The EPA has released a new environment report. The “2008 Report on the Environment Highlights” outlines areas where progress has been made, and where work needs to be done concerning the environment.

In the Pacific Southwest, statewide measures have, in many cases, shown improvement, but these changes are not uniform across the region. Much work remains to be done to ensure that vulnerable communities in the outer Pacific Islands, U.S./Mexico Border Region, tribal communities, and environmental justice areas make progress in improving public health and environmental conditions.

EPA continues to work with states, tribes, and local partners in the Pacific Southwest to address environmental issues at the community level. An example of this effort is the collapse of open-water fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta coupled with critically dry conditions in California affecting water supplies throughout the state. This focus on the biology of at-risk fish populations has generated high-quality, useful science that synthesizes the impacts of diverse stressors of ecosystems and suggests more effective ways to use permits to protect ecological values.

To read the report in its’ entirety: EPA.GOV