138 



^^, tN'VIRONMtNTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



Box 2. R&D Missions of the Major Departments and 

 Agencies 



More than twenty governmental organizations house R&D programs related 

 to environmental quality Specific environmental research programs supF>ort 

 the missions of nine maior federal departments and agencies* Depending 

 on how broadly one defines "environment." the feder;! govcrr:rr:o?.: spent 

 nearly $5 billion on environmental R&D in fiscal year 1992. In the descrip- 

 tions that follow, the budget figures for particular years refer to fiscal years. 



Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has a strong applied re- 

 search program and is the cte facto "lead agency" for environmental R&D. 

 overseeing several programs that comprise the largest internal environ- 

 mental research effort in the federal government. Regulation has been its 

 dominant concern. The agency operates its research programs within the 

 Office of Research and Development (ORD). ORD's eight offices and twelve 

 laboratories had a 1992 budget of $502 million. ORD's Office of Exploratory 

 Research coordinates a small extramural program in basic, long-term re- 

 search. EPA has traditionally devoted a small proportion of its resources to 

 basic research. In real dollars, EPA's R&D budget declined by about 11 per- 

 cent between 1980 and 1992. 



National Science Foundation. The National Science Foundation (NSF) 

 supports basic scientific and engineering research, education, and training 

 in the environmental field through competitive grant programs. Two major 

 divisions, covering a wide range of disciplines, funded research totaling 

 more than $540 million in 1992, making NSF the largest source of ex- 

 tramural grants in the environmental field. The major directorates of NSF 

 fund research in biotic systems and resources, biosciences, geoscience, 

 and the anthropogenic causes and effects of ecological change. This 

 funding supports research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research 

 and a numt>er of oceanographic centers. 



National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), within the Department of 

 Commerce, msuntains an environmental research program that focuses on 

 oceanic and atmospheric technology. The program includes work in applied 

 weather research, water quality and coastal ecosystem management, ma- 

 rine life, and global climate change. Some $319 million was spent in 1992 

 for environment-related research at NOAA, an Increase of more than 50 per- 

 cent over the $216 million appropriated just three years ago. (This figure 

 does not include $265 million to supF>ort the National Environment Satellite, 

 Data, and Information Service.) 



Department of Energy. The Department of Energy (DOE) operates a pro- 

 gram in Biological and Environmental Research that aims to identify, under- 

 stand, and anticipate the long-term health and environmental conse- 

 quences of energy use. f^any of the key programs are carried out through 

 the Office of Energy Research and the Fossil Energy Division: also involved 

 are the National Environmental Research Parks and the National Labora- 



