In the field of the environmental protection, the activity of the DRIRE is exerted on behalf of the ministry in charge of the environment, under the authority 
of the prefects of department. The DRIRE have the principal role to control the industrial activities likely to have an environmental impact, this within the 
framework of the regulation on the installations classified for the environmental protection. The inspection of the classified installations exerts a mission 
of environmental police force near the industrial plants. This mission of public utility, defined by the law, aims preventing and at reducing the dangers and 
the harmful effects related to these installations in order to protect the people, the environment and the public health. The DRIRE are in charge of coordination, 
at the regional level, of the inspection of the installations classified for the environmental protection. In their fields of competencies, the DRIRE are 
also in charge of a role of animation of the actors of the environment: associations of monitoring of the quality of the air (39 networks), secretariats permanent 
for the prevention of industrial pollution (12 SPPPI), local commissions of information and monitoring (nearly 600).