FY 2018-2022 EPA Strategic Plan
February 12, 2018
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460
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EPA's Mission
To Protect Human Health and the Environment
Goal 1 - Core Mission: Deliver real results to provide Americans with clean
air, land, and water, and ensure chemical safety.
> Objective 1.1 - Improve Air Quality
> Objective 1.2 - Provide for Clean and Safe Water
> Objective 1.3 - Revitalize Land and Prevent Contamination
> Objective 1.4 - Ensure Safety of Chemicals in the Marketplace
Goal 2 - Cooperative Federalism: Rebalance the power between Washington
and the states to create tangible environmental results for the American
people.
> Objective 2.1 - Enhance Shared Accountability
> Objective 2.2 - Increase Transparency and Public Participation
Goal 3 - Rule of Law and Process: Administer the law, as Congress intended,
to refocus the Agency on its statutory obligations under the law.
> Objective 3.1 - Compliance with the Law
> Objective 3.2 - Create Consistency and Certainty
> Objective 3.3 - Prioritize Robust Science
> Objective 3.4 - Streamline and Modernize
> Objective 3.5 - Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness
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Table of Contents
Administrator's Message 1
Introduction 4
Goal 1: Core Mission 7
Objective 1.1: Improve Air Quality 8
Objective 1.2: Provide for Clean and Safe Water 11
Objective 1.3: Revitalize Land and Prevent Contamination 14
Objective 1.4: Ensure Safety of Chemicals in the Marketplace 17
Goal 2: Cooperative Federalism 21
Objective 2.1: Enhance Shared Accountability 22
Objective 2.2: Increase Transparency and Public Participation 24
Goal 3: Rule of Law and Process 28
Objective 3.1: Compliance with the Law 29
Objective 3.2: Create Consistency and Certainty 33
Objective 3.3: Prioritize Robust Science 35
Objective 3.4: Streamline and Modernize 39
Objective 3.5: Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness 41
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Administrator's Message
0 I am proud to present the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's FY 2018 - FY 2022 Strategic Plan, which emphasizes the
EPA's "Back-to-Rasics" agenda. The agenda set out in this plan has
three over-arching goals which reflect my core philosophies: (1)
refocus the agency back to its core mission; (2) restore power to the
states through cooperative federalism; and (3) lead the agency through
improved processes and adhere to the rule of law.
The agency's mission of protecting human health and the
environment resonates with all Americans; we all can agree that we
want our future generations to inherit a cleaner, healthier environment
that supports a thriving economy.
Our nation has made great progress in making rivers and lakes safer for swimming and
boating, reducing the smog that clouded city skies, cleaning up lands that were once used as hidden
chemical dumps and providing Americans greater access to information on chemical safety.
Plowever, we still have important work to do.
We must create a sense of shared accountability between states, tribes and the federal
government to achieve positive environmental results. Along with faithfully following the rule of
law, improves the processes by which the EPA has operated and is crucial to advance the agency's
mission.
A if
• Over the next five years, the EPA will prioritize key activities to support attainment of the
national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and implementation of stationary source
regulations.
• We will work with our state and tribal partners to rapidly approve their implementation
plans for attaining air quality standards to reduce contaminants that cause or exacerbate
health issues.
Water
• We will modernize and update aging drinking water, wastewater and stormwater
infrastructure which the American public depends on.
• The agency will continue to leverage the State Revolving Funds (SRFs) and Water
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) to assist states, tribes, muni cipalities
and private entities to finance high-priority infrastructure investments that protect human
health and the environment.
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Land
• I am placing particular emphasis on my top priority list of Superfund sites and will
implement Superfund Task Force recommendations to accelerate the pace of cleanups and
promote site reuse, while addressing risks to human health and the environment.
• The agency will accelerate cleanup by re-prioritizing some resources to focus on remedial
actions, construction completions, ready-for-reuse determinations and National Priorities
List site deletions.
Chemicals
• We will prioritize the safety of chemicals in the marketplace in the implementation of the
new Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which modernizes the
Toxic Substances and Control Act (TSCA).
• To achieve this, the EPA will focus on meeting its statutory requirements and mandatory
deadlines of TSCA and ensure our reviews are efficient, effective and transparent to
stakeholders.
More than 45 years after the creation of the EPA most states, and to a lesser extent
territories and tribes, are authorized to implement delegated federal environmental programs
within their jurisdictions. Recognizing the congressionally intended responsibilities of our state,
local and tribal partners, we must adapt and modernize our practices to reduce duplication of effort
and tailor oversight of delegated programs.
For example, the EPA will expand its compliance assistance work by continuing to partner
with third-party organizations and federal agencies to support existing web-based, sector-specific
compliance assistance centers and seek to develop new centers. I will lead an assessment of our
shared governance to clarify the agency's statutory roles and responsibilities and tailor state
oversight to maximize our return on investment and reduce burden on states.
Over the next five years, the EPA will improve its processes and reinvigorate the rule of
law as it administers environmental regulations as Congress intended and will refocus the agency
on its core statutory obligations.
I am a firm believer that federal agencies exist to administer laws passed by Congress, in
accordance with the will of this body. The EPA will ensure compliance with the law by providing
consistency and certainty for the regulated community and clarify the impact of proposed actions
on human health, the environment and the economy to provide a clear path and timeline for entities
to achieve compliance.
Further, we will reform our approach to regulatory development and prioritize meeting our
statutory deadlines to ensure that expectations for the regulated community and the public are clear
and comprehensive. The EPA will also employ business process improvement strategies, such as
Lean, to improve efficiencies in all permitting processes, working alongside states to streamline
the review of state-issued permits and to improve our internal business processes.
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I believe we can accomplish the environmental and human health outcomes outlined in this
Strategic Plan by increasing collaboration with other external partners and striving to achieve
improved consistency and certainty for the regulated community.
E. Scott Fruitt
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Introduction
EPA's Mission: To Protect Human Health and the Environment
Goal 1 - Core Mission: Deliver real results to provide Americans with clean air, land, and water, and
ensure chemical safety.
Goal 2 - Cooperative Federalism: Rebalance the power between Washington and the states to create
tangible environmental results for the American people.
Goal 3 - Rule of Law and Process: Administer the law, as Congress intended, to refocus the Agency
on its statutory obligations under the law.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed this FY 2018-2022 EPA Strategic Plan (the
Plan) to: (1) refocus the Agency back to its core mission; (2) restore power to the states through
cooperative federalism; and (3) lead the Agency through improved processes and adhere to the rule of
law. The FY 2018-2022 EPA Strategic Plan sharply refocuses EPA on its role of supporting the primary
implementers of environmental programs - states and federally-recognized Indian tribes1 - by
streamlining programs and processes, reducing duplication of effort, providing greater transparency and
listening opportunities, and enabling the Agency to focus on its core mission work. Process, the rule of
law, and cooperative federalism are necessary for an efficient and effective Agency to provide tangible
and real environmental results to the American people.
EPA's senior managers will use this Plan routinely as a management tool to guide the Agency's path
forward, tracking progress and assessing and addressing risks and challenges that could potentially
interfere with EPA's ability to accomplish its goals. The three strategic goals established in the Plan are
supported by strategic objectives and strategic measures2 focused on advancing human health and
environmental results over the next five years. These longer-term strategic measures are supported by
annual measures included in the annual performance plans and budgets that EPA submits to Congress.
The strategies and strategic measures in this Plan highlight key areas in which the Agency will make the
most dramatic changes over the next five years and are not intended to address all ongoing programs. The
annual performance plans and budgets, and supporting annual and operational measures, address a
broader range of the Agency's work. In addition, the Agency will hold quarterly and monthly meetings to
assess progress toward annual and long-term strategic measures.
The EPA Administrator established two-year agency priority goals (APGs) for accelerating progress on
EPA priorities. APGs reflect agency leadership's top near-term priorities for implementing performance
improvement. EPA's APGs were selected from among the suite of strategic measures. EPA will support
these priority goals by developing two-year implementation plans and reporting quarterly progress.
1 Tribes include all federally-recognized tribes, including Alaska Native Villages (as issued by the Secretary of the Interior).
2 Strategic measures are the measurable results the Agency is working to achieve over the life of the Plan and are supported by
data quality records (DQRs), which provide details such as the methods of measurement and other important contextual
information such as baselines. DQRs can be found at https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/results.
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FY 2018-2019 Agency Priority Goals
APG-1: Improve air quality by implementing pollution control measures to reduce the number
of nonattainment areas. By September 30, 2019, EPA, in close collaboration with states, will reduce
the number of nonattainment areas to 138 from a baseline of 166.
APG-2: Empower communities to leverage EPA water infrastructure investments. By September
30, 2019, EPA will increase by $16 billion the non-federal dollars leveraged by EPA water
infrastructure finance programs (Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds and the
Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act).
APG-3: Accelerate the pace of cleanups and return sites to beneficial use in their communities.
By September 30, 2019, EPA will make an additional 102 Superfund sites and 1,368 brownfields sites
ready for anticipated use (RAU).
APG-4: Meet new statutory requirements to improve the safety of chemicals in commerce. By
September 30, 2019, EPA will complete in accordance with statutory timelines (excluding statutorily-
allowable extensions): 100% of required EPA-initiated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk
evaluations for existing chemicals; 100% of required TSCA risk management actions for existing
chemicals; and 80% of TSCA pre-manufacture notice final determinations.
APG-5: Increase environmental law compliance rate. Through September 30, 2019, EPA will
increase compliance by reducing the percentage of Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permittees in significant noncompliance with their permit
limits to 21% from a baseline of 24%.
APG-6: Accelerate permitting-related decisions. By September 30, 2019, EPA will reduce by 50%
the number of permitting-related decisions that exceed six months.
The FY 2018-2022 EPA Strategic Plan is supported by other, more detailed Agency plans in specific
areas. For example, EPA's Human Capital Operating Plan details the actions the Agency will execute to
achieve its overarching human capital goals, and EPA's Information Technology/Information
Management Strategic Plan will guide efforts to support and modernize the Agency's technology and data
infrastructure. The EPA's workforce and reform efforts will support streamlining efforts to work more
efficiently and effectively in the future. The many activities described in these plans align with and help
position the Agency to achieve the strategic goals and objectives presented in this Plan.
EPA is also in the process of deploying a Lean management system specifically designed to deliver
measurable results that align with this Plan. Lean is a set of principles and tools designed to identify and
eliminate waste from processes while maximizing customer value and return on taxpayer investment.
EPA will standardize and streamline processes to strengthen efficiency and quality to better meet mission
goals and objectives. Under the Administrator's leadership, EPA will become a Lean organization.
Strategies to achieve EPA's goals and objectives are also informed by gathering evidence related to
environmental problems and evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies that the programs use to address
them. Examples of recent evidence and evaluation efforts used to develop this FY 2018-2022 EPA
Strategic Plan and a preliminary list of future planned efforts can be found at
https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan.
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The GPRA (Government Performance and Results Act) Modernization Act of 2010 directs agencies
to consult with the Congress and requires that they solicit and consider the views and suggestions of
those entities likely to be interested in or potentially affected by a strategic plan. Consultation with
EPA's federal, state, tribal, and local government partners and its many stakeholders is integral to the
Agency's strategic planning process. In developing the FY 2018-2022 EPA Strategic Plan, EPA
issued a Federal Register notice and used www.regulations.gov to encourage and share feedback on
the draft Plan. The Agency also sent notifications on the availability of the draft Plan to leaders of the
Agency's Congressional authorizing, appropriations, and oversight committees, and notified all
federally-recognized Indian tribes of the opportunity for consultation and coordination. These
outreach efforts resulted in unique submissions from approximately 5,000 organizations and
individuals.
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Goal 1 - Core Mission:
Deliver real results to provide Americans with clean air, land, and water, and
ensure chemical safety.
