Administrator Michael Regan Message to EPA Employees - Sharing EPA’s Draft FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan October 1, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that today, the Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan was published in the Federal Register and is available for public comment through November 12, 2021. The Strategic Plan communicates and provides a roadmap to achieve EPA’s and the Administration’s priorities over the next four years. Building on work already begun under President Biden’s Executive Orders 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government and 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, we are charting a course in this Strategic Plan where tackling climate change and advancing environmental justice and civil rights will be integral to all we do in carrying out EPA’s mission.

In this Strategic Plan, the agency renews its commitment to the three principles articulated by EPA’s first Administrator, William Ruckelshaus — follow the science, follow the law, and be transparent. We also add a fourth foundational principle: advance justice and equity. These four principles form the basis of the agency’s culture and will guide our day-to-day work and decision-making now and into the future.

For the first time, EPA’s plan includes a strategic goal focused solely on addressing climate change, as well as an unprecedented strategic goal to advance environmental justice and civil rights. These priorities are embedded throughout the Strategic Plan in the seven goals and four cross-agency strategies. The strategies articulate essential ways of working to accomplish our mission outcomes— instilling scientific integrity in decision making; considering children’s environmental health protection; advancing organizational excellence and workforce equity; and strengthening partnerships, including early, meaningful involvement with Tribes and states and on-the-ground engagement with communities. The plan also includes a suite of measures that will help us monitor progress and hold us accountable for achieving these priorities to protect human health and the environment.

Thank you to the agency leadership, managers, and staff who collaborated closely throughout the last several months and reached out to stakeholder groups — some of whom have not participated in this effort before — to develop this bold plan. The final plan will be issued in February along with EPA’s FY 2023 Budget. 

I look forward to working with you to finalize the plan following public comment, and in carrying it out together.

Michael S. Regan
Administrator