The Handbook for Integrity in the Environmental Protection Agency

By Dennis AuBuchon

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an agency that has great impact on how we live and conduct business. The overpowering regulations of this government entity in many respects have gone to the extreme in the regulations that have been initiated over the years. It is an agency in some respects that may have lost its justification to exist at least in the present operational structure.
The EPA has created rules and regulations and in some cases has changed some definitions to impose their will and influence where it has no particular authority with regards to private land owners. This agency has become so large and is involved in areas where it appears there is no clear connection between their rules, regulations and the laws they are tasked to enforce. Changes must take place not only with their structure but the content of their rules and regulations. I am all for protecting the environment such as air and water but rules and regulations must have common sense engrained in them. Common sense in many cases within the federal government seems to be lacking and this includes the Executive Department, their agencies and Congress. Changes in this agency along with the rest of the government must take place to relinquish the authority back to the states according to the Constitution.
Another point to make about needed changes in this organization is the impact it has on the ability of other departments and agencies to make decisions about issues for which they have the responsibility to make. The big thing about this organization is that they have the responsibility to evaluate environmental issues and in so doing should provide accurate and reliable data to other departments to enable them to make the decisions they need to make. Ignoring information which has a bearing on decisions of other departments is not instilling integrity within their operations. Conclusions need to have substantiated data and if there are conflicting opinions both sides of an issue and the information must or should be provided to other departments and agencies. At this time it does not appear to be the case.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dennis AuBuchon
• Release date: Apr 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463937716

Dennis AuBuchon

Dennis has a background in quality assurance and auditing and is a certified quality auditor with ASQ (American Society for Quality). He has written over 1,000 articles mostly on the topic of integrity and hot topics of the day. Links to articles can be found on his website and hubpages.com. He is not one to shy from controversial topics as can be seen in his articles.Dennis believes in the principle that one person can make a difference and through hisweb site, his articles and his current book he is doing just that. The one key phrase on all his web site pages is quality writing and services to make a difference. Dennis designed his own web site www.myqualitywriting.com which is a resource for other authors to gain exposure for their work. Through his web site Dennis provides marketing information and opportunities to help other authors and the general public. Any person in business can learn from the information on his site through his articles and articles by other authors. Dennis continually tries to help other authors with information on all aspects of the publishing industryDennis has been a part of auditing teams and a team leader. Dennis’ relationship with quality assurance principles and integrity principles can be seen in his commitment to operate his business and web site with honesty, integrity and quality principles. This is evidenced by the fact that he has signed a business ethics pledge committed to treating all stakeholders fairly, with compassion and a commitment to service.

Book preview

The Handbook for Integrity in the Environmental Protection Agency

By Dennis AuBuchon

Copyright © 2018 AuBuchon Books, Articles and Services

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Table of Contents

Introduction – The Environmental Protection Agency is one government entity many individuals do not like based on their decisions and the impact it has on the economy. The book looks at the purpose, operations and decision making processes of this organization.

Chapter 1 Purpose – The purpose of the EPA is to protect the health and environment but the purpose has become lost in recent years with overbearing rules and regulations promoting global warming. Regulations must be connected with the laws passed by Congress not based on political philosophy. Some of this may have changed with the new administration and this chapter compares what this agency was doing vs what it should be doing.

Chapter 2 Themes – There are a total of seven themes in this agency and each of them are examined as to their purpose and whether they live up to the rule of law or political philosophy. These themes may need to be examined for revision or elimination.

Chapter 3 Energy Policy Act – The Energy Policy Act and the Relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency is discussed in this chapter. There is a connection but the actions of this agency associated with the energy act are evaluated.

Chapter 4 National Environmental Policy Act – It is appropriate to have an environmental policy for the country but the policy should not be connected with political philosophy. Common sense needs to be in place and the current policy is evaluated in relation to what it should be. Changes may have taken place but the current actions may have changed with the new administration.

Chapter 5 Atomic Energy Act – The Atomic Energy Act and its associated requirements are now under the EPA as the Atomic Energy Commission from all reports has been eliminated. This decision needs to be evaluated whether it should be reinstated. The Department of Energy has some relationship to this activity and all this needs to be reevaluated as to the current needs and situations within the country.

Chapter 6 Laws – Enforcing environmental laws is the responsibility of this agency through regulations but specifics in regulations should be connected to the portion of the law which supports the action. This is a problem with all departments and agencies and is something that must change within the executive department.

Chapter 7 Executive Orders – Executive orders has been misinterpreted and the applicability of them has not been understood. Executive orders cannot change the laws on the books but in some cases this has not been the result. Executive orders applies only to the departments or agencies mentioned in the details of an executive order. The process of executive orders is examined in relation to the EPA.

Chapter 8 Climate Change – The subject of climate change and whether it exists is examined in this chapter.

Chapter 9 Offices – Many if not all the offices within this agency are identified and discussed in relation to the responsibilities and authority of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Chapter 10 Clean Water Act – Clean water is important but in the past some decisions by this agency have overstepped their authority with their blanket rules and regulations. These actions and the relation to the requirements of the clean water act are examined.

Conclusion - This involves the conclusion