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6o ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



mental problems. The lEA could convene environmental assessment com- 

 mittees to bring individuals from various federal departments and agencies 

 together to evaluate specific environmental problems and ways to respond 

 to them." Consistent with the successful approach of the congressional 

 Office of Technology Assessment, the lEA should consider optional strat- 

 egies and policies to address environmental problems. It should not, how- 

 ever, recomment/ putkuht courses of action. These decisions are the respon- 

 sibility of the Executive Office of the President, Congress, and the heads 

 of federal departments and agencies. 



The institute should be administered by a director who reports to 

 the Director of the White House Office of Environmental Quality We 

 recommend that the lEA be provided with funds to undcnakc analyses 

 within the institute itself and to support the work of individuals and in- 

 stitutions outside of the federal government through grants and contracts. 

 At least half the institute's funding should be devoted to extramural studies 

 conducted within nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions. 

 Depending on its size and mission, an lEA could be located in the Executive 

 Office, or in the Environmental Protection Agency or a proposed Depart- 

 ment of the Environment. Alternatively, it could function as a quasigovern- 

 mcntal institution operated by a nongovernmental organization but reporting 

 to the OEQ in the Executive Office, or to the Secretary of a Depanment 

 of the Environment. 



ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND MONITORING INITIATIVE 



■ The PTesident, with the guidance and support of Congress, should under- 

 take an Environmental Research and Monitoring Initiative, a long-term effort 

 to bring all federal environmental R&D programs into a common policy 

 framework. 



Through an Environmental Research and Monitoring Initiative the 

 President can taJte the actions necessary to develop an integrated federal 

 environmental R&D program, an essential step toward better directing fed- 

 eral scientific and engineering resources toward national and global prob- 

 lems. This initiative could be a component of a broader National Environ- 

 mental Strategy, which we understand the National Commission on the 

 Environment will recommend in its upcoming repon.-*" The Initiative 

 should be guided by the Director of the Office of Environmental Quality 

 (discussed above) and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

 Policy and should involve the key administrators of federal R&D programs, 

 as well as the Office of Management and Budget. The group should work 

 with the Office of Management and Budget to devise coherent short- and 

 long-term R&D plans for each agency, including explicit goals and mile- 



