Environmental protection responsibilities are vested in the Department of Land and Natural Resources and in the Environmental Management Division of the Department of Health. The Hawaii Environmental Policy Act of 1974 established environmental policies and guidelines for state agencies. Also enacted in 1974 was the Environmental Impact Statement Law, which mandated environmental assessments for all state and county projects and some private projects. Noise pollution requirements for the state are among the strictest in the US, and air and water purity levels are well within federal standards.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the use of ethylene dibromide (EDB), a pesticide used in the state's pineapple fields, after high levels of the chemical were found in wells on the island of Oahu in 1983. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency's database listed 87 hazardous waste sites, 3 of which were on the National Priorities List, in Hawaii. In 2001, Hawaii received $25,730,000 in federal grants from the EPA.