Category: U.S. EPA

EPA efforts highlighted at Democrats’ faith council meeting

EPA efforts highlighted at Democrats’ faith council meeting

By Michelle Bauman
 
Lisa P. Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, speaks Sept. 5, 2012 at the DNC’s faith council.

Charlotte, N.C., Sep 5, 2012 / 05:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Concern for the environment and a desire to care for one’s neighbor through the federal government were among the ways Democratic speakers described their faith in action at a religious gathering at the party’s national convention.

Lisa P. Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that her work to protect the environment stems from her faith, which drives her in an attempt to build “our country as a community that takes care of each other.”

Jackson decried the plight of “a child who has asthma” and struggles with “dirty air.” She also praised faith communities for uniting to embrace new standards that address mercury pollution from power plants. Continue reading “EPA efforts highlighted at Democrats’ faith council meeting”

Report Evaluates Scientific Capabilities of the EPA

Report Evaluates Scientific Capabilities of the EPA
Wed, 09/05/2012 – 11:02am
National Academy of Sciences

The National Research Council‘s newest report released today, SCIENCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: THE ROAD AHEAD, assesses the EPA’s capabilities to develop, obtain and use the best available new scientific and technological information and tools to meet challenges and opportunities across the agency’s programs.

Summary

The stated mission of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. Since its formation in 1970, EPA has had a leadership role in developing many fields of environmental science and engineering. From ecology to health sciences and environmental engineering to analytic chemistry, EPA has performed, stimulated, and supported research; developed environmental education programs; supported regional science initiatives; supported safer technologies; and enhanced the scientific basis of informed decision-making. Science has always been an integral part of EPA’s mission and is essential for providing the best-quality foundation of agency decisions. Today the agency’s science is increasingly in the public eye, federal budgets are decreasing, and job creation and innovation are key national priorities.

In anticipation of future environmental science and engineering challenges and technologic advances, EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to assess the overall capabilities of the agency to develop, obtain, and use the best available scientific and technologic information and tools to meet persistent, emerging, and future mission challenges and opportunities. The NRC was also asked to identify and assess transitional options to strengthen the agency’s capability to pursue and use scientific information and tools. In response, the NRC convened the Committee on Science for EPA’s Future, which prepared the present report. Continue reading “Report Evaluates Scientific Capabilities of the EPA”

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson Testimony Before the U.S. Senate, Committee on Environment and Public Works

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson Testimony Before the U.S. Senate, Committee on Environment and Public Works

Release Date: 03/22/2012
Contact Information: EPA Press Office press@epa.gov 202-564-6794

WASHINGTON –
As prepared for delivery.

Thank you for inviting me to testify on the President’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. I’m joined by the agency’s Chief Financial Officer, Barbara Bennett.

EPA’s budget request of $8.344 billion focuses on fulfilling EPA’s core mission of protecting public health and the environment, while making the sacrifices and tough decisions that Americans across the country are making every day.

EPA’s budget request fully reflects the President’s commitment to reducing government spending and finding cost savings in a responsible manner while supporting clean air, clean water and the innovative safe guards that are essential to an America that’s built to last. In some cases we have had to take a step back from programs – this budget reflects a savings of $50 million through the elimination of several EPA programs and activities that have either met their goals, or can be achieved at the state or local level or by other federal agencies. Continue reading “EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson Testimony Before the U.S. Senate, Committee on Environment and Public Works”

EPA Management Thwarting Organizing Effort At Georgia Laboratory, Says AFGE

 EPA management fires a world-renowned EPA scientist and suspends another

ATLANTA, Aug. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Federation of Government Employees’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Labor Council #238 today expressed its utter disbelief that in the midst of a union election, EPA management has fired a world-renowned EPA scientist and suspended another at the Ecosystems Research Division of EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga.

Scientists at EPA’s Athens laboratory contacted AFGE, seeking union representation. “The two scientists who were blatantly reprised against were activists in seeking the union election. We stand by them in their hour of need,” said AFGE EPA Council 238 President Charles Orzehoskie. Continue reading “EPA Management Thwarting Organizing Effort At Georgia Laboratory, Says AFGE”

EPA Union Questions Administration’s Support For Federal Sector Unions

 AFGE EPA Council negotiating since May 2010 and agency has yet to agree to ground rules

CHICAGO, Aug. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Federation of Government Employees’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Labor Council 238 today announced its dismay over the failure of EPA to bargain in good faith. “In the midst of a pay freeze invoked by this administration, and with federal employees and labor under attack in Congress, we have concerns about this administration’s stance on federal employee unions,” said AFGE EPA Council 238 President Charles Orzehoskie.

On December 9, 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order 13522 – Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services. In that directive, the President stated, among other things, that “Federal employees and their union representatives are an essential source of front-line ideas and information about the realities of delivering government services to the American people … Management should discuss workplace challenges and problems with labor and endeavor to develop solutions jointly.” Continue reading “EPA Union Questions Administration’s Support For Federal Sector Unions”

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