254 



Administration are examples of critical regulatory agencies in large cabinet depart- 

 ments. But a Department of the Environment needs to do more than regulate. 



One thing that the Department should do is to maintain a better balance between 

 its regulatory efforts and its commitment to good science and technology as the 

 basis for understanding the environment and dealing with threats to it. The Depart- 

 ment should have cognizance over monitoring the quality of the U.S. and global en- 

 vironment and promptly reporting positive and negative trends. I'll return to this 

 issue later. Finally, the Department should have the Federal lead on environmental 

 issues — from cleaning up past abuses at home to stemming environmental devasta- 

 tion globally. 



Progress in R&D at EPA 



It should be recognized that EPA has recently made progress in stabilizing its sci- 

 ence and technology efforts. Its Office of Research and Development (ORD) has, over 

 the last several years, taken modest but important steps in reorganizing and 

 streamlining its activities. ORD has consolidated two environmental engineering re- 

 search laboratories in Cincinnati, OH, into one laboratory. It has consolidated two 

 environmental health effects research laboratories into one located at Research Tri- 

 angle Park, NC. And it has consolidated an air modeling laboratory and an air mon- 

 itoring laboratory in North Carolina into one. 



ORD should also be commended for recompeting the awards for the university- 

 based Centers of Excellence this past year. This was a positive step in reinvigorating 

 the important work ORD supports in universities. The five centers selected, howev- 

 er, are still seriously underfunded. In fact, the ever-increasing scope of environmen- 

 tal problems demand more and better-funded Centers. 



During the past year, too, EPA has focused greater attention on environmental 

 technologies. Playing an active role in the National Technological Initiative, EPA 

 has gained better insight into the roles of private industry, private capital, and 

 market barriers in technology commercialization. 



These are useful steps but do not address the basic challenges facing the Nation 

 and the world in dealing with current and past pollution. 



The Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government Report on Feder- 

 al Environmental R&D Programs 



Since 1988, the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government 

 has commissioned a number of studies. As mentioned above, I had the privilege of 

 serving on its Task Force on the Organization of Federal Environmental R&D Pro- 

 grams. The report of that task force was issued in December 1992.* 



While many of the task force's findings and recommendations are relevant to this 

 hearing today, I would like to highlight five of the recommendations which are espe- 

 cially germane to the development of environmental control technologies: 



• The President, with the guidance and support of Congress, should undertake an 

 Environmental Research and Monitoring Initiative, a long-term effort to bring all 

 Federal environmental R&D programs into a common policy framework. 



The Initiative should be guided by the Director of the Office of Environmental 

 Quality and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and 

 should involve key administrators of Federal R&D programs, as well as the Office of 

 Management and Budget (0MB). The group should work to devise coherent short- 

 and long-term R&D plans for each agency and department. 



• The Office of Science and Technology Policy should coordinate a broader array 

 of environmental R&D activities. 



OSTP should use the Federal Coordinating Council on Science, Engineering, and 

 Technology (FCCSET) to aid in the development of coherent Federal environmental 

 R&D programs and to address problems that cut across departments and agencies. 

 Close interaction between OSTP and the Office of Environmental Quality and be- 

 tween OSTP and 0MB is essential to achieve an integrated, forward-looking envi- 

 ronmental protection program. 



• A new Federal agency, the U.S. Environmental Monitoring Agency, should be 

 organized by combining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, now 

 within the Department of Commerce, with the U.S. Geological Survey, now within 

 the Department of the Interior. 



Monitoring, mapping, inventorying, and forecasting with respect to the national 

 and global environment are the cornerstones of Federal environmental protection 

 efforts. Two key players in these efforts are NOAA and USGS. Moving them out of 

 their existing departments and combining them would establish the highly profes- 

 sional, independent capability that the Nation clearly needs. This agency could op- 



