By September 30, 2026, in coordination with other federal agencies, provide access to basic sanitation for an additional 31,500 American Indian and Alaska Native homes.
 By September 30, 2026, provide 1,722 Tribal, small, rural, or underserved communities with technical, managerial, or financial training or assistance to improve operations of their drinking water or wastewater systems.
FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal (APG)
 Clean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities. By September 30, 2023, EPA will provide technical assistance to at least 90% of pilot communities to address community-identified needs related to their water and cleanup challenges and enhance their livability and economic vitality.
Strategies
EPA's water infrastructure programs can deliver multiple benefits including improving public health and environmental protection while creating jobs, collaborating with community partners, and setting the stage for long-term economic development. EPA's State Revolving Funds (SRFs) are invested in partnership with states. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Program is the largest source of federal funds for states to provide low-interest loans and other forms of assistance for water quality projects including construction of wastewater treatment facilities, water and energy efficiency projects, green infrastructure projects, and agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs). This federal investment is designed to be used in concert with other sources of funds to address water quality needs. EPA's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) is designed to assist public water systems in financing the costs of drinking water infrastructure improvements needed to achieve or maintain compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements, protect public health, and support state and local efforts to protect and provide drinking water. Furthermore, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan program provides low interest loans with flexible repayment options for qualified borrowers. With a small expenditure of federal funds, the WIFIA Program creates powerful leverage resulting in significant funding for water infrastructure projects that protect public health and deliver environmental benefits while supporting local economies and creating jobs. Eligible public and private borrowers can finance a wide variety of wastewater, drinking water, water reuse, stormwater, and other water quality improvement capital projects with WIFIA loans. In addition, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016 (WIIN) and America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) strengthened many existing programs within EPA while creating new programs to tackle significant public health concerns and environmental needs. They range from the creation of grant programs to promoting water workforce development. These programs are vital to protecting public health, growing the American economy, and ensuring that rural and urban communities from coast-to-coast can thrive.
Low-income, people of color, Tribal, smaller, and rural communities are disproportionately impacted by water related challenges and face historical hurdles in accessing water infrastructure funding. EPA will ensure that infrastructure investments reach communities that need them the most, which will be supported by work to implement the Justice40 initiative and advance racial equity and environmental justice for communities who too often have been left behind. EPA will support this effort by identifying and addressing barriers to support these communities (including how best to pursue SRF loans or grants for infrastructure funding); assisting and training state programs, Tribal water officials, and technical assistance providers to achieve and maintain compliance at water systems; developing best practices; and strengthening Tribal and state program capacity.
EPA also will promote and certify water operators, who are critical to providing safe drinking water. EPA will ensure that the water sector is aware of threats posted by cyber-attacks and provide resources and assistance to states and systems so they understand how to prepare for, identify, respond to, and recover from cyber-attacks. Work under this objective will support the FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal to clean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities. Under this Agency Priority Goal, EPA plans to engage with a number of pilot communities that are overburdened and underserved to provide technical assistance supporting community-identified needs addressing water and clean-up challenges.
Many water systems and communities are facing challenges with lead and PFAS. Some communities do not know where their lead service lines are located. Many system operators and communities are not familiar with emerging contaminants like PFAS with respect to decisions, for example, about the best treatment solutions or remediation options. EPA will work with states to identify and prioritize infrastructure projects to replace lead service lines and address PFAS contamination, particularly in small and underserved communities.
EPA is taking multiple actions to reduce drinking water lead exposure in underserved communities that have been disproportionately impacted by this public health crisis. EPA is reviewing the Lead and Copper Rule Revision under Executive Order 13990; the Agency hosted a series of virtual engagements with low-income communities and communities of color to obtain further public input on the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. EPA is working with partners to test for lead in the drinking water of schools and childcare facilities and to provide resources for remediation. EPA is completing guidance documents to assist communities in identifying lead service lines, the most significant sources of lead in drinking water, to prioritize their replacement. EPA will provide training and technical assistance to drinking water service providers to protect children and households in impacted communities and will help providers improve outreach to drinking water consumers to take actions to reduce their lead exposure.
PFAS contamination is another urgent public health and environmental threat facing communities across the United States, with significant potential equity and environmental justice implications. EPA has created a cross-Agency Council on PFAS, staffed by senior policy and technical experts, to coordinate and accelerate a whole-of-Agency response to this crisis and leverage partnerships with other Federal agencies. The Council is charged with developing a strategic roadmap and identifying actions the Agency should take in the next five years to maximize the use of existing authorities and scientific capacity to research, restrict, and remediate PFAS. EPA will publish a proposed PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation. EPA will also begin PFAS monitoring under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule and conduct occurrence analyses in FY 2023 through 2025. In addition, EPA also has determined that effluent limitation guidelines under the Clean Water Act should be developed to address PFAS in industrial wastewater discharged by the PFAS manufacturing and the metal finishing industries and is initiating rulemaking to do so. EPA is committed to lifting up the voices of all communities, particularly those who have suffered disproportionately from the impacts of PFAS, and to supporting those least able to access technical assistance, filtration, and other control and remediation solutions, so that we can work together to address this complex environmental challenge. EPA will confront the issue of PFAS by fully leveraging the Agency's authorities and working closely with federal, Tribal, state, and local partners.
While advances in science, sensor, and measurement technologies may improve our ability to identify additional contaminants in drinking and source waters, understanding and communicating the potential health risks of individual and mixtures of contaminants, especially those with little to no toxicity data, remains a challenge. A good example of this challenge is the detection in water of multiple PFAS, for which no toxicity data currently exists.
Understanding the potential risks of drinking water contaminants to the public remains a key priority for EPA. The Agency will continue to evaluate health effects information for drinking water contaminants to support SDWA activities. Considering those potentially most at risk  --  including sensitive populations and children at all life stages  --  is essential when developing health effects assessments for water contaminants. EPA will also update and develop new health advisories and benchmarks that can be used by federal and state partners, drinking water utilities, and others to better characterize the potential health risks associated with drinking water contaminants. To protect source waters such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers, EPA will continue to take an integrated approach to source water protection by leveraging Clean Water Act (CWA) tools, particularly national-scale recommended ambient water quality criteria.
In addition, EPA is carrying out evidence-building activities to address priority questions related to drinking water systems out of compliance, one of EPA's Learning Agenda priority areas. EPA will gather existing reports and analyses on the quality of its drinking water compliance data to address priority questions on federal and state drinking water program policies; identify what additional data are needed; search for other sources of information; and identify ways to fill data gaps. With this data analysis, EPA will identify system characteristics that support compliance and those that cause compliance challenges and use the findings to inform and develop policy instruments that are more effective in increasing drinking water compliance.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Changing and more extreme precipitation patterns, including drought and flooding, as well as increasingly sophisticated and prevalent cyber-attacks, pose serious challenges to drinking water, wastewater, and storm water infrastructure and facilities. Safeguarding the integrity of our public health and communities requires that our water infrastructure is of sufficient capacity and properly maintained, and that the workforce that supports it is well-trained and resourced.
Another challenge is the capacity limitations of states that are facing heavy demands on annual budgets because tax revenues and system revenues are down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons. EPA continues to work with states regarding this issue and explore sources of matching funds and other potential resource options.
In addition, the potential scaling up of carbon capture to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and safely sequester it underground may pose new scientific, technological, and permitting capacity challenges to EPA and our regulatory partners.
To help address these challenges, the Agency has established the Water Workforce Initiative, collaborating with partners to work with stakeholders across the water sector to ensure that the sector workforce is strong, diverse, resilient, and attracts and retains talented individuals from many different backgrounds. EPA's Critical Infrastructure Protection program provides water utilities access to information, tools, training, and protocols designed to enhance the security (including cybersecurity), preparedness, and resiliency from terrorist threats and all-hazard events.
The frequency and potential severity of cyber-attacks against critical water infrastructure continues to grow. EPA, states, and sector partners have offered guidance, training, and technical assistance to promote the voluntary adoption of cybersecurity best practices; however, water utilities continue to be highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. The risk to the environment and public health from cyber-attacks and the limited adoption of cybersecurity practices within the water sector gives urgency to federal-state engagement on improving the operational security of public water systems and publicly owned treatment works.
EPA also is assisting the water sector in developing a clear understanding of climate change impacts on utilities and water supplies, and potential long-term adaptation and risk-management options for decision-making related to water utility infrastructure. EPA also will work to facilitate compliance with updated Federal Flood Risk Management Standards for critical infrastructure, which includes many water systems.
Objective 5.2: Protect and Restore Waterbodies and Watersheds
Address sources of water pollution and ensure water quality standards are protective of the health and needs of all people and ecosystems.
Introduction
Clean and safe water is an essential resource that provides for healthy ecosystems, communities, and economies across the nation. Pollution and degradation of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands endangers aquatic ecosystems, threatens the safety of drinking water, compromises water quality planning and flood protections, impacts commercial and recreation opportunities (e.g., fishing, hunting, kayaking, swimming), and reduces the natural benefits these resources provide to communities. EPA needs to protect these resources against emerging threats such as climate change, drought, sea level rise, invasive species, plastics, and nutrient pollution.
EPA's water programs will maintain, restore, and improve water quality and availability and ecosystem services. EPA is focused on its core mission to protect the nation's waters and reiterates the principles of science, equity, environmental justice, and Tribal sovereignty as fundamental standards that should be woven throughout its programs.
Long-Term Performance Goal
 By September 30, 2026, increase by an additional 41,000 square miles the area of watersheds with surface water meeting standards that previously did not meet standards from a July 7, 2021 baseline of 425,198 square miles of watershed area with surface water that are meeting standards.
Strategies
EPA uses a suite of programs to protect and improve water quality and ecosystem health in the nation's watersheds -- as well as estuarine, coastal, and ocean waters. In partnership with other federal agencies, Tribes, states, territories, local governments, and a broad range of non-governmental partners, EPA recognizes the disproportionate impact of pollution and climate stress on communities with environmental justice concerns and Tribal treaty rights and will work collaboratively with public and private sector stakeholders nationally and locally to establish innovative, location-based programs to achieve the Agency's goals. EPA water programs will:
 Conduct monitoring and assessments.
 Collect and share data following Internet of Water principles, which will help connect water data to inform policy and community decision making.
 Improve tools for early and rapid detection of harmful algal blooms and pathogens in recreational waters.
 Promulgate and update regulations, such as:
 EPA and the Department of the Army's intent to revise the definition of "waters of the United States". This process includes two rulemakings: a foundational rule to restore longstanding protections, and an anticipated second rule that builds on that regulatory foundation.
 Reconsider and revise the 2020 CWA Section 401 Certification Rule, which provides states and authorized Tribes an important tool to help protect the water quality of federally regulated waters within their borders.
 Produce effluent limitation guidelines for chemical manufacturers and metal finishing companies to address PFAS, for steam electric power generators to address toxics and other pollutants, and for meat and poultry products to address nutrient discharges.
 Evaluate state-specific rules that arise based on an EPA review of changes to state Water Quality Standards (WQS).
