135 



^k \ UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 



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WASHINGTON, DC. 20460 



JAN I I 1996 



OFFICE OF 

 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



ADM James D. Watkins, USN (Ret.) 



President, Consortium for Oceanographic 



Research and Education 



Suite 800 



1755 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. 



Washington, D.C 2003S-2102 



Dear Admiral Watkins : 



Thank you for your kind offer to present at the hearing of 

 the House of Representatives National Security, Resources, and 

 Science Committees the contribution EPA is making to the science 

 of oceanography. Clearly, the organizers of this hearing have 

 chosen wisely by inviting you as President of CORE to speak on 

 behalf of agencies like EPA which a striving to advance ocean 

 sciences. I am pleased to offer the following summary of the EPA 

 contribution to this crucial area of science. 



The EPA Office of Research and Development has created a 

 strategic planning process that will focus our contribution to 

 science on the greatest technical uncertainties in environmental 

 risk assessments. Using the risk assessment paradigm as a basis 

 for techriically-defensible environmental decisions, I have 

 established support for ocean sciences, in part, through a new 

 $100 million extramural, investigator- initiated grant program for 

 our colleagues in the academic community and through an 

 intramural research program that includes three marine 

 laboratories as part of the EPA National Health and Environmental 

 Effects Research Laboratory. Our efforts in ocean science seek 

 to understand the factors that control the biointegrity and 

 sustainability of critical marine resources. EPA is developing 

 models of the effects of urban centers on coastal benthic 

 communities, primary production, and commercial fisheries. EPA 

 is spearheading research on the effect of toxic chemicals such as 

 endocrine disrupters on the health of marine fish, mammal and 

 wildlife communities. In addition, EPA is establishing research 

 program to understand the influence of pollution stress on the 



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