Highlights of EPA's Just Released 2008 Report on the Environment

     The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its 2008 Report on the Environment (ROE).  The ROE presents and analyzes key trends and indicators of our nation’s environmental quality over time. The 2008 ROE analyzes available environmental data through calendar year 2006.  Overall, most environmental indicator trends are positive and reflect continued national environmental progress.

     The ROE is composed of two reports – the "EPA’s 2008 Report on the Environment," a technical document intended for environmental professionals, and the "EPA’s 2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights of National Trends," (sometimes referred to as the ROE Highlights Document) which summarizes the key findings of the technical document without all of the technical detail.

     The ROE is also available for viewing via on-line electronic presentation (referred to as eROE).  The eROE provides access to all the environmental trend data contained in the ROE in a searchable format.   

     The ROE presents 78 environmental indicators at the national scale.  In response to recommendations made to EPA, 32 of these indicators also present information at regional scales, most of them by EPA Region.  There are also seven special pilot indicators developed by EPA Regional Offices that cover only one EPA Region or parts of one or two EPA Regions.  The EPA Region 3 ROE supplement is entitled "EPA’s 2008 Report on the Environment: Indicators Presenting Data for EPA Region 3."

     According to EPA, the 2008 ROE is written with the intent to:

“…present the best available, scientifically sound information on national environmental and human health trends critical to EPA's mission and of interest to the public.

…provide the American people with an important resource from which they can better understand trends in the condition of the air, water, land, and human health of the United States.

…use scientifically sound measures, called indicators, to address fundamental questions relevant to the EPA’s mission to protect the environment and human health. 

… help EPA to prioritize its work and to focus on human health and ecological activities that can lead to improvements in the conditions of the Nation’s environment.”

     The ROE is too massive in its scope and level of detail to allow a comprehensive summary of all 2008 ROE findings within this blog article.  However, the following represents a sampling of the key findings of the 2008 ROE:

• Nationwide, emissions of criteria pollutants (or the pollutants that form them) due to human activities have decreased, in some cases substantially, while population and economic activity have increased markedly.
• Outdoor air concentrations of carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter have decreased over the decades during which the current nationwide monitoring network has operated.
• Acid rain, as measured by wet deposition of sulfates and nitrates, decreased across most of the country from 1989 to 2006.
• The overall extent of wetlands in the lower 48 states declined over the past 50 years.  The rate of loss has slowed over time, however, and the most recent data (1998-2004) show a net gain in wetlands acreage nationwide.
• In 2007, 92 percent of community water system customers (262 million people) were served by facilities for which states reported no violations of EPA’s health-based drinking water standards.
• The total acreage of forest land nationwide declined between the 1930s and the 1970s, but increased over the last three decades.
• Since 1990, the per capita municipal solid waste generation rate has remained stable at four and one-half pounds per person per day.  Hazardous waste generation has declined.
• Over the past 45 years, the use of fertilizers, including nitrogen, phosphate, and potash, has increased nearly three-fold.

     For general information concerning USEPA’s Report on the Environment 2008, or to view the ROE Dynamic Web electronic presentation, see the web site http://www.epa.gov/roe/.  This Web site also provides access to the methodology, references, and sources of additional information behind the indicators that form the foundation of the reports.

     To download the complete 2008 Report on the Environment (warning – it’s a large 33MB pdf file for the entire 366 pp report), or individual chapters, EPA Regional sub-reports, or the 2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights of National Trends summary report (3MB pdf file, 40 pp report),  go to the following web site and look for the various download options near the bottom of the web page: 

http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=190806 

     This article was authored by Rick Wilson, Acacia Environmental Group LLC. For more information on the author see here.