increase in personnel. This advanced technol- 

 ogy is of particular importance to monitoring 

 laboratories that must accurately analyze 

 large numbers of samples to support enforce- 

 ment actions. 



ORD plans to continue to capitalize on monitor- 

 ing capabilities developed by other organizations. 

 The transfer into and application by EPA of ad- 

 vanced technology developed outside the Agency 

 has been accomplished by pilot projects on real 

 problems. The regions and other EPA Offices 

 continue to need total monitoring systems because 

 these systems often represent a way of completing 

 pressing tasks in a faster, more cost-effective 

 manner. 



Environmental R&D in other Federal agencies. 

 The EPA is but one of many agencies with envi- 

 ronmental R&D that concerns itself with some 

 aspect of environmental pollution. This could in- 

 clude emission, transport processes, and fate 

 impacts or effects, and control technologies and 

 management methods for pollutants. Such re- 

 search covers air and water pollution, pesticides, 

 solid waste, water supply, noise, radiation, and 

 toxic and hazardous substances. 



The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

 required Federal agencies to consider environmen- 

 tal consequences of their actions. Such a demand 

 led to an increase in environmental R&D in many 

 areas. While EPA is clearly mandated to be the 

 lead agency in environmental R&D, it must be 

 recognized that the resources available to ORD 

 represent about 20 percent of the total Federal 

 commitment to environmentally related R&D. The 

 mission of other Federal agencies necessitates en- 

 vironmental R&D. Therefore, EPA has the respon- 

 sibility to ensure that environmental R&D capabili- 

 ties in other agencies are not unnecessarily dupli- 

 cated but are recognized and utilized as efficiently 

 as possible. 



Technology transfer program. The object of the 

 technology transfer program is to have an effective 

 impact on the construction, installation, and opera- 

 tion of pollution control and abatement facilities; 

 to ensure that the latest viable technologies are 

 transferred to potential users; and to eliminate the 

 possibly large investment in obsolete facilities. 



The program's primary function is to bridge the 

 gap between research and full-scale use by 

 evaluation and transfer of newly developed suc- 

 cessful technologies to consulting engineering 

 firms; municipal, industrial, and State design engi- 

 neers; city managers; directors of public works; 

 industrial managers; conservation groups; and oth- 

 ers exerting influence over the design and con- 

 struction of all pollution control and abatement 

 facilities. 



A further goal is to establish the newly emerging 

 technologies as practical and feasible alternatives 

 on a national basis, to be routinely considered and 

 evaluated in the planning of these facilities. 



A continuing series of publications is being pre- 

 pared and disseminated by the technology transfer 

 program for use by the various categories of po- 

 tential users. 



Summary 



Basic research has several important roles in 

 EPA's overall research effort. It is essential to 

 have a fundamental scientific base on which to 

 build applied research and development. Within 

 EPA, basic research on ecosystem modeling and 

 the fate and transport of pollutants aids in deter- 

 mining the effects of pollution of an ecosystem as 

 a whole. Basic research jointly sponsored by EPA 

 and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at 

 the National Center for Toxicological Research 

 aids health effects researchers by illuminating un- 

 derlying mechanisms and relationships of observed 

 toxicities. Increased knowledge in this area may 

 make it easier to predict the toxicity of an untested 

 chemical or indicated treatment or prevention of a 

 chemical's toxic effects. 



Interest in problems of growth and concentra- 

 tion of population seems to be increasing. While 

 the research arm of EPA does not formally state 

 10-year goals, it is likely that the population as- 

 pects of the environment will be a major new area 

 of research. 



The EPA derives its regulatory goals and objec- 

 tives from legislative mandates and Executive ini- 

 tiatives. The ORD serves to support the rest of the 

 Agency in carrying out its program and achieving 

 its goals. Therefore, throughout the planning and 

 implementation of the research program, ORD 

 must continually seek guidance from the various 

 Agency components to determine, and to be re- 

 sponsive to, their research requirements and prior- 

 ity needs. At the beginning of each planning cycle, 

 the Assistant Administrator for Research and De- 

 velopment requests research guidance from the 

 Administrator, the Deputy Administrator, the oth- 

 er Assistant Administrators, and the Regional Ad- 

 ministrators. This guidance is forwarded to the 

 appropriate ORD office. Each year, ORD prepares 

 a program plan for the following fiscal year. This is 

 based on input from ORD's major headquarters 

 components, semiannual program' reviews, the 

 Agency's budget year planning guidance, and the 

 Agency's current year program adjustments. It 

 indicates the degree of emphasis on various pro- 



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 