Pollution comes in many forms with myriad impacts on human health and the environment. With the goal
of clean and safe air, water, and land for all Americans, Congress enacted a range of environmental
statutes that spell out EPA's core responsibilities. Our nation has come a long way since EPA was
established in 1970. We have made great progress in making rivers and lakes safe for swimming and
boating, reducing the smog that clouded city skies, cleaning up lands that were once used as hidden
chemical dumps, and providing Americans greater access to information on the safety of the chemicals all
around us. Today we can see enormous progress—yet we still have important work to do.
EPA has established priorities for advancing progress over the next five years in each of its core mission
areas—land, air, water—as well as chemicals. The Agency will focus on speeding the cleanup of
Superfund and brownfields sites, and will use a list of top priority sites to advance progress on Superfund
sites of particular concern. We will work with states and tribes to more rapidly approve their
implementation plans for attaining air quality standards, reducing contaminants that can cause or
exacerbate health issues. We will work with our state and tribal partners to provide for clean and safe
water by updating aging infrastructure, both for drinking water and wastewater systems. EPA's top
priority for ensuring the safety of chemicals in the marketplace is the implementation of the new Frank R.
Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which modernizes the Toxic Substances and
Control Act (TSCA) by creating new standards and processes for assessing chemical safety within
specific deadlines. These efforts will be supported by strong compliance assurance and enforcement in
collaboration with our state and tribal partners, up-to-date training for partners, and use of the best
available science and research to address current and future environmental hazards, develop new
approaches, and improve the foundation for decision making.
The Agency will collaborate more efficiently and effectively with other federal agencies, states, tribes,
local governments, communities, and other partners and stakeholders to address existing pollution and
prevent future problems. EPA will directly implement federal environmental laws in Indian country
where eligible tribes have not taken on program responsibility.
With our partners, we will pay particular attention to vulnerable populations. Children and the elderly, for
example, may be at significantly greater risk from elevated exposure or increased susceptibility to the
harmful effects of environmental contaminants. Some low-income and minority communities may face
greater risks because of proximity to contaminated sites or because fewer resources are available to avoid
exposure to pollutants. Tribal ways of life such as traditional subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering
also may increase exposure to contaminants and increase risks. Much work remains and, together with
our partners, we will continue making progress in protecting human health and the environment.
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Objective 1.1 - Improve Air Quality:
Work with states and tribes to accurately measure air quality and ensure that more
Americans are living and working in areas that meet high air quality standards.
Introduction
As part of its mission to protect human health and the environment, EPA is dedicated to improving the
quality of the nation's air. From 1970 to 2016, aggregate national emissions of the six criteria air
pollutants3 were reduced over 70 percent, while gross domestic product grew by over 253 percent.
Despite this progress, in 2016, more than 120 million people lived in counties with monitored air quality
that did not meet standards for at least one criteria pollutant. EPA's work to control emissions of air
pollutants is critical to continued progress in reducing public health risks and improving the quality of the
environment. Over the next five years, EPA will conduct a wide range of activities that contribute to
improving air quality and protecting human health and the environment.
Strategic Measure
• SM-1 By September 30, 2022, reduce the number of nonattainment areas to 1014.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
EPA works in cooperation with states, tribes, and local governments to design and implement air quality
standards and programs. EPA relies on other federal agencies, academia, researchers, industry, other
organizations, and the public. These partnerships are critical to achieving improvements in air quality and
reducing public health risks.
EPA will prioritize key activities to support attainment of the national ambient air quality standards
(NAAQS) and implementation of stationary source regulations. The Agency will address its Clean Air
Act (CAA) responsibilities by collaborating with and providing technical assistance to states and tribes to
develop plans and implement decisions that administer the NAAQS and visibility programs; taking
federal oversight actions such as approving state implementation plan/tribal implementation plan
(SIP/TIP) submittals consistent with statutory obligations; developing regulations and guidance to
implement standards; and addressing transported air pollution. EPA will focus on ways to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the SIP/TIP process, including the Agency's own review process, with a
goal of maximizing timely processing of state/tribal-requested implementation plan actions to help move
more quickly to attainment.
EPA will operate effective nationwide and multi-state programs, such as the acid rain program and the
cross-state air pollution rule, which address global, national, and regional air pollutants from the power
sector and other large stationary sources. The Agency also will develop and provide data, analysis, and
technical tools and assistance to industries, states, tribes, and communities to meet CAA obligations and
other statutory requirements.
EPA also develops, implements, and ensures compliance with national emission standards to reduce
mobile source-related air pollution from light-duty cars and trucks, heavy-duty trucks and buses, nonroad
engines and vehicles, and their fuels—a priority for the Agency to ensure that industry has the certainty it
3 The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six common
air pollutants including carbon monoxide, lead, ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide.
4 The baseline is 166 nonattainment areas as of 10/1/2017.
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needs while protecting human health and the environment and to support improvements in air quality and
moving areas into attainment. The Agency evaluates new emission control technologies and provides
information to state, tribal, and local air quality managers on a variety of transportation programs. EPA
will review and approve vehicle and engine emissions certification applications and perform its
compliance oversight functions on priority matters where there is evidence to suggest noncompliance.
The Agency will also conduct pre-certification confirmatory testing for emissions and fuel economy for
passenger cars.
EPA develops and implements national emission standards for stationary and mobile sources and works
with state, tribal, and local air agencies to address air toxics problems in communities. For stationary
sources, pursuant to the CAA, EPA develops initial air toxics emissions standards for categories of
industrial sources and reviews these standards' risk reduction and technological currency according to
timeframes set by the Act. EPA will conduct these reviews to meet CAA requirements and to ensure that
the air toxics rules appropriately protect public health.
To support our partners in meeting their CAA obligations, EPA will provide grants and technical
assistance to state, tribal, and local air pollution control agencies to manage and implement their
individual air quality programs, including funding for air quality monitoring. State and tribal air quality
monitoring, which provides critical information for developing clean air plans, for research, and for
public awareness, will be a focus of the Administration.
EPA will prioritize efforts to reduce the production, import, and use of ozone depleting substances (ODS),
including reviewing and listing alternatives that are safer for the stratospheric ozone layer through
implementation of Title VI of the CAA and the Montreal Protocol.
EPA also is responsible for measuring and monitoring ambient radiation and radioactive materials and
assessing radioactive contamination in the environment. The Agency supports federal radiological
emergency response and recovery operations under the National Response Framework and the National
Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan and will assist states, tribes, and other
partners, as appropriate. EPA will design essential training and conduct exercises to improve our nation's
radiation response preparedness.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Emerging measurement and information technologies are shifting the paradigm for air quality data.
Traditionally, state, tribal, and local air programs, along with EPA, have been the primary resource for
collecting, storing, sharing, and communicating air data. Increasingly, air quality information is also
available from nontraditional sources, such as satellites or sensors. Additionally, big data companies are
becoming involved in storing, analyzing, and presenting publicly available air quality data alongside other
data sets. These developments are expected to have profound influence on understanding air quality, as
well as determining the most cost-effective ways to improve air quality. EPA partners with states and
tribes through efforts such as E-Enterprise, and with other entities in a variety of ways to ensure that the
Agency advances appropriate technologies and stays abreast of emerging technologies.
EPA engages in both domestic and international forums to address the depletion of the stratospheric
ozone layer, a global problem that cannot be solved by domestic action alone. Success relies on joint
action.
Lastly, there are several emerging issues and external factors that will affect how EPA protects the public
from unnecessary exposure to radiation, including evolving policies on radioactive waste management,
uranium extraction and processing technologies, a decrease in available radiation expertise, and new
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science on radiation health effects. The Agency will focus on education, including formal and informal
training in the areas of health physics, radiation science, radiation risk communications, and emergency
response to fill existing and emerging gaps.
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Objective 1.2 - Provide for Clean and Safe Water:
Ensure waters are clean through improved water infrastructure and, in partnership
with states and tribes, sustainably manage programs to support drinking water,
aquatic ecosystems, and recreational, economic, and subsistence activities.
Introduction
The nation's water resources are the lifeblood of our communities, supporting our economy and way of
life. Across the country we depend upon reliable sources of clean and safe water. Just a few decades ago,
many of the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries were grossly polluted, wastewater sources received little
or no treatment, and drinking water systems provided very limited treatment to water coming through the
tap. Now over 90 percent of the population receives safe drinking water from community water systems
regulated by EPA or delegated states and tribes, and many formerly impaired waters have been restored
and support recreational and public health uses that contribute to healthy economies.
We have made significant progress since enactment of the Clean Water Act (CWA); Safe Drinking Water
Act; and Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act. However, serious water resource and water
infrastructure challenges remain. Many communities need to improve and maintain both drinking water
and wastewater infrastructure and develop the capacity to comply with new and existing standards. Tens
of thousands of homes, primarily in tribal and disadvantaged communities and the territories, lack access
to basic sanitation and drinking water.
Over the next five years, EPA will work with states, tribes, territories, and local communities to better
safeguard human health; maintain, restore, and improve water quality; and make America's water systems
sustainable and secure, supporting new technology and innovation wherever possible.
Strategic Measures
• SM-2 By September 30, 2022, reduce the number of community water systems out of compliance
with health-based standards to 2,7005.
• SM-3 By September 30, 2022, increase by $40 billion the non-federal dollars leveraged by EPA water
infrastructure finance programs (CWSRF, DWSRF, and WIFIA)6.
• SM-4 By September 30, 2022, reduce the number of square miles of watershed with surface water not
meeting standards by 37,000 square miles7.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Invest in infrastructure to spur environmental benefits and economic growth
Supporting state, tribal, and local efforts to modernize the outdated drinking water, wastewater, and
stormwater infrastructure on which the American public depends is atop priority for EPA. The Agency
5 Baseline is 3,600 community water systems out of compliance with health-based standards as of FY 2017.
6 The baseline is $32 billion in non-federal dollars leveraged from the CWSRF and DWSRF between FY 2013 and FY 2017 (i.e.,
loans made from recycled loan repayments, bond proceeds, state match, and interest earnings). The baseline does not include
WIFIA leveraged dollars because the program's first loans are anticipated to close in FY 2018.
7 Draft baseline is 464,020 square miles of impaired waters as of 9/2017, to be updated in 10/2018.
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will promote construction of infrastructure in tribal and, small, rural, and disadvantaged communities.
EPA's state revolving fund (SRF) and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA)
programs will allow the Agency, states, tribes, municipalities, and private entities to finance high-priority
infrastructure investments that protect human health and the environment. The revolving nature of the
SRFs and the leveraging capacity of WIFIA greatly multiply the federal investment. For the clean water
SRF, EPA estimates that every federal dollar contributed thus far has resulted in close to three dollars of
investment in water infrastructure. For the drinking water SRF, for every one dollar the federal
government has invested, the states, in total, delivered $1.80 in assistance to drinking water systems. For
WIFIA, for every $ 1 million in credit subsidy appropriations, EPA could potentially provide
approximately $100 million in direct credit assistance, resulting in an estimated $200 million in total
infrastructure investment.
Protect Human Health
Sustaining the quality of our water resources is essential to safeguarding human health. More than 300
million people living in the United States rely on the safety of tap water provided by public water systems
that are subject to national drinking water standards. EPA will help protect human health and make
America's water systems secure by:
• Providing financial assistance to states, tribes, and territories to assist public water systems in
protecting and maintaining drinking water quality;
• Strengthening compliance with drinking water standards to ensure protection of public health by
enhancing the technical, managerial, and financial capability of those systems;
• Continuing to protect and restore water resources, including sources of drinking water, from
contamination;
• Taking actions to address known and emerging contaminants that endanger human health;
• Supporting states, tribes, territories, and local communities in implementing water programs by
providing guidance, training, and information;
• Ensuring the security and preparedness of the nation's drinking water supplies by implementing
EPA's national security responsibilities for the water sector; and
• Protecting underground sources of drinking water by providing for the safe injection of fluids
underground for storage, disposal, enhanced recovery of oil and gas, or minerals recovery.
