United States
Environmental Protection Agency
FISCAL YEAR 2022
Justification of Appropriation
Estimates for the Committee
on Appropriations
Tab 00: Introduction
May 2021
EPA-190-R-21-002	www.epa.gov/cj

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United States Environmental Protection Agency
FY 2022 Budget Overview
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is guided by a clear and vital mission:
to protect human health and the environment. While the Agency has made great progress in
advancing this mission over the last fifty years, much work remains to guarantee that all Americans
share in the benefits of clean air, clean water, and safe communities and are protected from the
urgent threats posed by climate change while creating good paying jobs. The FY 2022 President's
Budget for the EPA confronts these challenges with the largest top-line request in the Agency's
history and emphasizes four cross-cutting priorities: Tackling the Climate Crisis through Science,
Advancing Environmental Justice, Supporting State, Tribal and Local Partners, and Expanding the
Capacity of EPA
The FY 2022 Budget request for EPA provides $11.2 billion and 15,324 FTE to expand the
capacity of EPA to safeguard human health and the environment for all communities. In today's
dollars, the FY 2022 Budget returns EPA to similar levels from FY 2010 and the early 2000s. The
Budget includes more than 1,000 new EPA FTE to address the Agency's priorities and work with
our partners across the Nation to make a real difference in the lives of all Americans by meeting
today's environmental challenges and preparing for tomorrow's. The FY 2022 Budget
complements the transformational investments in the American Jobs Plan. The American Jobs
Plan would address aging water infrastructure, replace all lead pipes and service lines in our
drinking water systems, electrify 20 percent of our yellow school bus fleet, invest in monitoring
and remediating PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in drinking water, and accelerate the
remediation and cleanup of contaminated land. The FY 2022 Budget and American Jobs Plan
leverage existing programs at EPA to improve the environmental and public health challenges
facing our Nation, while creating good paying jobs to rebuild America's infrastructure and support
U.S. manufacturing.
The FY 2022 Budget request allocates $1.8 billion to tackle the climate crisis and directs half of
this investment toward advancing environmental justice. This investment recognizes that policies
to tackle climate change also must clean up the legacy pollution that low-income communities and
communities of color have suffered with for far too long. In the process of tackling the climate
crisis there is a historic opportunity to make our communities more resilient to climate impacts,
advance environmental justice, and create good paying jobs. The FY 2022 Budget commits to
ensuring these communities benefit from the country's transition to a cleaner economy and more
climate-resilient infrastructure.
The Agency is currently developing the new FY 2022 - 2026 EPA Strategic Plan to be issued in
February 2022, which will establish a new framework- rooted in a commitment to science,
adherence to the law, and environmental justice- to guide the Agency's priorities and progress.
The plan will include the strategic goals, objectives, four-year long-term performance goals, and
two-year agency priority goals that tether resource investments and strategies to the outcomes that
will better protect human health and the environment.
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FY 2022 Funding Priorities
Tackling the Climate Crisis
The FY 2022 Budget reprioritizes addressing climate change with the urgency the science
demands. EPA's recently relaunched Climate Change Indicators website presents compelling and
clear evidence of changes to our climate reflected in rising temperatures, ocean acidity, sea level
rise, river flooding, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires. The Budget includes an increase of $1.8
billion in programs to tackle the climate crisis while also delivering environmental justice to
marginalized and over-burdened communities, investing in local economies, and creating good-
paying jobs.
For FY 2022, EPA requests a $100 million increase for air quality grants to states and tribes to
help expand the efforts of air pollution control agencies to implement their programs and accelerate
immediate on-the-ground efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Every American deserves to know
their exposure to air pollution. Toward that goal, and in concert with Section 222 of the Executive
Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, the Budget invests $100 million to
develop a community air quality monitoring and notification system to provide real-time data to
overburdened and marginalized communities and enforcement officials. By maximizing the
transparency of air pollution levels at the community scale, we can better ensure that places with
the most significant exposure are being targeted for action and measurable progress.
The FY 2022 Budget includes an additional $60 million to conduct research and deepen our
knowledge of the impacts of climate change on human health and the environment. This
investment more than doubles EPA's climate change research while providing additional
investments to decrease emissions of methane and hydrofluorocarbons. Half of this increase will
fund collaborative research in climate adaption and resilience with the new Advanced Research
Projects Agency for Climate (ARPA-C) that will be located within the Department of Energy. The
Budget also includes additional investments to decrease emissions of methane and
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The Agency is working to implement Executive Order 13990 on
Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.
In FY 2022, EPA will ensure that policy is guided by the best science and is protected by processes
that encourage integrity in the Agency's decision-making.
Both climate mitigation and adaptation are essential components of the strategy to reduce the
threats and impacts of climate change. The FY 2022 Budget will enable EPA to address the climate
crisis while creating good paying jobs in four key ways: adapting to the impacts of climate change
through infrastructure investment; mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas
emissions; expanding our climate research and policy development; and partnering with the global
community to respond to this shared challenge.
