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How environmental policy is developed using data

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Data is used in decision-making. We take facts and information and apply our judgment to make decisions on how best to help the environment. We:

Here's how the process works.

  1. EPA programs feed information, like monitoring data, into Logic Models.
  2. Then we look at Indicators, which give us a sense of the impact on the environment.
  3. Then we use the Multi-criteria Integrated Resource Assessment (MIRA) tool to decide what should be done, like requiring pollution controls.

The Link Between the Logic Model and the Multi-Criteria Integrated Resource Assessment (MIRA); the process is results-driven based on environmental results; what are the impacts of what we do?

Both MIRA and Logic Models are part of EPA's overall process to connect programs to environmental results and then measure and evaluate those results to prioritize our work.

Our policies take into account our values -- what's most important to us and what we are trying to achieve. Our values may be different at different times and in different locations. For example, the amount of a pollutant allowed to be discharged into a stream may be based on whether that stream is using for swimming, for fishing, for boating, or for none of those uses. This concept as an equation is: Policy = Values x Indicators.

Mid-Atlantic Region || Mid-Atlantic Env'l Assessment & Innovation || Mid-Atlantic Data


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