Epa what can i do

Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. It is an agency of the United States federal government whose mission is to protect human and environmental health. Headquartered in Washington, D. Why was the EPA created? It was formed in response to widespread public environmental concerns that gained momentum in the s and s.

The EPA regulates the manufacturing , processing, distribution , and use of chemicals and other pollutants. Also, the EPA is charged with determining safe tolerance levels for chemicals and other pollutants in food, animal feed, and water. The EPA enforces its findings through fines, sanctions , and other procedures. That position is currently held by Michael Regan , the first Black man to ever hold that position. He is expected to reverse many of the regulatory rollbacks of the Trump administration.

The EPA oversees several programs intended to promote energy efficiency, environmental stewardship, sustainable growth, air and water quality, and pollution prevention. These programs include:. The EPA also runs programs to. The EPA is also responsible for the detection and prevention of environmental crimes, monitoring pollution levels, and setting standards for the handling of hazardous chemicals and waste.

As part of its strategic plan, when violations occur, the EPA investigates and pursues action against violators. Environmental offenses are categorized as civil or criminal. Civil offenses arise when environmental violations occur and no consideration is given to whether the offender knew of their transgression.

Because of the severity of charges and punishment, criminal convictions require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The largest civil penalty assessed for violating environmental law. For civil violations, the EPA may enforce actions by issuing orders or seeking court rulings. Criminal violations are enforced by the EPA or the governing state, with punishments imposed by a judge.

The agency suggests contacting local, state, or other federal agencies to find out who is responsible. For example, the U. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the Endangered Species Act, while local and state wildlife officers are responsible for concerns about foxes, birds, rabbits, and other animals.

The U. Army Corps of Engineers is the agency that determines and issues permits for wetland areas. Not everyone supports the EPA. Some critics argue that the EPA's environmental regulations are too expensive and offer little benefits. Others claim that the EPA stifles the economy, contributes to unemployment rates, and adversely affects international trade. Share what you learn with your peers! Skip to main content. Trash-Free Waters. Contact Us. What You Can Do. Reducing Trash at the Consumer Level.

Looking for more ways to reduce the amount of trash you produce? You can make a big difference by:. Proper Trash Disposal. Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.

What precautions must be taken when applying fertiliser to land? In order to prevent waters from being polluted by nitrogen and phosphorus, the European Union Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters Regulations, require that you must do the following:.

The following table shows the different buffer zones for different kinds of water bodies lakes, rivers, wells etc. You must not spread soiled water, effluents, farmyard manures or other organic fertilisers inside these buffer zones. Buffer zones for spreading organic fertilisers. The objective of increased setback distances at the shoulders of the closed period is to help retain as much of the applied nutrient in the field as possible thereby reducing its risk of loss through overland flow.

In the case of water for human consumption, your Local Authority may vary buffer widths from those specified above, and will inform you if they do so. Frequently asked questions about Article 11, a mechanism by which an applicant can request a determination from the EPA as regards the most appropriate waste authorisation i.

Waste Licence, Waste Facility Permit or Certificate of Registration, or none as the case may be for a proposed activity. If a local authority receives an application and has doubts about the appropriate waste authorisation for a proposed activity, the local authority can also request a determination from the EPA, in which case the local authority should not consider an application they have received until they have been notified of the Article 11 determination by the EPA.

Could a landfill at a licensed site fall under class A landfill that is covered by the IED will be licensed as class For a landfill to be class A Class Class It is therefore not the case that Class Is there always a corresponding class of activity under the Industrial Emissions Directive for activities under the Waste Management Act?

The Industrial Emissions Directive has introduced a new type of licensing. Under the IED there is a new set of capacity thresholds perhaps daily or annual capacity thresholds which bring activities under the control of the IED and the thresholds may depend on the intended destination of the waste. For example the composting of waste now has an associated threshold of 50 tonnes per day Class Clearly then you will not find a direct correlation between classes of activity under IED and classes of activity under the Waste Management Act as amended.

In relation to waste activities and of interest to waste licence applicants, the range of waste activities listed in the new First Schedule class 11 has been expanded. There is going to be a major change in the way that these First Schedule waste activities class 11 will be licensed by the Agency. The First Schedule waste activities will in future be licensed by the Agency under:.

