What We Do

EPA's Gulf of Mexico Program Office (GMPO) serves to protect, maintain, and restore the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico in ways consistent with the economic well-being of the Gulf region. The office's principles include:

• committing to voluntary, non-regulatory solutions
• taking action based on sound scientific and technical information working with partners and the public
• identifying priority areas and actions through state and coastal community leadership; and
• providing federal leadership in research, monitoring, scientific analysis, and financial resources to support state and community action.

Since its inception in 1988, GMPO has developed multiple jurisdictional agreements with federal and state partners as well as international partners. With the cooperation of its partners, the GMPO successfully implements water quality and ecological recovery programs. The cooperative approach includes:

• Delisting approximately 109 rivers and streams from EPA's list of polluted waterways;
• Supporting the Gulf states with 543 projects that characterize some of the most difficult environmental issues confronting coastal waters and that implement a wide variety of demonstration projects and studies that offer solutions to those problems;
• Protecting over 25,000 acres of coastal marine habitat;
• Designating six Coastal Education Learning Centers, one in each Gulf state and in Veracruz, Mexico;
• Commemorating the people and agencies working together to protect the Gulf's ecosystems through 170 Gulf Guardian Awards;
• Supporting international efforts by implementing binational (U.S. and Mexico) early-warning detection systems for coastal community management of harmful algal blooms; and

Top of Page

Programs and Projects Managed by GMPO

• Gulf Ecological Management Sites (GEMS) Program
• Project highlights listed by state
• Gulf of Mexico Alliance priorities:
  • Environmental Education
  • Habitat Conservation and Restoration
  • Water Quality

Organization

Ben Scaggs, Director

• Biography
• Phone: 228-688-3726
• Email: scaggs.ben@epa.gov

Top of page