Operations Committee and support EPA Tribal partnership groups, including
regional Tribal operations committees. Through these groups and other Tribal meetings, EPA will strive to
address pressing environmental issues such as climate change and environmental justice.
Fostering Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships: Environmental and human health protection is a shared
responsibility of Tribes, states, and the Federal Government. More than 50 years after the creation of EPA,
states and local governments serve as primary implementers of many of the nation’s environmental laws.
Due to these unique relationships, the early, meaningful, and substantial involvement of EPA’s co-regulator
partners is critical to the development, implementation, and enforcement of the nation’s environmental
programs. With a renewed focus on climate, environmental justice, and children’s health, EPA will emphasize
frequent and early communication as a keystone of its partnership with Tribal and state co-regulators,
whose concerns and existing regulatory programs must be thoughtfully considered to develop effective and
lasting policies for our most pressing environmental challenges.
119 E xecutive Order 13175: Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships (January 26, 2021): https://www.whitehouse.gov/
briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/memorandum-on-tribal-consultation-and-strengthening-nation-to-nation-relationships/.
120 EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes: Guidance for Discussion Tribal Treaty Rights: https://www.epa.gov/tribal/epa-policy-consultation-and-
coordination-indian-tribes-guidance-discussing-tribal-treaty.

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Through E-Enterprise for the Environment, EPA, Tribal, and state leaders will prioritize shared concerns,
collectively address challenges, and build efficient and effective solutions. By relying on three key principles
to improve environmental program implementation — early and meaningful dialogue with partners who
make decisions together, streamlined and simplified processes, and sharing of technology — EPA, Tribes,
and states can make the best use of new tools and technologies to improve environmental results. EPA
will work with Tribal and state partners to better understand the use of community-led data generation
in environmental management, develop a compliance Learning Agenda, and advance environmental
monitoring technologies. Furthermore, Tribes and states are encouraged to use E-Enterprise Workload
Tradeoffs to adjust grant workplans to focus on collaborative efforts related to work modernization.
Collaboration under the Exchange Network (EN), a standards-based, secure approach for EPA and its Tribal,
state, territorial, and industry partners, will further enhance data management and electronic reporting.
EPA will continue to administer the EN Grant Program121 to support integration and development of tools
leveraging EN technology, data standards, open-source software, shared services, and reusable components.
Under Executive Order 1398: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the
Federal Government, EPA will foster increased Tribal participation in the EN, build data management and
technical capacity, and enable the EN Grant Program to measure the effectiveness of these approaches in
underserved communities. In addition, the Agency plans to continue to support the implementation of the
National Environmental Performance Partnership System122 and the Multipurpose Grant Program,123 which are
the key funding programs that support Tribal and state implementation of environmental programs.
EPA’s oversight role is critical to supporting effective implementation of federally delegated environmental
programs by Tribes, states, and local entities, ensuring protection of civil rights, and protecting communities
that have historically been underserved and overburdened. The Agency will improve and strengthen
oversight of state-delegated programs and collaborate with Tribes, states, territories, and local governments
to identify opportunities for additional oversight improvements. EPA will ensure protections afforded by
the Civil Rights Act are being implemented at all levels of government, which is vital to advancing equity
and environmental justice. Robust oversight of compliance with civil rights laws will address historical and
systemic barriers on the basis of race, color, and national origin that contribute to environmental injustice
and the disproportionate burden of pollution in particular communities.
Improving On-the-Ground Community Engagement: Meeting communities where they are, to
better understand the lived reality of people and the health and environmental challenges they face, is
fundamental to developing effective programs and policies. EPA will meet regularly with stakeholder groups
to seek perspectives on Administration priorities and engage early with relevant stakeholder groups on
upcoming regulatory actions. EPA also will focus on opportunities like site visits, forums, and convenings to
cultivate relationships and stay attuned to the needs and concerns of diverse groups, private sector partners,
and others impacted by the Agency.
When needed, EPA will provide facilitation, mediation, and related services to support EPA’s engagement
with members of the public. When conflict is present or expected, EPA will provide collaboration and conflict
resolution support, including an impartial intervener to help ensure the public’s concerns are heard and
fully considered in Agency decision making. EPA’s public engagement efforts will establish coordination
and communication systems that ensure public participation in rulemaking and Agency regulatory policy
is inclusive, diverse, and accessible. EPA will develop and maintain an extensive, up-to-date database of
stakeholders’ interests and concerns to support engagement and inform policy.

121 Exchange Network Grant Program: https://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/exchange-network-grant-program.

