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SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 17 



Strengthening the Federal R&D Infrastructure 



Our federal environmental R&D system is broad, diverse, and highly de- 

 centralized. There is a need to suengthcn the individual and collective R&D 

 efforts at the nine major departments and agencies with environmental R&D 

 programs, and to c:q>and their capacity to contribute to the evaluation and 

 implementation of environmental policies. 



■ The fedenl eonronmental R&D iofiastracmre should be strengthened by 

 improving and streamlining EB^'s existing labocatoty organization, by support- 

 ing a group of nonfederal Environmental Research Institutes, by organizing 

 a new U.S. Environmental Monitoring Agency and a National Center for 

 Environmental Infotmation, and by pnhanring R&D capabilities in several 

 key fedend agencies (see pages 63-91). 



■ The E/ t vir o nme ntal Protection Agency's existing laboratory structure, now 

 comprised of 11 laboratories, should be consolidated to create a National 

 Ecological Systems Laboratory, a National Environmental Monitoring Sys- 

 tems Laboratory, a National Environmental Engineering Laboratory, and 

 a National Health Effects Research Laboratory. We recommend several sub- 

 stantial changes in the EPA laboratory structure to accommodate the growing 

 need for integrated environmental systems research and monitoring. The 

 first is the incorporation of EPA's six environmental processes and effecc 

 laboratories into a single national laboratory with multiple field locations. 

 The second is the merging of EPA's two environmental monitoring support 

 laboratories and the agency's other monitoring activiues into a single na- 

 uonal laboratory. •• (See Figure 6 on page 77). In addidon. EPA's environ- 

 mental engineering laboratories should be merged to form a single labo- 

 ratory. The existing Health Effects Research Laboratory should be upgraded 

 and designated a Narional Health Effects Research Laboratory. 



■ EPA should establish and support up to six major Environmental Re- 

 search Institutes (ERIs) associated with academic institutions and nongov- 

 ernmental organizations across the country. EPA's current Centen of Excel- 

 lence program supports fi)ur univeisity-based Environmental Research Centers 

 (ERCs), each specializing in a patucular research topic of agency interest. 

 The work of the ERCs is severely limited by inadequate funding, currently 

 averaging about $1 million per center per year. 



We believe that this program should be phased out and replaced 

 with a set of major Environmenol Research Institutes. In order to have a 

 real impact on the environmental challenges facing the nation and the world, 

 we belie%T that funding for each ERI should gradually rise to the level of 

 Sio to Si 5 million annually for at least five years. We further propose that. 



