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5. Partnerships. EPA will work in partnership with its stakeholders Federal, 

 State, and local agencies, tribes, private industry, public interest groups and 

 citizens to develop the technology and capacity for carrying out environmental 

 programs and policies using common sense, innovation and flexibility. 



6. Reinventing EPA Management. EPA will strive to make itself known as the 

 best managed agency in the Federal government. EPA will seek to manage for 

 better results; streamline its programs; and use savings to strengthen existing 

 programs and invest in emerging high risk issues. Employee development, 

 empowerment, and diversity will be emphasized. 



These guiding principles provide clear direction for EPA's science and research 

 programs. Ecosystem. level management, understanding of risks to subpopulations to 

 ensure equity in environmental decision-making, and prevention of pollution rather 

 than only pollution control all require changes in research focus. Additionally, the 

 research process itself must be re-engineered through increased use of research 

 partnerships, expanded public education about environmental science and engineer- 

 ing, and streamlined research management. 



I want to briefly discuss how we propose to strengthen science and data through- 

 out the Agency and within ORD. 



Strengthening Science at EPA: Better Links Between R&D and Environmental Policy 



EPA's strategic plan, New Directions in Environmental Protection, identifies some 

 important themes for EPA's science and data programs, including: 



• Promoting scientific excellence to assure sound EPA decisions; 



• Ensuring that environmental data are accessible and useful to policy-mak- 

 ers, scientists, and the public; 



• Measuring environmental progress, and using results to improve environ- 

 mental protection programs; 



• Guiding creation of a national and international environmental research 

 agenda; 



• Expanding partnerships with the scientific community, other agencies, and 

 the public; 



• Creating opportunities for scientific ar.c technical achievement at EPA. 



Promoting scientific excellence to assure sound EPA decisions: EPA will ensure 

 that high-quality science is provided to decision-makers in ways that are useful for 

 the policy-making process. Three components are key to this plan: 



• Revamping and expansion of the Agency's peer review process. Peer review 

 is also a key component of EPA's Laboratory Study recommendations. I will pro- 

 vide more detail of our plans for peer review at the end of my testimony when 

 I address the Laboratory Study recommendations. 



• Improving health and ecological risk assessments and developing guidelines 

 to promote consistency within EPA and among Federal agencies. This compo- 

 nent is in line with the risk assessment provisions of S. 1545. 



• Enhancing effects and exposure information 



Additionally, EPA has reformed its rulemaking process to better incorporate 

 science and data in important rulemakings, and established a Science Policy Council 

 to address science policy issues that go beyond regional or program office bound- 

 aries. 



Ensuring that environmental data are accessible and useful to policy- makers, sci- 

 entists, and the public: EPA will spearhead efforts to improve sharing of data among 

 Federal agencies and greatly broaden the availability of environmental information. 

 We will pursue improvements to our own information infrastructure, so that staff 

 and management, our partners, and the public will have access to timely, meaning- 

 ful information for decisions. 



Measuring environmental progress, and using results to improve environmental 

 protection programs: Through the Committee on Environmental and Natural Re- 

 sources (CENR), we are working with other Federal agencies to establish the 

 databases that will allow us to measure improvements in environmental quality, 

 and use the results to improve environmental decision-making. 