 Review rules related to improving CWA protections on Tribal reservations and considering Tribal treaty rights when acting on state WQS that impact those rights.
 Augment water supplies by safe reuse practices and stormwater capture to recharge aquifers.
 Develop climate-related tools and technical assistance to protect and improve water quality and habitat, while also providing climate mitigation and adaptation benefits.
 Identify impaired waters.
 Develop water quality plans to restore and protect waters and wetlands, including total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) and protection approaches.
 Update WQS.
 Establish pollution reduction targets.
 Issue and enforce discharge and ocean disposal permits.
 Implement coastal and estuarine programs to reduce coastal wetland loss, adapt to sea level rise, protect coral reefs, and address other coastal hazards.
 Implement programs to prevent or reduce nonpoint source pollution, including nutrients and plastic pollution.
EPA understands that the benefits of clean, safe water are not shared equally by all communities and ecosystems. Moving forward, EPA will work with its partners to protect and restore water quality and wetlands, especially in low-income and underserved communities. To address water quality challenges, EPA will apply the fundamental building blocks of the Clean Water Act (CWA), including the development and implementation of TMDLs for CWA Section 303(d) listed impaired waterbodies, development of technology-based and water-quality based standards, and the implementation of permit programs such as the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) programs. Another approach could include taking full advantage of the flexibilities in the CWSRF programs to help achieve broader watershed protection and restoration. Partnership, science, technology, and innovation will be key to EPA's efforts to reduce and control pollutants that are discharged from industrial, municipal, agricultural, and stormwater sources, as well as to implement programs to prevent and reduce pollution that washes off the land during rain events, including nutrients and plastic pollution.
The Agency will improve the way existing initiatives are used to create and protect healthy watershed tools, explore how innovative tools can be applied, and enhance efforts and cross media collaboration to protect and prevent water quality impairment in healthy watersheds. The Agency will use data collected, for example, under the National Aquatic Resource Survey, to track the effectiveness of these combined efforts at protecting and improving water quality over time. In addition, EPA will work with government and non-governmental partners to bring appropriate and effective solutions to small, rural, and underserved communities.
The Agency will continue to develop new and revised CWA national recommended water quality criteria for the protection of human health and aquatic life that Tribes, states, and territories may adopt into water quality standards for their waterbodies. Water quality criteria consider the health protection for susceptible populations and lifestages (e.g., pregnant individuals, children) but can be limited by data availability. EPA also is reviewing the water quality criteria methodology to further advance the health protection of communities and individuals who are disproportionately impacted by high pollution levels or susceptibilities (e.g., Tribes, underserved and overburdened communities, pregnant individuals, children). EPA is developing the necessary tools and obtaining data needed to conduct efficient, standardized human health risk assessments for PFAS and other chemicals found in biosolids. EPA is also fully committed to implementing programs that protect Tribal water resources -- EPA will revise Water Quality Standards regulations to explicitly and sustainably protect Tribal reserved (e.g., treaty) rights in state waters.
EPA will continue to promote multi-benefit solutions, such as integrated planning for wastewater and stormwater management, to achieve water quality goals while considering community needs and priorities. Robust stakeholder engagement and collaboration across state and local government can lead to effective long-range plans that implement green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and more resilient infrastructure that is less vulnerable to flooding and the effects of the changing climate. To respond and adapt to the current and potential impacts of climate change on aquatic resources, EPA has developed working relationships with partners across the country. Through planning tools, technical resources, and funding programs, EPA will promote adaptive solutions to meet the challenges faced by communities.
EPA and its partners will accelerate progress to protect and restore ecologically and intrinsically valuable watersheds across the nation through its place-based and Geographic Programs by strategically focusing on the biggest threats to their ecosystems and associated human health issues. Using a collaborative watershed approach, these programs incorporate in their environmental protection work the principles of environmental justice and Tribal treaty rights and sovereignty. EPA's leadership, at the regional and national levels, provides a foundation using technical expertise, science-based support, and funding to develop long-term strategies and actions to improve water quality, restore habitat, and foster sustainable human use. Through place-based and geographic programs, EPA plays an important role as a convener and facilitator with federal, Tribal, state, and local partners to align resources and authorities within regional, watershed, and basin-scaled collaborative networks. More specifically, EPA's place-based and geographic programs deliver technical and financial assistance to solve problems and support healthy, climate-resilient ecosystems that address water quality, water infrastructure, nutrient pollution, habitat loss, treaty rights, equity, and environmental justice.
EPA, in partnership with other federal agencies, has shown time and again that collaboration can deliver multiple benefits to achieve common goals. EPA will continue to foster partnerships, such as with the Hypoxia Task Force and U.S. Department of Agriculture, to protect sources of drinking water and overall water quality. This can be accomplished through watershed management and more effectively managed runoff from agricultural lands using nature-based approaches; participation in the Urban Waters Federal Partnership to promote more efficient and effective use of federal resources and build new partnerships to help local communities achieve their water quality priorities and increase their resilience to climate change; partnering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and others on both pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery; and serving as a Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Trustee in partnership with federal and state co-Trustees, for restoring Gulf resources and services impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Climate change will continue to pose risks to wetlands, groundwater, and freshwater habitat quality and quantity. Sea-level rise will result in loss and compression of habitat for fish and wildlife and salt-water intrusion to coastal groundwater sources. Extreme weather events due to climate change also pose challenges such as increases in nutrient loadings and stormwater runoff, which place additional stress on waterbodies and ecosystems. There also are potential emerging risks to water and water quality from increased domestic mining for critical and rare earth elements needed to produce electric vehicles, motors, wind turbines, and other technologies that will be important to decarbonize the economy and reduce CO2 emissions.
Microplastics, defined as pieces of plastic between 1 nanometer and 5 millimeters in length (about the size of a sesame seed), present potential risks to human health and the environment. While much remains unknown, microplastics leaking into the environment have been estimated to increase from 1.4 megatons per year in 2016 to 3.0 megatons per year in 2040. Another study estimates the concentrations of microplastics in some ocean areas are 60 times greater today than just 15 years ago. There are many potential sources of microplastic input to aquatic systems, including degradation of plastic waste, tire wear particles, textiles, improperly disposed fishing gear, scrubbers in cosmetics and other personal care products, and protective hull coatings on ships.
To address these challenges, EPA will support communities in developing water quality plans, promoting green infrastructure to achieve multiple benefits, and providing resources and training to reduce stormwater pollution. EPA will support Tribal, state, and local partners to understand and respond to the risks to human health and the environment due to coastal hazards and climate change. EPA also will engage in both domestic and international partnerships to support trash pollution prevention programs, recycling efforts in rural and suburban communities, and waterfront revitalization. Research into the sources, fates, and effects of microplastics continues to be a priority and EPA participates on the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee, which plans for how federal agencies, in partnership with other stakeholders, can best pursue opportunities to reduce microfiber pollution substantially during the five-year period following the enactment of the Save Our Seas Act. The Agency also will help states and local communities address PFAS. EPA is pursuing a number of activities related to PFAS in ambient water, including development of national recommended water quality criteria, biosolids risk assessment, fish tissue monitoring, analytical method development, and a multi-industry wastewater study examining available information about PFAS use and discharge across several industries.
Goal 6: Safeguard and Revitalize Communities
Restore land to safe and productive uses to improve communities and protect public health.
Introduction
EPA works directly with, in, and for thousands of communities across the country, protecting their health and the environment by cleaning up contaminated land, managing the safe disposal of solid, industrial, and hazardous waste, and planning for and responding to environmental emergencies. EPA assesses and restores contaminated land near 61 percent of the United States population, including 62 percent of children under the age of five. While there is no single way to characterize communities located near contaminated sites, the legacy of pollution disproportionally affects minority, low-income, linguistically isolated populations, and those without a high school education. EPA will engage early and collaborate with Tribal, state, local partners, and affected communities to improve the livelihood of all Americans by cleaning up and returning these sites to productive use, especially in underserved and overburdened communities.
Uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants impact air, land, and water and threaten healthy ecosystems. Nationally, there are thousands of contaminated sites with challenging and complex environmental problems, including soil, sediment, and groundwater contaminated by chemicals such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Over the next four years, EPA will prioritize the cleanup of legacy contamination and emerging pollutants and facilitate site redevelopment in collaboration with communities, local governments, businesses, and other stakeholders.
As it addresses existing contamination, EPA also will focus on reducing waste and preventing pollution. EPA and states manage the safe disposal of 2.96 billion tons of solid, industrial, and hazardous waste every year. This includes protective standards for the roughly 60,000 facilities in the United States that annually generate and manage more than 30 to 40 million tons of hazardous waste. EPA, in partnership with Tribes, states, local governments, and other organizations, will work to prevent releases of contaminants, reduce waste by increasing materials recovery and recycling, and support sustainable materials management practices. Through prevention activities, EPA protects groundwater from releases from underground storage tanks (USTs). Through materials recovery and recycling, EPA also provides direct, measurable reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since natural resource extraction and processing make up more than 50 percent of total GHG emissions.
EPA also has mission-essential functions to prepare for and respond to environmental emergencies, which are growing in frequency and risk because of climate change. EPA strives to prevent emergencies through inspections of high-risk facilities and maintains the capabilities to respond to emergencies through planning and preparedness efforts. EPA follows the government-wide National Response Framework (NRF) in responding to large-scale emergencies that involve chemicals, oil, biological agents, radiation, or natural disasters. As part of the framework, EPA supports other agencies on significant incidents, and works with Tribes, states, and local planning and response organizations. Due to their proximity to facilities, fenceline communities, often with environmental justice concerns, bear a disproportionate risk of exposure to releases. Over the next four years, EPA will work to find solutions for these disproportionately impacted communities by prioritizing inspection of high-risk facilities.
Objective 6.1: Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses and Healthy Communities
Clean up and restore contaminated sites to protect human health and the environment and build vibrant communities, especially in underserved and overburdened areas.
Introduction
Contaminated soil, sediment, mine waste, and groundwater expose communities across the United States to dangerous pollution. Twenty-two percent of the U.S. population lives within three miles of a Superfund site. At Superfund residential lead sites, 18 percent of the population live below the national poverty level, 15 percent do not have a high school degree, and 51 percent are minority. Similarly, within a half mile of a brownfields site receiving EPA funding, 21 percent of people live below the national poverty level, 17 percent have less than a high school education, 56 percent are minority, and 7 percent are linguistically isolated. Children are disproportionately exposed to health risks and safety hazards, especially from lead in soil. By cleaning up and returning contaminated land to productive use, EPA will improve the health and livelihood and reduce the environmental and health effects of exposure to contamination in communities, especially overburdened communities. This includes lowering the risk of elevated blood lead levels for children living near lead-contaminated sites.