Adapting to Climate Impacts through Infrastructure Investment
Upgrading and adapting America's infrastructure to meet the demands of the changing climate is
critical to keeping communities healthy and safe. As the climate warms, more extreme rainfall and
flooding events can damage or overwhelm water systems, leaving entire communities without safe
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water supplies for days or weeks. Flooding events also can disturb and circulate dangerous
pollution from Superfund toxic waste sites, making remediation of these sites a priority for public
health in a warming world.
In the FY 2022 Budget, EPA proposes a $589 million increase in several existing water
infrastructure programs, including the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF), Drinking
Water State Revolving Funds (DWSRF), the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act
(WIFIA) program, and grant programs authorized in the America's Water Infrastructure Act of
2018 (AWIA) and the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016 (WIIN).
Together, these financing programs will advance the Agency's ongoing commitment to
infrastructure repair and replacement and build climate resilience into the water sector. At the same
time, these investments will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs across the country.1
EPA estimates that the country needs to invest more than $743 billion over the next 20 years to
maintain, upgrade, and replace critical drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.2 Today, up
to 10 million homes in America and more than 400,000 schools and childcare centers rely on lead
distribution lines—a clear and present danger to the health of children. EPA's State Revolving
Fund (SRF) programs help states, municipalities, and other eligible borrowers to finance high-
priority investments that improve water quality and protect human health. The FY 2022 Budget
provides $3.2 billion across the two SRF programs, a $464 million increase above the FY 2021
enacted levels, representing nearly 30 percent of EPA's total resource request.
The FY 2022 Budget includes $1,871 billion for the CWSRF Program, a $232 million increase
above the FY 2021 enacted level. The CWSRF Program capitalizes state revolving loan funds in
all 50 states and Puerto Rico to finance infrastructure improvements for public wastewater systems
and projects to improve water quality. It represents the largest source of federal funds for states to
provide loans and other forms of assistance for water quality projects including construction of
wastewater treatment facilities, water and energy efficiency projects, and green infrastructure
projects. In addition to capitalizing the CWSRF Program, a portion of the request will provide
direct grants to communities in tribal nations and territories. The sanitation infrastructure in these
communities often lags the rest of the country, causing significant public health concerns.
EPA's DWSRF is designed to assist public water systems in financing the costs of drinking water
infrastructure improvements needed to achieve or maintain compliance with Safe Drinking Water
Act (SDWA) requirements, to protect public health, and to support state and local efforts to protect
drinking water. The FY 2022 Budget requests $1,358 billion for the DWSRF, a $232 million
increase, to help finance critical infrastructure improvements to public drinking water systems.
States have considerable flexibility to tailor their DWSRF Program to their unique circumstances
and needs, allowing each state to carefully and strategically consider how best to achieve the
maximum public health protection and infrastructure development that benefits all Americans and
is resilient to the impacts of climate change.
1	Jobs Created estimates are based on the U.S. Water Alliance: The Value of Water Campaign: The Economic Benefits of
Investing in Water Infrastructure.
2	For more information on EPA's Clean Water and Drinking Water Needs Survey Reports, visit: https://www.epa.gov/cwns and
https://www.epa.gov/dwsrf/epas-6th-drinking-water-infrastructure-needs-survey-and-assessment.
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The WIFIA Program, created in 2014, is a critical tool to accelerate water infrastructure
investments by leveraging public and private sources of funds to maximize the reach of federal
funds. As of May 2021, the WIFIA Program had issued 50 loans to communities across the country
totaling more than $9 billion in credit assistance to help finance nearly $20 billion for water
infrastructure projects. WIFIA loans for these projects have saved communities more than $4
billion, which they will use to accelerate additional infrastructure investment and keep rates
affordable for water system users. These WIFIA financed projects support 49,000 jobs and serve
more than 31 million people, demonstrating that WIFIA credit assistance is an effective tool to
help address a variety of water infrastructure needs to support all manner of communities
nationwide. The FY 2022 request expands the WIFIA credit subsidy by $12.6 million, which
would enable EPA to provide up to $8 billion in direct credit assistance and help spur more than
$16 billion in total infrastructure investments.
A parallel goal of infrastructure repair and replacement is to advance agency efforts in addressing
lead and other contaminants in drinking water, especially in small and underserved communities.
AWIA strengthened many existing programs within EPA, including programs authorized by the
Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, while creating new programs to
tackle significant public health and environmental concerns. The FY 2022 request expands the
programmatic capacity to support small and disadvantaged communities, to reduce lead in drinking
water, to provide lead testing in schools, to expand sewer overflow control grants, and to build
drinking water resilience. In total, the FY 2022 Budget provides $249.4 million in funding for the
AWIA and WIIN grant programs.
Many communities also face the challenge of cleaning up contaminated lands so that they can be
redeveloped and reused. The FY 2022 request enables the Agency to expedite the cleanup of
hazardous waste sites that litter communities across the country, particularly low-income
communities and communities of color. Of the total funding requested for Superfund, $1,108
billion and 1,261 FTE would support Superfund cleanup programs, a $299.4 million increase over
last year. The cleanup programs include Superfund Remedial, Emergency Response and Removal,
EPA Emergency Preparedness, and Federal Facilities programs. Federal data in a recent
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report suggests that approximately 60 percent of
Superfund sites overseen by EPA are in areas that are vulnerable to wildfires and different types
of flooding—natural hazards that climate change will exacerbate.3 The Agency is working to clean
up these sites with climate change in mind to protect the populations most at risk of toxic chemical
exposure, including children, the elderly, and low-income communities.
