August 12, 2020
As former leaders of the Environmental Protection Agency serving both Democratic and Republican
administrations, we take great pride in the agency’s many successes improving the quality of the air we
breathe, safeguarding the water we drink, and protecting the environment that sustains us and our
economy.
As EPA approaches its 50th anniversary this December, we believe the time has come to reset the future
course for EPA in a new, forward-looking direction to address the environmental challenges we face
today and those that lie ahead.
The nature of the environmental and health challenges our nation faces have changed. Fifty years ago,
pollution was visible and unrelenting throughout our country. Today, less visible but equally dangerous
environmental hazards threaten communities in ways that differ place to place, person to person.
Climate change is having far-reaching impacts on air quality, infectious diseases, and water quantity and
quality, as well as intensifying destructive climate events such as floods, storms, wildfires, and droughts.
Environmental injustices are putting lower-wealth communities, communities of color, and indigenous
communities at disproportionately high levels of exposure, risk, and vulnerability to toxic pollution, not to
mention the pandemic we are now facing. Speedier, more effective assessments and responses will be
needed to face this and future pandemics, new toxic hazards, and other emerging or unmitigated health
risks.
The Environmental Protection Network (EPN) and its over 500 EPA alumni have developed detailed
recommendations for setting new directions at EPA. We invite everyone to take a look at this important
report, available at www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/reset. Not everyone will agree with every
recommendation, for there is no single roadmap for the way forward. We agree with EPN that the
following overarching recommendations for EPA are essential to meet the environmental challenges of
the 21st century and improve people’s lives and our economy.
1. EPA must reaffirm its commitment to fully protect public health and the environment.
2. EPA must conduct its scientific and economic analysis free from political interference.
3. EPA must incorporate environmental justice in every aspect of its work in order to address and
resolve inequitable environmental conditions.
4. EPA must focus on the most significant and pervasive public health and environmental risks,
prioritizing actions that provide the greatest health benefit for the greatest number of people,
including vulnerable populations.
5. EPA must innovate and collaborate with states, tribes, local governments, and federal agencies as coregulators, as well as with stakeholders, including the private and non-profit sectors and community
groups, to build an effective and resilient system of public health and environmental protections.
6. EPA must earn and maintain broad public trust by demonstrating the best ethical behavior,
transparently considering all stakeholder viewpoints, and providing objective environmental
information.

 While we are concerned about the
current state of affairs at EPA, we
are hopeful for the agency’s future.
EPA has a strong foundation on
which to build. Capable and talented
staff are ready to answer the call.
They have labored in good faith
across administrations of both
parties to fulfill EPA’s mission by
following the law, applying the best
available science, and displaying
openness and transparency with the
public.

Change, 1980-2019 (Inflation-Adjusted Dollars)

To do the job well, EPA will need additional resources. As new threats to the health and environmental
needs of a growing population have multiplied, EPA’s budget has declined. In inflation-adjusted dollars,
EPA’s budget was more than 50% higher under President Ronald Reagan than it is today. The steady
deterioration of resources has
undermined EPA’s readiness for the
In Real Dollars, EPA Spending Has Been Cut in Half Since 1980
challenges ahead and the agency’s
ability to adapt and respond to
emerging needs.

Sources: Environmental Protection Network, "Resetting the Course of EPA," August 2020. OMB,
Historical Tables, "Table 4.1—Outlays by Agency: 1962–2025" (adjusted to real dollars using U.S.
Bureau of Economic Analysis' implicit price deflator); “Table 8.8 – Outlays for Discretionary
Programs.”

America’s bedrock environmental
laws have delivered enormous health and economic benefits to the American public, as documented by
Republican and Democratic administrations alike.1 The public values clean air, clean water, and a healthy
natural environment, notwithstanding differences in priorities and approaches.
The years ahead will bring new and often far-reaching environmental and health risks. They also hold
great potential for new approaches, new opportunities, and new technologies to confront environmental
problems. Growing ranks of companies are showing internal leadership on sustainability without waiting
for regulations. New technologies and data tools can pinpoint and help solve environmental threats. State
and local governments, farmers and other landowners, community-based groups, universities, and others
have pioneered new approaches to getting results.
We have successfully risen as a nation to confront past threats to our health and environment. We are at
an environmental crossroads, and we are hopeful that America will again muster the resolve, the will, and
the action needed to protect public health, the environment, and our economy.

1

For example, a 2019 Office of Management and Budget study concluded that rules from EPA had the “highest estimated
benefits” across the Federal government. OMB estimated the annual benefits of 39 EPA regulations to America’s people over
a decade at between $194 and $687 billion, far outweighing costs to polluters of less than $55 billion. In 2011, EPA studied 30
years of air quality improvements under the Clean Air Act and found benefits of more than $2 trillion, more than 30 times
greater than costs of $65 billion.

 Sincerely,

Hon. Lee Thomas
EPA Administrator, 1985-1989

Hon. William Reilly
EPA Administrator, 1989-1993

Hon. Carol Browner
EPA Administrator, 1993-2001

Hon. Christine Todd Whitman
EPA Administrator, 2001-2003

Hon. Lisa Jackson
EPA Administrator, 2009-2013

Hon. Gina McCarthy
EPA Administrator, 2013-2017