Together with federal, Tribal, and state partners, EPA's cleanup programs will reduce risks to human health and the environment while also returning them to productive reuse and providing economic and additional environmental benefits. Thousands of sites across the country have been transformed -- from abandoned, contaminated industrial sites into parks, landfills into solar farms, and former smelters into health clinics. By assessing and cleaning up brownfields properties, EPA will bring direct economic and environmental gains to communities. Through FY 2020, on average, $20.13 was leveraged for each EPA brownfields dollar, and 10.3 jobs were leveraged per $100,000 of EPA brownfields funds expended on assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund cooperative agreements.  Several studies have shown that environmental benefits accrue when brownfields sites are used for redevelopment, such as reduction of paved surfaces and vehicle miles traveled.
Long-Term Performance Goals
 By September 30, 2026, bring human exposures under control at an additional 60 Superfund sites.
 By September 30, 2026, clean up an additional 650 brownfields properties.
 By September 30, 2026, make an additional 425 RCRA corrective action cleanups Ready for Anticipated Use.
 By September 30, 2026, clean up an additional 36,500 Leaking Underground Storage Tank facilities.
FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal (APG)
 HUD and EPA will reduce exposure to lead to protect families, particularly children, in overburdened and underserved communities. By September 30, 2023, HUD and EPA will reduce exposure to lead to protect families, particularly children, by EPA completing at least 100 Superfund lead cleanup projects, of which there are at least 5 projects where HUD is financing efforts to reduce exterior and interior paint-lead hazards in housing.
Strategies
To return a formerly contaminated site to productive reuse takes strong local and regional economies and supportive federal, state, and local land use, housing, and transportation policies. EPA will collaborate with its partners to clean up sites and return them to productive use; and involve people in decisions that affect their environment or health, especially communities with environmental justice concerns. EPA will engage with and increase involvement of communities to develop their visions for revitalization by identifying economic drivers and connecting community needs to federal investments. In carrying out Superfund removal actions, EPA will partner with communities to ensure that their concerns are identified and accounted for while working with Tribal, state, local, and other stakeholders. Work under this objective will support the FY 2022-2023 Agency Priority Goal to clean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities.
During FY 2019-2020, over 40 percent of Superfund removal completions were in communities with environmental justice concerns. EPA will continue to support marginalized and overburdened communities by removing or mitigating exposure to harmful substances and remediating contaminated land for reuse. EPA has identified nearly 1,200 Superfund National Priority List (NPL) and Superfund Alternative Approach (SAA) sites where lead is a contaminant of concern, potentially exposing children in communities across the country. EPA will continue a cross-program effort focusing on environmental lead exposure reduction with emphasis on where the burden of lead exposure disproportionately impacts communities with lower socioeconomic status. EPA also will address lead-contaminated soil at Superfund sites by developing site-specific cleanup levels accounting for total lead exposure at a site. In addition, EPA will consider climate change and weather science as part of standard operating practices in Superfund cleanup projects and take steps to reduce the carbon footprint of remedies' implementation.
EPA will help build vibrant communities by supporting Tribes, states, local governments, and nonprofit organizations as they assess, cleanup and plan reuse of brownfields properties and by providing job training opportunities, particularly in underserved communities. Additionally, EPA will provide Tribal nations and states with critical financial and technical assistance resources to build their brownfields response programs. EPA will provide direct technical assistance to communities to support community visioning, engagement, market and feasibility studies, and project financing options. In carrying out cleanup and redevelopment efforts, EPA will continue to strengthen community-driven approaches by working with neighborhoods, towns, and regions to help them revitalize in ways that support improved environmental outcomes and disaster resilience and respond to challenges of the 21[st] century. EPA will leverage federal, state, and local resources to strengthen partnerships across all levels of government and with the private sector, allowing these partners to build on each other's successes.
EPA is undertaking an Agencywide effort to determine the best way to mitigate and reduce PFAS pollution. EPA, responsible parties, and other Federal agencies will assess the nature and extent of PFAS contamination and other contaminants of concern at sites and will coordinate with responsible parties and lead federal agencies to identify and use effective remediation approaches. As part of its oversight responsibility at federal facility sites, EPA will establish guidance and best practices for PFAS investigation and cleanup. EPA will work to keep pace with the surging number of actions for PFAS at Department of Defense and other federal facility sites and oversee cleanup efforts where PFAS releases have been identified as a risk to human health or the environment. EPA also will consider statutory and regulatory authorities to address PFAS contamination. For example, EPA is considering a proposal to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
EPA will support states in cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks (LUST), and directly implement assessments and cleanups of petroleum contamination in Indian country. EPA will provide technical assistance and training to Tribes and states on how to conduct cleanups and improve the efficiency of state programs. Along with Tribal and state partners, EPA will work to revitalize abandoned facilities by implementing strategies to reduce the number of sites that have not reached cleanup completion and to address new releases as they are confirmed. EPA will create an environmental indicator with UST and LUST data in EJSCREEN, EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool. The new indicator will include national information from active UST and LUST sites, including sites in Indian country. EPA will work to integrate environmental justice into cleanups' prioritization and decision making to ensure that the most vulnerable communities are protected from further environmental harm.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Cleanup remedies at contaminated sites may be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, fires, floods, and extreme weather events.
The potential releases from emerging fuels (such as E15 and higher blends of ethanol) stored with incompatible tanks and equipment or corroded diesel fuel UST systems could significantly impact resources available for cleanup. A 2016 study found moderate to severe corrosion inside 83 percent of examined diesel fuel tanks. EPA's coordination and cooperation efforts with the UST stakeholder community remains critical. The impacts of an aging UST infrastructure could lead to more frequent and more catastrophic releases. This would strain state resources to ensure appropriate oversight as well as negatively impacting available resources for cleanup.
New scientific information, including new toxicity information or a new analytical method, can call previous determinations into question. For example, the discovery of new pathways, such as vapor intrusion, and emerging contaminants make remediating contaminated sites more challenging.
State programs are likely to encounter resource challenges and have less money to support cleanup efforts as states experience declines in gas tax revenues associated with the emergence of electric vehicles and a downward trend in the amount of gasoline sold annually. Possible impacts of economic transition to electric vehicles, including battery recycling and legacies of petroleum-era infrastructure, pose challenges. Lead battery recycling facilities are a common type of cleanup the Superfund removal program conducts and, if recycling of lithium becomes a valuable economic venture in the future with minimal oversight, the pattern would likely repeat.

Objective 6.2: Reduce Waste and Prevent Environmental Contamination
Prevent environmental pollution by preventing releases, reducing waste, increasing materials recovery and recycling, and ensuring sustainable materials management practices.
Introduction
To prevent future environmental contamination and protect the health of the approximately 5.3 million people living within one mile of a hazardous waste facility, EPA and its state partners issue RCRA permits for approximately 6,700 hazardous waste units (such as incinerators and landfills) at 1,300 facilities. EPA will ensure that permits reflect the latest technology and standards and remain protective under changing conditions, such as climate change. EPA will also ensure that all communities, including those who are marginalized and overburdened, have an equitable opportunity to engage in the permitting process.
Through its National Recycling Strategy, EPA is working to develop a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective U.S. municipal solid waste recycling system. Recycling has been a long-standing critical component of EPA's waste management efforts and is the foundation for Sustainable Materials Management, which aims to reduce the environmental impacts of materials across their lifecycle. Recycling is an important part of a circular economy, which refers to a system of activities that is restorative to the environment, enables resources to maintain their highest values, and designs out waste. A circular economy approach provides direct, measurable reductions in GHG emissions as natural resource extraction and processing make up approximately 50 percent of total global GHG emissions. Reducing waste helps alleviate burdens on populations that bear the brunt of poorly run waste management facilities and transfer stations and underinvestment in waste management infrastructure. When applied to critical minerals, a circular economy approach facilitates end of life recycling and the recovery of critical minerals in order to support a secure supply chain.
To protect groundwater sources from releases of petroleum from USTs, EPA will continue to work with Tribal and state partners to prevent these releases. This work will help mitigate the negative environmental impacts to communities that are historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. As of September 2020, approximately 53 million people live within one-quarter mile of an active UST facility, and they tend to be minority populations and have lower income than the average U.S. wage earner.

Long-Term Performance Goal
 By September 30, 2026, increase the percentage of permit renewals at RCRA facilities to 80% from the FY 2021 baseline of 71%.
Strategies
EPA will update the RCRA solid and hazardous waste regulations, as necessary, to ensure protective standards for managing solid and hazardous waste. From 2016 to 2019, EPA issued regulatory improvements for hazardous waste generators, recyclers, and for pharmaceutical waste. These revisions affect tens of thousands of manufacturers and businesses that generate, recycle, and otherwise manage solid and hazardous waste. EPA will continue to develop outreach and guidance to help stakeholders implement these protective requirements while encouraging resource conservation.
In implementing regulations for coal combustion residuals, EPA is taking action to ensure that the concerns of nearby communities are addressed in a protective manner. EPA is emphasizing proper monitoring of groundwater, protective closure, and corrective actions to address contamination. Furthermore, as authorized in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016, EPA will continue to work to approve state permit programs for coal ash disposal as well as a federal coal ash permit program.
EPA has set goals through 2030 for recycling and reducing food waste as well as decreasing lifecycle environmental impacts of materials. EPA will collaborate with federal, Tribal, state, and local organizations, and other stakeholders to develop additional strategies for food waste and the built environment. EPA will administer grant programs to improve Tribal, state, and local solid waste management programs and infrastructure and education and outreach on waste prevention. EPA also will address land-based contributions to the mismanagement of post-consumer materials and plastic waste.
In order to support the Administration's efforts to secure supply chains for critical minerals, EPA will work with public and private sector partners on strategies to increase the circularity and recycling of products, such as batteries, that contain critical minerals as well as the recovery of critical minerals from mining waste.
To reduce risk posed by USTs located at nearly 200,000 facilities throughout the country, EPA and state partners will work to ensure that every UST system is inspected at least once every three years, as required by statute. EPA is working to ensure biofuels and other emerging fuels are stored in compatible UST systems. In addition, EPA will implement these UST regulations in Indian country in partnership with the Tribes. EPA will focus on supporting all aspects of the Tribal prevention programs, including the development of inspection and compliance assistance capacity. EPA will provide facility-specific compliance assistance for UST facility owners and operators in communities with environmental justice concerns in Indian country. EPA will work to integrate environmental justice into release prevention prioritization and decision making, ensuring the most vulnerable communities are protected from further environmental harm.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
The potential impacts of a changing climate, including extreme weather events such as tornadoes, fires, and hurricanes on hazardous waste and UST facilities across the nation will affect EPA's work. Also, new waste streams continue to emerge as technology advances and new products are designed and manufactured. The general trend away from landfills and toward the recycling of materials using new technologies will require further evaluation. In addition, the impacts of an aging UST infrastructure could lead to increased difficulty in preventing more frequent and more catastrophic releases. This would strain state resources for release prevention activities such as inspections because of the enhanced need to focus on riskier sites. The potential incompatibility of emerging fuels (such as E15 and higher blends of ethanol) stored with existing tanks and equipment, or increased corrosion in diesel fuel UST systems, also could create challenges to preventing releases.
Objective 6.3: Prepare for and Respond to Environmental Emergencies
Prevent, prepare, and respond to environmental emergencies and support other agencies on nationally significant incidents, working with Tribes, states, and local planning and response organizations.