Recent challenges in Flint, Michigan and elsewhere highlighted the need to strengthen EPA's
implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure we protect and build upon the enormous public
health benefits achieved through the provision of safe drinking water throughout the country. The
Agency's highest priorities include reducing exposure to lead in the nation's drinking water systems,
ensuring continuous compliance with contaminant limits, responding quickly to emerging concerns, and
improving the nation's aging and insufficient drinking water infrastructure to address significant needs.
EPA is also collaborating with states and tribes to share more complete data from monitoring at public
water systems through the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS). This will allow for better
targeting of funding and technical assistance resources, and improve data quality while increasing public
access to drinking water data.
Human health and recreational criteria are the foundation for state, tribal, and territorial tools to safeguard
human health. Over the next five years we will improve our understanding of emerging potential
waterborne threats to human health; provide technical assistance and resources to help the states, tribes,
and territories monitor and prevent harmful exposures; and develop new or revised criteria as needed.
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Protect and Restore Water Quality
Protecting the nation's waters relies on cooperation among EPA, states, tribes, territories, and local
communities and involves a suite of programs to protect and improve water quality in the country's
rivers, lakes, wetlands, and streams, as well as in estuarine, coastal, and ocean waters. EPA will foster
strong partnerships with other federal agencies, states, tribes, local governments, and other organizations
that facilitate achieving water quality goals while supporting robust economic growth. In partnership with
states, tribes, territories, and local governments, EPA core water programs will:
• Develop recommended water quality criteria for protecting designated uses of water;
• Assist states, authorized tribes, and territories in adopting water quality standards that support
designated uses;
• Establish pollution reduction targets for impaired waters;
• Improve water quality by financing traditional and nature-based wastewater treatment infrastructure;
• Develop national effluent guidelines that set a technology-based floor;
• Work with partners to protect and restore wetlands and coastal and ocean water resources;
• In cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers, work with states and tribes interested in assuming
the Clean Water Act Section 404 program;
• Prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants;
• Update analytical methods that enable precise analysis; and
• Conduct monitoring and assessment so we know the status of the nation's waters.
EPA will partner with states and tribes to implement the National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS)8 to
provide nationally-consistent and scientifically-defensible assessments of America's waters. These
surveys will support EPA and its partners in identifying actions to protect and restore water quality and in
assessing whether these efforts are improving water quality over time.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Water quality programs face challenges such as increases in nutrient loadings, nonpoint source9 and
stormwater runoff, and aging infrastructure. EPA is carefully examining the potential impacts of and
solutions to these issues. Many important water quality problems have complex causes that can only be
addressed through strategic use of federal, state, tribal, and local authorities. EPA will work closely with
its partners to ensure that these issues are addressed in a coordinated and effective manner, particularly
where water quality issues cross jurisdictional lines. The Agency will implement the National Aquatic
Resource Surveys to support collection of nationally-consistent data to support these efforts.
EPA is working with external partners and stakeholders to address the barriers to and incentives for ways
that technology and innovation can accelerate improvements in water infrastructure and protection and
restoration of waters. Some key market opportunities for innovative practices and technology to help
address current and emerging water resource issues are identified in EPA's Blueprint for Integrating
Technology Innovation into the National Water Program.10
8 Read more on NARS: https://www.epa.gov/national-aauatic-resource-survevs
9 Read more about nonpoint source pollution: https://www.epa.gov/nps
10 Read more about the technology blueprint: https://www.epa.gov/innovation/water-technologv-innovation-blueprints
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Objective 1.3 - Revitalize Land and Prevent Contamination:
Provide better leadership and management to properly clean up contaminated sites
to revitalize and return the land back to communities.
Introduction
EPA works to improve the health and livelihood of all Americans by cleaning up and returning land to
productive use, preventing contamination, and responding to emergencies. Challenging and complex
environmental problems persist at many contaminated properties, including contaminated soil, sediment,
surface water, and groundwater that can cause human health concerns.
One of EPA's top priorities is accelerating progress on Superfund sites. EPA recently convened a
Superfund Task Force that identified 42 recommendations to streamline and improve the Superfund
process. Over the next five years, these recommendations and other innovative ideas will be considered
and applied to Superfund sites with priority given to addressing National Priority List (NPL) sites.11
EPA collaborates with other federal agencies, industry, states, tribes, and local communities to enhance
the livability and economic vitality of neighborhoods. The Agency works with international, state, tribal,
and local governments, and other federal agencies to achieve goals and help communities understand and
address risks posed by releases of hazardous substances into the environment. EPA's efforts are guided by
scientific data, tools, and research that inform decisions on addressing contaminated properties and
preparing for and addressing emerging contaminants.
Strategic Measures
• SM-5 By September 30, 2022, make 255 additional Superfund sites ready for anticipated use (RAU)
site-wide12.
• SM-6 By September 30, 2022, make 3,420 additional brownfields sites RAU13.
• SM-7 By September 30, 2022, make 536 additional Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) corrective action facilities RAU14.
• SM-8 By September 30, 2022, complete 56,000 additional leaking underground storage tank (LUST)
cleanups that meet risk-based standards for human exposure and groundwater migration15.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites
Over the next five years, EPA will focus special attention on the Administrator's top priority Superfund
sites and will implement Superfund Task Force recommendations to accelerate the pace of cleanups and
promote reuse, while addressing risks to human health and the environment. Cleanup actions can take
11 Please see the Superfund Task Force Recommendations at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-
07/documents/superfund task force report.pdf
12 By the end of FY 2017, 836 Superfund sites had been made RAU site-wide.
13 By the end of FY 2017, 5,993 brownfield properties/sites had been made RAU.
14 By the end of FY 2017,1,232 RCRA corrective action facilities had been made RAU site-wide.
15 By the end of FY 2017,469,898 LUST cleanups had been completed.
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from a few months for relatively straight-forward soil excavation or capping remedies to several decades
for complex, large, area-wide groundwater, sediment, or mining remedies. NPL sites in the investigation
stages will be expedited by developing strategies that apply new technologies and innovative approaches.
NPL sites at which remedies already have been selected will be prioritized for faster completion and
deletion from the NPL, as will sites that have been on the NPL for five years or longer without significant
progress. Finally, the Agency will aim to accelerate cleanup by re-prioritizing some resources to focus on
remedial actions, construction completions, ready-for-reuse determinations, and NPL site deletions.
In addition, EPA will work with communities to revitalize their brownfield sites and return them to
productive use, advancing environmental and human health protection while stimulating economic
development and job creation. EPA will award competitive grants to communities, states, and tribes to
assess, clean up, and plan reuse of brownfield properties that are contaminated or perceived to be
contaminated. To reduce risks from exposure to waste, consistent with RCRA, EPA or authorized states
will oversee and manage cleanups by the owners or operators. There are currently 3,779 facilities subject
to RCRA corrective action. EPA will support, along with its state and tribal partners, the cleanup of
LUST sites and work to revitalize abandoned facilities. These cleanups protect people from exposure to
contaminants, and can improve property values16 and provide redevelopment opportunities.
Preparedness and Response
EPA prepares for the possibility of nationally-significant incidents and provides guidance and technical
assistance to state, tribal, and local planning and response organizations to strengthen their preparedness.
During an incident, EPA works to prevent, mitigate, or contain the release of chemical, oil, radiological,
biological, or hazardous materials. The Agency will work with industry, states, tribes, and local
communities to ensure national safety and security for responses. EPA homeland security research fills
critical scientific and technological gaps, enhancing the Agency's ability to carry out its mandated
national preparedness and emergency response and recovery obligations, and informing disaster response
and guidance. EPA develops the tools, methods, and data needed to implement our environmental statutes
effectively and support EPA and local emergency responders in characterizing chemical, biological, or
radiological (CBR) contamination; assessing exposure and risks to human health; cleaning up impacted
areas; and improving community resilience.
Preventing Contamination
With its state and tribal partners, EPA works to prevent releases of contamination, allowing the
productive use of facilities and land and contributing to communities' economic vitality17. In partnership
with tribes, the Agency directly provides training, compliance assistance, and inspection support to
implement the updated underground storage tank (UST) regulations in Indian country. EPA also helps to
prevent chemical releases by reviewing approximately 12,500 risk management plans (RMPs) and
delivering RMP inspector training for federal and state inspectors. EPA seeks to prevent and prepare for
accidental releases from chemical facilities that store hazardous chemicals by requiring chemical facilities
that store a certain amount of hazardous chemicals to analyze the potential for accidental releases and
possible consequences, develop an accident prevention program, and coordinate with communities to
ensure that all are prepared to respond to a release.
16 A 2016 study found that high profile UST releases decrease nearby property values by 4% - 6%. Once cleanup is completed,
nearby property values rebound by a similar margin. (Guignet, Dennis, Robin Jenkins, Matthew Ranson, and Patrick Walsh
(2016), "Do Housing Values Respond to Underground Storage Tank Releases? Evidence from High-Profile Cases across the
United States," US EPA National Center for Environmental Economics Working Paper, 2016-01, Washington, DC, March.)
Available at: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-05/documents/2016-01.pdf
17 This work will be done consistent with the government-wide National Response Framework and the National Disaster
Recovery Framework.
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EPA will update and improve the efficiency of the RCRA hazardous waste regulations to meet the needs
of today's business and industry to ensure protective standards for managing hazardous waste. To prevent
future environmental contamination and to protect the health of the estimated 20 million people living
within a mile of a hazardous waste management facility,18 EPA will support states to issue, update, or
maintain RCRA permits for the approximately 20,000 hazardous waste units (such as incinerators and
landfills) at these facilities. EPA also will issue polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) cleanup, storage, and
disposal approvals, since this work cannot be delegated to states or tribes.
EPA will improve and modernize hazardous waste transportation and tracking by implementing the
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, enacted on October 5, 2012. The fee-based e-
Manifest system will provide better knowledge of waste generation and final disposition, enhanced access
to manifest information, and greater transparency for the public about hazardous waste shipments. It will
also reduce the burden associated with paper manifests by between 300,000 and 700,000 hours.19
As authorized in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016, EPA will help states
develop plans, work to approve state permit programs for coal ash disposal, coordinate closely with the
states on guidance for evaluating state permit programs, and implement a coal ash permit program in
Indian country.
Over the next five years, EPA will provide technical assistance, assets, and outreach to industry, states,
tribes, and local communities as part of its effort to ensure national safety and security for inland oil
incidents. There are approximately 580,000 spill prevention, control, and countermeasure facilities,
including a high-risk subset of 4,600 facility response plan facilities required to ensure that resources will
be available to respond in the event of a discharge.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
A number of factors may delay cleanup timelines. For example, new scientific information (such as new
toxicity information or a new analytical method) can call previous determinations into question. In
general, cleanup standards have become more stringent over the years, and discovery of new pathways
and emerging contaminants (such as vapor intrusion and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS])
have made remediation of remaining Superfund sites more challenging. Many of the Superfund sites
remaining on the National Priorities List—including sediment, mining, and large groundwater sites—are
large, contain multiple areas of contamination, and require more complex remediation efforts. Discovery
of new sites, newly detected contamination, or emerging contaminants can also impact cleanup schedules.
Several external factors and emerging issues may affect the overall success of EPA's waste management
and chemical facility risk programs. Rapidly changing technology, emerging new waste streams, and
aging infrastructure present challenges, as does the complexity of issues and consideration of specific
solutions for varying waste streams and situations.
The Agency recognizes that our state, tribal, local, and regional government partners face challenges in
fully characterizing environmental outcomes associated with land. Over the next five years, EPA will
emphasize the importance of engaging stakeholders at all levels and from all perspectives in making
cleanup and land revitalization decisions.
18 U.S. EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management Estimate. 2014. Data collected includes: (1) site information as of the
end of FY 2011 from RCRAInfo, and (2) census data from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey.
19 From a 2009 programmatic estimate, cited in Hazardous Waste Management System: Modification of the Hazardous Waste
Manifest System: Electronic Manifests: Final Rule. 40 CFR § 260,262, 263, 264, 265, and 271.