122 National Environmental Performance Partnership System: https://www.epa.gov/ocir/national-environmental-performance-partnership-system-nepps.
123 Multipurpose Grants to State and Tribes: https://www.epa.gov/grants/multipurpose-grants-states-and-tribes.

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Enhancing Private Sector Engagement: Solving the climate crisis and working toward an equitable and
sustainable future will require commitment and action from every sector of the economy. EPA is committed
to working with the business community to advance environmental progress through both its regulatory
programs and its wide array of voluntary programs and non-regulatory initiatives. EPA will continue its
commitment to give appropriate consideration to small business needs, interests, and impacts during policy
and rule development. By engaging with business groups and individual companies, EPA will encourage
and support private sector environmental action, including environmental justice initiatives and the pursuit
of meaningful corporate and sector-wide climate and sustainability goals. The Agency will also continue
its commitment to use and participate in Voluntary Consensus Standards (VCS) as directed by the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA). Use of VCS in regulation, voluntary programs, research,
and other activities helps the Agency achieve robust engagement with industry, academia, NGOs, and
others, harnessing partnerships that enhance public trust and lead to durable policies that enjoy broad
consensus and buy-in.
Promoting Environmental Education: Improving environmental literacy is a critical strategy to
empowering Tribal and local communities with the capacity and resources to accelerate stewardship,
environmental justice, and community-level understanding of climate impacts. EPA implements the
National Environmental Education Act (NEEA)124 and is charged with achieving the environmental education
objectives and supporting public understanding of the Agency. EPA will ensure that environmental
education tools, trainings, curricula, resources, and grants align with strategic priorities to address
climate change, advance environmental justice, support fenceline communities, promote science, and
protect public health. EPA will build strategic partnerships to include underserved communities and
Minority Serving Institutions and increase the conversation around using environmental education as a
tool to achieve environmental justice, climate equity, and economic prosperity. EPA will ask the National
Environmental Education Advisory Council (NEEAC)125 to provide a set of national recommendations
on how frontline and underserved communities can use environmental education to build capacity to
become resilient to the effects of climate change. EPA will create public and private partnerships through
the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)126 to develop programs and initiatives that can
empower frontline communities to address environmental threats, advance equity, and increase economic
prosperity for all.
Increasing Public Trust and Transparency: Transparency in government and the ability to show tangible
results are critical to bolstering public trust and confidence in the nation’s environmental programs. EPA
is carrying out evidence-building activities to address priority questions related to grants, one of EPA’s
Learning Agenda priority areas, to better communicate environmental outcomes stemming from EPA’s grant
programs. The Agency also will enhance its efforts to meet statutory deadlines for responding to Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) requests and eliminate the backlog of overdue responses. Through enhanced
transparency, the public and local communities can participate more meaningfully and partner with EPA in
protecting human health and the environment.
To increase transparency and improve EPA decision making for Tribal program implementation, the
Agency will increase data availability and data quality for regulated facilities and entities in EJSCREEN, EPA’s
Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool.

124 National Environmental Education Act: https://www.epa.gov/education/national-environmental-education-act.

125 National Environmental Education Advisory Council: https://www.epa.gov/education/national-environmental-education-advisory-council-neeac.
126 National Environmental Education Foundation: https://www.neefusa.org.

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External Factors and Emerging Issues
Limited resources across all levels of government affect the ability for Tribal, state, and local governments
to implement federal programs in a timely manner and to adequately protect human health and the
environment.
Use of scientific data generated by the public, as covered by the Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act of
2016,127 is an emerging issue that includes a broad range of activities and projects, from those originating
in academic and government institutions that engage the public in data collection to create knowledge,
to community-led projects intended to develop data and information that address particular issues of
concern. New tools and technologies are making public contributions to science easier—from submitting
photographs to using low-cost pollution sensors. However, there are significant challenges to the use of
such data in environmental policy decisions and regulatory programs, particularly with respect to data
quality and legal and ethical issues regarding objectivity of data. EPA is developing a strategy that considers
the full spectrum of crowd-sourced and community-based science and research.

127 15 USC 3724: Crowdsourcing and citizen science: http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title15-section3724)&num=0&edition=prelim.