Introduction
Environmental emergencies are caused by both natural and anthropogenic effects. Those emergencies caused by natural forces are growing in frequency and in the risks they pose. EPA will strive to prevent such emergencies and be ready to respond when they occur, in coordination with and through the support of partner organizations. EPA's leadership for national preparedness for emergency responses is designated as a Primary Mission Essential Function. Agency coordination with Tribes, states, local communities, and industry helps to ensure national safety and security during responses.
EPA will continue to develop and implement regulations and policies that aim to prevent environmental emergencies and enhance the ability of communities and facilities to prepare for and respond to emergencies. EPA's highly trained corps of on-scene coordinators and special teams will prepare for the possibility of significant incidents by maintaining and providing guidance and technical assistance to Tribal, state, and local planning and response organizations to strengthen their preparedness.
Long-Term Performance Goal
 By September 30, 2026, ensure that 40% of CERCLA, Oil, Homeland Security, and FEMA exercises with EPA participation conducted annually address environmental justice concerns.
Strategies
During an incident, EPA plays a central role in working to prevent, mitigate, or contain the release of chemical, oil, radiological, biological, or hazardous substances. The Agency will coordinate with industry, Tribes, states, and local communities to help ensure national safety and security during responses.
To strengthen its prevention and readiness framework for responding to environmental emergencies (including from climate and extreme weather), EPA will develop and update regulations under its statutory authorities, establish policies, and develop supporting capabilities and information. EPA also will coordinate with and provide technical assistance and training to support federal, Tribal, state, and local partner organizations to better prepare for and respond to environmental emergencies and ensure communities have access to chemical safety information. EPA will continue to operate RadNet, the Agency's national environmental radiation monitoring system, providing officials with access to data and improving their ability to make decisions during and after a radiological incident. The Agency also will maintain a robust physical and information security and preparedness infrastructure, ensuring that its numerous facilities and information systems are secured and protected in line with federal requirements.
The Agency will continue to deploy its assets to support emergency response. The Portable High-throughput Integrated Laboratory Identification System (PHILIS) mobile laboratory asset provides on-site analysis of chemical warfare agents and environmental samples contaminated with toxic industrial compounds. This resource is part of EPA's Environmental Response Laboratory Network and will be pre-deployed in anticipation of incidents or deployed anywhere in the U.S. after an incident. The Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) is the nation's only airborne real-time chemical and radiological detection, infrared, and photographic imagery platform. EPA will use ASPECT to assist local, national, and international agencies with hazardous substance responses, radiological incidents, and situational awareness.
EPA's chemical safety and oil programs will prioritize inspection activities at high-risk facilities to protect communities, including those with environmental justice concerns. EPA will review the programs to determine if risks posed by climate change warrant modifications to the programs.
EPA homeland security research fills critical scientific and technological gaps that enhance the Agency's ability to carry out its national preparedness and emergency response and recovery obligations and inform disaster response and guidance. EPA will develop tools, methods, and data needed to implement environmental statutes effectively and support federal, Tribal, state, and local emergency responders in characterizing chemical, oil, biological, or radiological contamination; assessing exposure and risks to human health and the environment; cleaning up impacted areas; and improving community resilience. EPA also will consider regulatory modifications under CAA Section 112(r) to help prevent serious industrial chemical accidents, mitigate those that occur, and provide communities with better access to information about industrial chemical hazards.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
The risks posed by climate change are growing, with previously unforeseen risks developing and worsening, increasing the need for emergency response efforts. Chemical and oil facilities can be vulnerable to rising seas, wildfires, high heat, flooding, and other events that can endanger these facilities and result in, or worsen, an incident.
As infrastructure becomes more tightly coupled and dependent on remotely accessed or internet-connected data acquisition and control technologies, the threat of cyber terrorism will increase the potential for oil and chemical releases. EPA will need to continue to work with federal, state, and local agency partners to prepare for and respond to this threat.

Goal 7: Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment
Increase the safety of chemicals and pesticides and prevent pollution at the source.
Introduction
EPA is responsible for ensuring the safety of chemicals and pesticides for people at all life stages and the environment, improving access to information, and preventing pollution at the source before it occurs. The Agency focuses on assessing, preventing, and reducing releases and exposures resulting from the manufacture, processing, use and disposal of chemicals and pesticides, and advancing community right-to-know. Through risk evaluation/assessment and management, encouragement of safer alternatives, and effective data management, EPA strives to ensure protection of communities and the environment from unsafe exposures, especially children, the elderly, and those with environmental justice concerns (including low income, minority, and Indigenous populations) who may already be disproportionately impacted by and at risk from exposure to other stressors. In addition, EPA works to ensure public access to chemical and pesticide data, analytical tools, and other sources of information and expertise; and promotes source reduction, integrated pest management, and other pollution prevention strategies by organizations and businesses.

Objective 7.1: Ensure Chemical and Pesticide Safety
Protect the health of families, communities, and ecosystems from the risks posed by chemicals and pesticides.
Introduction
Chemicals are ubiquitous in the products we use daily and are present in our environment and our bodies. EPA has significant responsibilities under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for ensuring the safety of chemicals in or entering commerce and addressing unreasonable risks to human health or the environment. This work will play an important role in enhancing environmental justice and tackling the climate crisis as described in Executive Orders 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government and 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Also, under TSCA, EPA is responsible for collecting and managing vast amounts of chemical data/information, securely managing Confidential Business Information, and reducing exposure to lead in paint and dust, especially in disproportionately affected communities.
The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21[st] Century Act, which amended TSCA in 2016, introduced far-reaching improvements to America's chemical safety scientific, regulatory, and information infrastructure and enhanced EPA's ability to protect human health and the environment from chemical risks. Under Section 5, EPA assumed responsibility for making safety determinations in its review of hundreds of new chemical submissions annually. Under Section 6, EPA assumed new responsibilities for systematically prioritizing and comprehensively evaluating at least 20 chemicals at a time, assessing additional chemicals at manufacturers' request, and managing identified unreasonable risks -- all under statutory deadlines.
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), and the Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018 (PRIA 4), EPA is charged with protecting people and the environment from the risks that pesticide use can pose. EPA reviews and registers new pesticides, new uses for existing pesticides and other registration requests in accordance with statutory requirements, making sure exposure to subgroups and sensitive life stages, including infants and children, are reflected in the human health risk assessments supporting these regulatory determinations and that pesticides do not pose unreasonable adverse effects to the environment. Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), EPA is charged with ensuring that pesticide registration and registration review decisions do not jeopardize the continued existence of federally-listed threatened and endangered species or adversely modify designated critical habitat. In addition, the Agency evaluates pesticides that are already in the market against current scientific standards for human health and the environment.
Long-Term Performance Goals
 By September 30, 2026, complete at least eight High Priority Substance (HPS) TSCA risk evaluations annually within statutory timelines compared with the FY 2020 baseline of one.
 By September 30, 2026, review 90% of risk mitigation requirements for TSCA new chemical substances compared to the FY 2021 baseline of none.
 By September 30, 2026, renew 40% of expiring lead-based paint Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) firm certifications within 30 days compared to the FY 2021 baseline of 36%.
 By September 30, 2026, complete 78 pesticide registration review cases.
 By September 30, 2026, consider the effects determinations or protections of federally threatened and endangered species for new active ingredients in 90% of the risk assessments supporting pesticide registration decisions for new active ingredients compared to the FY 2020 baseline of 50%.
 By September 30, 2026, consider the effects determinations or protections of federally threatened and endangered species in 50% of the risk assessments supporting pesticide registration review decisions compared to the FY 2020 baseline of 25%.
 By September 30, 2026, support Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) pesticide safety training for 20,000 farmworkers annually compared with the FY 2018-2020 annual average baseline of 11,000.
Strategies
Over the next four years, EPA will focus on meeting statutory requirements and mandatory deadlines for ensuring that its chemical reviews are efficient, effective, and transparent to EPA's stakeholders. EPA will ensure that decisions stemming from chemical reviews are transparent, use methods and tools based on the weight of scientific evidence, are consistent with the best available scientific information, and are reasonable and consistent with the intended use of the information.
EPA is responsible for reviewing all new chemical submissions before they enter commerce to determine whether the chemicals may pose unreasonable risks to human health or the environment. EPA will conduct risk assessments for more than 500 new chemical notice and exemption submissions annually and make affirmative determinations on whether unreasonable risks are posed under those chemicals' conditions of use. This involves managing identified risks, publishing Significant New Use Rules, and requiring development of additional data when information is insufficient to conduct a reasoned evaluation.
EPA will continue to ensure that the public has access to as much chemical safety information as allowed by law to increase transparency and support stakeholder engagement in EPA's activities on chemical risks. EPA also will continue to reduce exposures to lead in paint by establishing standards for inspection, risk assessment, and abatement of lead-based paint hazards, along with training and certification programs, among other efforts.
Consistent with statutory responsibilities   EPA will continue to review and register new pesticides and new uses for existing pesticides, and other covered applications under PRIA and act on other registration requests in accordance with FIFRA and FFDCA standards. Many of these registration actions will be for reduced-risk conventional pesticides and biopesticides, which, once registered and used by consumers, will increase benefits to society, including infants and children, and reduce ecological impacts. Additionally, EPA will continue to reevaluate existing pesticides in the marketplace on a 15-year cycle to ensure the FIFRA standard for registration continues to be met based on current science. Working together with the affected communities, through integrated pest management (IPM) activities, the Agency plans to accelerate the adoption of lower-risk products.
The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP) is an EPA partnership program that works with the nation's pesticide-user community to promote IPM practices. Resources are focused on funding projects that reduce the impacts of pesticide use in agricultural settings. Selected projects could address pesticide use in rural areas or in Indian country, promoting IPM practices that benefit these communities.
The Agency will partner in the development of training, outreach, tools, and informational brochures to promote IPM efforts and provide guidance to schools, farmers, other partners, and stakeholders. Millions of America's workers are exposed to pesticides in occupations such as agriculture, lawn care, food preparation, and landscape maintenance. The Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) and the Certification of Pesticide Applicators (CPA) revised rules (finalized in FY 2015 and FY 2017, respectively) are key elements of EPA's strategy for reducing occupational exposure to pesticides. EPA will continue to support the implementation of the regulations through education and outreach, guidance development, and grant programs. Efforts to implement the WPS include addressing environmental justice issues in rural communities, especially for farmworkers and their families.
Under the ESA, EPA is responsible for ensuring that pesticide regulatory decisions will not destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat or jeopardize the continued existence of species listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). EPA will assess in its FIFRA registration and registration review regulatory determinations whether listed endangered or threatened species or their designated critical habitat may be affected. Where risks are identified in a biological evaluation, EPA will work with the Services through a consultation process to ensure these new or existing pesticide registrations also will meet the ESA standard. EPA will also continue to develop processes to protect listed species earlier in the regulatory and consultation processes and pursue other major improvements to its ESA compliance work in coordination with the Services.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Advances in science and technology are continually expanding the range and nature of chemicals submitted for EPA review, which demands that the Agency keep pace with scientific knowledge and technological capabilities. As an example, the program has observed new chemical submissions for chemicals used in nanotechnology, batteries, and semiconductors. Likewise, new understandings of chemical exposures and risks can require EPA to reprioritize activities to protect human health and the environment. Chemical safety programs may be affected by changing levels of economic activity, as exemplified by the impacts of housing market fluctuations on lead renovation, repair, and painting work.
