Environmental Protection Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal agency established in 1970 to protect the natural resources (e.g., air, water and land) and endangered species. Its authority is established by a series of federal laws such as the Clean Air Act. Its administrator is appointed by the President, and is usually given Cabinet-level rank.

The most influential act of the EPA was to ban DDT, a decision that critics across the political spectrum say has resulted in deaths of millions annually in Africa from malaria. DDT is highly effective in eliminating malaria, as it did in the United States. The reason given for banning DDT was to protect numerous bird species and the insects on which they depend for food, but groups across the political spectrum and even the New York Times have criticized the loss of human life, especially in Africa, caused by this ban.

On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. This was a rebuke to the Bush administration, which had called for voluntary reduction of the gases. .