Train v. City of New York

The Environmental Protection Agency is an independent agency within the U.S. government established in 1970. At that time the EPA's budget was roughly $1 billion; the EPA's current budget is nearly $8 billion. The current administrator of the EPA is Carol M. Browner. The EPA sets standards for environmental protection and monitors businesses to see that these standards are maintained. The EPA conducts research, offers grants, and monitors the activity of environmentally suspect industries, and oversees the impact of other federal agencies on the environment. Among its accomplishments the EPA has curbed pollution of the air and water, regulated hazardous waste disposal sites, cooperated in a world wide effort to limit the substances that deplete the ozone layer, and fined companies for violations of standards established by the EPA.

In recent years one of the central functions of the EPA has been administering the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, commonly known as Superfund. Congress initially approved $1.6 billion for the fund which was designed to clean up hazardous waste sites. In the early 1980s the agency was investigated by Congress for allegations of the misuse of funds in the Superfund project.