|
|
Laboratories and Research
Centers
Here are links to the major laboratories and other organizations that
conduct research and carry out scientific and technical activities within
the EPA programs listed below.
Office of Air and Radiation
National Air and Radiation Environmental
Laboratory (NAREL) (Montgomery, Alabama)
- comprehensive environmental laboratory for measuring environmental radioactivity
and evaluating its risk to the public.
National Vehicle and
Fuel Emissions Laboratory (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
- responsible for developing national regulatory programs to reduce mobile
source related air pollution; evaluating emission control technology;
testing vehicles, engines, and fuels; and determining compliance with
Federal emissions and fuel economy standards.
Radiation and Indoor Environments
National Laboratory (Las Vegas, NV) - provides
technical support for numerous radiation protection and control activities,
conducts site investigations, radon assessments and evaluations, health
assessment modeling, and indoor air studies.
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
National
Enforcement Investigations Center - Laboratory
Branch (Denver, Colorado) - provides facilities,
equipment, personnel, and expertise needed for measurement activities,
data evaluations, and investigations conducted to support civil and criminal
environmental enforcement efforts.
Office of Regional Operations
Regional Science and Technology
(RS&T) Laboratories - focuses on the application of science policies
and methods in support of regulatory and monitoring programs and special
projects. This is done through direct implementation, partnerships with
state, local and tribal governments, private industry, the academic community,
EPA program offices, and the public.
Office of Research and Development
National Center for Environmental
Assessment - serves as the national resource center for the overall
process of human health and ecological risk assessments; the integration
of hazard, dose-response , and exposure data and models to produce risk
characterizations with divisions that include:
-
Washington,
DC Office - provides exposure/risk characterization, hazard identification,
dose-response, and administrative and budgetary support.
-
Cincinnati, Ohio Office - agent-specific risk assessment and technical
assistance.
-
Research
Triangle Park, North Carolina Office - primarily develops and
publishes air quality criteria documents for major air pollutants,
provides health and ecological assessments of air toxics and assessments
and scientific assistance on fuels/fuel additives.
National Center for Environmental Research (Washington,
DC) - has primary responsibility to issue and manage research grant
and fellowship programs, as well as issues of quality assurance, and peer
review.
National Exposure Research Lab (NERL)
- located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
provides scientific understanding, information and assessment tools to
reduce and quantify the uncertainty in the Agency's exposure and risk
assessments for all environmental stressors with divisions that include:
-
Atmospheric Sciences Modeling
Division (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina)
- performs much of the air pollution meteorology research for the
Agency, conducts in-house research, and manages numerous cooperative
agreements and contracts.
-
Ecological Exposure Research Division
(Cincinnati, Ohio) - conducts laboratory
and field studies aimed at providing research products that enable
the Agency to conduct predictive and retrospective exposure assessments.
-
Ecosystems Research Division
(Athens, Georgia) - conducts research on
organic and inorganic chemicals, greenhouse gas biogeochemical cycles,
and land use perturbations that create direct and indirect, chemical
and non-chemical stressor exposures and potential risks to humans
and ecosystems.
-
Environmental Sciences
Division (ESD) (Las Vegas, Nevada) -
conducts research, development, and transfer programs on environmental
exposures to ecological and human receptors. ESD develops methods
for characterizing chemical and physical stressors, with special emphasis
on ecological exposure.
-
Human Exposure & Atmospheric
Sciences Division (HEASD) (Research Triangle
Park, NC) - conducts research to characterize pollutant exposures
from the pollutant source to the exposed person or receptor.
-
Microbiological
& Chemical Exposure Assessment Research Division (MCEARD) (Cincinnati,
Ohio) - conducts research to measure, characterize and predict
the exposure of humans to chemical and microbial hazards.
National Health & Environmental
Effects Research Lab (NHEERL) - located in Research
Triangle Park, North Carolina the agency's focal point for scientific
research on the effects of contaminants and environmental stressors on
human health and ecosystem integrity. NHEERL divisions include:
-
Environmental Carcinogenesis
Division - conducts mechanistically-based research to explain
the association between environmental pollution and cancer.
-
Experimental Toxicology
Division - responsible for pharmacokinetics research; examines
pulmonary, immunological, hepatic, cardiovascular, and renal toxicity
resulting from environmental contaminants.
-
Human Studies Division
- conducts clinical and epidemiological investigations to better understand
human response to pollution.