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Objective 1.4 - Ensure Safety of Chemicals in the Marketplace:
Effectively implement the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, to ensure new and existing chemicals
and pesticides are reviewed for their potential risks to human health and the
environment and actions are taken when necessary.
Introduction
Chemicals and pesticides released into the environment as a result of their manufacture, processing, use,
or disposal can threaten human health and the environment. EPA gathers and assesses information about
the risks associated with chemicals and pesticides and implements risk management strategies when
needed. EPA's research efforts will help advance the Agency's ability to assess chemicals more rapidly
and accurately.
In 2016, TSCA was amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. The
amendments give EPA significant new, as well as continuing, responsibilities for reviewing chemicals in
or entering commerce to prevent unreasonable risks to human health and the environment, including
unreasonable risks to potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations. Proper implementation, as
Congress intended, of the TSCA amendments is one of EPA's top priorities.
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is the primary federal law governing
oversight of pesticide manufacture, distribution, and use in the United States. FIFRA requires EPA to
register pesticides based on a finding that they will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on people and
the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of the
use of the pesticide. Each time the law was amended, Congress strengthened FIFRA's safety standards
while continuing to require consideration of pesticide benefits.
In addition to FIFRA, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) governs the maximum
allowable level of pesticides in and on food grown and sold in the United States. The legal level of a
pesticide residue on a food or food item is referred to as a tolerance. FFDCA requires that the
establishment, modification, or revocation of tolerances be based on a finding of a "reasonable certainty
of no harm." When evaluating the establishment, modification, or revocation of a tolerance, EPA tries to
harmonize the tolerance with the maximum residue levels (MRLs) set by other countries to enhance the
trade of agricultural commodities.
Strategic Measures
• SM-9 By September 30, 2022, complete all EPA-initiated TSCA risk evaluations for existing
chemicals in accordance with statutory timelines20.
• SM-10 By September 30, 2022, complete all TSCA risk management actions for existing chemicals
in accordance with statutory timelines21.
• SM-11 By September 30, 2022, complete all TSCA pre-manufacture notice final determinations in
accordance with statutory timelines22.
20 There is no baseline for this measure, as the program is operating under new statutory authority.
21 There is no baseline for this measure, as the program is operating under new statutory authority.
22 Baseline is 11.7% of determinations made within 90 days in FY 2017.
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• SM-12 By September 30, 2022, complete all cases of Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA)-mandated decisions for the pesticides registration review program23.
• SM-13 By September 30, 2022, reduce the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA)
registration decision timeframe by an average of 60 days24.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Chemicals
Over the next five years, EPA will focus on meeting the statutory requirements and mandatory deadlines
of the amended TSCA and ensuring that the reviews are efficient, effective, and transparent to EPA's
stakeholders. EPA will ensure that decisions are based on science, are transparent, use methods and tools
that are based on the weight of scientific evidence, are consistent with the best available scientific
information, and are reasonable and consistent with the intended use of the information.
Under the chemical data reporting (CDR) rule, EPA collects basic exposure-related information from
manufacturers (including importers) on the types, quantities, and uses of chemical substances produced
domestically or imported into the United States. Since the enactment of TSCA in 1976, many new
chemicals have entered commerce following review by EPA under the TSCA new chemicals program.
Once in commerce, these chemicals are considered existing chemicals in commerce. The amended TSCA
provides a framework for making progress in understanding and managing the risks associated with
existing chemicals to prevent unreasonable risk posed by their manufacturing, processing, distribution,
use or disposal. The Act requires EPA to identify high- and low-priority existing chemicals and evaluate
high-priority chemicals against a new risk-based safety standard. By December 2019, EPA must complete
risk evaluations for the first ten high-priority chemicals, ramp up the risk evaluation process so that 20
high-priority chemicals are under evaluation at all times, and identify 20 low-priority chemicals which
will not undergo further evaluation at this time. Chemical risk evaluations of existing chemicals must be
completed within three years. Transparency and stakeholder engagement are vital parts of the process, as
they help inform EPA's prioritization and risk evaluation of existing chemicals.
The Agency has two years to address unreasonable risks identified as warranted for action by the findings
of the chemical risk evaluations25. Risk management actions may include prohibiting, restricting, or
modifying the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce or commercial use, modifying the
labeling, recordkeeping, and other restrictions.
For new chemicals, EPA reviews and takes action on approximately 1,000 new chemical notices ~
including exemption notices—submitted by industry annually, including pre-manufacture notices
(PMNs), to ensure that the chemicals are not likely to pose unreasonable risk before being allowed to
commercialize. To prevent such risk, EPA may establish risk reduction/management requirements
through the new chemical review process to protect workers, consumers or the environment. The 2016
TSCA amendments created additional new requirements for positive determinations of chemical safety,
which have resulted in changes to EPA's assessment process for new chemicals. In particular, for each
new chemical notice, EPA now has 90 days to make an affirmative determination of safety based on
23 Baseline is 251 decisions completed by the close ofFY 2017 out of the known universe of725.
24 Baseline is an average timeframe of 655 days (range: 93-2,086 days) for PRIA decisions for 68 new active ingredients
completed in FY 2015-2017.
25 TSCA section 6(c)(l) requires final regulatory action within 2 years of publication of the final risk evaluation but allows for an
extension to this deadline "for not more than 2 years."
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whether the chemical substance will present, may present, or is not likely to present an unreasonable risk
to human health or the environment, or that the available information is insufficient to enable the Agency
to make any of the above determinations. All four of these outcomes constitute final determinations on
pre-manufacture notices and thus count toward EPA's strategic target of completing 100% of such
determinations within statutory timelines. Under the TSCA amendments, if EPA makes an "insufficient
information" determination, the Agency will work with the submitter to conduct testing needed to make a
determination or will impose restrictions on the substance that prevent exposure from occurring.
EPA will protect legitimate claims of confidentiality of the identity of chemicals. With limited exceptions
provided by statute, the Agency will review within 90 days all chemical identity confidential business
information (CBI) claims requiring substantiation under TSCA Section 14(c)(3) and a representative
subset, comprising at least 25 percent, of all other CBI claims. Timely review of CBI claims will help to
increase transparency of chemical data. Additionally, EPA is developing guidance required by TSCA, as
amended, to address how states, tribes, and medical professionals in an emergency situation may gain
access to CBI information.
The Agency uses a variety of tools and approaches to assess, prevent, and reduce chemical releases and
exposures, and empowers stakeholders by ensuring access to chemical data and other information and
expertise. EPA annually publishes the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a public database that contains
release and other waste management information (e.g., recycling) and pollution prevention data on over
650 toxic chemicals from approximately 20,000 industrial and federal facilities.
Pesticides
EPA is responsible for licensing (registering) and periodically reevaluating (registration review)
pesticides to protect consumers, pesticide users, workers who may be exposed to pesticides, children, and
other sensitive populations, while considering the benefits associated with the use of the pesticide. EPA
seeks public input on all pesticide reevaluations; all new active ingredients; first food uses; and the
establishment, modification, or revocation of tolerances. For example, the rules governing the registration
review program26 typically provide for three distinct comment periods at various stages of the review
process. In making pesticide decisions, the Agency often seeks input from stakeholders to address specific
information, such as real-world use patterns and benefits to the user community.
EPA works with other federal, state, and tribal agencies, trade organizations, industry, and non-
governmental organizations to ensure the effective and safe use of pesticides. EPA also has long provided
financial support and expertise to states and tribes so that they can provide training, education, and
outreach to pesticide applicators about the safe, proper, and legal use of pesticides. States and tribes work
with farmers, businesses, and public agencies to protect human health and the environment and serve as a
critical part of job training and business growth in rural areas.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
The amended TSCA provides EPA the authority to collect user fees designed to defray 25 percent of the
Agency's costs to administer TSCA Sections 4, 5, 6, and 14. While EPA is directed by the statute to
design the fees to collect 25 percent of the costs of administering these sections, it has no control over
exactly how much revenue the fees will generate. That will be determined in large part by how the fee-
paying community responds to the new fees in terms of their number of fee-related submissions or
requests.
26 4 0 CFR 155 - Registration Standards and Registration Review
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New pests and disease vectors carried by pests create challenges for managing pesticides. EPA works
closely with public health officials, researchers, and agricultural experts to identify emerging pests; and,
with industry, to expeditiously register pesticides that address issues while ensuring pesticide safety.
Assessing and appropriately addressing risks is complex. The Agency must determine safe, effective
methods of pesticide use, weighing differing risks for humans and ecosystems. For example, one pesticide
may have lower risks for humans than do other pesticides, but have increased risks for pollinators or
endangered species. Similarly, a pesticide may have risks for humans, but may be appropriate to fight
mosquitos that carry diseases that also pose risks to humans.
EPA continues to conduct education and outreach with tribes. One challenge is ensuring that the flow of
information on the safe use of pesticides reaches all federally-recognized tribes across the country, and
comes in forms that result in protective actions on the ground.
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Goal 2 - Cooperative Federalism:
Rebalance the power between Washington and the states to create tangible
environmental results for the American people.
The idea that environmental protection is a shared responsibility between the states, tribes, and the federal
government is embedded in our environmental laws, which in many cases provide states and tribes the
opportunity and responsibility for implementing environmental protection programs. More than 45 years
after the creation of EPA and the enactment of a broad set of federal environmental protection laws, most
states, and to a lesser extent territories and tribes, are authorized to implement environmental programs
within their jurisdictions in lieu of EPA-administered federal programs. Specifically, states have assumed
more than 96 percent of the delegable authorities under federal law.27 EPA retains responsibility for
directly implementing federal environmental programs in much of Indian country where eligible tribes
have not received delegable authorities. There are also programs that by statute may not be delegated to
the states or tribes. Recognizing these evolving responsibilities, EPA headquarters and regions will
facilitate constructive dialogue with states and tribes to ensure maximum utilization of resources. EPA
will adapt its practices to reduce duplication of effort with authorized states and tribes, and tailor its
oversight of delegated programs.
Cooperative federalism - the relationship between states, tribes and EPA - is not just about who makes
decisions, but about how decisions are made and a sense of shared accountability to provide positive
environmental results. EPA understands that improvements to protecting human health and the
environment cannot be achieved by any actor operating alone, but only when the states, tribes, and EPA,
in conjunction with affected communities, work together in a spirit of trust, collaboration, and
partnership. Effective environmental protection is best achieved when EPA and its state and tribal
partners work from a foundation of transparency, early collaboration - including public participation -
and a spirit of shared accountability for the outcomes of this joint work. This foundation involves active
platforms for public participation, including building the capacity of the most vulnerable community
stakeholders to provide input. With these public participation opportunities, the beneficiaries of
environmental protection - the American people - will be able to more meaningfully engage through their
communities, their local governments, and their state and tribal governments. Including the public's
voice, particularly the voices of the most vulnerable to environmental and public health challenges among
us, in EPA's policy, regulatory, and assistance work is essential to meeting their needs as the Agency
implements its statutory responsibilities.
EPA also recognizes that meeting the needs of states, tribes, local governments, and communities, and
achieving environmental improvements cannot be done in isolation from economic growth. Opportunities
for prosperous economic growth and clean air, water, and land are lost without effective infrastructure
investments that align with community needs. This is especially true for infrastructure investments that
repair existing systems, support revitalization of existing communities and buildings, take advantage of
existing roads, and lead to the cleanup and redevelopment of previously-used sites and buildings.
Currently, there is a need for significant infrastructure investments. EPA will play a role in meeting this
need by aligning its relevant programs to catalyze other resources, supporting beneficial infrastructure
investments, and meeting community needs for thriving economies and improved environmental and
human health outcomes.
27 Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) Paper, "Cooperative Federalism 2.0." June 2017
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Objective 2.1 - Enhance Shared Accountability:
Improve environmental protection through shared governance and enhanced
collaboration with state, tribal, local, and federal partners using the full range of
compliance assurance tools.