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EPA Learning Agenda:
Summary

109
Overview
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) provides a framework
to promote a culture of evaluation, continuous learning, and decision making using the best available
evidence. EPA’s Strategic Plan incorporates learning priority areas for the first time as required by the
Evidence Act, which is a significant part of developing this culture. EPA has identified four learning priority
areas and associated priority questions through robust engagement with relevant EPA staff and external
experts and stakeholders.
Learning Priority: Expanding EPA’s Toolkit of Air Benefits Assessment Methodologies and Practices
Priority Questions
1. How can EPA more comprehensively characterize the health benefits associated with improved air
quality?
2. H
 ow can EPA improve our approach for quantifying and valuing air pollution effects among
populations most susceptible and vulnerable to poor air quality?
3. H
 ow can EPA better account for disproportionate impacts and distribution of disease burden
within the exposed population?
Learning Priority: Drinking Water Systems out of Compliance
Priority Questions
1. To what extent does EPA have ready access to data to measure drinking water compliance reliably
and accurately?
2. What factors determine system noncompliance and continuous compliance?
3. How can we determine if a system has the technical, managerial, and financial capacity to provide
safe water on a continuous basis to its customers?
4. Does increased use of compliance assurance tools (inspections and enforcement) improve system
compliance, and if so, under what circumstances?
5. What EPA oversight activities are effective at assessing and improving state programs’ ability to
drive compliance?
Learning Priority: Workforce
Priority Questions
1. To what extent does EPA have access to the tools and strategies needed to analyze and understand
the Agency’s near and long-term workforce needs?
2. What are the critical skills needed to support the Agency’s mission, now and in the future?
3. What are the leading strategies to attract, recruit, train, and retain a diverse and talented
workforce? What makes people stay in the Agency long-term?
4. How can EPA ensure knowledge is transferred from outgoing to current and incoming staff to
support succession planning?

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Learning Priority: Grant Commitments Met
Priority Questions
1. How do EPA’s existing grant award and reporting systems identify and track grant commitments?
2. What EPA practices and tools (1) effectively track grantee progress towards meeting workplan
grant commitments including outputs and outcomes and/or (2) support communication of
national program level outputs and outcomes?
Are the commitments established in EPA’s grant agreements achieving the intended environmental and/or
human health results, particularly for environmental justice and underserved communities?

To view EPA’s full Learning Agenda, see: https://www.epa.gov/evaluate/evidence-act.

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EPA Capacity Assessment:
Summary

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Introduction
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) requires Chief Financial Officer Act
agencies to conduct a Capacity Assessment to appraise their ability and infrastructure to carry out evidence-
building activities. EPA’s approach to its first Capacity Assessment in the Strategic Plan can be broadly
described in two phases:
The initial phase focuses on assessing EPA’s ability to answer the priority questions in the Agency Learning
Agenda.
The second phase focuses on assessing EPA’s skills, organizational structure, resources, expertise, and
infrastructure to meet Agency Learning Agenda goals, as well as to implement the Evidence Act across the
Agency.

Preliminary Results from the Initial Phase

The initial phase assessed whether the Agency has the skills and resources to answer the priority questions
in the Learning Agenda.
In 2019, EPA established three of the four128 learning priority area workgroups focusing on key topics of
interest to develop and implement the Agency’s Learning Agenda. In 2021, as part of the initial Capacity
Assessment, the Agency conducted a survey and focus groups of the learning priority area workgroup
members to examine whether the Agency has access to the skills and resources to answer the questions in
these three learning priority areas. The survey respondents and focus group participants included members
of the workgroups for the three initial learning priority areas: Drinking Water Systems Out of Compliance,
Workforce, and Grant Commitments Met.
Preliminary Take-Aways: All three priority area workgroups expressed concern about data availability,
data access, and available resources beyond FY 2022. Although these concerns remain, considerable
progress is being made to answer the learning agenda questions. Key priorities for these workgroups
include: communications and change management; engaging with states to fulfill data needs; and ensuring
collaboration with various internal and external stakeholders throughout this effort.

Development of the Maturity Model Approach for the Agencywide

Assessment
The second phase of the capacity assessment will be an Agencywide assessment based on a maturity
model approach. The assessment will examine EPA’s skills, organizational structure, resources, expertise, and
infrastructure (e.g., access to training, hiring capability and contract vehicles) to conduct evidence building
activities, as well as to implement the Evidence Act across the Agency.
EPA’s maturity model addresses five domains: Evaluation, Data Use, Research, Statistics, and Lean
Management. For each domain, the maturity model considers dimensions such as coverage, quality,
methods, independence, and effectiveness. The final maturity model can be found in Appendix A of the FY
2022 Capacity Assessment Report.
To view EPA’s full Capacity Assessment Report, see: https://www.epa.gov/evaluate/evidence-act.

128 T he following three learning priority areas were initiated in December 2019: Drinking Water Systems Out of Compliance; Workforce; and Grant Commitments Met. The
fourth learning priority area, Expanding EPA’s Toolkit of Air Benefits Assessment Methodologies and Practices, was added to the Agency Learning Agenda in April 2021 after
the capacity assessment survey was underway.

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