EPA Lays Out Five-Year Priorities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued its 2011 to 2015 strategic plan, which presents five strategic goals for advancing the agency's environmental and human-health mission.

The plan identifies measurable environmental and human health outcomes the public can expect over the next five years and describes how EPA intends to achieve those results. The agency's five strategic goals are:

• Taking action on climate change and improving air quality
• Protecting America's waters
• Cleaning up communities and advancing sustainable development
• Ensuring the safety of chemicals and preventing pollution
• Enforcing environmental laws

EPA has strengthened ambient air-quality standards for nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide and proposed stronger standards for ozone. It is developing a strategy for a cleaner and more efficient power sector with strong and achievable emission-reduction goals for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other air toxins.

The agency says improved monitoring, timely and thorough permitting and vigorous enforcement will be its key tools for air-quality improvement.

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