Tackling the Climate Crisis through Pollution Reduction
Cutting the pollution that causes climate change not only benefits the climate but also offers
valuable co-benefits for human health. Long-term exposure to elevated levels of certain air
pollutants has been associated with increased risk of cancer, premature mortality, and damage to
the immune, neurological, reproductive, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, while short-term
exposure can exacerbate asthma and lead to other adverse health effects and economic costs.4 The
issues of highest importance for EPA's air program over the next decade will continue to be
3	For more information, please visit: https://www.gao.gov/Droducts/gao-20-73.
4	For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/air-research/research-health-effects-air-pollution.
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reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), ozone-forming pollutants and particulate matter,
and air toxics. Relying on the latest science, EPA will work to reduce the sources of these
pollutants from mobile and stationary sources while creating good paying jobs. The FY 2022
request leverages several approaches including regulatory tools, innovative market-based
techniques, public and private-sector partnerships, community-based approaches, voluntary
programs that promote environmental stewardship, and programs that encourage adoption of cost-
effective technologies and practices.
EPA plays a lead role in implementing a global phasedown in the production and consumption of
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These potent greenhouse gases, which are common in refrigerants
and aerosols, have global warming potentials hundreds to thousands of times larger than carbon
dioxide. This uniform federal phasedown approach led by EPA will decrease the production and
importation of HFCs in the United States by 85 percent over the next 15 years. As a result, it will
help promote American leadership in innovation and manufacturing of new climate-safe products
and create new jobs in this emerging sector. A global HFC phasedown is expected to avoid up to
0.5 degree Celsius of global warming by 2100.
Another EPA effort to reduce GHGs and dangerous air pollution is the Diesel Emissions Reduction
Act (DERA) grant program. The FY 2022 request expands this proven grant program by 67
percent, or $60 million, to expand the availability of DERA grants and rebates to reduce harmful
diesel emissions and tackle the climate change crisis, with a focus on priority areas including
school buses, ports, and disproportionately affected communities. DERA helps remove older
dirtier diesel engines from the roads via retrofits, rebuilds, and replacements; fuel switching and
electrification; and strategies to reduce idling. Pollution emissions from the legacy diesel engine
fleet will fall over time as portions of the fleet are replaced with new engines that meet modern
emission standards. However, without additional action, the Agency estimates that approximately
one million old diesel engines will remain in use in 2030.5 These grants accelerate the pace at
which dirty engines are retired or retrofitted and target resources in areas with poor air quality,
especially those with significant emissions from ports and goods movement. These locations also
often are where lower income communities and communities of color suffer from higher levels of
pollution.
Extraction and processing of natural resources, including fossil fuels, biomass, minerals, and
metals, make up approximately 50 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions.6 As world
population and economies grow, global competition for these finite resources will intensify and
could drive habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, overly stressed fisheries and desertification.
Further, in the United States, materials management is associated with an estimated 42 percent of
total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.7
By investing in domestic recycling and solid waste infrastructure that builds a circular economy,
a system of activities that enables resources to maintain their highest values and designs out waste
while being restorative to the environment, the United States would be positioned to find more
5	DERA Fourth Report to Congress: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-07/documents/420rl90Q5.pdf.
6	U.N. Environmental International Resource Panel, Global Resources Outlook, 2019, p. 8.
7	Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead, https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-
0 9/documents/ vision2. pdf.
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productive and sustainable ways to extract, use, and manage materials. This will benefit the
environment and the economy. According to the U.S. EPA Recycling Economic Information
Report, the U.S. recycling industry provides more than 757,000 jobs and $6.7 billion annually in
tax revenues. In addition to these human resources, the materials themselves hold great value, as
recent data indicate that materials worth $9 billion are thrown away each year. The FY 2022
Budget includes $10.2 million and 43.4 FTE in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Waste Minimization and Recyling Program to better support the sustainable management of
resources, including managing materials that sustainably promote economic growth and reduce
environmental impacts. The Budget also includes a $10 million Solid Waste Infrastructure for
Recycling (SWIFR) pilot grant program to build innovation in the recyling industry. Addressing
climate change mitigation through investment in U.S. recycling and solid waste infrastructure is
the cornerstone of the pilot program requested in FY 2022.
Tackling the Climate Crisis through Research and Policy
EPA's climate change research is guided by scientific integrity and rigor that supports optimal
policy making and regulatory action. Climate change is a public health and environmental justice
crisis that is already impacting air and water quality, as well as posing increasing risks for the
future. While all Americans are at risk, some communities and sensitive populations are especially
vulnerable to poor air quality and the impacts of climate change, such as low-income communities
without the resources to evacuate before a hurricane or bounce back from property loss.