The impacts of climate change and subsequent alteration of ecosystems likely will change where crops are grown and result in more pests and diseases in many areas. This is expected to pose growing workload demands, including increases in ecological risk assessments to support new pesticide and registration review decisions that evaluate potential endangered species impacts.
External factors and emerging issues that could impact EPA-supported WPS training of farmworkers are as follows: 1) the EPA-funded grant is limited by funding and capacity to training a low number of farmworkers in relation to the overall U.S. farmworker population; and 2) tracking and assessing the effectiveness of all training is limited by the lack of a regulatory requirement that trainers/employers report back to EPA the number of farmworkers trained. There is great value in tracking occupational pesticide exposure incidents but there are limitations to existing systems in providing national trends. In the future and with additional resources, EPA would like to improve its ability to track trends using available pesticide incidence data sources (e.g., NIOSH SENSOR-Pesticides data).
Objective 7.2: Promote Pollution Prevention
Encourage the adoption of pollution prevention and other stewardship practices that conserve natural resources, mitigate climate change, and promote environmental sustainability.
Introduction
EPA's implementation of pollution prevention (P2) under the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 is one of the Agency's primary tools for advancing environmental stewardship and sustainability by federal, Tribal, and state governments, businesses, communities, and individuals. These practices focus on reducing the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering a waste stream or released into the environment prior to recycling of discarded material, treatment, or disposal, as well as conserving the use of natural resources. P2 grants contributed to the elimination of 16.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gases between 2011 and 2019.
Through these approaches, the Agency helps business, consumers, procurement officials, organizations, and others reduce costs and access market opportunities while achieving significant reductions in the generation of hazardous releases to air, water, and land; hazardous materials use; greenhouse gas generation; and water use. EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks implementation of pollution prevention activities by reporting facilities and serves as a critical source of public chemical release, management, and P2 information to support community-right-to-know and advance EPA's chemical safety goals.
Long-Term Performance Goals
 By September 30, 2026, reduce a total of 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) released attributed to EPA pollution prevention grants.
 By September 30, 2026, EPA's Safer Choice program will certify a total of 2,300 products compared to the FY 2021 baseline of 1,950 total certified products.
Strategies
During the next four years, EPA will focus on carrying out sector-focused P2 National Emphasis Areas and enabling the replication and leveraging of business successes supported by the $5 million in P2 grants awarded annually. The Agency will customize, develop, and deliver training to identify and deploy green chemistry and engineering solutions to companies, consumers, and communities. EPA also will implement training and outreach for disproportionately affected communities, as well as Tribal, state, and local governments to help with product and service procurement choices that are environmentally sound and promote human and environmental health.
EPA plans to update and strengthen the standards of the Safer Choice (SC) program, which advances chemical safety by increasing the availability and identification of products containing ingredients that meet stringent health and environmental criteria, through a notice and comment process after consultation with stakeholders. The Agency will conduct outreach with federal, Tribal, state, and local government procurement officials, and institutional and industrial purchasers to communicate the benefits of SC and other environmentally preferable products, and work to make SC-certified products more widely available to people of color and low-income communities. EPA will partner with organizations serving communities with environmental justice concerns to help custodial staff and house cleaning companies advocate for protections from occupational exposure-related conditions (e.g., asthma) and gain access to SC-certified products. EPA also will update the Safer Chemical Ingredients List to enhance transparency and facilitate expansion of safer chemical choices and products, including increasing the number and volume of SC-certified products.
EPA will work to expand its recommendations for addressing product categories with positive climate change impacts in support of E.O. 14008, which directs federal agencies to align management of federal procurement in support of climate action. EPA also will implement the Framework for the Assessment of Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels to provide a transparent, fair, and consistent approach to evaluating the environmental sustainability of product standards and ecolabels for federal purchasing. EPA will also contribute to the development of sustainability standards associated with critical minerals.
EPA will continue to facilitate market adoption and penetration of new commercially successful chemistries and technologies and pursue market-oriented environmental and economic progress through increased adoption of these innovations. EPA's Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, which raise the profile and credibility of innovative green and sustainable chemistry technologies, resulted in awards to 123 technologies from more than 1,800 nominations over the last 25 years. Winning technologies are estimated to eliminate 7.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents released to air each year, which is equivalent to taking 770,000 cars off the road.
The TRI program has provided data to support partnerships between community groups and companies that resulted in decreased air emissions. EPA will continue research on tools that can quickly and accurately identify vulnerable communities near TRI facilities, which would support prioritization of pollution prevention initiatives. EPA will continue to publish the TRI and use analyses of toxic chemical releases from industrial facilities located near overburdened and disproportionately affected communities to identify and develop sector-specific P2 case studies, best practices, outreach, and training. This will help facilitate adoption of P2 practices in the facilities and in the communities themselves.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Interest in participation in P2 activities can be driven by economic conditions, the regulatory climate, and public pressure for industry to adopt pollution prevention solutions such as safer alternatives to chemicals and products currently in the marketplace. The program will continue to further enhance engagement with public and private sector stakeholders to facilitate adoption  --  and showcase accomplishments  --  of green chemistry advances, explore opportunities to further integrate green chemistry into federal procurement through product standards/specifications/ecolabels, and provide leadership on green chemistry across federal agencies.

   Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making
Strategy 2: Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages and Other Vulnerable Populations
Strategy 3: Advance EPA's Organizational Excellence and Workforce Equity
Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships and Enhance Engagement
Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making
Strategy 2: Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages and Other Vulnerable Populations
Strategy 3: Advance EPA's Organizational Excellence and Workforce Equity
Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships and Enhance Engagement
Cross-Agency Strategies

Cross-Agency Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making
Deliver rigorous scientific research and analyses to inform evidence-based decision making.
Introduction
EPA's ability to protect human health and the environment depends on the integrity and quality of the information, data, and evidence that provide the scientific foundation for Agency decisions. To accomplish the goals and objectives set out in this Strategic Plan, EPA will develop, deliver, and use the best available scientific information, data, and evidence to meet partner needs and inform decision making at all levels, from site-specific decisions that affect local communities to national decisions that impact all Americans. EPA's cross-agency strategy will ensure scientific integrity by developing and using science worthy of public trust and confidence, advance the delivery of rigorous and independent scientific evaluation and analyses, and ground EPA's environmental policies, decisions, guidance, and regulations in high-quality, independent science.
EPA's science enterprise touches all parts of the Agency, from regional laboratories that analyze scientific data to inform immediate and near-term decisions on environmental conditions, emergency response, compliance and enforcement, to national program scientists and engineers who conduct science to inform regulations and national compliance and enforcement initiatives. A major component of EPA's science enterprise is the research and development program, which focuses on delivering leading-edge research to meet near-term and long-term science needs of the Agency, inform EPA decisions, and support the emerging needs of Tribal, state, and community partners.
Long-Term Performance Goals
 By September 30, 2026, YY% of ORD Research Products will meet partner needs compared to the FY 20ZZ baseline of XX%.
 LTPG under development for scientific integrity.
Actions
Over the next four years, EPA will strengthen the policies and procedures surrounding scientific integrity and the use of science and evidence to inform Agency decision making. There are a number of key actions that support the outcomes for this strategy.
Ensuring Scientific Integrity: Scientific integrity results from adherence to professional values and practices when conducting, communicating, supervising, and using science. It ensures objectivity, clarity, reproducibility, and utility, and it provides insulation from bias, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, outside interference, censorship, and inadequate procedural and information security. At a fundamental level, scientific integrity safeguards the science that informs EPA's mission-driven work. EPA will rebuild a culture of scientific integrity across the Agency by ensuring that adherence to scientific and ethical standards is outlined in EPA's Scientific Integrity Policy. EPA will make sure that every EPA employee, contractor, grantee, and collaborator understands their personal responsibility to use and communicate science with honesty, integrity, and transparency, both within and outside the Agency. Agency officials also have the responsibility to recognize the distinction between scientific information and the decisions that are informed by such information and, in so doing, not suppress or alter scientific findings or impede the timely release of scientific findings or conclusions.
To support employees, contractors, and officials, EPA will provide training on scientific integrity and access to a network of deputy scientific integrity officials to whom employees, contractors, and officials can turn for advice to prevent lapses in scientific integrity or to report allegations of a loss of scientific integrity. EPA's programs will also reaffirm their commitment to fostering open, objective, and honest investigation and discussion of scientific activities, data, and conclusions. This includes supporting robust discussion of different scientific points of view, which helps to guard against inadequate science and flawed analyses.
Delivering Rigorous Scientific Research and Analyses: EPA will develop and deliver rigorous scientific research, assessments, and analyses to meet near-term and long-term science needs of the Agency, inform EPA decisions, and support the emerging needs of Tribes, states, territories, and communities through a network of scientists, engineers, and laboratories that span EPA's regional offices, national program offices, and research and development program. EPA will evaluate the quality, usability, and timeliness of select Agency scientific products to ensure that Agency science is relevant, timely, and of sufficient quality to inform evidence-based decision making and work to increase the percent of scientific products that meet decision makers' needs.
EPA will renew and refocus efforts to develop the science and quality data needed to tackle climate change, advance environmental justice, and protect children's environmental health. To do this, EPA will restore the role of science and evidence in addressing the climate change crisis and advance a rigorous exploratory and applied climate adaptation science program by conducting climate-related research in its labs and centers, supporting research through its grants program, conducting policy-relevant assessments, communicating research and assessment results, and delivering innovative and sustainable solutions. EPA will advance environmental justice by conducting scientific research to improve its understanding of disproportionate impacts that can arise from unequal environmental conditions and exposure to multiple environmental stressors. EPA will also provide tools, training, and technical support to advance community-led projects that develop scientific information, data, and evidence that inform local decisions. Finally, where feasible based on availability of data and methods, EPA will explicitly and consistently assess risks to vulnerable life stages, including infants and children, as part of the Agency's approach for developing risk assessments and in its research agenda.
Underlying the Agency's scientific activities is a commitment to rigorous quality assurance, appropriate peer review, and the timely release of scientific information. EPA's quality program provides the framework for planning, implementing, documenting, and assessing work performed by EPA, contractors, and grantees and for carrying out required quality assurance and quality control activities. Independent peer review is integral to ensuring the rigor of Agency analyses, methodologies, and scientific and technical products. EPA's Peer Review Handbook provides a roadmap to ensure the Agency's peer review policy is implemented effectively and that the integrity of our peer review activities can be demonstrated transparently to the public. EPA's Public Access Plan details the Agency's commitment to the timely release of scientific information to the public. EPA's Best Practices for Clearance of Scientific Products at EPA promotes the development of clearance procedures that are transparent, clear, timely, predictable, and consistent.
