Environmental Protection Agency

The US Environmental Protection Agency or EPA leads the environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts in the US.

The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment.

In July of 1970, the Nixon administration and Congress worked together to establish the EPA in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air and land. Prior to the establishment of the EPA, the federal government was not structured to take a coordinated approach on pollutants that harm human health and degrade the environment. The EPA was assigned the task of repairing the damage already done to the natural environment and to establish new criteria to guide Americans in making a cleaner environment a reality.