US Environment: The Recovery Act

The Obama Administration is committed to protecting the air we breathe, water we drink, and land that supports and sustains us. From restoring ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay and the Everglades, to reducing the impacts of mountaintop mining, we are bringing together Federal agencies to tackle America’s greatest environmental challenges.

Recovery Act Investments in our Environment

The Recovery Act includes unprecedented funding for programs and projects that will protect the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior alone oversee nearly $11 billion in Recovery Act funding for projects that vary from green job training to marine habitat restoration to water quality improvements These investments support technological advances in science and health and improve environmental protection and infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits for Americans.

Protecting Our Oceans
President Obama has established the first comprehensive National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and the Great Lakes. America's oceans and coastal regions support tens of millions of jobs and contribute trillions of dollars a year to the national economy. The National Ocean Policy helps us prioritize our efforts and resources to address the most critical issues facing our oceans and establishes a comprehensive, collaborative, regionally based planning process to ensure healthy ocean and coastal resources for the many communities and economies that rely on and enjoy them.

Land Conservation

When he signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (P.L. 111‐11), President Obama marked the most extensive expansion of land and water conservation in more than a generation. President Obama also established the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to work with the American people to develop a community-based conservation and recreation agenda that makes sense for the 21st century. Through this initiative, the President has announced an action plan to achieve lasting conservation of the outdoor spaces that power our nation's economy, shape our culture, and build our outdoor traditions.

Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Mountaintop Coal Mining
Through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by EPA, the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers on June 11, 2009, Federal agencies are taking action to minimize adverse environmental and health impacts of mountaintop coal mining.

Reducing Air Pollution

The Obama Administration is aggressively working to reduce pollution in the air we breathe. We have set ambitious new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks that will raise average fuel economy to 35.5 miles per gallon for model year vehicles 2012-2016. We are also developing the first-ever national fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards for commercial trucks, vans, and buses built in 2014-2018, and developing the next generation of fuel efficiency standards for model year 2017-2025 cars and light trucks.

EPA has proposed the first-ever national standards for mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution from power plants. The new standards would require many power plants to install widely available, proven pollution control technologies to cut harmful emissions of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid gases, while preventing as many as 17,000 premature deaths and 11,000 heart attacks a year. These standards would also provide particular health benefits for children, preventing 120,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms and about 11,000 fewer cases of acute bronchitis among children each year.

Restoring our Treasured Great Ecosystems
Commitment to Clean Water: The Administration is taking comprehensive action to ensure the integrity of the waters Americans rely on every day for drinking, swimming, and fishing, and that support farming, recreation, tourism and economic growth. We’ve issued draft Federal guidance to clarify which waters are protected by the Clean Water Act nationwide, launched innovative partnerships and programs to improve water quality and water efficiency, and created initiatives to revitalize communities and economies by restoring rivers and critical watersheds.

Restoring the Gulf of Mexico: President Obama established the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force to restore Gulf Coast ecosystems from the damage of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill to and reverse long-standing ecological decline. The Task Force is conducting rigorous engagement with the public on ecosystem restoration and other aspects of the Gulf recovery, and coordinating the recovery work of the Federal Government. The Task Force is chaired by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and builds on the work of Louisiana Mississippi Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force.

Restoring California's Bay Delta: The Administration has established an interim Federal action plan to restore the California Bay Delta and reinvigorate the Federal-state partnership to address California’s water-supply and environmental challenges.

Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration: The Administration is protecting and restoring the environment in Chesapeake Bay communities throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed and in its thousands of streams, creeks and rivers. EPA has developed a “pollution diet” that describes the pollution reductions needed to restore America’s largest estuary, and Federal agencies have outlined near-term measures to accomplish the Administration’s Chesapeake Bay restoration targets.

Great Lakes Restoration: The Obama Administration has made the most significant investment in Great Lakes restoration in decades, including a combined $775 million in the FY2010 and FY2011 budgets. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson outlined an action plan that lays out the most urgent threats facing the Great Lakes and sets out goals, objectives and key actions over the next five years to help restore the lakes. EPA has announced $161 million in grants to our state, tribal, municipal and non-governmental partners aimed at restoring and protecting this national treasure.

Working Towards Environmental Justice

The Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that communities overburdened by pollution – particularly minority, low-income and indigenous communities – have the opportunity to enjoy the health and economic benefits of a clean environment. The Administration has reconvened the Environmental Justice Working Group for the first time in more than a decade, and Federal agencies are working to provide all Americans with strong Federal protection from environmental and health hazards.

Reforming Water Resource Planning
The Administration has proposed dramatic modernization of the guidelines that govern Federal water resource planning, calling for the development of water resources projects based on sound science, improved transparency, and consideration of nonstructural approaches and both the monetary and nonmonetary benefits of projects.

Modernizing the National Environmental Policy Act

The Administration is modernizing and reinvigorating the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) , including outlining how Federal agencies should analyze the environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in their environmental reviews. These modernizations will help ensure transparency, public engagement and accountability in Federal decisions about actions that may affect the quality of the environment.

Reducing Global Emissions of Mercury
The United States played a leading role in crafting a global, legally-binding agreement to limit mercury emissions into the environment, leading to an agreement among more than 140 nations to negotiate a treaty to reduce mercury emissions globally, which they hope to conclude in 2013.

*Source: WhiteHouse.Gov Our Environment