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l8 ENvraONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



after considering the views of a fuJl range of ocpens from within and outside 

 governmcni. the EPA Science Advisory Board make recommendations to 

 the EPA Administrator regarding the missions of the institutes. 



The institutes should operate cooperatively with the four EPA Na- 

 tional Laboratories described above. It might be advantageous to choose 

 problem -oriented themes for the insritutcs that cut across the missions of 

 the intramural Nadonal Laboratories. Since the institutes should operate 

 on a five-year cycle, this would allow the periodic modificarion of the in- 

 stitutes' prioriucs. In this manner, the insututes would function as a more 

 flexible, problem-oriented, muiudisciplinary component of the EPA or a 

 proposed Department of the Environment, thereby complementing the struc- 

 tured, discipline-oriented, intramural Nadonal Laboratories. We envision 

 a two-way flow of personnel between the Nariotul Laboratories and the in- 

 stitutes. This would give government scientists and engineers — and social 

 scientists — an opportunity to benefit from the career growth and educational 

 opportuniues offered in the university setting. It would also enhance the 

 National Laboratories by bringing some of the best scientists and engineers 

 in the nation into government laboratories for extended periods. 



■ A new federal agency, the U.S. Environmental Monitoring Agency 

 (EMA), should be organized by combining the National Oceanic and At- 

 mospheric Administration (NOAA), now within the Department of Com- 

 merce, with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), now within the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior Monitoring, mapping, inventorying, and forecasting 

 with respea to our nadonal and the global environment are the cornerstones 

 of our federal environmental protccdon cferts. The present and futtire mis- 

 sions of NOAA and USGS are more similar to each other than they are 

 to the missions of the departments in which they now reside. We believe 

 that both organizadons would operate more efifccdvely together. 



The proposed Environmental Monitoring Agency should maintain 

 close ties with the Nadonal Aeronaudcs and Space Administradon in order 

 to link NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) and related environmental 

 monitoring efforts with its own aaivides. The EMA should make use of 

 data from a wide range of other agencies, including EPA. the Fish and Wild- 

 life Service, and the Nadonal Institute for Envirotunental Health Services. 

 We believe that the EMA could operate as an independent federal agency; 

 however, if a Department of the Environment is established, the EMA should 

 be pan of it. 



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■ A National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) should be 

 established within the proposed U.S. Environmental Monitoring Agency. 

 Such a center would serve as a focal point for the storage and retrieval of 



