• In June 2014, EPA proposed standards to address carbon pollution from existing power plants, providing up to $93 billion in climate and public health benefits by cutting carbon pollution from the power sector by 30 percent below the 2005 levels and reduce particle matter pollution, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide by more than 25 percent by 2030.
• EPA finalized Tier 3 Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards that set new vehicle emission standards and lower allowable sulfur content of gasoline. By 2030, Tier 3 standards will prevent up to 2,400 premature deaths annually and 23,000 cases of respiratory ailments in children.
• EPA published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update air toxics standards for petroleum refineries, which includes requirements for fence-line monitoring. When fully implemented, the provisions in this rule will result in a reduction of 5,600 tons per year of toxic air pollutants and 52,000 tons per year of VOCs.
• The agency finalized its rule to reduce harmful pollution from the Navajo Generating Station, the result of a five-year efforts between the federal government and tribes, utilities, water users, and environmental groups. When fully implemented by 2030, the EPA plan will reduce nitrogen oxides emissions by about 80 percent and the visual impairment from the NGS by roughly 73 percent at 11 national parks and wilderness areas.
• The agency is directly training 45,700 healthcare professionals in environmental asthma management as part of a 10-year national education and outreach effort.

• In December, 2013, EPA announced a new framework to enhance the efficiency of the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 303(d) Program with States, focusing on priority waters and providing flexibility to states to use tools beyond the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rule to attain water quality restoration and protection.
• In April, 2014, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a proposed rule to clarify protection under the Clean Water Act for streams and wetlands that form the foundation of the nation’s water resources. Holding over 300 meetings with stakeholders, the agencies gathered input needed to shape the final rule.
• In June, 2014, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement was signed, committing the Bay’s headwater states to full partnership in the Bay Program. The agreement builds from the foundation laid by the Executive Order 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration and identifies ten goals linked to a set of outcomes  that will advance the restoration and protection of the Bay watershed.

• Brownfields re-development and cleanup activities resulted in more than 12,300 jobs leveraged, and grant recipients indicated that $1.29 billion dollars were leveraged through Brownfields cleanup and redevelopment activities in FY 2014.
• In May, 2014, the inter-agency Chemical Facility Safety and Security Working Group released a status report to the President, highlighting progress and a plan to improve chemical facility safety under Executive Order 13650: Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security.
• EPA issued a final rule to help create a consistent national framework ensuring the safe and effective deployment of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies to help reduce carbon pollution and move us toward a cleaner, more stable environment.
• Under EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) program, the Food Recovery Challenge participants diverted 375,000 tons of food from landfills, the Electronics Challenge participants increased electronic waste collection by 7.5 percent from FY 2013, and under the Federal Green Challenge federal agencies reduced their environmental footprint, resulting in $42 million in cost savings.
• The Department of the Interior and EPA co-lead the Climate Change Subgroup under the White House Council on Native American Affairs to coordinate Administration efforts to assist tribes in climate resilience and mitigation efforts. The Subgroup identified proposed pilots to further federal interagency cooperation and support working with tribal partners. 

• The agency is updating the original list of 83 chemicals as candidates for assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act Work Plan and completed chemical assessments for four VOCs: trichloroethylene (TCE), dichloromethane (DCM), antimony trioxide (ATO), and 1,3,4,6,7,8-Hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylcyclopenta-γ-2-benzopyran (HHCB.)
• EPA expanded the ChemView database to include more than 8,300 chemicals, including 298 Consent Orders, 73 test rule chemicals, and an additional 1,000 New Chemical Significant New Use Rules.
• EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) Program recognized 164 additional products that meet the criteria for the Safer Products Labeling Program, bringing the total number of products bearing the DfE logo to approximately 2,500 and added 49 chemicals to the Safer Chemicals Ingredients List. EPA proposed four new logo designs and is soliciting public comment to introduce a new logo in FY 2015.

• Under EPA’s national enforcement initiatives, EPA addressed pollution problems that make a difference in communities, including overburdened communities.
• EPA is making progress implementing each of the five components of Next Generation Compliance . Examples include EPA’s utilization of advanced technologies to find emission leaks that would otherwise be difficult to find, incorporating advanced monitoring requirements into enforcement settlements ( AL Solutions Inc, Calumet, Shreveport Lubricants and Waxes, LLC.), and hosting a “Next Generation Compliance Advanced Monitoring Tech Demo Day” that convened some of the latest advances in pollution monitoring across the country.
• Examples of case settlements with significant impacts on public health or the environment include Titanium Metals Corporation, Kerr-McGee Corporation and related subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Tonawanda Coke Corporation  East Bay Municipal Utility District and seven East Bay Communities, carbon black manufacturer Cabot Corporation, pesticide producer Harrell’s LLC, Elementis Chromium, Inc., Chesapeake Appalachia, and Newfield Production Company.
• In support of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Electronic Reporting Rule, EPA developed new capabilities for the Electronic Notice of Intent tool, called the NPDES eReporting Tool (NeT), which supports reporting of NPDES data by applicants for general NPDES permits.
• EPA enhanced searches for data related to compliance, violations, enforcement cases, facilities and/or pollutants as part of the modernized version of EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) website, the Agency’s primary website for providing public access to regulatory compliance and enforcement data. 