Introduction
In the spirit of cooperative federalism, EPA and its partners have made enormous progress in protecting
air, water, and land resources. EPA recognizes that states and tribes vary in the environmental challenges
that they face due to variations in geography, population density, and other factors. EPA will maximize
the flexibilities provided by law to take each state's unique situation into account when making regulatory
and policy decisions. EPA directly implements the majority of federal environmental programs in Indian
country. The Agency actively works with tribes to develop their capacity to administer environmental
programs and to enable tribes that choose to implement federal environmental laws and programs for their
lands. The unique relationship among EPA and its co-regulators is the foundation of the nation's
environmental protection system; each organization fulfills a critical role based on its expertise, abilities,
and responsibilities in protecting and improving human health and the environment.
EPA recognizes the advances states and tribes have made in implementing environmental laws and
programs. This Administration will undertake a series of initiatives to rethink and assess where we are
and where we want to be with respect to shared governance. These initiatives will clarify the Agency's
statutory roles and responsibilities and tailor state and tribal oversight to maximize our return on
investment and reduce burden on states and tribes, while ensuring continued progress in meeting
environmental laws.
In addition, EPA, with its state, tribal, and local partners, ensures consistent and fair enforcement of
federal environmental laws and regulations. The Agency works jointly with its co-regulators to protect
human health and the environment, using a full set of compliance assurance tools, such as compliance
assistance and monitoring; electronic reporting; traditional enforcement; grants to states and tribes; and
tribal capacity building. EPA is building on progress made using E-Enterprise for the Environment, a
platform for transformative change that operationalizes cooperative federalism principles. EPA's E-
Enterprise partnership with states and tribes modernizes the way we do the business of environmental
protection.
Strategic Measures
• SM-14 By September 30, 2022, increase the number of grant commitments achieved by states, tribes,
and local communities28.
• SM-15 By September 30, 2022, increase the use of alternative shared governance approaches to
address state, tribal, and local community reviews29.
28 Baseline will be determined in FY 2018.
29 Baseline will be determined in FY 2018.
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Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Shared Governance
To develop a future model of shared governance that takes into account the progress states and tribes have
made in protecting human health and the environment, the Agency will undertake an analysis of EPA's
statutory roles and responsibilities to determine what we have to do and assess what we want to do in
light of priorities. The Agency will work with states and tribes to find alternative approaches to shared
governance, seeking to provide flexibility and streamline oversight of state and tribal programs. As part of
this process, the Agency will seek to understand which approaches currently are working well for state,
tribal and local co-regulators. EPA will pilot new approaches to oversight (e.g., permit reviews) where we
have the legal flexibility to do so and streamline those processes by which EPA reviews and approves
state and tribal actions. EPA will continue to work with states and tribes through E-Enterprise, focused on
how we work and plan together, agree on priorities, and allocate roles and responsibilities to update
processes and programs. Through shared governance - engaging early and meaningfully with states and
tribes - the Agency will use E-Enterprise to deliver streamlined processes as well as accessible, reliable
information and data that benefit co-regulators and the regulated community.
The National Environmental Performance Partnership System (NEPPS) has long served as a model for
advancing cooperative federalism by providing the flexibility needed to address the unique needs of
individual states and tribes to achieve the best environmental results. NEPPS is a performance-based
approach for organizing working relationships with states and many tribes, providing specific benefits,
such as greater flexibility to assess environmental conditions, shared priorities, and strategically leveraged
resources, thus improving cooperative federalism, shared governance, and shared accountability. EPA
will work with states and tribes to strengthen cooperative federalism principles through NEPPS, and
intends to make NEPPS training available for state and tribal stakeholders.
EPA will work closely with states and tribes on NEPPS, Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs), and
related policies. PPGs are a financial tool that allows states and tribes to combine separate "streams" of
categorical grant funding, from across 20 eligible categorical grants, into one multi-program grant with a
single budget. The goal of the review is to understand PPG utilization and outline a course of action
addressing the challenges, leveraging lessons learned and progress achieved over the last 22 years. The
intent is to provide states and tribes the flexibility to maximize human health and environmental
protection achieved by the funds; further enhance the federal, state, and/or tribal partnership; and promote
the goals of NEPPS.
EPA will respect the important role governors play in cooperative federalism and will seek their views
and perspectives on compliance assistance and other opportunities to improve EPA-state partnerships. In
addition, the Agency will work to strengthen intergovernmental consultation methods to engage
stakeholders and hear diverse views on the impacts of prospective regulations.
Local governments also have a unique relationship with EPA as partners and often as innovative problem
solvers. EPA works with local governments to build stronger and more robust partnerships and bring
local concerns forward into Agency decision making. As part of these efforts, EPA seeks advice from the
Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC), a chartered policy committee comprising elected and
appointed local officials, on the impacts of the Agency's regulations and policies on local governments.
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Consistent with the 1984 Indian Policy and EPA Policies on consultation and treaty rights30, EPA will
work on a government-to-government basis to build tribal capacity to implement federal programs
through delegations, authorizations, and primacy designations to enable tribes to meaningfully participate
in the Agency's policy making, standard setting, and direct implementation activities under federal
environmental statutes31. EPA will work with individual tribes to develop and implement an EPA-Tribal
Environmental Plan (ETEP), a joint planning document for achieving stronger environmental and human
health protection in Indian country. ETEPs identify tribal, EPA, and shared priorities, and the roles and
responsibilities for addressing those priorities.
EPA will focus its direct implementation efforts on areas of high need for human health or environmental
protection, including programs identified in the ETEP for which tribes are not eligible, as well as those
for which tribes do not currently anticipate seeking delegation, authorization, or primacy. In carrying out
its direct implementation activities, EPA will work closely with tribes to develop tribal capacity for
programs for which they do not anticipate seeking delegation, authorization, or primacy. EPA will also
encourage tribes to participate in policy making and to assume appropriate partial roles in the
implementation of programs, including through the use of Direct Implementation Tribal Cooperative
Agreements (DITCAs) or other agreements, as available.
Compliance Assurance
Over the next five years, the Agency will look for cost-effective ways to enhance the compliance
assurance tool box in collaboration with its state, tribal, local, federal, and industry partners. For example,
the E-Enterprise Web Portal offers a platform or gateway for making shared services available to states,
tribes, and EPA to transact business (e.g., e-permitting and reporting). It also provides information for the
regulated community (e.g., compliance assistance information). Tools and services are designed to
enhance efficiency, reduce burden on the regulated community, and improve environmental outcomes.
EPA will expand its compliance assistance work by continuing to partner with third-party organizations
and federal agencies to support the 17 existing web-based, sector-specific compliance assistance centers32
and developing new centers. In general, an expanded and modernized compliance assurance tool box will
enhance EPA's ability to tailor compliance assurance approaches to the differing needs and challenges
among states and regulated entities. EPA is also working closely with states and tribes to develop new
compliance tools and approaches to make programs more effective and efficient in promoting compliance
and remedying violations. Some of the Agency's ongoing collaborative efforts with the Environmental
Council of the States (ECOS) include33 producing webinars to help identify new compliance approaches
that EPA could pilot and evaluate, increasing availability of training, and preparing for advances in
pollution monitoring technology34.
A key component of EPA's overall compliance assurance program is compliance monitoring. Compliance
monitoring allows the regulatory agencies to detect noncompliance and promote compliance with the
nation's environmental laws. Effective targeting of compliance monitoring plays a central role in
30 "EPA Policy for the Administration of Environmental Programs on Indian Reservations," "EPA Policy on Consultation and
Coordination with Indian Tribes," and "EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes: Guidance for
Discussing Tribal Treaty Rights."
31 The Tribal Consultation Opportunities Tracking System (TCOTS) publicizes upcoming and current EPA consultation
opportunities for tribal governments and can be located here: https://TCOTS.epa.gov.
32 For more information on compliance assistance centers, see https://www.epa.gov/compliance/compliance-assistance-centers.
33 For more information on OECA's collaboration with ECOS via E-Enterprise, see Article: Advanced Monitoring Technology:
Opportunities and Challenges. A Path Forward for EPA. States, and Tribes.
34 For more information on a broader range of collaborations between OECA and ECOS, see Compendia of Next Generation
Compliance Examples in Water. Air. Waste, and Cleanup Programs.
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achieving the goals EPA has set for protecting human health and the environment. EPA, state, and tribal
inspectors often provide regulated entities with compliance assistance during the inspection process. On a
national level, EPA works closely with individual states, tribes, and state and tribal associations to
develop, modernize, and implement national compliance monitoring strategies to ensure a level playing
field for regulated entities across the country. EPA principally focuses compliance monitoring activities,
such as field inspections, electronic reporting, and data analysis tools, for those programs that are not
delegated to states and tribes. The Agency provides monitoring, program evaluations, and capacity
building to support and complement authorized state, tribal, and local government programs. The Agency
will work with its state and tribal partners to enhance compliance monitoring tools and increase the use of
Lean practices. Through E-Enterprise for the Environment, EPA, states, tribes, and territories will
collaborate to develop smart mobile tools to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of state, tribal, and
EPA inspectors, and support advanced monitoring technology.
International Partnerships
To achieve the Agency's domestic environmental and human health objectives, the EPA will work with
international partners to address international sources of pollution, as well as the impacts of pollution
from the United States on other countries and the global environment. Pollution impacts air, water, food
crops, and food chains, and can accumulate in foods such as fish. EPA efforts will include working with
international partners to strengthen environmental laws and governance to more closely align with U.S.
standards and practices and to help level the playing field for U.S. industry.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Advances in the field of information technology and social science research may offer innovative ways to
promote compliance. EPA is partnering with states to help prepare for and use these technologies and
research to carry out our statutory obligations. The Agency also is working with the academic community
on additional research to develop innovation in promoting compliance. EPA also will work closely with
ECOS; the National Tribal Caucus; state and tribal program associations; and individual states, tribes, and
territories to implement the Administrator's vision for cooperative federalism. In partnership with ECOS,
EPA plans to develop principles and best practices for enhancing collaboration among EPA and states on
compliance assurance work. In addition, EPA will continue to work with ECOS, the Association of State
and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO), and individual states to develop an
integrated hardware/software solution that supports documenting and conducting inspections.
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Objective 2.2 - Increase Transparency and Public Participation:
Listen to and collaborate with impacted stakeholders and provide effective
platforms for public participation and meaningful engagement.
Introduction
EPA will strengthen its community-driven approach, which emphasizes public participation to better
partner with states, tribes, and communities and to maximize the support and resources of the entire
Agency to create tangible environmental results. The Agency will deploy its collective resources and
expertise to collaborate with states, tribes, and communities and support locally-led, community-driven
solutions to improved environmental protection and economic growth. EPA will increase transparency
with industry, environmental groups, and other stakeholders, and will facilitate public participation,
emphasizing cooperation and collaboration, especially at the early stages of Agency actions. This will
provide a more comprehensive understanding of community needs.
The Agency also will coordinate better across its programs and with federal partners to ensure mutual
efforts are aligned. EPA will include consideration of vulnerable groups and communities in decisions,
and will reflect community needs in its actions and investments, recognizing that the needs of rural
communities may not be the same as urban areas. Increasing transparency and public participation in
EPA's work with other agencies will enhance the Agency's ability to partner with states, tribes, and local
governments and increase responsiveness to the needs of their most vulnerable communities. EPA will
serve as a convener and leverage resources with new and existing partners to deliver services more
efficiently and effectively. The Agency also will engage with regulated entities to identify reforms to
more efficiently and effectively meet the nation's environmental goals.
Strategic Measure
• SM-16 By September 30, 2022, eliminate the backlog and meet statutory deadlines for responding to
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests35.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Over the next five years, EPA will meet community needs through public participation and will build
community capacity through grants, technical assistance, partnering, and meaningful engagement. The
Agency will leverage recommendations provided by federal advisory committees, such as the National
Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), LGAC, and Children's Health Protection Advisory
Committee (CHPAC), and focus on partnerships representing vulnerable populations, such as youth, the
elderly, and low-income communities. Specifically, the Agency will engage with the focus communities
identified by EPA regions to understand each community's goals and identify its environmental priorities
and needs, recognizing that rural communities and more urban areas may have different priorities.