A collection of frequently asked questions on EPA corporate activities to assist you with your queries. The EPA is committed to a policy of openness and transparency. All monitoring results and environmental quality information is available for access by the public on our website.

Information related to EPA licensing is also available to the public from our website or can be inspected in our offices. Copies of the information will also be provided but there may be a charge. Most information generated by the EPA is made publicly available through published reports.

For further information, please see our pages on Access to Information on our website. Calls for Doctoral scholarships are usually issued in March every year. Doctoral Scholarship proposals are normally submitted by College supervisors who if successful in their application then recruit a student to undertake the research. Any call for proposals will be advertised in the Research section of the EPA website and a notification will be sent to all 3rd level research offices.

A collection of frequently asked questions on drinking water to assist you with your queries. My home heating oil or fuel storage tank is near my well, should I be worried?

If the tank is within 30 m of your well you should make sure any spills or leakages from the tank into the well or the surrounding soils will be contained.

To do this you should have a properly constructed bund around the tank. If you notice you have to refill your tank more frequently than normal this may indicate there is a leak in the tank or pipework. This should be investigated as soon as possible.

If you become aware of a spillage you should report this to your local authority and arrange for your well to be tested. Where can I get information on drinking water quality standards? The HSE cautions against switching from public water supplies to existing priavte wells. My water smells sometimes, what is causing this and should I be concerned? There are several types of possible smells from your well, all with different causes. Some of these odours may indicate a risk to your health and you should arrange for your well to be tested.

You should advice the laboratory of the odour you detect in the water when getting it tested. Some contaminants such as E.

Even if there is no odour it is advisable to get your well tested at least once per year ideally during poor weather conditions to rule out breakthrough contamination when the supply would be more vulnerable. Landspreading of organic or soiled water e. Furthermore, areas for the storage of farmyard manure, slatted sheds, slurry storage and silage clamps should be at least 50 m from a private well.

The Householder Information on Private Wells section of our website has detailed information and useful guidance, including frequently asked questions, in relation to protecting, testing, treating and maintaining your private well. A list of frequently asked questions about how to register, administration activities and other queries on the EDEN portal.

It is important that updates to previously logged incident notifications are done by going back to the original incident notification record and not by creating a new incident record. You will then be presented with a web form to amend or add details to the incident notification. If the particular piece of information that you want to update is not available to on the web form, please use the notes section to enter the details of the update.

Files can also be uploaded as part of the incident update. Most licenses don't require reporting to the EPA of each complaint received directly at the facility, but instead require a summary of complaints to be included as part of general licence reporting e.

So for this reason there is no facility for you to directly report a complaint through the Manage Complaints button in EDEN. You may need to check with your inspector to clarify the requirement. I want to submit a quarterly monitoring report. Do I have to break it down into separate Returns by emission receptor eg air, water, sewer etc?

Yes, monitoring reports need to be broken out into their constituent sections and submitted individually as Licensee Returns. A summary of each set of results reported should be given as part of the return.

Failure to do this will result in the Returns being rejected by the EPA. Environmental Impact Assessment EIA is a process for anticipating the effects on the environment caused by a proposed development or project at a particular site. Where effects are unacceptable, design or other measures can be taken to avoid or reduce these to acceptable levels. The EIS is assessed by the regulatory authorities. The NAF sets out the national strategy to reduce the vulnerability of the country to the negative effects of climate change and to avail of any positive impacts.

The NAF outlines a whole of government and society approach to climate adaptation in Ireland. Under the NAF a number of Government Departments are required to prepare sectoral adaptation plans in relation to a priority area that they are responsible for. Local authorities are required to prepare local adaptation strategies. The NAF will be reviewed at least once every five years.

The NAF also aims to improve the enabling environment for adaptation through ongoing engagement with civil society, the private sector and the research community.

The 12 priority sectors and all local authorities now have climate change adaptation plans and strategies in place. These were published in and will be reviewed at least once every five years. For more on national, sectoral and local adaptation see the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. What impacts of climate change have been observed and what is projected? In , the global temperature had been increased by 1. At the current rate of warming, the world is expected to reach 1.