Under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policy Making Act of 2018, EPA is developing and will fully implement an Agencywide policy for evaluations and other evidence-building activities to ensure that evaluations and evidence that inform policies and decisions are relevant, rigorous, independent and objective, transparent, equitable, and ethical.
Using Science in Decision Making: Identifying and implementing effective strategies for protecting human health and the environment -- including strategies to adapt to the changing climate, advance environmental justice and equity, and protect children -- requires that decisions be grounded in the best available science and evidence. Fit-for-purpose scientific assessments and analyses are of particular importance for informing the development of many national regulations. These assessments and analyses use, evaluate, and integrate existing and emerging information and data from diverse scientific disciplines to form scientific conclusions. This includes, but is not limited to, health or environmental effects, exposure, and impact or risk assessments; cost-benefit analyses; and other technical support documents. Because of their importance to evidence-based decision-making, EPA is committed to following well-established, scientifically rigorous protocols and guidelines for conducting scientific assessments or analyses and evaluating scientific information in a timely manner that is free from political interference, incorporates new advancements in science, and promotes consistency in scientific assessments across the Agency. EPA will continue to use its cross-Agency Science and Technology Policy Council, and the Risk Assessment Forum that it oversees, to develop high-quality, scientifically rigorous guidelines for conducting risk assessments and to promote consistency across the Agency.
Building public trust and confidence in EPA's actions means being transparent about how EPA makes decisions, including being transparent about the scientific information and evidence EPA evaluates (with appropriate protections for privacy) and the confidence EPA has in the conclusions. EPA is deeply committed to restoring public trust in government and will strive to clearly articulate the role of science in every major action the Agency undertakes. EPA will demonstrate its commitment to using the best available scientific information, data, and evidence in Agency decision making by ensuring that public materials, such as Federal Register notices announcing proposed and final Agency actions, records of decision, and permit decisions describe the role of science in the decision clearly and in plain language. In addition, EPA's programs will review existing internal procedures and, if needed, modify them to explicitly document the integrity and quality of the relevant scientific information, data, and evidence and how that information, data, and evidence were considered in the decision-making process. This includes any discussion of differing scientific opinions or other scientific integrity issues raised during the process.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Several external factors and emerging issues could impact EPA's ability to achieve the outcomes under this cross-agency strategy. EPA must continue to be able to attract and retain world-class scientists and engineers to bring innovation and cutting-edge scientific and technical expertise to inform EPA's work. This strategy may also be impacted by human-made or natural disasters -- including climate-related disasters -- that require EPA scientists and engineers to quickly pivot from conducting planned scientific activities to generating critical scientific information, data, and evidence to inform immediate or near-term human health and environmental actions or decisions at the federal, Tribal, state, and local levels. For example, the COVID-19 global pandemic brought unforeseen and unprecedented challenges to EPA. While EPA successfully pivoted to virtual work, some field and laboratory work was delayed and some scientific resources were redirected to assist with the federal response to the pandemic, including new research to reduce the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Future pandemics could impact the Agency's ability to conduct field and laboratory work in a similar fashion. In addition, advances in science and technology (e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology) may bring new opportunities for solving environmental challenges, while also presenting new challenges for the Agency (e.g., resources, training, ethics).
Cross-Agency Strategy 2: Consider the Health of Children at All Life Stages and Other Vulnerable Populations
Focus on protecting and improving the health of children at all life stages and other vulnerable populations in implementing our programs.
Introduction
By being able to live, learn, and play free from environmental exposures that contribute to harmful health effects, children and vulnerable populations are given the best opportunity to thrive throughout their lives. Protecting children against toxic exposures is essential to human health protection and therefore, must be included in all relevant EPA decisions and programs, both regulatory and voluntary. EPA strives for Agency programs to apply and promote the use of science, policy, partnerships, communications, and action to protect children at all life stages and vulnerable populations from adverse health effects resulting from harmful environmental exposures. EPA also will take actions to protect children and vulnerable populations in underserved communities who suffer disproportionately from the effects of exposures enhanced by socio-economic determinants of health, and to address any impacts that are exacerbated by climate change.
Children's environmental health refers to the effect of the environment on an individual's growth, wellness, development, and risk of disease at all life stages. EPA actions will be informed by two important considerations: (1) the scientific understanding of childhood as a sequence of life stages, from conception through infancy and adolescence to early adulthood (age 21); and (2) the recognition that protecting children's health at all life stages is necessary to achieve the Agency's mission. Children may be at greater risk to environmental contaminants than adults if exposure occurs during windows of enhanced toxicological susceptibility. Children may also experience greater exposure than adults as they eat more, drink more, and breathe more in proportion to their body size and due to their unique behaviors, such as breast feeding, crawling, and hand-to-mouth activity. Children can be exposed to environmental contaminants that their caregivers may inadvertently bring home from their workplace, while adolescent workers may be directly exposed to harmful chemicals in the workplace. Finally, the effects of early life exposures may become apparent during childhood and/or may not arise until adulthood or in later generations.
Long-Term Performance Goal
 By September 30, 2026, evaluate and consider environmental health information and data for children at all life stages for XX% of completed EPA actions that concern human health.
Actions
Use Science and Policy to Strengthen Protections for Children at All Life Stages and Vulnerable Populations: To best protect children's environmental health at all life stages and vulnerable populations, EPA will identify, evaluate, develop, and promote the use of science to support its policies, decisions, and actions, including regulations and voluntary programs. EPA will ensure that Agency toxicity, exposure, and risk assessments consider all relevant and available science to address the unique vulnerabilities of children and vulnerable populations, including disproportionate impacts related to racial, ethnic, income, or other social determinants of health. These assessments will inform the evaluation and selection of the levels of exposure for regulatory action that are protective of children and vulnerable populations, including the extent to which cumulative or concurrent exposures to chemical and social stressors can modify exposure or hazard considerations.
EPA will support the development of new science to address uncertainties related to the environmental health of children and vulnerable populations, including through intramural and extramural research. EPA will update existing and develop new environmental health indicator data, including factors related to social determinants of health, to track progress, communicate trends, and identify areas that warrant additional attention. EPA will develop additional measures of benefits arising from protecting the environmental health of children and vulnerable populations and take them into account in decision making. EPA will promote training of environmental and health professionals to respond to children's health issues related to climate change, such as natural disasters.
Strengthen and Expand Partnerships and Provide Leadership: EPA will provide national leadership by working with governmental and non-governmental environmental and health organizations and provide a forum to support understanding and application of evidence-based information to children's environmental health exposure and effects. EPA will develop and support internal and external partnerships and implement programs to support the protection of children particularly at home, in dependent child-care settings, and in school and childcare settings. The Agency will leverage the capabilities of diverse groups by engaging partners and stakeholders, providing forums to develop and share evidence-based information, and distributing information through training, tool sharing, conferences, and publicly available media. EPA will support healthcare professionals, including those who provide pediatric and obstetric expertise, to better address risks from childhood exposures.
EPA will co-chair the President's Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, the Agency will make recommendations to the President on federal strategies to advance children's health nationwide by exchanging information, planning targeted research, establishing concerted planning and program implementation, and enhancing public outreach to support reduction in exposure and risks to children's environmental health throughout the country. EPA will also consult with the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee to seek input and advice on how the Agency can improve the effectiveness of its work aimed at protecting children's environmental health.
Address Disparities: EPA will protect children and vulnerable populations who live in disproportionately impacted communities. EPA will consider how social determinants of health affect children and vulnerable populations, especially as these challenges may reduce resiliency or ability to recover from exposure to environmental hazards. As the climate changes, it is especially critical that the Agency collaboratively develops solutions and implements strategies to protect children and sensitive populations from disproportionate impacts.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
EPA's ability to strengthen regulatory protections for children and vulnerable populations depend in large measure on the availability of robust science and information to inform decision making. Environmental and public health statutes also differ in the extent to which they require protection of children and sensitive populations. Nationally, children's environmental health stakeholders share common goals but face challenges in being heard due to the breadth and depth of children's environmental health topics that require attention.
Cross-Agency Strategy 3: Advance EPA's Organizational Excellence and Workforce Equity
Foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce within an effective and mission-driven workplace.
Introduction
To support its mission to protect human health and the environment, EPA will advance organizational excellence and equity through a workforce that reflects the diversity of the American public and maintains and promotes a culture of inclusion and accessibility. The Agency will remove barriers that may prevent small and underserved businesses from doing business with EPA and focus on developing a workforce and workplace of the future that will meet the demands of the 21[st] century.
The Agency will strengthen workforce planning of mission-critical positions and continue to prioritize equity and diversity in EPA efforts to support succession management for the next generation of workers. EPA will modernize information technology systems, enhance the physical workplace for a hybrid workforce, support employee-friendly work policies, and transition to a paperless work environment. EPA will focus on implementing efficient and effective processes across the full range of Agency efforts, using proven techniques and training to equip staff to solve problems and make improvements to enhance our ability to accomplish our mission. Additionally, EPA will continue to safeguard against cybersecurity risks to protect Agency assets and infrastructure from potentially malicious attacks. Further, EPA will be a leader in the Federal Government in advancing the sustainability of facilities and operations while developing resiliency to respond to the risks of climate change.
Long-Term Performance Goals
 By September 30, 2026, adopt multifactor authentication for all EPA systems compared to the July 2021 baseline of 40%.
 By September 30, 2026, award 4% of EPA contract spending to small businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones) compared to the FY 2018-2020 average annual baseline of 2.2%.
 By September 30, 2026, initiate all priority climate resiliency projects for EPA-owned facilities within 24 months of a completed facility climate assessment and project prioritization.
 LTPG under development on Workforce Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) pending finalization of Agency DEIA Strategic Plan.
 LTPG under development on Paper Process & Form Digitization. This measure will support achievement of EPA goals to transition to a paperless work environment.
 LTPG under development for automated permit application system for EPA permitting programs.
 LTPG under development on improving operational processes.
Actions
Fostering a Diverse, Equitable, Inclusive, and Accessible Workforce
Recruit and Maintain a Workforce Representative of the American Public: EPA strives to be a model employer for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the Federal Government. Building upon progress made on learning and succession management, EPA will strengthen its ability to recruit, hire, develop, promote, and retain a workforce that reflects the diversity of the American people. EPA will expand and further promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility principles and will identify and eliminate barriers that hinder such efforts. The Agency will promote diversity among EPA leadership by providing opportunities in management positions, including the Senior Executive Service. EPA will increase outreach to underrepresented and underserved communities, including minority-serving institutions, improve accessibility to Agency systems and applications, and better leverage special hiring authorities, such as Federal internship programs, to provide entry-level career development opportunities to students and recent graduates and Schedule A Hiring Authority for persons with disabilities.
EPA will implement Executive Order 14035: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce and support the government-wide Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan and develop an EPA DEIA Plan that will focus on cultivating a balanced work-life-wellness environment for employees and set goals and measures for tracking progress. EPA will engage staff to shape Agency decisions, improve processes, and strengthen flexible work practices. EPA will strengthen its partnership with labor unions and advance equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity across the Agency. EPA will champion fair and inclusive employee-friendly policies and opportunities for continuous learning. EPA also will develop collaboration tools to improve communication, cross-program integration, access to information, and transparency.
