Federal Government Regulatory Program: Environment Protection Agency - Essay Example

Federal Government Regulatory Program: Environment Protection Agency Federal Government Regulatory Program: Environment ProtectionAgency Origins of the program The Environment Protection Agency as one of the federal government protection programs originated from the need to consolidate and expand the environmental programs in 1970. It was on 22nd April that the American environmentalism dawned as one of the popular movements. The federal research, standard setting, monitoring and the enforcement activities that were to be performed to ensure that the environment was protected were to be consolidated into one agency. The regulatory authority fort this program was expanded in the same year through the Clean Air ct. In the later years it was additionally expanded with other considerations. For instance, in 1972, it was expanded with the Clean Water act, the safe Drinking water Act in 1974, the Toxic substances control Act in 1976, and the Resource conservation and recovery act in 1976. The main effort was to make an improvement on the environmental protection. However, it also led to the creation of a number of materials. These included the Materials transportation board in 1975. This board currently forms a major part of the research and special programs administration in the DOT. The other creation was the Office of surface mining Reclamation and enforcement that was established in 1977 within the department of the interior. Since the inception of the Environmental protection agency, a particular meaning has been attached to the influence of nature. This means that the nation has been able to celebrate clean air, land, and water (OIRAOMB, 2015). Oversight responsibility for the Environmental protection Agency The House of Representatives Subcommittee that is responsible for the oversight of the Environmental Protection agency is the subcommittee on the water resources and the environment. This has been based on the need to oversee the general matters of the issues that are related to the development of water resources, conservation and management, the control of water pollution and water related infrastructure, as well as the cleanup of any hazardous wastes. There are other subcommittees in the senate that have the oversight responsibility of environmental protection. They include the Agriculture, nutrition and forestry that are charged with the mandate to conserve forestry and natural resources. The commerce science and transportation subcommittee is charged with overseeing the ocean atmosphere, fisheries and forest guard. In addition, the energy and natural resources subcommittee deals with the regulation of energy, public lands, forests, water and power (Gibbs, 2015). Since the inception of the environmental protection agency or EPA, it has been working hard to attain a cleaner and healthier environment for the people of America. In the current congress the oversight agenda of this committee have been to fulfill the primary responsibilities of the Environmental Protection Agency which include the ability to carry out the federal water pollution Act control that is also known as the water pollution Act. This Act makes it possible for a federal to secure and uphold the quality of the water within the nation. There are several activities that have been conducted by the subcommittee within the year. These include the assistance to revitalize the communities in America through the Brownfield’s program. Recently, there has also been the one year after the anniversary for the enactment on the implementation of water resources and reforms and development Act of 2014. Additionally, there have been the statements from Shuster and Gibbs from the hearing on the implementation of the WRRDA as well as the hearing to focus on the WRRDA implementation on the one year anniversary of the water resources law. All of these agendas have been considered for the month of June (Gibbs, 2015). From the analysis of the current information and data the most recent assessment of the level of effectiveness of the program as is produced by the Office of the management and budget under the Program assessment rating tool process is the use of a number of assessment tools. For instance one of this has been applied in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the program around the beach and water areas. It is known as the BEACH and stands for the Beaches, Environmental and coastal Health. It is charged with foreseeing that the activities that take place around the environment of the oceans and beaches are not harmful to the health of the Americans. It ensures that the water is of the right quality and alerts the public in case of any problems. There are also a number of bodies that include the United Nations Environmental Program which advocates for and educates members on the need for environmental protection. In this sense, it serves as the voice for the environment in the United Nations system. The key findings and the recommendations from the effectiveness review of the Environmental Protection agency are presented as an improvement in some areas and the need to reinforce other areas further. For instance, there is still a principle problem in relation to the emission of green house gases and excessive carbon components into the air. This has presented a major challenge as it is a great threat in relation to the anticipated effects of global warming. A lot still needs to be done to ensure that these gases are recycled or that they are produced as less harmful substances (AEEP, 2015). Summary Among all the other federal government protection programs, the Environmental protection agency has been very active based on the fact that the conservation and protection of the environment plays a vital role in the healthy living among most of the individuals. It is also for this reason that a large number of the American citizens have actively participated in the activities required in environmental protection. The Environmental Protection Agency is concerned with a wide area that is associated with the need for clean air and the environment in general. As such, since its beginning, the main aim has been to provide an overall safe environment for the America. With the various challenges in the kind of problems presented, this protection agency makes efforts to cater for all the needs and takes into account the relevant preventive measures. Some of the most common issues that have been considered include the regulation on the need for proper disposal of chemical substances that are used in farming and business activities. They include the use of lead based paints, pesticides, sulfonades and formaldehyde substances. This is to avoid the interference with water bodies. In addition, there has been the aim to control green house emissions that affect the air and in turn the workings of the environment. References Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Office of Management and Budget (OIRAOMB). (2015). Current Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Retrieved 2 July 2015 from http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain Assessment of the effectiveness of Environmental protection agency (AEEPA). (2015). Retrieved 2 July 2015 from Expectmore.gov Gibbs, B. (2015). Water Resources and Environment. Retrieved 2 July 2015 from http://transportation.house.gov/subcommittees/subcommittee/?ID=107422 Read More