Happy Birthday EPA

By Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Director - follow Lynn on Twitter (@LTCWA) [ED. Note - Like the best birthday greetings, this is a day late] Happy Birthday EPA! I learned on one of my favorite blogs (This Day in Water History) that on this day [Ed. Note - yesterday, December 2nd] in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began operations. Most people probably don’t think much about the EPA. Here at Clean Water Action, we think about EPA all the time. Much of our work in the community of health and environmental organizations over the last four decades has been about passing laws in the U.S. Congress. But it doesn’t stop there. After an environmental law passes, it’s EPA who steps in to make it a reality. That’s no easy task. Clean Water Action was founded in the wake of passage of the Clean Water Act because our founders knew that a law doesn’t mean much if it is not implemented well. And that implementation requires public participation. These days, with Congress not passing many health or environmental protection laws (or any others for that matter), our focus remains on the ongoing processes of implementing our laws. We focus especially on our landmark water laws – the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act which turns 40 in just two weeks. Our members know how much we work on EPA activity because we are often asking them to communicate on important regulatory activity. EPA knows we focus on them because they hear from us all the time and they seek engagement by Clean Water Action and other organizations to make sure the process is as well-informed as it can be. We have many EPA activities on our front burner right now but today I want to think about the big picture. Despite the many areas where we think regulations need to be improved, EPA has accomplished an almost miraculous task in bringing our nation’s health and environmental protection laws to the where they are now. The Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to name a few. EPA has only one mandated job and that is to implement the law. They have done this is the face of opposition from regulated entities and funding that has probably never been adequate and has been stagnant and slipping in the last decade. Agency staff have kept their eyes on the ball through Administrations representing both major political parties and under leadership that necessarily changes with Administrations. Agency staff hear from people like me that they are not doing enough and from other sectors that they are doing too much. Sometimes the criticism sounds personal. On a few occasions, government shutdowns have led to them and other federal employees not even being able to do their work and to rhetoric that could appear to belittle that work. Indeed, it’s an imperfect world but so much has been accomplished. So today I will think about a record of remarkable achievement and just how much more EPA can do over the next 44 years. They’ve gotten off to a good start. Happy Birthday EPA – the Agency that isn’t a Cabinet department but probably should be!