Archive for April, 2013

California Environmental Protection Agency – How Does it Help Me?

The CA EPA helps keep our great state clean & safe from environmental contamination.

Like the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) exists to safeguard human health and protect and preserve the natural environment. California has its own state-level EPA in part because of the unique environmental concerns of the state, such as the need to curb emissions more dramatically than in other parts of the country, in order to prevent smog from choking cities like Los Angeles. Cal/EPA also exists to enable the state to set more stringent environmental protection requirements than are required in the rest of the country, in accord with the generally more “green” attitude of California residents.

Here are the main activities of Cal/EPA and how they help you.

Protecting Air, Soil, and Water

Cal/EPA helps protect the natural resources of California, including resources like air, soil, and water that have an impact on human health. Cal/EPA maintains lists of hazardous materials like mercury, lead, asbestos, certain pesticides, etc., and conducts research to create guidelines regarding safe concentrations of these materials. Using these guidelines, environmental assessors can test air, soil, and water to ensure that…