Introduction and Purpose for Agency Creation
The dawn of the last century ushered in a boom in industrialization especially in the Northern America . As an effect, the degradation of the surroundings due to industrial pollution became imminent. To curb this environmental destruction, President Richard Nixon enacted policies that enabled the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S EPA), which was set to initiate its responsibilities as from the last month of the year 1970. USEPA is a federal agency tasked with the overall protection of the normalcy in human health and the steadiness in the stability of the environs. This is achieved by a proper setup and effective implementation of rules and regulations on the basis of congress enacted laws. Also, its workforce is involved in conducting environmental research, assessment of the impact of human activities and educating the members of the public on the need to minimize harm to their surroundings (Collin , 3).
The Enabling Act
Historical Perspective
At the beginning of the second-half of the 20th Century, the rising public concern regarding the devastating impact of manmade activities to the surrounding led to the Congress reaction of instituting stringent measures to curb the same. As a first step, the congress successfully declared a national environmental policy, meant to attract the public attention. A few years later Senator Henry M. Jackson delivered a bill (S 1075)[1] that ensured the eventual enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of the year 1969. The law came into effect as from January 1970. Actually, the law declared a nationally accepted policy to ensure environmental protection and the subsequent conception of the Council of Environmental Quality under the Office of the U.S President. To foster the implementation process of the national policy, it was a mandatory requirement of NEPA to ensure the preparation of impacts to the environment caused by the activities initiated by government activities.
In the year 1970, Richard Nixon
Functions of the Agency
There are several functions that USEPA is tasked with. These include the following:
1. Conducting Environmental Research: this is one of the main roles of the agency. In fact, the agency has more than 27 laboratories fully fitted with the necessary facilities that ensure the monitoring and assessment of the environmental conditions across the United States
2. Regulating the Activities of the Consolidated Agencies: The United States Law empowers the agency to control the activities of other environmentally specialized agencies established in the United States
3. Public Awareness Creation: to successfully conserve the environment, the citizens should be made aware of how their day to day activities contributes to the climatic changes that affect the stability of the environment. Additionally, they should be taught the means and ways that they can minimize the human-caused effects through the utilization of renewable energy sources. USSEPA is tasked with this role.
USEPA Organization Chart
The Chart[2] below shows the USEPA organization chart with the Descriptions of the major positions within the agency (Rom et al. 1663)
Accomplishments of the Agency
For decades, the agency has made numerous accomplishments. For example, during early 1990s, the environmental agency successfully initiated the Energy Star Program that enables the volunteers to embrace the use of energy efficient methods. In the long run, this program has significantly cut the annual carbon emissions to the U.S atmosphere, hence the minimization of pollution.
The organization further launched the pesticide administration program that ensures the registration of all pesticides before they are released to the market. This ensures that all the pesticides in the U.S meet the quality standards that favor human health and stability of the environment. USEPA has further established Water Sense Program that has encouraged efficiency in water utilization across States. Since its launch in 2006, the extent of its success has been felt across the states (Christian-Smith et al. 58).
Common Criticism
Numerous U.S state and city officials have constantly criticized the ‘LT2’ drinking water project[3] as being unnecessarily too costly, considering the hard economic times that the U.S is currently undergoing. Instead, the officials propose that the funding for the project should have been directed elsewhere to boost and stimulate the economic performance. Also, the agency has been constantly criticized for the mismanagement of resources, especially during the 1983 financial year. Anne M. Gorsuch
Personal Critique and Recommendation
The agency is still relies highly on the analog technology in executing its activities. Therefore, it hardly meets the needs of the modernized society and rapidly changing environment. This is evident with the slow upgrade process of the facilities in the labs to better cope with the climatic change. In addition, the agency allocates a minimal funding to the research and development activities relative to its overall budget, hence contributing to the inefficiency and unreliability. Thus, I highly recommend additional resources to cater for the spiraling need for further research studies towards better understanding of the dynamic environment. Ultimately, the federal government should enact laws that provide a room for increase in supplementary budget for the organization to successfully upgrade the technology utilized in the laboratories.
Work Cited
Christian-Smith, Juliet , Peter H. Gleick , and Heather Cooley Oxford : Oxford University
Mintz, Joel A. Enforcement Austin University of Texas
Rom, William N , and Steven Markowitz Philadelphia Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott
[1] http://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal69-1248484
[2] For more on chart description Visit http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-organization-chart
[3] Reservoir EPA Policy Adoption Project Retrieved from http://www.cityofrochester.gov/reservoirs/
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