Implement Workforce Planning/Succession Management: EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment requires a highly skilled and dedicated workforce. More than 25 percent and growing of EPA's workforce is or will be eligible for retirement in three years, which will impact every region and program. Along with changing workforce demographics, this presents a unique opportunity for EPA to transform its human capital processes, including workforce planning, knowledge transfer, and succession management. EPA is carrying out evidence-building activities to address priority questions related to workforce planning, one of EPA's Learning Agenda priority areas. The Agency will use the results to inform and develop policies and approaches that equip employees with the needed competencies, knowledge, and most up-to-date tools to advance EPA's mission.
Promoting an Effective and Mission-Driven Workplace
Create the EPA Workplace for the Future: EPA will work to modernize and enhance governance of information technology (IT), information management (IM) systems, and the associated infrastructure as well as enterprise software development and architecture capabilities. EPA will build capacity to conduct meaningful customer and stakeholder engagement and incorporate Customer Experience (CX) design practices into IT/IM systems. EPA will provide IM expertise and solutions that support programmatic planning, capacity building, and decision making. This includes geospatial capabilities, web support, access to IM solutions, and data collection, analytics, and visualization.
EPA will implement the Federal Data Strategy to leverage federal data in carrying out the Agency's work. EPA also will continue to operate and maintain existing financial and administrative federal shared service IT solutions, and where appropriate, adopt additional federal shared services. EPA will incorporate remaining smaller legacy financial systems into the Agency's core financial system, leverage business process automation to improve efficiency, and increase transparency of financial data for internal Agency decision making while implementing appropriate security controls and data governance.
EPA will adopt new workforce and workplace innovations to support the future of work. The re-envisioned physical workspace will require adapting space to support the seamless collaboration and engagement of a hybrid workforce. It will allow the Agency to optimize its real estate portfolio, thus reducing the Agency's environmental footprint and facility costs in the long term through lease, utility, and security savings. EPA will adopt new IT tools to better manage shared space, reduce paper-based processes, and bridge the technology gaps in the workplace that exist when operating in a hybrid work environment. EPA also will evaluate workforce flexibilities to support the hybrid workforce transition. These actions will reimagine EPA as a model federal employer and strengthen the ability to attract, recruit, retain, and empower top talent while advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
As EPA envisions the future of work with a hybrid workforce, it is imperative that EPA rethinks paper and low-tech forms and processes to move toward a paperless work environment based on electronic workflows. For example, as Information Collection Requests are renewed, the Chief Data Officer of the Agency will work to transition new requests to electronic submission to modernize how EPA receives data from outside parties. Additionally, EPA will advance the paperless transformation through the automation of permit application and approval processes for all EPA programs. Automation of the permit application process will reduce processing time on issuing permits, decrease the time between receiving monitoring data and engaging in enforcement actions, and foster transparency by allowing communities to search, track, and access permitting actions easily. Further, permit automation will enable the integration of climate change and environmental justice considerations into permit processes and ensure that they are addressed within the terms and conditions of the permit.
EPA will continue to digitize legacy paper records and information through the operations of EPA National Digitization Centers. The Agency will work to enhance the EPA content management system, which will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning for content tagging in the records digitization process to improve the quality and overall availability of digitized permanent records. This will enable access to permanent records regardless of physical work location and the ability to access environmental health and safety information across organizational boundaries or environmental media.
Enhance Cybersecurity: EPA, in line with Executive Order 14028: Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, will modernize its cybersecurity defenses to protect EPA networks and IT assets and strengthen EPA's ability to respond to incidents as they occur. EPA will ensure Agency IT systems support multifactor authentication and encryption, address cybersecurity protection gaps through the continuous diagnostics and mitigation program, and quickly identify and respond to federal-wide cybersecurity threats and incidents. The Agency will implement a Zero Trust Architecture, which includes comprehensive security monitoring; granular risk-based access controls; and system security automation coordinated throughout all aspects of the infrastructure to focus on protecting data in real-time within a dynamic threat environment.
Advance Justice and Equity in EPA Acquisition and Grants: Working with EPA's Equity Team and Agency partners, EPA will focus on removing barriers that may prevent small and underserved businesses from conducting business with EPA. The Agency will increase spending significantly on small and underserved businesses and specifically target businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones). EPA will accomplish this by eliminating barriers to its procurement processes through greater diversification of the Agency's vendor base, increasing engagement and technical assistance, and enhancing the Agency's contracts with new vendors. For assistance agreements, EPA will develop requirements for tracking and reporting on grant place of performance, which is the location where grant dollars are spent and/or benefits are received, and incorporate equity and environmental justice considerations into the grant decision-making process to the maximum extent practicable. EPA also will partner with organizations that assist underserved communities to use EPA's acquisition and grant processes to benefit underserved communities through providing technical assistance and outreach to support grantees in meeting federal requirements for sound financial management and lowering the barriers to federal funding opportunities.
Support Administration Climate Sustainability and Resiliency Priorities: EPA will implement all Administration Executive Orders on climate and will refocus its internal operations on the carbon pollution-free energy use and net-zero emissions in line with federal sustainability goals. To accomplish this, EPA will invest in energy infrastructure retrofits to mechanical systems for existing facilities, incorporating climate sustainability and resiliency into new facility commissioning, and transition its vehicle fleet to zero-emission electric vehicles, including charging infrastructure for EPA facilities. EPA will prioritize sustainable workplace choices that Agency employees can easily practice, such as recycling and composting initiatives and eliminating single-use containers to divert and reduce solid waste from landfills. The Agency will prioritize the acquisition of sustainable products that it can reuse, refurbish, or recycle in line with statutory purchasing requirements.
EPA is committed to the safety of its personnel, the integrity of its buildings, the efficiency of its operations, and the sustainability of the communities in which its facilities are located. However, the impacts of climate change, including more frequent and intense storms, wildfires, water shortages, and sea level rise, pose risks to meeting these objectives. Adaptation planning to protect EPA's workforce, operations, underlying infrastructure, and supply chains is crucial. EPA will implement activities that protect the Agency's workforce, facilities, critical infrastructure, supply chains, and procurement processes from the risks posed by climate change. Further, EPA will leverage procurement practices to increase the energy and water efficiency of its buildings where it is feasible to do so, and ensure they are climate ready.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
EPA faces several factors that may impede its ability to advance organizational excellence and workforce equity. Faced with an aging workforce that is increasingly retirement eligible, the Agency's ability to attract staff for mission-critical occupations is a continuing challenge that impedes succession management and knowledge transfer. Additionally, there may be barriers to federal employment that disproportionally impact underserved populations and limit the ability to recruit a workforce representative of the American public. Furthermore, continually changing IT/IM and cybersecurity technologies and requirements pose challenges to implementing Agencywide enterprise architecture standards, cybersecurity readiness, and ability to modernize systems and infrastructure. Lastly, the impacts of climate change on EPA operations and physical infrastructure continue to be an unknown for which EPA must prepare.
Cross-Agency Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships and Enhance Engagement
Collaborate and engage effectively with Tribal nations in keeping with the Federal Government's trust responsibilities, state and local governments, regulated entities, and the public to protect human health and the environment.
Introduction
Protecting human health and the environment is a shared responsibility of EPA and its Tribal, state, and local government partners. State and local governments provide the majority of on-the-ground environmental protection in this country, implementing federal environmental laws as well as their own. In Indian country EPA directly implements the majority of federal programs. Many innovative and effective public health and environmental programs are initiated at the Tribal, state, and local levels. Environmental outcomes are best achieved through collaborative and effective partnerships across all levels of government, successful oversight of federally delegated programs, and robust engagement with non-governmental organizations, national and community groups, industry, and the public. Through a renewed focus on intergovernmental relationships, improving on-the-ground community engagement, enhancing collaboration with the business community, delivering high-impact environmental education programs, and increasing public trust and transparency, EPA will forge stronger partnerships. As a result, EPA will advance durable policies to its most pressing challenges and ensure the equitable protection of all communities, including those who have historically been underserved and overburdened.
Long-Term Performance Goals
 By September 30, 2026, integrate consideration of Tribal treaty rights into all EPA Tribal consultations that may affect Tribal treaty rights.
 By September 30, 2026, eliminate the backlog of overdue Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) responses, compared with the August 2021 baseline of 1,148.
 LTPG under development on updating the Agency's oversight policies and guidances to strengthen and improve oversight of federally delegated environmental programs.
Actions
Strengthening the Nation-to-Nation Relationship with Sovereign Tribal Partners: In accordance with Executive Order 13175: Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, and in light of the disproportionate impact of environmental pollution on Native Americans, EPA is committed to strengthening its nation-to-nation relationship with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Nations. In keeping with the Federal Trust Responsibility, the Agency will endeavor to protect the environmental interests of Indian Tribes when carrying out its responsibilities that may affect Indian country.
Consistent with the trust responsibility, EPA will continue its existing consultation activities under the EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Tribes. EPA will also renew focus on integrating consideration of Tribal treaty and reserved rights early into decision making and regulatory processes.  EPA will continue to improve the Agency's web-based Tribal Consultation Opportunities Tracking System, a publicly accessible database used to communicate upcoming and current EPA consultation opportunities to Tribal governments.
In addition, EPA will focus on building Tribal capacity to increase the number of Tribal co-regulators and Tribes' ability to meaningfully participate and engage in environmental protection activities that inform, support, or enhance EPA direct implementation under federal environmental statutes. EPA will continue capacity building activities under the Indian General Assistance Program, the development of mutual environmental goals on a government-to-government basis through EPA-Tribal Environmental Agreements, and active use of the flexibilities under the Tribal Performance Partnership Grants rule. The Agency will work through the EPA National Tribal Operations Committee and support EPA Tribal partnership groups, including regional Tribal operations committees. Through these groups and other Tribal meetings, EPA will strive to address pressing environmental issues such as climate change and environmental justice.
Fostering Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships: Environmental and human health protection is a shared responsibility of Tribes, states, and the Federal Government. More than 50 years after the creation of EPA, states and local governments serve as primary implementers of many of the nation's environmental laws. Due to these unique relationships, the early, meaningful, and substantial involvement of EPA's co-regulator partners is critical to the development, implementation, and enforcement of the nation's environmental programs. With a renewed focus on climate, environmental justice, and children's health, EPA will emphasize frequent and early communication as a keystone of its partnership with Tribal and state co-regulators, whose concerns and existing regulatory programs must be thoughtfully considered to develop effective and lasting policies to our most pressing environmental challenges.
Through E-Enterprise for the Environment, EPA, Tribal, and state leaders will prioritize shared concerns, collectively address challenges, and build efficient and effective solutions. By relying on three key principles to improve environmental program implementation -- early and meaningful dialogue with partners who make decisions together, streamlined and simplified processes, and sharing of technology -- EPA, Tribes, and states can make the best use of new tools and technologies to improve environmental results. EPA will work with Tribal and state partners to better understand the use of "citizen science" in environmental management, develop a compliance Learning Agenda, and advance environmental monitoring technologies. Furthermore, Tribes and states are encouraged to use E-Enterprise Workload Tradeoffs to adjust grant workplans to focus on collaborative efforts related to work modernization.
