Administrator Michael Regan Message to EPA Employees - EPA’s Commitment to Addressing Impacts of Climate Change October 7, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

EPA’s longstanding mission is to protect human health and the environment. It’s clearer than ever that climate change isn’t a distant threat –it’s impacting American families and communities every day. From intense and deadly heat waves and wildfires – some still raging as I write this, to severe droughts, to the devastating impacts of Hurricane Ida affecting so many states across our EPA regions, recent events have hammered home the threats climate change poses to every community across our nation. 

President Biden has set the most ambitious climate change mitigation and adaptation goals in U.S. history, and EPA will play a central role in delivering on those commitments. EPA has already taken many actions to cut climate pollution and will continue to implement an ambitious agenda in the months to come. At the same time, EPA also must use our authorities and resources to help communities prepare for the serious climate impacts that are already underway. 

Today, EPA released our Climate Adaptation Action Plan that describes the steps we will take to address the impacts of climate change on communities and the Agency itself, pursuant to President Biden’s Executive Order 14008, and launched a new Climate Adaptation web page that will serve as a hub for climate adaptation resources. 

Staff across EPA – especially in our regions – understand that the impacts of a changing climate make achieving EPA’s mission that much harder. Increasingly intense hurricanes and extreme rain events can flood toxic waste sites and overwhelm water treatment plants, exposing community members to dangerous pollutants. Hurricanes can compromise air monitoring networks around storm-damaged industrial facilities, leaving nearby residents in the dark about pollution spewing from stacks. Historic wildfires ravaging the West also expose hundreds of thousands of people to dangerous air pollution. 

The Action Plan released today is part of EPA’s commitment to help our agency and the country anticipate, prepare for, and avoid these disruptive impacts. The Action Plan lays out several climate adaptation priorities for the Agency to implement in the coming months and years, including: 

• Integrating climate adaptation and consideration of climate impacts into EPA programs, policies, rulemaking processes, and enforcement activities. 
• Consulting and partnering with Tribes; state, local, and territorial governments and other federal agencies; community groups; scientists and adaptation experts; businesses; and other stakeholders to increase the resilience of the nation, with a particular focus on advancing environmental justice.
• Implementing measures to protect the agency’s workforce, facilities, critical infrastructure, supply chains, and procurement processes from the risks posed by climate change. 

Tackling and preparing for the climate crisis is one of my top priorities as Administrator, and I expect it to be one of yours as well. I ask each of you to look at your areas of work at EPA and help prepare for climate change impacts. This includes evaluating how climate change might affect our facilities and operations and what we can do to protect EPA’s infrastructure and workforce. But we also need to consider how current and future climate impacts interact with EPA’s core work, such as setting and enforcing pollution standards in a world with more heat waves and more intense storms, funding critical water infrastructure in the face of sea-level rise and storm surge, and sending EPA personnel and resources to hard-hit areas. 

Climate disruption often hits already overburdened communities and people the hardest. As we implement this Action Plan, we must consider the disproportionate impacts on those who are already vulnerable, including low-income communities and communities of color, children, the elderly, Tribes, and Indigenous people. EPA will engage with underserved and vulnerable communities to ensure that our adaptation plans follow the principles of environmental justice and equity. 

I have designated Vicki Arroyo, Associate Administrator for the Office of Policy, to serve as EPA's Senior Climate Change Adaptation Official responsible for partnering with EPA programs and regions to develop and carry out the activities described in our Action Plan. Vicki and her team will work closely with the Cross-EPA Workgroup on Climate Change Adaptation to drive an all-of-EPA effort. 

EPA’s Climate Adaptation Action Plan is an important step forward in our effort to prepare for the climate crisis. EPA has unique expertise and authority to help communities across this country be more resilient. I look forward to working with all of you to build a more resilient and sustainable future. 

Michael S. Regan
Administrator