67 



More recently, SAB Chair Genevieve Matanoski and SAB Research Strategies Ad- 

 visory Committee Chair Roger McClellan emphasized the importance of research to 

 the agency in a letter to current EPA Administrator Carol Browner dated April 29, 

 1994. The SAB concluded that EPA "does not appear to be heading in the direction 

 of creating the stronger science base that is so desperately needed." 



Approximately 85 percent of ORD's resources goes to conduct short-term, regu- 

 latory research and development, with only 15 percent going to the long-term strate- 

 gic, non-regulatory research. Short term research has dominated ORD's activities 

 because of EPA's mission to promulgate regulations and meet Congressional man- 

 dates. In light of the criticisms cited in these reports, it is critical to address the 

 need for long-term, strategic research. With EPA research currently favoring its pro- 

 grams, it is important to ensure that an increase in long-term research at the agen- 

 cy is not at the detriment of its regulatory programs and related research. 



Funding for Environmental R&D 



EPA's R&D programs are only a small part of a larger patchwork of environ- 

 mental research programs carried out by other Federal agencies. In Fiscal Year 

 1992, at least six Federal agencies had annual environmental R&D funding in ex- 

 cess of EPA's total research budget. They were the National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration ($826 million), Department of Energy ($799 million), Department of 

 Defense ($577 million), Department of Interior ($554 million), the National Science 

 Foundation ($541 million), and the Department of Agriculture ($403 million). (All 

 Fiscal Year 1992 budget figures above were derived from Federal Funding for Envi- 

 ronmental R&D, Gramp et al, AAAS, 1992). 



ORD's total budget figures for Fiscal Year 1994 are estimated at $500 million. Ap- 

 proximately $38 million is designated for exploratory research in areas where pre- 

 vious reports concluded the agency was lacking. The exploratory portion (long-term, 

 interdisciplinary research) of the budget generally receives less attention due to the 

 amount of ORD resources necessary to provide program offices with information to 

 help them meet their short term, regulatory mandates. With the importance of re- 

 search to the agency's mission, it is discouraging that since 1980 EPA research and 

 development declined by 8 percent in constant dollars. It is also discouraging to note 

 that research is less than 8 percent of EPA's total budget. 



According to a December 1990 EPA report to Congress, in 1994 the United States 

 will likely spend between $135 billion and $158 billion on cleaning up past environ- 

 mental mistakes. These numbers are expected to increase to between $165 billion 

 and $194 billion by the year 2000. It is troubling that more resources are not placed 

 in environmental research so that we may anticipate and avoid costly environmental 

 crises. 



Federal Environmental R&D 



A more disappointing situation awaits us when we view the Federal environ- 

 mental R&D effort as a whole. In December 1992, the Carnegie Commission on 

 Science, Technology, and Government released an in-depth report on the state of en- 

 vironmental research and development in the United States among all Federal 

 agencies. They noted: 



Unfortunately, the existing Federal environmental R&D infrastructure was 

 built for another time and a set of issues that no longer correspond to today's 

 problems. . . Largely because of its origins as a series of individual programs 

 initiated in response to specific problems, much of our current R&D system is 

 diffuse, reactive, and focused on short-range, end-of-pipe solutions. 



Today the Federal environmental R&D system is a loose collection of labora- 

 tories and programs, most of which were established to respond to the problems 

 and priorities of the past. While many of these problems remain today, we also 

 face a new set of challenges, and responding to them requires a more dynamic, 

 interrelated organizational structure and more effective assessment and policy- 

 making process. ("Environmental Research and Development: Strengthening the 

 Federal Infrastructure", Carnegie Commission, Dec. 1992; emphasis added). 



Decision-makers in the public and private sectors lack sound scientific informa- 

 tion on critical environmental problems today because there is no coherent or inte- 



