Coordinates: 40°N 100°W / 40°N 100°W / 40; -100

The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a federal republic composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major territories and various possessions. The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. At 3.8 million square miles (9.842 million km²) and with over 320 million people, the country is the world's third or fourth-largest by total area and the third most populous. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The geography and climate of the United States are also extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

United States usually refers to the United States of America, a country in North America.

United States may also refer to:

Countries

Historical

SS United States is a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 for United States Lines designed to capture the trans-Atlantic speed record.

Built at a cost of $79.4 million ($724 million in today's dollars) the ship is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the U.S. and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction. Even in her retirement, she retains the Blue Riband, the accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the highest speed.

Her construction was subsidized by the U.S. government, since she was designed to allow conversion to a troopship should the need arise.United States operated uninterrupted in transatlantic passenger service until 1969. Since 1996 she has been docked at Pier 82 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.

Design and construction

Inspired by the exemplary service of the British liners RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, which transported hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops to Europe during World War II, the U.S. government sponsored the construction of a large and fast merchant vessel that would be capable of transporting large numbers of soldiers. Designed by renowned American naval architect and marine engineer William Francis Gibbs (1886–1967), the liner's construction was a joint effort between the United States Navy and United States Lines. The U.S. government underwrote $50 million of the $78 million construction cost, with the ship's operators, United States Lines, contributing the remaining $28 million. In exchange, the ship was designed to be easily converted in times of war to a troopship with a capacity of 15,000 troops, or to a hospital ship .

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its Administrator, who is appointed by the president and approved by Congress. The current administrator is Gina McCarthy. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank.

The EPA has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., regional offices for each of the agency's ten regions, and 27 laboratories. The agency conducts environmental assessment, research, and education. It has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments. It delegates some permitting, monitoring, and enforcement responsibility to U.S. states and the federally recognized tribes. EPA enforcement powers include fines, sanctions, and other measures. The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for protecting and improving the environment as a valuable asset for the people of the Ireland.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a legal regulatory entity, working under the supervision of a governing body of Maldives under the Ministry of Environment and Energy. The EPA was formed when Environmental Research Center and Maldives Water & Sanitation Authority was merged by the president on December 18, 2008. The EPA Governing Board is a statutory body, established under the Environment Protection Act, with expertise in environment protection, industry, environmental science, regional issues, environmental law and local government.

Queensland's Environmental Protection Agency (abbreviated to EPA) was for some time a separate department of the Queensland Government, and, following 2009 State elections, became a part of the Government's larger Department of Environment and Resource Management.

This part of the Department of Environment and Resource Management's role is to manage climate change and protect the environment on behalf of the Queensland Government.

To achieve this the section aims to provide Conservation and Environmental Services: including a Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to manage the Queensland's protected area estate; plus Environmental Services to assist manage development, business, and industry. It aims to promote Sustainable futures: including planning for climate change; encouraging environmental sustainability, supporting environmental innovation, and developing strategies and policies to achieve an environmentally sustainable future; and achieve organisational performance and capability: including building a "robust" scientific base to government policy and decision making, and valuing people and accumulating knowledge within the organisation.