Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan

1 Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan October 1, 2021. FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan Draft October 1, 2021. 1. Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan October 1, 2021. Table of Contents Administrator Regan's Message (Placeholder).. 3. Introduction .. 4. Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis .. 7. Objective : Reduce Emissions that Cause Climate Change .. 8. Objective : Accelerate Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts .. 14. Objective : Advance International and Subnational Climate Efforts .. 17. Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights .. 20. Objective : Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Federal, Tribal, State, and Local Levels.

2 22. Objective : Embed Environmental Justice and Civil Rights into EPA's Programs, Policies, and Activities .. 25. Objective : Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement in Communities with Environmental Justice Concerns .. 29. Goal 3: Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance .. 31. Objective : Hold Environmental Violators and Responsible Parties Accountable .. 32. Objective : Detect Violations and Promote Compliance .. 35. Goal 4: Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities .. 38. Objective : Improve Air Quality and Reduce Localized Pollution and Health Impacts .. 39. Objective : Reduce Exposure to Radiation and Improve Indoor Air.

3 43. Goal 5: Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities .. 46. Objective : Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water Infrastructure .. 47. Objective : Protect and Restore Waterbodies and Watersheds .. 52. Goal 6: Safeguard and Revitalize Communities .. 57. Objective : Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses and Healthy Communities .. 59. Objective : Reduce Waste and Prevent Environmental Contamination .. 63. Objective : Prepare for and Respond to Environmental Emergencies .. 66. Goal 7: Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the 68. Objective : Ensure Chemical and Pesticide 69. Objective : Promote Pollution 73.

4 Cross-Agency Strategies .. 76. Cross-Agency Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision 77. Cross-Agency Strategy 2: Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages and Other Vulnerable Populations .. 81. Cross-Agency Strategy 3: Advance EPA's Organizational Excellence and Workforce Equity .. 84. Cross-Agency Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships and Enhance 89. Draft Learning Agenda .. 94. Draft Capacity Assessment .. 106. 2. Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan October 1, 2021. Administrator Regan's Message (Placeholder). [Placeholder]. 3. Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan October 1, 2021.

5 Introduction EPA's FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan communicates the EPA Mission Agency's priorities and provides the roadmap for To Protect Human Health and the achieving its mission to protect human health and the Environment environment. In this Strategic Plan, the Agency renews its commitment to the three principles articulated by Principles Follow the Science William Ruckelshaus, who served as the EPA's first Follow the Law Administrator (1970 1973, and then again from 1983 Be Transparent 1985), to: follow the science, follow the law, and be Advance Justice and Equity transparent. The Agency also adds a fourth foundational Strategic Goals principle: advance justice and equity.

6 We add this Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis principle to infuse the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals into all EPA Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance policies, practices, and programs. These principles form Environmental Justice and Civil Rights the basis of the Agency's culture and will guide our Goal 3: Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure operations and decision making now and into the future. Compliance Building on work already begun under President Biden's Goal 4: Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities Executive Orders ( ) 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Goal 5: Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Federal Government and 14008: Tackling the Climate Communities Crisis at Home and Abroad, 1 and in alignment with the Goal 6: Safeguard and Revitalize Communities Administration's whole-of-government approach, we are Goal 7.

7 Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People charting a course in this Strategic Plan where tackling and the Environment climate change and advancing environmental justice and civil rights are integral to all we do in carrying out EPA's Cross-Agency Strategies Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and mission. In accordance with these priorities, we have Science-Based Decision Making established new Strategic goals on addressing climate change and environmental justice to signal the Strategy 2: Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages and Other Vulnerable Populations importance of these issues. We will embed this focus into the work we do to carry out our five programmatic Strategy 3: Advance EPA's Organizational Strategic goals for enforcement and compliance, air Excellence and Workforce Equity quality, water quality, land revitalization, and chemical Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local safety.

8 Partnerships and Enhance Engagement Our four cross-agency strategies describe the essential ways EPA will carry out our mission. These strategies include reinforcing science as foundational to 1. Executive Order 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government (January 20, 2021): order-advancing-racial-equity-and-suppor t-for-underserved-communities-through-th e-federal-government/. Executive Order 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (January 27, 2021): crisis-at-home-and-abroad/. 4. Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan October 1, 2021. Agency decision making; protecting children's environmental health; building back EPA's workforce with particular attention to equity and enhancing mission-support functions to achieve organizational excellence; and renewing our commitment to EPA's trust responsibility to Tribal nations 2 and our engagement with Tribal, state, and local government partners, stakeholders, the regulated community, and the public.

9 EPA's Strategic Plan includes a suite of long-term performance goals (LTPGs) that reflect the quantifiable outcomes we will achieve for each Strategic objective and cross-agency strategy by 2026. LTPGs will help us understand, monitor, and tell the story of progress we are making to partners and external stakeholders, Agency employees, and the public. In addition, we have identified three FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goals (APGs), which are intended to jumpstart actions and showcase progress toward Administrator Regan's priorities: Phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons;. Clean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities; and HUD and EPA will reduce exposure to lead to protect families, particularly children, in overburdened and underserved communities.

10 For the first time, EPA's Strategic Plan incorporates a Learning Agenda and Capacity Assessment, consistent with the requirements of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. 3. Our goal is to achieve a culture of evidence-building, continuous learning, and evaluation in our operations and decisions. The Learning Agenda will address key questions across priority areas by leveraging high-quality data. The Capacity Assessment will guide our efforts to develop the skills, expertise, and infrastructure that support routine, rigorous use of data. We also identified emerging issues and external factors for consideration in developing strategies to carry out the Plan.