-
Neurotoxicology Division
- studies the effects of chemical and/or physical agents on the nervous
system.
-
Reproductive Toxicology
Division - evaluates the effects of environmental pollutants on
human reproductive potential/competence and development.
-
Atlantic Ecology Division (Narragansett,
RI) - studies the effects of contaminants and other stressors
on the coastal waters and watersheds of the Atlantic seaboard.
-
Gulf Ecology Division
(Gulf Breeze, FL) - assesses the condition
of coastal ecosystems (wetlands, bays, estuaries, and coral reefs)
in the Gulf of Mexico and analyzes causes of change to ecological
status.
-
Mid-Continent Ecology Division
(Duluth, MN) - performs research to protect
freshwater ecosystems and wildlife and to understand the basic processes
and mechanisms involved in aquatic toxicity.
-
Western Ecology Division (Corvallis,
OR) - evaluates the effects of chemical contaminants, land
use, and global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and on watershed
ecology along the Pacific coast.
- Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Program - a comprehensive, long-term research program designed to
assess natural resources and identify causes for damaged environments.
National Risk Management
Research Lab (NRMRL) - located in Cincinnati, Ohio
advances the scientific understanding and the development and application
of technological solutions to prevent, control, or remediate important
environmental problems that threaten human health and the environment.
NRMRL divisions include:
-
Air Pollution Prevention
and Control Division - located in Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina this division is responsible for research,
development, and evaluation of air pollution control technologies.
-
Land Remediation
and Pollution Control Division - conducts research at the basic
level as well as bench- and pilot-scale to explore innovative solutions
to current and future land pollution problems.
-
Subsurface Protection & Remediation
Division- (formerly the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research
Laboratory) in Ada, Oklahoma conducts research
and engages in technical assistance and technology transfer on the
chemical, physical and biological structure and processes of the subsurface
environment, the biogeochemical interactions in that environment and
fluxes to other environmental media.
-
Sustainable
Technology Division - mission of this division is to advance the
scientific understanding, development and application of technologies
and methods for prevention, removal and control of environmental risks
to human health and ecology.
-
Technology Transfer and Support
Division - (formerly the Center for Environmental Research Information)
serves as a focal point for technology transfer activities, communication,
and coordination of information on ORD's science activities and research
programs with Agency Program and Regional Offices, state and local
governments, universities and other Federal agencies.
-
Water Supply
and Water Resources Division - conducts research to help prepare
the primary and secondary regulations for drinking water and to develop
technologies and strategies for controlling waterborne contaminants.
Office of Water
Office of Science and Technology (OST)
(Washington, DC) - responsible for developing
sound, scientifically defensible standards, criteria, advisories, guidelines,
limitations and standards guidelines under the Clean Water Act and the
Safe Drinking Water Act for protecting the nation's water supplies.
Science Advisory Board
EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB)
was established by Congress to provide independent scientific and engineering
advice to the EPA Administrator on the technical basis for EPA regulations.
Members of and Consultants to the Board constitute a distinguished body
of scientists, engineers, and economists who are recognized, non-governmental
experts in their respective fields.
Regional Laboratories
-
Region 1's New
England Regional Laboratory
-
Region 2's Division
of Environmental Science and Assessment Laboratory Branch is responsible
for measuring the levels of chemical, microbiological and biological
contaminants in diverse media such as water, air, drinking water,
sewage, soil, sediment, hazardous waste, etc.
-
Region 3's Environmental
Science Center provides centralized analytical services and quality
assurance support.
-
Region 4's Analytical
Support Branch (ASB) provides a full range of inorganic and organic
analyses, customized techniques and method development, modern instrumentation
in a state-of-the-art facility, and on-site and speciality procedures.
-
Region 6's Environmental
Services Branch - Houston Laboratory provides environmental analytical
services for Regional Programs, and serves as the source of scientific
expertise and prowess for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
National and Regional regulatory and executive decisions.
-
Region
8 Laboratory providing high quality physical, chemical, biological,
and microbiological analyses in support of Clean Water Act (CWA),
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (CERCLA), Toxic Subtances Control Act (TSCA), and Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) programs.
-
Region 9 Laboratory
is a full service, state-of-the-art facility specializing in chemical
analysis, biological analysis and field sampling services.
-
Region 10's Manchester
Environmental Laboratory provides high quality physical, chemical,
biological and microbiological analyses in support of the following
EPA programs: air, surface water, drinking water, Superfund, pesticides
and hazardous materials.
|