EPA will continue to provide loans and grants to states and tribes to improve infrastructure. Given that
investment in infrastructure is necessary for economic growth and environmental protection and that EPA
investments are catalytic to both, the Agency's efforts will be used to support private and public
investment in economic revitalization and improved environmental outcomes across the country. This
requires that EPA strengthen its infrastructure and community assistance programs (e.g., the clean water
SRF, drinking water SRF, Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, environmental justice,
35 Baseline will be determined in FY 2018.
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community revitalization, and brownfields area-wide planning grant programs) to better align EPA
investments with each other and with other federal investments in pursuit of economic revitalization and
improved environmental outcomes. At the same time, EPA will ensure that it is serving disadvantaged
communities, leveraging private investment to improve the economy, and protecting human health and
the environment.
EPA will work in a focused manner to make infrastructure and public health protection investments in
communities with and through partners such as states and tribes. To further integrate and implement
community environmental considerations within EPA programs, the Agency will create tools to facilitate
incorporation of community understanding, needs, and concerns across program activities, and advance
more systematic incorporation of existing tools and needs, such as use of the Environmental Justice
Screening and Mapping Tool (EJSCREEN) and EnviroAtlas. EPA will develop a cross-Agency
communities team to lead regional involvement in and resourcing of community-based environmental
work through a fully-integrated resource platform.
The Agency will coordinate across the federal government - EPA regions partnering with federal
agencies in focus communities - to deliver services more efficiently and effectively. EPA will utilize such
partnerships to leverage resources and expertise from across EPA and a range of outside partners to
advance economic revitalization through the environmental and health goals of communities. EPA will
look for opportunities for early engagement with state, local, and tribal co-regulators through existing
advisory committees and other forums. The Agency will also continue leadership of and involvement in
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Community Solutions Taskforce to better access and
leverage resources from across federal agencies, and will strengthen coordination with the Interagency
Working Group on Environmental Justice to better integrate EPA priorities and support and engage
communities. In addition, EPA will support and align its work with the activities and priorities of the
President's Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children.
EPA will work on the E-Enterprise Web Portal's Assistance Gateway, which provides tools and resources
for communities to facilitate two-way communication between the public and environmental agencies.
The Agency will determine how EPA, states, and tribes can most effectively harness and benefit from the
recent, rapid development of environmental monitoring technologies that are smaller, more portable, and
less expensive than traditional methods. EPA will pursue innovative technologies without compromising
the accuracy of the information collected. In consultation with state, tribal, and local partners, EPA will
make monitoring data publicly available, providing context and relevancy. EPA will support the E-
Enterprise Assistance Gateway that will enhance collaboration and communication with communities.
The Agency will seek to increase the number and type of public participation platforms it has to ensure
that the public can meaningfully participate in all of EPA's work—including policy making, regulatory
development, outreach, education, and community engagement.
EPA will also focus on reducing the FOIA backlog the Agency has built up over the years, and enhancing
the FOIA process. The complexity and volume of electronic documents required to be searched,
collected, and reviewed has increased over time. The Agency will ensure that it can support the timely
searching and collection of electronically-stored information for purposes of responding to FOIA requests
and other information needs in a cost-effective, sustainable manner. This should not only help the Agency
provide the public information requested, but also reduce the fees and lawsuits the Agency incurs from
missing FOIA response deadlines.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Resources are critical to the expansion of technical assistance directed at communities and state, tribal,
and local government partners that support community-focused engagement and collaboration. Staff must
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be available for a wide variety of implementation activities such as direct community engagement and
support, intra- and inter-agency coordination, and partnering effectively with states and tribes.
In addition, the challenges of coordinating across offices within EPA and with other federal agencies can
inhibit the identification and delivery of creative solutions and services that can lead to tangible results for
communities and a more effective leveraging of government resources. EPA recognizes the need to
communicate successes and achievements related to this work, both to market its effectiveness and to
teach new partners and practitioners how to replicate successful models and approaches.
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Goal 3: Rule of Law and Process:
Administer the law, as Congress intended, to refocus the Agency on
its statutory obligations under the law.
EPA will seek to reinvigorate the rule of law and process as it administers the environmental laws as
Congress intended, and to refocus the Agency on its basic statutory obligations. To accomplish this, EPA
will work cooperatively with states and tribes to ensure compliance with the law, as well as to create
consistency and certainty for the regulated community. Of course, EPA will take civil or criminal
enforcement action against violators of environmental laws.
A robust enforcement program is critically important for addressing violations and promoting deterrence,
and supports the Agency's mission of protecting human health and the environment. Ensuring compliance
with the law also ensures consistency and certainty for the regulated community so it has a complete
understanding of the impact of proposed actions on human health, the environment, and the economy, and
a clear path and timeline to achieve that compliance. EPA's policies and rules will reflect common sense,
consistent with the Agency's statutory authorities, and provide greater regulatory and economic certainty
for the public. EPA will enforce the rule of law in a timely manner and take action against those that
violate environmental laws to the detriment of human health or the environment.
One of EPA's highest priorities must be to create consistency and certainty for the regulated community.
Consistency in how the laws and regulations are applied across the country is part of that process. EPA
will undertake a variety of efforts to ensure that consistency in application of laws and regulations is
evaluated and addressed, while respecting the unique circumstances of each state and tribe. EPA
recognizes the importance of applying rules and policies consistently as well as creating certainty by
meeting the statutory deadlines that are required for EPA's actions. The rule of law must also be built on
the application of robust science that is conducted to help the Agency meet its mission and support the
states and tribes in achieving their environmental goals. Research, in conjunction with user-friendly
applications needed to apply the science to real-world problems, will help move EPA and the states
forward in making timely decisions based on science.
Carrying out this goal requires that EPA improve the efficiency of its internal business and administrative
operations. First, EPA's business operations, specifically the vast permitting processes established by the
different environmental statutes, are key to ensuring economic growth and human health and
environmental protection. Over the next five years, EPA will modernize its permitting practices to
increase the timeliness of reviews and decisions, while working more collaboratively, transparently, and
cost effectively to achieve the Agency's mission. The second part of improving internal operations
includes reducing EPA's overhead and creating more efficient and effective administrative processes
(e.g., acquisition) that allow EPA to accomplish its core mission work.
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Objective 3.1 - Compliance with the Law:
Timely enforce environmental laws to increase compliance rates and promote
cleanup of contaminated sites through the use of all of EPA's compliance assurance
tools, especially enforcement actions to address environmental violations.
Introduction
For decades, the protections mandated by federal environmental laws have been essential to the growth of
American prosperity. Noncompliance with those laws diminishes shared prosperity and unfairly tilts the
field of economic competition in favor of those that skirt the law. To carry out its mission to protect
human health and the environment, EPA, in collaboration with state and tribal partners, relies on a strong
national compliance assurance and cleanup enforcement program. An effective enforcement program is
key to ensuring that the ambitious goals of the nation's environmental statutes are realized.
EPA's enforcement priorities remain focused on cleaning up hazardous waste sites and addressing the
most significant violations consistent with EPA's statutory authorities. EPA takes the overwhelming
majority of its enforcement actions in programs that are: (1) not delegable to a state or tribe; (2) in states
or tribes that have not sought authorization to implement a delegable program; or (3) in states or tribes
that do not have the resources or expertise, or that seek assistance from the Agency—and these actions are
taken in coordination with the states and tribes. For states and tribes with authorized programs, EPA,
states, and tribes share enforcement responsibility, with primary enforcement responsibility residing with
the state36 or tribe. Further, EPA is responsible for addressing violations that occur in Indian country in
the absence of an approved program.
Even in states or tribes authorized to implement a program, EPA serves a critical role in addressing
serious national noncompliance problems, such as those affecting multiple states or tribes, and in serving
as a backstop for instances when a state or tribe does not timely or appropriately address serious
noncompliance. EPA also may assist a state or tribe in remedying noncompliance problems when the state
or tribe is unable to address the problem because it lacks the capability or resources, such as in actions
against other federal or state agencies. For some serious violations, the Agency and states or tribes may
decide that the best approach is a joint enforcement action. Further, EPA will take immediate action when
there is an environmental emergency, such as an oil spill or chemical accident. Through the State Review
Framework (SRF), EPA periodically reviews authorized state compliance monitoring and enforcement
programs, using criteria agreed upon by states, to evaluate performance against national compliance
monitoring or enforcement program standards. When states do not achieve standards, the Agency works
with them to make progress. However, EPA may also take a lead implementation role when authorized
states have a documented history of failure to make progress toward meeting national standards.
In all of its work, EPA's enforcement program strives to address noncompliance in an efficient and timely
manner, applying a broad range of enforcement and compliance tools to achieve the goal of reducing
noncompliance.
36 See e.g., ECOS Resolution 98-9, U.S. EPA Enforcement in Delegated States (revised September 28, 2016), describing the EPA
and state roles in enforcement in authorized states: "WHEREAS, U.S. EPA and the States have bilaterally developed policy
agreements which reflect those roles and which recognize the primary responsibility for enforcement action resides with the
States, with U.S. EPA taking enforcement action principally where the State requests assistance, is unwilling or unable to take
timely and appropriate enforcement actions, or in actions of national interest, or in actions involving multiple state jurisdictions."
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Strategic Measures
• SM-17 By September 30, 2022, reduce the average time from violation identification to correction37.
• SM-18 By September 30, 2022, increase the environmental law compliance rate38.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Civil Enforcement
The overall goal of EPA's civil enforcement program is to maximize compliance with the nation's
environmental laws and regulations to protect human health and the environment. The
Agency works closely with the U.S. Department of Justice, states, tribes, territories, and local agencies to
ensure consistent and fair enforcement of all major environmental statutes. EPA will seek to strengthen
environmental partnerships with its state and tribal partners, encourage regulated entities to correct
violations rapidly, ensure that violators do not realize an economic benefit from noncompliance, and
pursue enforcement to deter future violations.
EPA recognizes that significant environmental progress has been made over the years, much of it due to
enforcement efforts by EPA, states, tribes, and local communities. To maximize compliance over the next
five years, the Agency will refocus efforts toward areas with significant noncompliance issues and where
enforcement can address the most substantial impacts to human health and the environment. EPA also
recognizes the role of states and tribes as the primary implementers, where authorized by EPA to
implement the federal statutes, and will focus compliance assurance and enforcement resources on direct
implementation responsibilities, addressing the most significant violations, and assisting authorized states
and tribes in meeting national standards. For example, the Agency will provide expertise and implement
compliance monitoring strategies that will ensure a level playing field. EPA is responsible for direct
implementation for programs that are not delegable or where a state or tribe has not sought or obtained the
authority to implement a particular program (or program component). Examples of non-delegable
programs include the CAA mobile source program, pesticide labeling and registration under FIFRA,
virtually all compliance assurance and enforcement in Indian country, enforcement of the federal
Superfund cleanup program, and enforcement of non-delegated portions of various other laws, including
RCRA, the CWA, and stratospheric ozone under the CAA. EPA also will pursue enforcement actions at
federal facilities where significant violations are discovered, will ensure that federal facilities are held to
the same standards as the private sector, and will provide technical and scientific support to states and
tribes with authorized programs.
Criminal Enforcement
EPA's Criminal Enforcement program enforces the nation's environmental laws through targeted
investigation of criminal conduct committed by individual and corporate defendants that threaten public
health and the environment. Over the next five years, EPA will collaborate and coordinate with the U.S.
Department of Justice and state, tribal, and local law enforcement counterparts to ensure that the Agency
37 Baseline will be determined in FY 2018.
38 This concept will be piloted by focusing initially on increasing the percentage of Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permittees not in significant noncompliance with their permit limits to 88% from a
baseline of 76% from Q4 FY 2016 to Q3 FY 2017. Other program areas may be included in this strategic measure during the FY
2018-2022 timeframe.