Collaboration under the Exchange Network (EN), a standards-based, secure approach for EPA and its Tribal, state, territorial, and industry partners, will further enhance data management and electronic reporting. EPA will continue to administer the EN Grant Program to support integration and development of tools leveraging EN technology, data standards, open-source software, shared services, and reusable components. Under Executive Order 1398: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, EPA will foster increased Tribal participation in the EN, build data management and technical capacity, and enable the EN Grant Program to measure the effectiveness of these approaches in underserved communities. In addition, the Agency plans to continue to support the implementation of the National Environmental Performance Partnership System and the Multipurpose Grant Program, which are the key funding programs that support Tribal and state implementation of environmental programs.
EPA's oversight role is critical to supporting effective implementation of federally delegated environmental programs by Tribes, states, and local entities, ensuring protection of civil rights, and protecting communities that have historically been underserved and overburdened. The Agency will improve and strengthen oversight of state-delegated programs and collaborate with Tribes, states, territories, and local governments to identify opportunities for additional oversight improvements. EPA will ensure protections afforded by the Civil Rights Act are being implemented at all levels of government, which is vital to advancing equity and environmental justice. Robust oversight of compliance with civil rights laws will address historical and systemic barriers on the basis of race, color, and national origin that contribute to environmental injustice and the disproportionate burden of pollution in particular communities.
Improving On-the-Ground Community Engagement: Meeting communities where they are, to better understand the lived reality of people and the health and environmental challenges they face, is fundamental to developing effective programs and policies. EPA will meet regularly with stakeholder groups to seek perspectives on Administration priorities and engage early with relevant stakeholder groups on upcoming regulatory actions. EPA also will focus on opportunities like site visits, forums, and convenings to cultivate relationships and stay attuned to the needs and concerns of diverse groups, private sector partners, and others impacted by the Agency.
When needed, EPA will provide facilitation, mediation, and related services to support EPA's engagement with members of the public. When conflict is present or expected, EPA will provide collaboration and conflict resolution support, including an impartial intervener to help ensure the public's concerns are heard and fully considered in Agency decision making. EPA's public engagement efforts will establish coordination and communication systems that ensure public participation in rulemaking and Agency regulatory policy is inclusive, diverse, and accessible. EPA will develop and maintain an extensive, up-to-date database of stakeholders' interests and concerns to support engagement and inform policy.
Enhancing Private Sector Engagement: Solving the climate crisis and working toward an equitable and sustainable future will require commitment and action from every sector of the economy. EPA is committed to working with the business community to advance environmental progress through both its regulatory programs and its wide array of voluntary programs and non-regulatory initiatives. By engaging with business groups and individual companies, EPA will encourage and support private sector environmental action, including environmental justice initiatives and the pursuit of meaningful corporate and sector-wide climate and sustainability goals. The Agency will also continue its commitment to use and participate in Voluntary Consensus Standards (VCS) as directed by the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA). Use of VCS in regulation, voluntary programs, research, and other activities helps the Agency achieve robust engagement with industry, academia, NGOs, and others, harnessing partnerships that enhance public trust and lead to durable policies that enjoy broad consensus and buy-in.
Promoting Environmental Education: Improving environmental literacy is a critical strategy to empowering Tribal and local communities with the capacity and resources to accelerate stewardship, environmental justice, and community-level understanding of climate impacts. EPA implements the National Environmental Education Act (NEEA) and is charged with achieving the environmental education (EE) objectives and supporting public understanding of the Agency. EPA will ensure that EE tools, trainings, curricula, resources, and grants align with strategic priorities to address climate change, advance environmental justice, support fenceline communities, promote science, and protect public health. EPA will build strategic partnerships to include underserved communities and Minority Serving Institutions and increase the conversation around using EE as a tool to achieve environmental justice, climate equity, and economic prosperity. EPA will ask the National Environmental Education Advisory Council (NEEAC) to provide a set of national recommendations on how frontline and underserved communities can use environmental education to build capacity to become resilient to the effects of climate change. EPA will create public and private partnerships through the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) to develop programs and initiatives that can empower frontline communities to address environmental threats, advance equity, and increase economic prosperity for all.
Increasing Public Trust and Transparency: Transparency in government and the ability to show tangible results are critical to bolstering public trust and confidence in the nation's environmental programs. EPA is carrying out evidence-building activities to address priority questions related to grants, one of EPA's Learning Agenda priority areas, to better communicate environmental outcomes stemming from EPA's grant programs. The Agency also will enhance its efforts to meet statutory deadlines for responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and eliminate the backlog of overdue responses. Through enhanced transparency, the public and local communities can participate more meaningfully and partner with EPA in protecting human health and the environment.
To increase transparency and improve EPA decision-making for Tribal program implementation, the Agency will increase data availability and data quality for regulated facilities and entities in EJSCREEN, EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool.
External Factors and Emerging Issues
Limited resources across all levels of government affect the ability for Tribal, state, and local governments to implement federal programs in a timely manner and to adequately protect human health and the environment.
Citizen science is an emerging issue that includes a broad range of activities and projects, from those originating in academic and government institutions that enlist the public in data collection to create knowledge, to community-led projects intended to develop data and information that address particular issues of concern. New tools and technologies are making public contributions to science easier -- from submitting photographs to using low-cost pollution sensors. However, there are significant challenges to the use of citizen science data in environmental policy decisions and regulatory programs, particularly with respect to data quality and legal and ethical issues regarding objectivity of data. EPA is developing a strategy that considers the full spectrum of citizen science activities.

                             Draft Learning Agenda
The draft of the full EPA Learning Agenda is below. In the December 2021 Final Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan and in the final Plan issued in February 2022, the Agency will include a high-level summary of the EPA Learning Agenda, with hyperlinks to the full Learning Agenda posted separately. This approach will support the Learning Agenda as a living document.

Overview
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) provides a framework to promote a culture of evaluation, continuous learning, and decision making using the best available evidence. EPA has identified four learning priority areas (three underway and one under development):
 Drinking Water Systems Out of Compliance  -  What EPA/state drinking water program policies (tools, guidance, training, funding mechanisms) are most effective in increasing system compliance?
 Workforce Planning  -  How can EPA ensure it has employees with the competencies needed to achieve its mission now and in the future, including identifying or developing leading practices in recruitment, retention, succession planning and knowledge management?
 Grant Commitments Met  -  How can EPA assess the extent to which commitments achieve the intended environmental results and identify possible next steps in establishing a comprehensive grant reporting system?
 Air Pollution Benefits (Under Development)
EPA continues to engage with relevant internal staff and external experts and stakeholders on these learning priority areas. Stakeholder engagement helps EPA to formulate priority questions, identify relevant past evidence development, and to plan and implement the activities designed to answer them. Currently these learning priority areas are in developmental phases (i.e., developing the questions, foundational fact finding, assessing data gaps, addressing data needs, reviewing research, etc.). EPA's Learning Agenda will be updated with evaluation and other evidence-building plans as the learning priority areas progress beyond this phase.
Learning Priority Area: Drinking Water Systems out of Compliance
The likelihood of a public water system (PWS) complying with Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulations is a function of water system characteristics such as infrastructure, operator expertise, and financial sustainability. These characteristics directly affect a water system's ability to comply with SDWA standards. EPA and primacy agencies aim to increase the probability of compliance by influencing system characteristics through program policy, tools, guidance, training, and funding (program components). Learning Agenda evidence-building activities, including evaluations, will guide Agency decisions on policies to improve system compliance with existing regulations and provide the foundation for effective analysis in support of future policies and regulations.
Whether a program component improves compliance (or performance) ultimately depends on (1) its ability to affect on-the-ground system characteristics and (2) how these characteristics impact the likelihood of compliance. EPA will evaluate these dependencies and develop a "theory of change" for characteristics deemed high priority for addressing noncompliance and ultimately improving compliance.
For each system characteristic identified as important to study, EPA will identify:
 The program component(s) intended to impact the characteristic;
 Whether evidence exists that shows the program component is implemented correctly; and
 What evidence exists to estimate the effect of the characteristic on the likelihood of compliance.
Connecting program components to their associated system characteristics, and then identifying how these characteristics are assumed to impact the system operations, will help to focus data collection activities, assess how successfully program components are implemented, and define measurement of outcomes related to compliance. Research questions guiding this learning priority area must consider:
 Program monitoring: whether regulator efforts intended to impact a characteristic are implemented as intended; and
 Program evaluation: (i) how a program component affects the targeted system characteristic and (ii) how the characteristic change impacts the likelihood of improving compliance/performance.
Together, these elements represent a theory of change for how regulatory efforts work to achieve improved compliance. For each system characteristic, EPA can map the specific theory of change for the characteristic and its associated program components. This allows EPA to identify the assumptions and risks for each connection and key measurements for each. Differentiating program components from the characteristics they are intended to modify will allow the Agency to map more clearly existing empirical evidence and identify which characteristics are the most promising to target for improving compliance.
Specifically, the drinking water learning priority area focuses on evaluating ways to effectively improve community water system compliance by: (1) assessing drinking water data reported to EPA to determine how accurately it measures national compliance and if the data sufficiently substantiates EPA policy decisions; (2) examining root causes of system compliance and non-compliance and corresponding technical, managerial, financial factors; and (3) testing efficacy of technical assistance, enforcement, and state oversight. Each of the questions in this priority area will consider communities with concerns about environmental justice.
This learning priority area supports Goal 2, Objective 2.1, Promote Environmental Justice Efforts at the Federal, Tribal, State, and Local Levels and Objective 2.2, Embed Environmental Justice into EPA's Programs, Policies, and Activities; Goal 3, Objective 3.2, Detect Violations and Promote Compliance; and Goal 5, Objective 5.1, Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water Infrastructure. This learning priority area is also aligned with Cross-Agency Strategy 1: Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making, and Cross-Agency Strategy 4: Strengthen Tribal, State, and Local Partnerships and Enhance Engagement.
Stakeholder Engagement
To develop the priority questions, EPA consulted with internal and external stakeholders listed below including state and water system associations, small-system technical assistance providers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and academia. Based on those consultations, EPA generated more than 30 potential questions covering about 10 categories before narrowing the focus to five. Hearing from a broad range of stakeholders helped identify important questions that were either common among most of the stakeholders or that address recalcitrant and environmental justice-related problems. External stakeholders EPA consulted with include:
 Associations and Technical Assistance Providers
 Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA)
 American Water Works Association (AWWA)
 National Rural Water Association (NRWA)
 Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP)
 USDA's Rural Development-Rural Utilities Service (RUS)
 Non-Governmental Organizations
 Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
 Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
 Earth Justice
 Clean Water Action
 Academic Programs
 University of North Carolina Environmental Finance Center
 Harvard Law, Energy and Environment Law Program
 Berkeley Dept. of Agriculture and Resource Economics