Globally the two main features of climate change are:. For Ireland, by mid-century mean annual temperatures are projected to increase by between 1 and 1. Heatwave events are expected to increase by mid-century and this will have a direct impact on public health and mortality. These changes may affect the life cycle phenological phases in many plant and animal species. By mid-century there are projected increases in both dry periods and heavy precipitation events, meaning we will have to consider increased flood risk as well as droughts.

There is also the possibility that, although average wind speed may decrease, the intensity of individual storms may increase. Building performance will be challenged by a changing climate, needing to cope with more extreme summer temperatures, intense rainfall events and potential changes in wind and storm patterns. This will require appropriate design and building standards, but also adaptation of existing building stock.

As our climate changes, it will create new conditions that may allow existing pests and diseases to spread and new threats to become established in Ireland. Our infrastructure systems are likely to be impacted by an increase in disruptive events and our water quality and supply might be affected. Global mean sea level rise by is likely to be in the range of 0.

Predicted changes in mean sea level will be magnified by changing storm surge and wave patterns in coastal areas. Sea level rise varies regionally but increasing sea levels around Ireland would result in increased coastal erosion, flooding and damage to property and infrastructure.

High-resolution mid-century climate projections for Ireland were published by the EPA in and are available at Climate Ireland. The greenhouse effect is the name given to the process whereby the energy which has arrived from the Sun can warm the planet to temperatures well above those which would be expected if there was no atmosphere present. A very simplified explanation of how this works is as follows:.

The absorbed energy warms the surface, producing thermal radiation, heating the atmosphere from below. On its way back to space, the thermal energy is captured by certain gases in the atmosphere, and this heats the atmosphere further.

These gases are called greenhouse gases. This simple explanation is illustrated in the image below. Greenhouse gases ghg , although they constitute only a small fraction of the atmosphere, their impact on climate is very important. Changing the atmospheric concentration of these greenhouse gases and other particles in the atmosphere can lead to a warming or cooling of the climate system.

Is the EPA responsible for wildlife and protecting natural habitats? The EPA is responsible for reporting on nature conservation in its 'State of the Environment' reports. However, responsibility for nature conservation lies with the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Some of its most important activities include:. For further information please go to the National Parks and Wildlife Service website. In Ireland, hedgerows are of exceptional importance as habitats, particularly for birds but also for wildflowers, shrubs and trees and provide food and shelter for birds and other wildlife and enhance the diversity of nature in our countryside.

Cutting, burning, or destruction of hedgerows is restricted during the nesting and breeding season for birds and wildlife between the 1st March and the 31st August except for certain exemptions Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts as amended by the Wildlife Amendment Act and the Heritage Act These restrictions apply to private land-users, local authorities, public bodies and contractors.

Reported instances will, as far as practicable, be investigated. The objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilize greenhouse gas GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous human-induced interference with the climate system.

The ability of the international community to achieve this objective is dependent on an accurate knowledge of emissions trends, and on our collective ability to alter these trends. Reliable GHG inventories are essential, both at national and international level.

Parties to the convention and its Kyoto Protocol are committed to developing and publishing the national emission inventories of GHGs which is a key element of assessing progress towards meeting commitments and targets. The EPA has overall responsibility for the national greenhouse gas inventory in Ireland's national system and compiles Ireland's national greenhouse gas emission inventory on an annual basis.

The National Climate Change Strategy designated the EPA with responsibility for developing national emission projections for greenhouse gases for all key sectors of the economy. Emission projections serve to inform national policy initiatives and allow Ireland to comply with EU and UN reporting obligations on emissions projections. The EPA produces national greenhouse gas emission projections on an annual basis. Back to Greenhouse Gas Home. All reports and infographics are based on the x-2 timeseries and the most recent year of data.

A provisional estimate of emissions is produced in quarter four of the year before submission and the website will be updated with this provisional data as soon as it is available.

A greenhouse gas emission inventory is a compilation of historical greenhouse gas emissions from sources, such as transport, power generation, industry and agriculture, from to the most recent year for which data is available. A greenhouse gas emission projection is an estimate of what emission levels are likely to be in the future.

They are based on key assumptions such as economic growth, fuel prices and Government policy.