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responds to violations as quickly and effectively as possible. EPA enforces the nation's environmental
laws through targeted investigation of criminal conduct committed by individual and corporate defendants
that threatens human health and the environment. The Agency plays a critical role across the country
since states and tribes have limited capacity to prosecute environmental crimes. The Agency will focus
resources on the most egregious environmental cases (i.e., those presenting significant human health and
environmental impacts).
Cleanup Enforcement
Through the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or
Superfund), EPA will facilitate prompt site cleanup and use an "enforcement first" approach that
maximizes the participation of liable and viable parties in performing and paying for cleanups. The
Agency will protect communities by ensuring that potentially responsible parties (PRPs) conduct
cleanups at Superfund sites, preserving federal taxpayer dollars for sites where there are no viable
contributing parties, and by recovering costs if the EPA expends Superfund-appropriated dollars to clean
up sites. EPA also will address liability concerns that can be a barrier to potential reuse. Addressing the
risks posed by Superfund sites and returning them to productive use strengthens the economy and spurs
economic growth.
Over the next five years, EPA will focus its resources on the highest priority sites, particularly those that
may present an immediate risk to human health or the environment. In accordance with the Superfund
Task Force Report, the Agency will improve and revitalize the Superfund program to ensure that
contaminated sites across the country are remediated to protect human health and the environment, and
returned to beneficial reuse as expeditiously as possible. At federally-owned sites, EPA will also focus on
resolving formal disputes under the federal facility agreements.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Advanced monitoring technology and information technology are rapidly evolving, and advances in these
fields offer great opportunities for improving the ability of EPA, states, and tribes to ensure compliance.
EPA, states, and tribes do, however, face challenges in keeping up with the rapid pace of change in these
technologies. In addition, social science research and knowledge may offer innovative ways to promote
compliance. EPA is partnering with states and tribes to help prepare for and use these advanced
monitoring technologies, consistent with statutory and regulatory obligations. The Agency will
collaborate with ECOS and state associations to maximize the use of these technologies and modernize
programs. EPA, in collaboration with states, is working with the academic community to identify new
ways to improve compliance. For example, EPA will work with states and academics to pilot and evaluate
innovative compliance methods.39 EPA will work with states to integrate advanced pollution monitoring
and information technology into Agency work.
39 ECOS Resolution 17-2: On the Value of Diverse and Innovative Approaches to Advance Compliance ("20171
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Objective 3.2 - Create Consistency and Certainty:
Outline exactly what is expected of the regulated community to ensure good
stewardship and positive environmental outcomes.
Introduction
The regulatory framework is inherently dynamic. As part of its statutory obligations, EPA is required to
publish many regulations within a set timeframe each year that implement environmental programs and
assist the Agency in meeting its core mission. These regulations address newly mandated responsibilities
as well as updates and revisions to existing regulations. As EPA meets its obligations to protect human
health and the environment through regulatory action, it must also meet another key responsibility -
minimizing "regulatory uncertainty" that unnecessarily causes businesses and communities to face delays,
planning inefficiencies, and compliance complexities that impede environmental protection, economic
growth, and development. EPA will employ a set of strategies to reduce regulatory uncertainty while
continuing to improve human health and environmental outcomes consistent with the Agency's
authorities as established by Congress and while considering unique state, tribal, and local circumstances.
These strategies, which reflect EPA's commitment to cooperative federalism and commitment to the rule
of law, will also help advance Agency goals for streamlining and modernizing permitting and enhancing
shared accountability.
Strategic Measures
• SM-19 By September 30, 2022, meet 100% of legal deadlines imposed on EPA.
• SM-20 By September 30, 2022, eliminate unnecessary or duplicative reporting burdens to the
regulated community by 10,000,000 hours40.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
As EPA issues new or revised regulations, businesses and individuals can find it challenging to know
which rules apply to them and to adjust their compliance strategies. Over the next five years, EPA will
reinvigorate its approach to regulatory development and prioritize meeting its statutory deadlines to
ensure that expectations for the regulated community and the public are clear and comprehensive and that
Agency actions are defensible and consistent with its authorities. The Agency will use new approaches
and flexible tools to minimize regulatory uncertainty and will communicate more comprehensively to
realize more consistent and better environmental outcomes, while centering work on statutory and
regulatory obligations. EPA will strengthen working relationships with industry sectors to better
understand their needs and challenges in implementing Agency requirements and with communities to
understand their concerns. This knowledge will enable the Agency to develop better policies and
regulations to protect human health and the environment in line with the authorities given to EPA by
Congress.
On average, the EPA faces approximately 20 legal challenges under the various environmental statutes
each year that assert that the Agency missed a statutory or regulatory deadline for taking an action or
unreasonably delayed taking an action. In addition, the Agency faces nearly the same number of legal
challenges under FOIA for failure to comply with the deadlines in that law. Responding to these
challenges often diverts significant EPA resources away from priority activities, and could impact the
40 Baseline is estimated at 173,849,665 information collection and reporting hours.
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Agency's ability to fulfill its commitments. In order to facilitate achievement of this goal, EPA will
undertake a systematic mapping of the processes associated with these obligations and implement
improvements where needed.
In addition, EPA will develop and engage stakeholders in reviewing a draft base catalog of
responsibilities that statutes require EPA to perform in programs delegated to states and tribes. The base
catalog, to be complete by 2019 and subsequently updated as necessary, will provide EPA a foundation to
make decisions that reduce contradictory policy determinations at headquarters and across regions. It will
also support EPA cooperative federalism commitments aimed at minimizing duplication and overlap
among regions, headquarters, states, and tribes. This effort also leverages the commitment that EPA is
making under cooperative federalism to identify, for all environmental media, an inventory and timeline
for state-led permits that EPA reviews.
The Agency will ensure consistent implementation of policies across all regions. EPA will also work
towards more cooperative decision making between EPA's regions and headquarters, when necessary.
EPA will review regulatory guidance documents to identify key opportunities and will clarify and realign
Agency approaches to improve consistency and clarity. EPA will strengthen working relationships with
states, tribes, and local communities to transfer knowledge, leveraging its commitments under cooperative
federalism, such as collaboration under E-Enterprise for the Environment. EPA will make available to
states and tribes tools or services designed by other federal agencies, states, tribes, or local communities
that enhance efficiency and reduce burden on the regulated community while ensuring protection of
human health and the environment.
EPA will work with states and tribes to achieve this objective without overburdening those entities with
costly unnecessary reporting systems and technology. Building on efforts to date, such as under E-
Enterprise, EPA will collaborate with its partners on systems and services, including but not limited to:
• E-reporting: A systematic digital approach that enables states, tribes, and the regulated community to
move from paper-based to electronic reporting.
• The Environmental Information Exchange Network: Managed under the collaborative leadership of
EPA, states, territories, and tribes, a communication, data, and services platform for submitting and
sharing environmental information among partners to foster informed decision making.
• SPeCS for SIPs (State Plan Electronic Collection System for State Implementation Plans): A web-
based system for authorized state, tribal, and local governments to submit and manage SIPs under the
Clean Air Act.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
A number of factors and emerging issues may impede the Agency's ability to meet this strategic objective.
Sustainable resource levels and a strong workforce are critical to success. Proposing and finalizing
regulations is often a multi-year process, which can be challenged by lawsuits causing further delays. For
example, technical complexity also creates challenges in meeting aggressive deadlines.
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Objective 3.3 - Prioritize Robust Science:
Refocus the EPA's robust research and scientific analysis to inform policy making.
Introduction
EPA will identify, assess, conduct, and apply the best available science to address current and future
environmental hazards, develop new approaches, and improve the scientific foundation for environmental
protection decisions. EPA conducts problem-driven, interdisciplinary research to address specific
environmental risks, and is committed to using science and innovation to reduce risks to human health
and the environment, based on needs identified by EPA's program and regional offices and as well as
state and tribal partners. Specifically, over the next five years, the Agency will strengthen alignment of its
research to support EPA programs, regions, states, and tribes in accomplishing their top human health and
environmental protection priorities for improved air quality, clean and safe water, revitalized land, and
chemical safety41. Working closely with ECOS and its subsidiary, the Environmental Research Institute
of the States (ERIS), the Agency will strive to connect state research needs with Agency priorities, and
work to improve communication of research results. Through the public-private coalition Interstate
Technology and Regulatory Council42, EPA will encourage the adoption of innovative technologies and
solutions. The Agency will also emphasize the translation of its work products for end user application
and feedback.
EPA research will be reviewed by various scientific advisory boards (e.g., Board of Scientific
Counselors) that are made up of recognized experts in various scientific, engineering, and social science
fields and may be from industry; business; public and private research institutes or organizations;
academia; federal, state, tribal, and local governments; nongovernmental organizations; and other relevant
interest areas.
Strategic Measure
• SM-21 By September 30, 2022, increase the number of research products meeting customer needs43.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Air Quality
EPA's research will advance the science and provide the information critical to improve air quality and to
inform stationary source regulations; vehicle and fuel standards and certification; emission inventories; air
quality assessments; and domestic ozone actions. The results of Agency research to support air quality
program priorities will inform EPA programs; state, tribal, and local air programs; communities; and
individuals about measures and strategies to reduce air pollution. Researchers will publish peer-reviewed
scientific journal articles to disseminate research findings as appropriate and consistent with resource and
program needs.
41 EPA research under Homeland Security supports efforts outlined in Core Mission (Goal 1) objectives.
42 For more information on the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council, go to http://www.itrcweb.org/.
43 Baseline will be determined in FY 2018.
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Over the next five years, the Agency will:
• Deliver state-of-the-art tools for states and tribes to use in identifying effective emission reduction
strategies to meet national ambient air quality standards and enhance air quality measurement
methods used to ascertain compliance with NAAQS.
• Assess human and ecosystem exposures and effects associated with air pollutants on individual,
community, regional, and global scales.
• Develop and evaluate approaches to prevent and reduce pollution, particularly sustainable, cost-
effective, and innovative multi-pollutant and sector-based approaches.
• Provide human exposure and environmental modeling, monitoring, metrics, and information needed
to inform air quality decision making at the state, tribal, and local level.
Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
EPA will develop innovative, cost-effective solutions to current, emerging, and long-term water resource
challenges for complex chemical and biological contaminants. Using a systems approach to develop
scientific and technological solutions for protecting human health and aquatic ecosystems, EPA
researchers partner with program experts; federal and state agencies; tribes; local communities; academia;
nongovernmental organizations; and private stakeholders.
Over the next five years, the Agency will:
• Support safe drinking water by focusing research on assessing the distribution, composition,
remediation, and health impacts of known and emerging chemical and biological contaminants.
• Improve methods for fast and efficient waterborne pathogen monitoring in recreational waters.
• Investigate health impacts from exposure to harmful algal/cyanobacteria toxins, and develop
innovative methods to monitor, characterize, and predict blooms for early action.
• Support states and tribes in meeting their priorities and setting water quality and aquatic life
thresholds.
• Assist states, tribes, communities, and utilities in addressing stormwater and wastewater infrastructure
needs through applied modeling, technical assistance, and capture-and-reuse risk assessments.
• Provide water reuse research support on potable and non-potable use guidance for states and tribes.
Sustainable and Healthy Communities
EPA will conduct research to support regulatory activities and protocol development for the National Oil
and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan and provide on-demand technical support at
cleanup sites managed by federal, state or tribal governments, as well as assistance during emergencies.
The Agency conducts health, environmental engineering, and ecological research and prepares planning
and analysis tools for localities nationwide to use in facilitating regulatory compliance and improving
environmental and health outcomes.
Over the next five years, EPA will:
• Provide technical support to the states and tribes through technical support centers for remediating
CERCLA-designated contaminated sites and returning them to productive use.
• Assist regional, state, tribal, and local leaders in reducing costs and setting science-based cleanup
levels in areas designated under CERCLA.
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• Characterize sites and contaminants released from leaking underground storage tanks identified under
the LUST Trust Fund.
• Work with the ECOS/ERIS to evaluate the causal relationships between ecosystem goods and
services and human health, and to document these relationships using EnviroAtlas.