The scientific discoveries made through EPA's research will guide the Agency in developing
policy and regulatory action to address the climate crisis. The FY 2022 request provides an
additional $60 million and 30 FTE above the FY 2021 enacted levels, more than doubling EPA's
climate research resources. This funding will help assess the consequences of climate change and
the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems to its impacts, including wildfires and other
extreme events, and identify and evaluate strategies to adapt to and build resilience to these risks.
Funding will support work to further characterize disproportionate impacts of climate change and
air pollution in communities with environmental justice and equity concerns, identify and evaluate
strategies to reduce impacts in those communities, and develop and evaluate innovative multi-
pollutant and sector-based approaches to preventing pollution.
In FY 2022, EPA will invest in funding research on energy efficiency and renewable energy in
disadvantaged communities and evaluate strategies to bring the benefits of clean modernization in
transportation and energy systems to these communities. In coordination with the Department of
Energy, EPA will apply $30 million to the ARPA model of high-risk accelerated research focused
on achieving transformational technology investments needed to address climate change. EPA's
research will provide insights on climate change adaptation, resilience, and mitigation solutions
for communities across the country.
Legal support and analysis is needed for every major Agency action and plays a central role in the
interpretation of all statutes—new and existing—under EPA's environmental authorities. When the
Agency acts to protect the public and the environment from harmful pollutants, EPA program and
regional offices rely on legal advice to ensure they take the most effective and appropriate action.
In this way, the legal support programs are essential to advancing the mission. The FY 2022 request
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includes an additional $24.8 million and 37.6 FTE to increase the capacity of EPA's legal advice
programs, particularly for work related to climate change and regulatory development.
Tackling the Climate Crisis Together
Environmental protection is a shared responsibility that crosses international borders, and climate
change poses a threat that no one government can solve alone. Only through a collaborative, visible
effort with our international counterparts can we make progress as a global society to abate
pollution and tackle the climate crisis. On Earth Day 2021, President Biden held a two-day Climate
Summit with leaders from the world's largest economies to galvanize efforts to reduce emissions
during this critical decade. Together, we must combat the climate crisis with bold, progressive
action that combines the full capacity of the federal government with efforts from our partners in
every corner of our Nation to achieve our collective climate target of limiting the global average
temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
To this end, President Biden has ambitiously laid out a path that by 2030 the United States will cut
emissions by at least half from 2005 levels. EPA is in a critical position to help demonstrate to our
international partners that America is doing its part to reduce global emissions. The FY 2022
request contributes $9 million in additional funding for EPA's contribution to the international
Multilateral Fund (MLF) to support efforts related to the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal
Protocol. In addition, the FY 2022 Budget includes $6 million and 14 FTE to help implement
provisions in the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, efforts to
implement the Kigali Amendment, and to build back staff capacity around efforts to tackle the
climate crisis. EPA will continue to engage both bilaterally and through multilateral institutions to
improve international cooperation on climate change. These efforts help fulfill EPA's commitment
to Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.
Advancing Environmental Justice
The communities hardest hit by pollution and climate change are most often communities of color,
indigenous communities, rural communities, and communities of lower socioeconomic status. For
generations, many of these communities, which also are amongst the most vulnerable, have been
overburdened with higher instances of polluted air, water, and land. Neither an individual's skin
color nor the wealth of their zip code should determine whether they have clean air to breathe, safe
water to drink, or healthy environments for their kids to play in. And yet, the fair treatment and
meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, have
too often not been fully considered with respect to the development, implementation, and
enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA is working to change that by
centering environmental equity and justice in our mission and incorporating these values into the
fabric of our environmental programs.
EPA recognizes the importance of embedding environmental justice principles in all agency
programs and implementing Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and
Abroad, and Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved
Communities Through the Federal Government. To elevate environmental justice as a top agency
priority, EPA proposes to create a new national environmental justice program office, headed by
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a Senate-confirmed Assistant Administrator, to coordinate and maximize the benefits of the
Agency's programs and activities for underserved communities.
The FY 2022 Budget reimagines how we implement our work by considering environmental
justice impacts and benefits across programs. EPA will implement the President's Justice40
Initiative with the goal of delivering 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal
investments to disadvantaged communities. The FY 2022 Budget includes more than $930 million
in funding across programs to launch a new Accelerating Environmental and Economic Justice
initiative and cement environmental justice as a core feature of EPA's mission.
The Accelerating Environmental and Economic Justice initiative, included in the broader climate
change investment of $1.8 billion, will significantly increase the number of new grant
opportunities for community-based organizations, indigenous organizations, states, tribes, local
governments, and territorial governments in pursuit of their ambitious environmental justice and
climate goals. The Agency's initiative also will strengthen compliance with environmental laws,
particularly in environmental justice communities, and revitalize communities by cleaning up
Superfund sites and contaminated land. EPA also is looking at developing annual and internal
measures to advance key programmatic areas and strategies. Specifically, EPA is currently
evaluating its suite of measures and indicators related to environmental justice, including available
data and programs where improved data sets are needed, in order to identify and/or develop useful
performance measures for environmental justice programs.
