Environmental Protection Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal agency established in 1970 to protect the natural resources (e.g., air, water and land) and endangered species. Its authority is established by a series of federal laws such as the Clean Air Act. Its administrator is appointed by the President, and is usually given Cabinet-level rank. The current Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is Lisa P. Jackson.

It tries to play a mediating role in the debates between Conservation and environmentalism.

In December 2009 the EPA officially declared that six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, "threaten the health and welfare of the American people". The decision could open the way for the Obama administration to impose its own curbs on emissions, although Congress may have the final say.

On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. This was a rebuke to the Bush administration, which had called for voluntary reduction of the gases. .

On 8 February, 2008, a federal appeals court struck down a mercury-control plan imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The court ruled that the Bush administration ignored the law when it imposed less stringent requirements on power plants to reduce mercury pollution, which scientists fear could cause neurological problems in 60,000 newborns a year.

Global Warming

The EPA has ruled that CO₂ is a health hazard and it is widely anticipated that the ruling will lead to legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions. The Competitive Enterprise Institute reported findings that countered EPA claims. The report was suppressed from public knowledge and the likely reason was politically motivated.

DDT

An influential early act of the EPA was to ban DDT in the U.S. The reason was to protect numerous bird species and the harmless insects on which they depend for food.