EPA's 2008 Report on the Environment - Project Summary

EPA's 2008 Report on the Environment (ROE) compiles the latest and most reliable indicators to help understand critical trends in the environment and human health. Additionally, the report identifies key limitations of these indicators and gaps where reliable indicators do not yet exist. These gaps and limitations highlight the disparity between the current state of knowledge and the goal of full, reliable, and insightful representation of environmental conditions and trends, and provide direction for future research and monitoring efforts. The ROE was released in May 2008. The indicators for EPA's 2008 ROE , which comprise the main content of the report, underwent independent scientific peer review as well as public review and comment during the summer and fall of 2005 (please visit: http://www.epa.gov/roe/ for more specific information). The EPA's 2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights of National Trends document was released in September 2008. It summarizes the findings from the ROE in an easier to understand format and is intended for a general audience. The Highlights Document (ROE HD) has undergone a separate review under EPA's Office of Environmental Information. Both the ROE and the ROE HD are available on http://www.epa.gov/roe/ where users will also find the underlying data, metadata, references and peer review documentation for the ROE indicators. The web site will be updated periodically so the information remains current and relevant.