Enhance and Expand Environmental Justice Programmatic Efforts
In FY 2022 the Agency will leverage existing programs while increasing the resources and FTE
dedicated to identifying and assisting communities with environmental justice concerns. The
Accelerating Environmental and Economic Justice initiative invests $936 million in new and
existing EPA programs that would help create good-paying jobs, clean up pollution, implement
the Justice40 initiative, advance racial equity, and secure environmental justice for communities
who too often have been left behind, including rural and tribal communities. This includes more
than $100 million to develop and implement a new community air quality monitoring and
notification system that will monitor and provide real-time data to the public on environmental
pollution. The request includes resources to fulfill the President's commitment to engage
meaningfully with overburdened and vulnerable communities during the entire rulemaking
process, from pre-proposal through final promulgation and implementation.
The FY 2022 Budget makes historic investments in environmental justice programs to address the
disproportionate health impacts of communities overburdened by pollution sources. In total, the
FY 2022 request includes an increase of $287 million and 171 FTE to create new environmental
justice programs. These resources will provide new grant opportunities, including: (1)
Environmental Justice Community Grants Program, to competitively award grants to non-profit,
community-based organizations to reduce the disproportionate health impacts of environmental
pollution in communities with environmental justice concerns; (2) Environmental Justice State
Grant Program, to establish or support state environmental justice programs; (3) Tribal
Environmental Justice Grant Program, to support work to eliminate disproportionately adverse
human health or environmental effects on environmental justice communities in Tribal and

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Indigenous communities; and (4) a competitive, community-based Participatory Research Grant
Program to award competitive grants to higher education institutions that aim to develop
partnerships with community entities to improve the health outcomes of residents and workers in
communities with environmental justice concerns.
In FY 2022, the EPA Environmental Justice Program will establish an Environmental Justice
Training Program to increase the capacity of residents of underserved communities to identify and
address disproportionately adverse human health or environmental effects. The Program also will
establish EPA outreach centers housed in EPA regional offices to connect directly with
communities, hold hearings, and support environmental justice efforts at the local level and
throughout the country. The Agency's environmental justice program will support the National
Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) and provide funding and support for the White
House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) to advise the White House
Interagency Council on Environmental Justice and Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ).
To further inform equitable decision making across the federal government and within EPA, more
granular data is needed to effectively target communities in need. The FY 2022 Budget includes
an increase of $5.9 million for EJSCREEN to help the Agency prioritize programmatic work in
communities with environmental justice concerns. In addition, the Budget provides resources to
support the development of a geospatial Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool to enable
EPA and other federal agencies to focus resources and program design to benefit communities
with economic and environmental justice concerns and those most at risk of climate change.
Ensuring Enforcement and Compliance
Ensuring compliance and enforcement of cornerstone environmental laws is paramount to a fair
and just society. In FY 2022, EPA will provide tools and technical assistance to foster the regulated
community's compliance with environmental laws. The Agency will hold bad actors accountable
for their violations, with a particular focus in communities with multiple pollution sources. In FY
2022, EPA will develop and implement a comprehensive action plan for integrating environmental
justice and climate change considerations throughout all aspects of its enforcement and compliance
assurance work.
Within EPA's Compliance Monitoring program, $31.9 million in additional resources will allow
the Agency to incorporate environmental justice considerations into all phases of work without
displacing other important enforcement and compliance assurance efforts. EPA also will provide
targeted oversight and support to state, local, and tribal programs. The Agency will prioritize work
with states to develop methods that successfully leverage advances in both monitoring and
information technology. The Agency will maintain accessibility to the Integrated Compliance
Information System (ICIS) for EPA, states, and tribes and make ICIS data available to the public
via the internet-accessible Enforcement and Compliance History Online system (ECHO). As
EPA's largest mission-focused data system, ICIS is a critical infrastructure used by the Agency,
state, tribal, local and territorial governments, as well as the regulated community, to track
compliance with and enforcement of all EPA statutes, which facilitates greater compliance and
thus protection of human health and the environment. In FY 2022, EPA requests an additional 6
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FTE and $29.9 million to accelerate its efforts to modernize ICIS and support better integration
with the public ECHO database. This modernization will enhance EPA's efforts to address
compliance concerns, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
EPA's Civil Enforcement Program is designed to protect human health and the environment by
ensuring compliance with the Nation's environmental laws. In FY 2022, EPA requests more than
$26 million in additional resources to develop and implement a comprehensive civil enforcement
plan for addressing environmental justice, climate, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),
and coal combustion residue (CCR) rule compliance. These new resources would support
increasing climate and environmental justice-focused inspections and community outreach,
prioritizing climate and environmental justice considerations in case-selection (to emphasize areas
where greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced while providing co-benefits in underserved
communities), and expanding inclusion of greenhouse gas mitigation and climate resilience
remedies and prioritization of environmental justice concerns in case resolutions.
Overburdened and vulnerable communities are most often the victims of environmental crime.