• Assess the impact of pollution (e.g., health impact assessments) on such vulnerable groups as
children, tribes, environmental justice communities, and other susceptible populations.
Chemical Safety
EPA will evaluate and predict impacts from chemical use and disposal, and provide states and tribes with
information, tools, and methods to make better informed, more timely decisions about the thousands of
chemicals in the United States. The Agency will produce innovative tools that accelerate the pace of data-
driven evaluations, enable knowledge-based decisions that protect human health, and advance the science
required to anticipate and solve problems.
Over the next five years, EPA will:
• Provide tools to more efficiently and cost-effectively evaluate the biological activity and health risks
of chemicals and reduce the use of toxicity tests to animals.
• Use ToxCast/Tox21 data to develop high-throughput risk assessments, particularly for chemicals for
which adequate risk assessment information has been historically unavailable.
• Develop online software tools to provide information on thousands of chemicals and integrate health,
environmental, and exposure data to support regulatory and prioritization decisions.
• Explore how high-throughput exposure and hazard information can be combined to predict the
potential for exposure and risk to susceptible subpopulations.
• Conduct nanoparticle research by using life-cycle analyses, evaluating impacts on ecosystem health,
and supporting the development of safer nanomaterials in private industry.
Human Health Risk Assessment
EPA also will focus on the science of assessments that inform Agency, state, and tribal decisions and
policies. These risk assessments provide the research and technical support needed to ensure safety of
chemicals in the marketplace, revitalize and return land to communities, provide clean and safe water, and
work with states and tribes to improve air quality.
Over the next five years, EPA will:
• Develop a portfolio of chemical evaluation products that use the best available science for use by
EPA, states, tribes, and other federal agencies.
• Provide research and scientific support for proper TSCA implementation, as Congress intended.
• Develop assessment products, peer-reviewed toxicity values, and advanced exposure assessment tools
to help inform Superfund and hazardous waste cleanups as required by RCRA and CERCLA.
• Provide scientific support to the risk and technology reviews conducted under the CAA.
• Provide integrated science assessments (ISAs) to support decisions to retain or revise the national
ambient air quality standards. ISAs also inform benefit-cost and other analyses conducted by state,
tribal, and local officials to support implementation of air quality management programs.
• Provide research and technical support to deliver safe drinking water by evaluating exposures to and
health impacts of known and emerging chemical and biological contaminants.
• Work with states and tribes on research and development of new assessment technologies.
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External Factors and Emerging Issues
EPA faces a number of challenges in its commitment to conducting robust science. For example, aging
information technology infrastructure presents a risk to information security and limits the capacity for
information management. Recruiting and maintaining a strong workforce with appropriate scientific and
technical skillsets are also critical to EPA's research efforts.
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Objective 3.4 - Streamline and Modernize:
Issue permits more quickly and modernize our permitting and reporting systems.
Introduction
EPA implements a host of environmental statutes that affect the regulated community. Permitting
requirements under these statutes can impose a variety of costs, including direct costs and opportunity
costs related to uncertainty, delay, and cancellation. Delays in the approval of permits and modifications
by federal, state, or tribal permitting authorities can postpone or prevent manufacturers from building,
expanding, or beginning operations, even if the affected operations ultimately may be deemed suitable as
proposed. Delays can also impact construction of major infrastructure projects. EPA is committed to
speeding up the processing of permits and modifications to create certainty for the business community,
leading to more jobs, increased economic prosperity, and streamlined permit renewals, which incorporate
up-to-date information and requirements more quickly, thereby improving environmental protection.
Further, EPA will continue to convert permit applications and reports that rely on paper submissions to
electronic processing in order to reduce burden, shorten the wait for approval decisions, and increase the
opportunity for public transparency.
Strategic Measure
• SM-22 By September 30, 2022, reach all permitting-related decisions within six months.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
Over the next five years, EPA will systematically collect and report permitting data for each of its
permitting programs. The Agency will employ business process improvement strategies, such as Lean, to
increase efficiencies in all permitting processes and meet our commitments. The Agency will also work
with states and use Lean techniques to streamline the review of state-issued permits. Solutions may
include conducting earlier triage and communications, conducting Agency reviews in parallel with public
reviews, and/or focusing reviews where they add the most value.
EPA will consider where policy changes can improve permitting efficiency without sacrificing
environmental results. Examples include expanding the scope of minor permit modifications to reduce the
number of permit reviews required, reinvigorating the use of plant-wide applicability limits (PALs) to
reduce unnecessary permitting transactions, and increasing states' ability to incorporate federal
regulations by reference, enabling them to adjust quickly and efficiently to new regulatory provisions.
EPA will modernize permitting and reporting processes through efforts such as E-Enterprise for the
Environment, a shared governance model with EPA, states, and tribes. EPA will work with states and
tribes to achieve this objective without overburdening those entities with costly unnecessary reporting
systems and technology. Building on efforts to date, EPA will collaborate with its partners on the
following systematic process improvements:
• E-Enterprise Web Portal: A web portal that allows the states, tribes, regulated community, and EPA
to transact business, such as permitting and reporting, and provides easy access to needed
information.
• E-permitting: An online system to ensure the ability to apply for, track the status of, and receive a
permit electronically.
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External Factors and Emerging Issues
Sustainable resource levels for states, tribes, and EPA are critical to efforts to streamline and modernize
permitting processes. Support from states and tribes, including state and tribal capacity for maintaining
and increasing delegation, is also critical to streamlining and modernizing permitting processes. The
global shift to digital services for communication and transaction raises expectations of EPA stakeholders
and provides more robust approaches and technologies for developing electronic services.
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Objective 3.5 - Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness:
Provide proper leadership and internal operations management to ensure that the
Agency is fulfilling its mission.
Introduction
To support its mission to protect human health and the environment, EPA will improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of its business processes. Focus areas will include financial, facility, human resource,
contract, grant, and information technology/information management. EPA will improve its future
workforce, modernize and streamline its business practices, and take advantage of new collaborative and
cost-effective tools and technologies. The Agency will build a modern and secure work environment that
will protect critical information and support its efforts to address the environmental problems of the 21st
century. EPA will work to alleviate challenges associated with outdated or non-existent policies, tension
between centralized and decentralized approaches, myriad federal acquisition and grants requirements,
complex processes, and fluctuating levels of expertise across Agency programs.
Strategic Measures
• SM-23 By September 30, 2022, reduce unused office and warehouse space by 850,641 square feet44.
• SM-24 By September 30, 2022, reduce procurement processing times by achieving 100% of
procurement action lead times (PALT)45.
• SM-25 By September 30, 2022, improve 250 operational processes.
• SM-26 By September 30, 2022, increase enterprise adoption of shared services by four46.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
EPA will modernize and improve business processes and operations to promote transparency, efficiency,
and effectiveness; enhance collaborative, results-driven partnerships with internal and external business
partners; recruit, develop, and maintain a highly-skilled, diverse, and engaged workforce; and improve the
capabilities and cost-effectiveness of its information technology (IT) and information management (IM)
systems.
EPA will apply Lean principles and will leverage input from customer-focused councils, advisory groups,
surveys, workgroups, acquisition partnership initiatives, technical user groups, portfolio reviews, and
federal advisory committees to identify business process streamlining opportunities. To improve the
efficiency and cost effectiveness of its operations, EPA will standardize and streamline internal business
processes in its acquisition and grants processes and systems, and use additional federal and/or internal
shared services when supported by business case analysis.
EPA will ensure its workforce is positioned to accomplish the Agency's mission effectively by providing
access to quality training and development opportunities that will improve staff s and managers' skills,
knowledge, and performance, and prepare them to capitalize on opportunities that advance progress. EPA
44 Baseline is 5,264,846 square feet as of FY 2017.
45 Baseline for FY 2017 is under development.
46 Baseline is 5 administrative systems/operations shared services in FY 2017.
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will improve its workforce planning and management, strengthen its Senior Executive Service, and focus
on developing and maintaining a highly-skilled technical workforce.
EPA also will transform and modernize its information systems, tools, and processes to improve how the
Agency collaborates both internally and with external stakeholders. EPA will enhance the power of
information by delivering on-demand data to the right people at the right time. To enable the Agency, its
partners, and the public effectively to acquire, generate, manage, use, and share information - a critical
resource in protecting human health and the environment - EPA will improve its IT/IM capabilities and
customer experiences. EPA will employ enterprise risk management and financial data analytics to
support data management decision making, using the enterprise risk management framework mandated
by OMB Circular A-123.
To ensure that critical environmental and human health information is adequately protected, EPA will
strengthen its cybersecurity posture. The Agency will focus on implementing two key cybersecurity
priorities—the mandated federal-government-wide Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) effort,
and the complementary EPA-specific Cyber Risk Mitigation Projects (CRMPs). These two priorities
introduce or improve upon dozens of cybersecurity capabilities, enhance the Agency's ability to respond
to threats, and improve EPA's privacy posture via the Privacy Act of 1974. EPA will work closely with
the Department of Homeland Security and other partners in implementing CDM capabilities.
To better understand complex interactions between pollutants and the environment and address the
environmental problems of the 21st century effectively and efficiently, EPA and its partners analyze large
volumes of data. EPA will develop a comprehensive data management strategy that addresses the
collection, management, and use of data generated both internally and from external partners including
states, tribes, grantees, the regulated community, and citizen science. The Agency will deploy new data
analysis, data visualization, and geospatial tools in a Cloud-based framework to enable analysis and
provide the basis for informed decision making.
Environmental decision making across media programs requires access to high-quality data and analytics.
EPA will build shared IT services, maximizing the benefits of our investments and ensuring consistency
and scalability in tools and services. Over the next five years, EPA programs that receive submissions
from outside the Agency, whether from the reporting community, states, tribes, or local governments, will
rely increasingly on centrally-developed and maintained information services, decreasing the volume of
computer code each program must develop and maintain. Shared services will reduce reporting burden for
submitting entities and improve data quality for EPA. EPA programs, states, and tribes must establish a
common catalog of shared services and agree to a minimum set of common standards and practices.
The Agency will enhance its extensive information resources by designing an enterprise-wide information
architecture that will facilitate the electronic management of data and information, as well as multimodal
access, effective searching, and ease of use. The Agency's future information management architecture
will support official recordkeeping requirements, as well as daily document management, business
processes, information access, and legal needs of EPA employees and organizations, while also being
flexible, scalable, and cost effective.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
EPA faces a number of factors that may impede its ability to promote effective and efficient internal
operations. The Agency's ability to attract and retain staff skilled in human resources, IT/IM,
cybersecurity, and acquisition management and staff with scientific and technical expertise is a continuing
challenge in improving Agency operations. A lack of category-focused skills and business acumen can
negatively affect strategic sourcing decisions. Myriad federal acquisition and grant requirements, complex
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processes, and varying levels of expertise across Agency programs often prevent the timely awarding of
contract and grant vehicles to meet Agency demands. EPA must increase its competencies in these areas
through a robust training program for staff and managers.
Without standard business processes, EPA cannot achieve its objectives. For example, tension between
local needs and Agency-wide strategies may result in missed opportunities to make effective strategic
sourcing decisions. This not only impedes Agency efforts to modernize business processes and streamline
IT infrastructure, but also affects the ability of government shared service providers to serve additional
customers and use standard software to achieve efficiencies and cost savings. Furthermore, continually
changing IT/IM and security requirements and variation among states and tribes require development of a
holistic "Enterprise-Level Vision and Data Strategy" that optimizes both business processes and
solutions; aligns all data programs, resources, and budgets; and strengthens the Agency's enterprise risk
strategies. Demands for IT/IM services will continue to grow, due to the increasing volume of
environmental data and increased expectations of other agencies, regulated entities, the public, and EPA
staff. As cybersecurity risks evolve, protecting EPA's information assets will continue to be apriority.
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Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Office of Planning, Analysis, and Accountability (2721A)
United States Environmental Protection Agency
12 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan
EPA-190-R-18-003
February 2018
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