EPA’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan sets forth the following four cross-agency strategies, which set clear expectations for changing the way EPA does business in achieving its results.  Select highlights under these strategies are outlined under this tab. A full list of FY 2014 accomplishments and challenges are included in EPA’s FY 2014 Annual Performance Report.

Working Toward a Sustainable Future

• Via the online ideation platform, GreenSpark, staff from across the Agency shared ideas on ways to conserve resources; reduce energy, water, and waste; and otherwise reduce the environmental footprint of EPA facilities, including actions to reduce their own environmental impact at work. From those ideas, winners were selected after being evaluated for cost, feasibility, and popularity. These include increasing paperless correspondence and composting.
• EPA participated in the Green Infrastructure Collaborative, which brought external stakeholders and the federal family together to encourage and assist in the adoption of green infrastructure in communities as a means of supporting water quality, resiliency, and community development goals.  

Working to Make a Visible Difference in Communities

• EPA improved and provided training for GeoPlatform, which provides a common platform for mapping EPA investments and activities, resulting in an increase in users of over 1,300 (a 50 percent increase in overall usage from 2013). It now hosts 48 programmatic geospatial tools, including mapping community-level grants and technical assistance projects. GeoPlatform supports rapid deployment of public map views, as well as advanced applications such as EPA’s EJSCREEN, NEPAssist, and GeoGrants.
• EPA provided significant input to HUD’s Notice of Funding Availability for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Funds and HUD/DOT/USDA are participating in EPA high-level strategy meetings to support implementation of Task 1.

Launching a New Era of State, Tribal, Local, and International Partnerships

• EPA conducted outreach across the country with our state, local, and tribal partners on the New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gases, the Clean Water Rule, climate resilience, and chemical plant safety.
• EPA designed a new approach to ensure earlier and more meaningful engagement with states and tribes in the development of national priorities through the National Program Managers guidances and took additional steps to provide more flexibility for states and tribes in addressing national program goals through the National Environmental Performance Partnership System. 
• For the second year, EPA conducted mandatory agency-wide training to all EPA employees on how to implement the Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes.

Embracing EPA as a High-Performing Organization

• In FY 2014, EPA successfully launched Skills Marketplace, GreenSpark, and SharePoint to increase employee engagement and collaboration; piloted new workplace designs in efforts to reduce our environmental footprint; applied Lean techniques to streamline our business processes; and implemented new strategic sourcing approaches to achieve efficiencies and economies in our acquisition programs.

Sound Financial Management

EPA carries out its mission to protect human health and the environment with the support of strong financial management. For the 15th consecutive year, EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an unqualified or “clean” opinion on the Agency’s financial statements. A clean opinion means that the Agency’s numbers are reliable.

Some of EPA’s most significant financial achievements in FY 2014 include:

• Implemented a robust set of controls, improved the quality of data, and reported to the Office of Inspector General and the public on conference spending.
• Evaluated the Agency’s control over sensitive employee payment areas such as travel, payroll, parking and transit subsidies. 
• Established a Natural Resource Damage Revolving Trust Fund to receive funds obtained from responsible parties for use by the EPA in addressing environmental damage and advancing assessment and restoration work as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

EPA’s Financial Statements

The chart to the right displays assets, liabilities, net position, and net cost of operations as of September 30, 2014. EPA’s assets totaled $15.21 billion at the end of FY 2014, a 9.24 percent decrease from FY 2013. EPA’s liabilities totaled $2.19 billion at the end of FY 2014, a 7.9 percent decrease from FY 2013. The net cost of operations shows EPA’s gross cost to operate, minus exchange revenue earned from its activities.

The EPA Holds Itself Accountable

The Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123 require agencies to report to the President and Congress on the effectiveness of internal controls over programmatic operations and financial activities, and the conformance of the Agency’s financial systems to government-wide standards.  During FY 2014, the Agency reviewed 10 key financial processes and 237 key controls and found no new material weaknesses. Subsequent to the Agency’s review, EPA’s Office of the Inspector General identified one new material weakness during the FY 2014 Financial Statement Audit related to the recording of transactions and capitalization of software costs.  Based on the results of the FY 2014 evaluation and reviews, the Administrator provided reasonable assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Agency’s internal controls over programs, financial activities, and financial systems.

The Agency also responded to management challenges, which EPA's OIG identifies each year. The following are the Key Management Challenges (PDF) (17 pp, 4.4 MB) identified in FY 2014:

1. Oversight of states authorized to accomplish environmental goals 
2. Limited controls hampers the safe reuse of contaminated sites 
3. Regulatory and resource limitations constrain EPA’s assessment and management of chemical risks 
4. EPA needs to improve it workload analysis to accomplish its mission efficiently and effectively
5. EPA needs to enhance information technology security to combat cyber threats
6. EPA needs improved management oversight to combat fraud and abuse in time and attendance, computer usage, and real property management.