EPA's FY 2022 Budget supports the development of a specialized criminal enforcement task force
to address environmental justice issues and casework in partnership with the Department of Justice
(DOJ). This task force will include Special Agents and criminal justice analysts, as well as witness
coordinators to identify and provide services to victims of environmental crimes in communities
with environmental justice concerns. The FY 2022 request provides $8 million and 32 FTE to
expand EPA's capacity for criminal enforcement to hold illegal polluters accountable and enforce
climate-related regulations, particularly in these vulnerable communities.
Supporting Site Cleanup and Reuse
In FY 2022, $882.4 million is requested for the Superfund Remedial program, an investment of an
additional $293 million, which will enable the start of cleanup work at more than 20 National
Priority List (NPL) sites with new remedial construction projects currently awaiting funding. This
investment also will accelerate cleanup work at more than 15 NPL sites with large, ongoing
construction projects, which require a substantial funding allocation over multiple years, and allow
for enhanced engagement at lead sites. Cleaning up America's most contaminated land and
reducing toxic substances are critical components for the Agency to bolster human health,
particularly in underserved communities where many of these sites exist.
Approximately 73 million Americans live within three miles of a Superfund Remedial site, roughly
22 percent of the U.S. population. This includes 23 percent of all children in the U.S. under the
age of 5.8 Recent research shows Superfund cleanup actions lowered the risk of elevated blood
lead levels by roughly 13 to 26 percent for children living within 1.24 miles of a Superfund NPL
site where lead is a contaminant of concern.9 Remediating contaminated land and restoring it to
productive use is not only an environmental imperative but presents an economic opportunity as
well. A study conducted by researchers at Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh found
8	U.S. EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management 2020. Data collected includes: (1) site information as of the end of
FY2019; and (3) population data from the 2015-2018 American Community Survey.
9	Details can be found at https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/research-environmental-economics-ncee-working-
paper-series.
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that residential property values within three miles of Superfund sites increased between 18.7 and
24.4 percent when sites were cleaned up and deleted from the NPL.10
Investing in brownfields cleanup and redevelopment can revitalize main streets, neighborhoods,
and rural communities, increase property values, and create good-paying jobs. To advance this
work, the FY 2022 Budget includes an additional investment of $40 million to build on current
work to provide financial and technical assistance to assess, cleanup, and plan reuse at brownfields
sites. Since its inception, the EPA Brownfields Program has fostered a community-driven
approach to the reuse of contaminated sites. As of April 2021, grants awarded by the program have
led to more than 142,000 acres of idle land made ready for productive use and more than 176,800
jobs and $34.5 billion leveraged.11 With this increased investment, EPA anticipates leveraging
approximately 13,400 jobs and $2.6 billion in other funding sources.12
Supporting State, Tribal and Local Partners
Addressing climate change and advancing environmental justice represent foundational challenges
the Agency must tackle to deliver on its mission of protecting human health and the environment.
A strong coordinated effort with our state, tribal and local partners will be critical for success. EPA
will use all of its tools to support its partners, including providing targeted financial assistance to
environmental programs, communicating clearly about the Agency's regulatory agenda, and
lending technical support to areas of emerging environmental concern.
Increasing Support for EPA Partners
The Agency understands the difficulty many states face considering shrinking environmental
budgets and rising environmental needs. Our partners rely on EPA assistance through a variety of
financial vehicles such as grants, contracts, and low-interest loans to cover the shortfall and ensure
that human health and the environment is prioritized in all corners of the Nation. Nearly 50 percent
of the FY 2022 Budget request is specifically allocated to EPA's state and tribal partners through
the State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) appropriation. The FY 2022 request allocates $1.242
billion to support our state and tribal partners through categorical grants, which represents a $142
million increase above the FY 2021 enacted level. $100 million of this increase is dedicated to the
State and Local Air Quality Management and Tribal Air Quality Management programs to assist
state governments and tribes in air monitoring, permitting, and pollution reduction efforts,
specifically to accelerate immediate on-the-ground efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Agency recognizes the important role federal assistance provides in protecting water bodies
of special ecological and economic importance to our Nation. Through EPA's Geographic Water
programs, the Agency assists state and multi-state partners and tribes in managing and accelerating
the restoration of the ecological health of these water bodies. In total, the FY 2022 request provides
an additional $36.4 million above the FY 2021 enacted level to increase funding for all Geographic
10	Shanti Gamper-Rabindran and Christopher Timmons. 2013. "Does cleanup of hazardous waste sites raise housing values?
Evidence of spatially localized benefits," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 65(3): 345-360,
http://dx.doi.Org/10.1016/i.ieem.2012.12.001.
11	EPA's ACRES database.
12	U.S EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management Estimate. All estimates of outputs and outcomes are supported by the
data that is entered by cooperative agreement recipients via EPA's ACRES database.
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Water programs and accelerate projects that target the most significant environmental problems in
these important water bodies and watersheds. In FY 2022, EPA will provide resources to accelerate
ecological restoration and sustainable management in the Chesapeake Bay, Columbia River, Gulf
of Mexico, the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Lake Pontchartrain, Long Island Sound, Northwest
Forest Watershed, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, South Florida, and Southeast New England.
Funding will help monitor and restore these ecological treasures and enable sustainable use for
years to come.
