EPA TO REORGANIZE ALL 10
REGIONAL OFFICES
BY: CHANNING J. MARTIN
EPA recently released a final regional office
realignment plan in response to President Trump’s
March 2017 Executive Order 13781. That order required
EPA and other federal agencies to improve efficiency,
effectiveness, and accountability by determining
whether functions and programs within the agency
could be eliminated, consolidated or merged. The plan
comes just one year after the Trump administration
explored the possibility of closing and consolidating
some of EPA’s regional offices.
EPA last reorganized in the mid-1990s under
Administrator Carol Browner. At present, every
EPA regional office has a different structure. After
reviewing information presented by an internal
workgroup, the agency concluded that the regional
offices needed to have the same organizational
structure used by EPA headquarters. By making this
change, EPA believes the regional offices will be
better able to streamline decision-making. EPA also
believes the change will allow it to better allocate
resources based on needs among the regions.
Accordingly, EPA has established a standard
organizational structure for its regional of fices that is
intended to:
• Increase coordination between EPA National
Programs and their regional counterparts;
• Improve the consistent implementation of EPA
regulations and policies;
• Allow for better resource allocation to more
effectively carry out the agency’s mission;
• Facilitate the agency’s overall operational
excellence; and
• Provide greater transparency for EPA
customers.
The new standard structure for every regional office
includes a Regional Administrator, a Deputy Regional
Administrator, and the following divisions:
• Air and Radiation;
• Administration and Resource Management
(to include Office of Administration and
Resources Management, Office of the Chief
Financial Officer and Off ice of Environmental
Information functions);
• Enforcement and Compliance Assurance;
• Land and Redevelopment (to include Office of
Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and
Brownfields functions);
• Superfund and Emergency Management;
• Water;
• Laboratory Services and Applied Science; and
• Regional Counsel (to include the Freedom of
Information Act program).
EPA says the plan maintains all 10 regional offices
and does not move staff geographically, reduce or
demote staff, downsize/close/move regional offices
or laboratories, or make any changes to specific
regional or geographic programs. With that said,
ENVIRONMENTAL
NOTES
January 2019
