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SS EN\1RONMENTAL REStARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



scientific and icchnicai information and to analyze environmental issues 

 from the standpoint of economic, social, and {xilitical considcratiom. 



THE OinCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUAUTY 



■ The misiion of the existing White House Office of Environmentat Quality 

 (OEQ) should he expanded, giving it broad responsibility for developing 

 environmental policies in the context of other considerations, particularly 

 economic. The Office should also work to identify ways in which the activ- 

 ities of all federal departments and agencies can be directed toward sustain- 

 able development and risk-reduction objectives. 



The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) was established by 

 the National Environmental Poliq- Act in 1969. Shortly afterward, the White 

 House Office of Environmental Quality was established by the Environmental 

 Quality Improvement Act of 1970. *> CEQ has been the dominant organi- 

 zational entity. However, over the past four years, CEQ has operated not 

 as a council, but as an office administered by a chairman who also serves 

 as the direaor of OEQ. We believe the activities of CEQ should be inte- 

 grated into the Office of Environmental Quality. We considered other or- 

 ganizational mechanisms to provide a focal point for environmental policy- 

 making in the White House, but building on the existing OEQ, rather than 

 esublishing an entirely new entity is, in our view, the most efficient approach. 



A robust, analytically sophisticated, and influential Office of En- 

 vironmental Quality is a critical component of the White House policy- 

 making apparatus. Several fundamental changes arc needed in the oper- 

 ations of the Office if it is to address the challenges of the 1990s and beyond. 

 We believe that OEQ's mission should be administered by a director who 

 functions simultaneously as the Assistant to the President for the Environ- 

 ment. In this capacity the director should lead efforts in the White House 

 to develop cnvironmcnui, sustainable development, and risk-related policy 

 options, presenting proposals to the President and the Cabinet for their 

 consideration. The director should be given broad authority to look across 

 ail departments and agencies and identify ways in which federal activities 

 can be directed toward the environmental objeaivcs of the President. 



In developing policy proposals, the OEQ should work to integrate 

 environmental, energy, and economic considerations. As discussed in an 

 earlier Commission rcpon, actions should be taken "to assure the suble 

 and sustained funaioning of a high-level mechanism concemed with linking 

 environment, energy, and the economy."'* We reaffirm the recommenda- 

 tions of that rcpon: an expansion of staff expertise, particularly in the areas 