Communicating with Partners about EPA's Agenda
EPA's state, local, territorial, and tribal partners benefit from ongoing engagement and
communication about the Agency's regulatory agenda. Successful rulemaking depends on this
engagement in order to foster collaboration and stakeholder buy-in and support informed science-
based policy decisions. This collaboration is a two-way street in which EPA needs to hear the
views of all stakeholders as we work together to protect human health and the environment.
Throughout the FY 2022 request, the Agency provides the necessary resources to perform rule
development and regulatory analysis. For example, through the Federal Support for Air Quality
Management program, EPA will invest an additional $17.3 million and 80 FTE to build back staff
expertise, regulatory analysis, and capacity to implement climate change programs through the
Clean Air Act. In EPA's Drinking Water program, an additional $11.3 million and 53 FTE are
included to support regulatory analysis, development and training, and technical assistance for
state, tribal, and local communities in their efforts to ensure safe and affordable drinking water.
This increase also supports development and implementation of the Lead and Copper Rule
Revisions and the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule. The Agency will continue to
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory programs for states and tribes, including
working to implement Justice40 and advance racial equity and environmental justice for
communities that too often have been left behind, including rural and tribal communities.
Likewise, the Agency plans to engage with all groups that have a vested interest in rulemakings
related to the interpretation of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) in the Clean Water Act. From
small farmers to environmental advocacy groups, EPA will engage with all parties and use the best
available science to set policy, communicate with our partners, and provide the regulatory clarity
they and the public need.
PFAS Technical Assistance to Help Communities
State, tribal, territorial, and local partners also depend on strong federal leadership to address areas
of emerging environmental concern that no one party can solve alone. One area that demands
heightened attention and increased focus in the FY 2022 Budget is per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS). Partners are looking to EPA for resources, research grants, technical
assistance, and regulatory clarity on these so-called "forever chemicals."
As part of the Administration's commitment to addressing PFAS pollution, the FY 2022 request
provides a more than a $10 million increase for PFAS work. A total of $75 million will accelerate
toxicity studies and fund research to inform the regulatory developments of designating PFAS as
hazardous substances while setting enforceable limits for PFAS under the SDWA. Additional
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funds for technical assistance grants also have been set aside for state and local governments to
deal with PFAS contamination in their communities. To provide the technical assistance needed
to our partners, we have established a new EPA Council on PFAS composed of senior EPA career
officials to strategize the best ways to use the EPA's authorities, expertise, and partnerships to
mitigate and reduce PFAS pollution and protect public health and the environment. The Council
will collaborate on cross-cutting strategies; advance new science; develop coordinated policies,
regulations, and communications; and engage with affected states, tribes, communities, and
stakeholders.
Expanding the Capacity of EPA to Fulfill Its Mission
The FY 2022 Budget serves as a critical inflection point to reverse the trend in recent years of a
shrinking EPA workforce. Expanded capacity and growing the Agency is about achieving greater
public health and environmental outcomes for the American people. EPA staff are public servants
and include the front-line scientists, engineers, analysts, community coordinators, and program
managers that implement EPA's mission each and every day. Without increases in full-time
equivalent (FTE) and resources across EPA programs, the Agency will struggle to meet the
multiple environmental challenges facing the country today and in the future. The FY 2022 Budget
supports 15,324 FTEs for EPA, an increase of more than 1,000 compared to the current level of
14,297. Critically, the FY 2022 Budget also includes the payroll to support both existing and new
FTE.
Expanding the capacity of EPA enables the Agency's staff to fulfill our mission more efficiently
and effectively, leading to improved environmental and human health outcomes. Over the past
four years, EPA has lost a significant number of career staff, impacting the Agency's ability to
effectively carry out its core duties and functions to protect public health and the environment. The
Budget invests in EPA's mission-critical capabilities needed to tackle climate change, bolster state
climate programs, advance environmental justice, and prioritize the research and scientific
integrity that guide agency efforts. Additionally, to reflect the changes to EPA's work over time,
EPA is exploring the possibility of potential adjustments to the Agency's long-standing and
complicated budget structure for future years.
Expanded capacity also extends to ensuring that rigorous scientific integrity guides policy and the
Agency's regulatory process. Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence are
central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies and to the delivery of
effective and equitable programs. Environmental challenges in the 21st century are increasingly
complex. For example, the interplay between air quality, climate change, and emerging energy
options require different thinking and solutions than those used in the past. These solutions require
research that transcends disciplinary lines and involve EPA regions and programs working
together with state, tribal and local partners, stakeholders, and communities. The FY 2022 request
includes an additional $72.2 million and 113.7 FTE to expand EPA's research programs.
Scientific integrity is imperative not only in the research the Agency conducts, but in the critical
work of EPA advisory boards and committees. Going forward, EPA scientific experts will have
freedom to provide independent scientific and technological advice and ensure that proper
safeguards are instituted against potential conflicts of interest. To this end, the Agency has reset

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memberships to the Science Advisory Board (SAB) and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory
Committee (CASAC) to ensure the Agency receives the best possible scientific insights to support
our work to protect human health and the environment. EPA's advisory committees, operating as
catalysts for public participation in policy development, implementation, and decision making,
have proven effective in building consensus among the Agency's diverse partners and
stakeholders. In line with President Biden's Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government
Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking,13 EPA remains committed to
ensuring that highly qualified external experts serve on agency committees and that those members
and future nominees of EPA advisory committees reflect the diversity of America in terms of
gender, race, ethnicity, geography, and other characteristics.
