Science for Environmental Protection The Road Ahead (2012) / Chapter Skim
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5 Enhanced Scientific Leadership and Capacity in the US Environmental Protection Agency
5 Enhanced Scientific Leadership and Capacity in the US Environmental Protection Agency
Pages 161-186
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From page 161... ...
Science questions arise throughout that environmental-management network and require access to the latest and best scientific information possible. In EPA's program and regional offices, science is most often conducted in direct response to particular regulatory and programmatic needs and often operates on different timescales in contrast with longer-term discovery-oriented science in ORD.
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From page 162... ...
Support scientific integrity and quality. ENHANCED AGENCY-WIDE SCIENCE LEADERSHIP IN THE US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Emerging challenges in ecosystem quality and human health necessitate the enhancement and broader use of science in the agency.
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From page 163... ...
Some of the specific recommendations included the need for the position of deputy administrator for science with sufficient resources and authority to coordinate scientific efforts in the agency (as noted above) and to build collaboration with external agencies and expertise; the establishment of an overarching issue-based planning process and a scientific agenda for major environmental issues that integrates and coordinates scientific efforts throughout the agency and that is regularly reviewed and updated; a coordinated approach to managing and strengthening EPA's scientific workforce that will serve as a resource for the entire agency; and a strategy that promotes science integration by making it a more consistent priority, by strengthening management oversight, and by strengthening participation and support of EPA scientists.
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From page 164... ...
Recommendation: The committee recommends that the EPA administrator continue to identify ways to substantially enhance the responsibilities of a person in an agency-wide science leadership position. That person should hold a senior position, which could be that of a deputy administrator for science, a chief scientist, or possibly a substantially strengthened version of the current science advisor position.
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From page 165... ...
The committee specifically recommends that the person in this position and his or her staff create, implement, and periodically update an integrated, agency-wide multiyear plan for science, its use, and associated research needs. Such a plan would bring together ORD, program, and regional science initiatives while being cognizant of the flexibility that is imparted through bottom-up initiatives undertaken in ORD, the program offices, and the regions.
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From page 166... ...
REALIGNMENT OF THE OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ORD often sets the stage for research and scientific assessment efforts throughout EPA. In 2011, the deputy administrator for ORD, Paul Anastas, announced a restructuring of the office in response to growing scientific challenges and recommendations from the agency's scientific advisers.
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From page 167... ...
The agency needs to define clearly how ORD and program office research programs relate to one another and how they fit within the larger context of EPA and stakeholder science. A key aspect is ensuring that senior and junior scientists in ORD and the program offices are invested in the restructuring process.
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From page 168... ...
The Regional Science Program's Regional Science Liaison and Superfund and Technology Liaison locate scientists in regional offices to facilitate regional staff and management access to ORD science. The regional liaisons have regular communication with OSP to ensure communication between ORD and the regional offices (M.
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From page 169... ...
The workshops are intended to identify research needs, initiate research partnerships, and improve information-sharing and coordination of existing research efforts. Through the Regional Research Partnership Program, OSP provides travel and relocation expenses for 10 regional scientists a year to be detailed to specific ORD laboratories for 4 to 12 weeks to work on high-priority research projects in direct collaboration with ORD scientists.
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From page 170... ...
Although ORD has surveyed regional and program offices for science and data needs and it will be necessary to continue to conduct regular and systematic assessments of regional and program offices to inform its planning, the focus on ORD planning alone will not be adequate to address science needs for 21st century challenges. As noted above, the development of strategic, coordinated multiyear agency-wide science integration plans, overseen by enhanced science leadership empowered by the administrator, are critical for the agency to coordinate and deliver science in and outside of the agency more effectively in the future.
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From page 171... ...
The science generated through the center's collaborations has created momentum around computational toxicology research and influenced research investments by other agencies and organizations, including the chemical industry. Optimizing resources, creating and benefiting from scientific exchange zones, and leading innovation through transdisciplinary collaborations to address the many challenges described in Chapter 2 will require forward-thinking
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From page 172... ...
Recommendation: EPA should continue to cultivate a scientific workforce across the agency (including ORD, program offices, and regions) that can take on transdisciplinary challenges.
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From page 173... ...
The agency is without strong expertise in social, behavioral, and decision sciences, though it does support some research in these areas through the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program and procures economics research from contractors.
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From page 174... ...
In addition, and as noted above, economic, social, behavioral, and decision sciences can make important contributions to improving environmental policy decisions within the emerging integrated systems-based approach to environmental management and contributions to innovation in strategies for achieving environmental goals efficiently, equitably, and cooperatively. The importance of behavioral science to the conduct of environmental economics research, including environmental valuation, has been well established and has led to considerable research on the integration of behavioral sciences with environmental economics (Sent 2004; Shogren and Taylor 2008; Shogren et al.
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From page 175... ...
More importantly, behavioral economics is an essential source of new insight in environmental economics research pertaining to the benefits of environmental protection and the design of incentives for environmental management. Colocating behavioral scientists within NCEE will increase the capacity of economics staff to participate in the advances in environmental economics emerging from the integration of behavioral economics.
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From page 176... ...
Early environmental education is important in creating champions for environmental protection and innovation in new science and technology who can work in the agency in the future. The National Environmental Education Act of 1990 simultaneously established the Office of Environmental Education (OEE)
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From page 177... ...
. Delivering Science Outside the Environmental Protection Agency As state, local, and tribal environmental agency budgets decline, the agencies will rely increasingly on EPA for scientific support.
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From page 178... ...
EPA's best defense against those criticisms is to ensure that it transparently distinguishes between questions of science and questions of policy in its regulatory decisions; to demand openness and access to the scientific data and information on which it is relying, whether generated in or outside of the agency; and to use competent, balanced, objective, and transparent procedures for selecting and weighing scientific studies, for ensuring study quality, and for peer review. Distinguishing Science Questions from Policy Questions In a memorandum on scientific integrity issued on March 9, 2009, President Obama declared that "political officials should not suppress or alter scientific or technologic findings and conclusions" (The White House 2009)
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From page 179... ...
has recommended that the best means for regulators to reduce opportunities for inappropriate political intervention in scientific judgments and to avoid the perception that politicization of science had occurred is to distinguish clearly between science and policy questions in formal regulatory documents. EPA has done that well in recent reviews of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which separate the review of scientific information on health and welfare effects presented in its integrated science assessments from the policy-assessment documents that draw on the scientific information.
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From page 180... ...
and EPA's internal Peer Review Handbook (EPA 2000) guide the peer-review process for internally generated scientific studies and tools.
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From page 181... ...
. Many of the above observations were reflected in the Review of the Environmental Protection Agency's Draft IRIS Assessment of Formaldehyde (NRC 2011)
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From page 182... ...
In this chapter, the committee has described how EPA can enhance its agency-wide science leadership, take steps to continue the realignment of ORD to advance transdisciplinary research and support the agency's strategic goals, strengthen internal scientific capacity and ties to the larger environmental science and engineering research community, and ensure the integrity of the scientific information the agency generates or uses.
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From page 183... ...
Extramural Research, US Environmental Protection Agency [online]
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From page 184... ...
. EPA SAB/BOSC (US Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory, and Board and Board of Scientific Counselors)
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From page 185... ...
2011. Review of the Environmental Protection Agency's Draft IRIS Assessment of Formaldehyde.
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From page 186... ...
2010. Two cheers and a qualm for behav ioral environmental economics.
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