The FY 2022 Budget provides additional resources to build agency capacity in managing chemical
safety and toxic substances. EPA has significant responsibilities under amendments to the Toxic
Substances Control Act (TSCA) for ensuring the safety of chemicals in or entering commerce and
addressing unreasonable risks to human health or the environment. Chemicals and toxic substances
are ubiquitous in our everyday lives and are often released into the environment from their
manufacture, processing, use, and disposal. This work is particularly important to protect
vulnerable populations, including low-income, minority, and indigenous populations, as well as
children, who may be disproportionately affected by, and particularly at risk from, exposure to
chemicals.
In FY 2022, the Agency is requesting an additional $15 million and 87.6 FTE, a 35 percent increase
from the FY 2021 enacted FTE level, to meet significant increased responsibilities imposed by the
2016 amendments to TSCA. Emphasis will be placed on quality, adherence to statutory intent and
timelines applicable to pre-market review of new chemicals, chemical risk evaluation and
management, data development and information collection, and review of Confidential Business
Information (CBI) claims. The increased resources are essential for EPA to effectively build
capacity and manage the workload associated with new requirements for chemical risk evaluations
and risk management.
Expanding and building the capacity of EPA to handle the changing research, chemical safety, and
programmatic needs that will ensure human health and environmental protection for years to come
means prioritizing the Agency's support programs through increasingly efficient operations. All
EPA employees, whether they work at headquarters, in one of the Agency's 10 regional offices,
research labs, or finance centers, play a pivotal role in protecting human health and environment.
The Agency has one of the oldest workforces in the federal government, with nearly 30 percent of
the workforce eligible to retire today or in one year.14 The number jumps to over 43 percent of
employees eligible to retire in the next five years. To address this potential shortfall and loss of
institutional knowledge, the FY 2022 request focuses on immediate action to bolster the EPA
workforce and build capacity by facilitating knowledge transfer and planning for the
environmental and human health challenges of the future.
13 https://www.whitehouse.gOv/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/memorandum-on-restoring-trust-in-govemment-
through-scientific-integritv-and-evidence-based-policvmaking/.
14 Information regarding Federal employment statistics can be found through OPM's online data tool, FedScope, located at
http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/.

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One way in which the Agency plans to expand capacity is by attracting and retaining the best
employees: experts in the field who are dedicated to public service. The Budget request includes
an expansion of authority for the Agency's Title 42 program to recruit world class scientists and
scientific leaders for term appointments. The proposal directly supports the Administration's focus
on elevating the importance of science across government. The proposal also expands Title 42
hiring authority to EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) to better
support chemical safety work at the Agency.
EPA also is building capacity in critical mission support offices to manage the increased portfolio
of acquisition contracts and grants proposed in the Budget request. The investment will support
agency-wide capacity building, including oversight and tracking of new and increased grant
investments, and support EPA's contract activities, including planning, awarding, and
administering contracts for the Agency. These investments ensure that EPA can get resources out
the door in a timely and accurate manner. Specifically, the Budget invests an additional $8.5
million and 40 FTE in the Acquisition Management program, $7.6 million and 21.8 FTE in the
Human Resources program, and $3.3 million and 20 FTE in the Financial Assistance Grants/
Interagency Agreement program. In FY 2022, EPA is committed to ensuring members of
underserved communities have equitable access to agency procurement and contracting
opportunities.
EPA believes that transparency and independent oversight of EPA work is more important now
than ever. The public should know how EPA utilizes its resources to ensure we are making the
best use of taxpayer dollars. The FY 2022 request provides an additional $11 million and 31 FTE
to ensure EPA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has the necessary resources to ensure
independent oversight, promote good governance, and contribute to improved human health and
the environment. This increase supports the investigation of cybersecurity intrusions, COVID-19
disinfectant fraud, and the need for robust program oversight in the light of an expanded budget
request. Resources also provide for enhanced support for data analytics and program fraud
detection. Funding also will assist with oversight of supplemental appropriations EPA received as
part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The FY 2022 Budget makes investments needed for EPA and its partners to confront the urgent
environmental challenges facing the country today, and for all of America to realize the return on
these investments. We know that climate change is both a threat, and an opportunity to build a
cleaner and healthier future. We know that for far too long the costs of pollution have been borne
disproportionately in certain communities. We know that EPA will only succeed if we increase
the support the Agency provides its state, tribal, and local partners who implement environmental
laws alongside us. And we know that EPA will best deliver on our mission by fully leveraging the
talents of a renewed and robust workforce of the 21st century. The FY 2022 Budget advances all
of these areas and will strengthen EPA's and our partners' collective efforts in achieving the EPA's
essential mission.
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