Abstract:
One of the strategic goals of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to prevent pollution and reduce risk in communities, homes, workplaces, and ecosystems. This goal must be based in large part on the application of the best available science and technology associated with a preventive approach. The Office of Research and Development's (ORD's) Pollution Prevention Research Strategy describes the Agency's research and development program in pollution prevention for the next five years. It is designed around the vision that scientifically-based pollution prevention research and development products will be used routinely for improved environmental decision making on high-risk human health and environmental problems. Such would be done as part of a move toward sustainable development in the 21st Century. In realizing the above vision, the mission of ORD's pollution prevention research and development program will be to advance scientific research and develop cost-effective tools, methods, technologies, and approaches which expand the availability and use of pollution prevention by both the public and private sectors. The research strategy focuses on four objectives in order to achieve this mission: (1) delivering broadly applicable tools and methodologies for pollution prevention and sustainability, (2) developing and transferring pollution prevention technologies and approaches, (3) verifying selected pollution prevention technologies, and (4) conducting research to address economic, social and behavioral research for pollution prevention.
Contact Jonathan Herrmann: at herrmann.jonathan@epamail.epa.gov.
To order paper copies of the Pollution Prevention Research Strategy call: (800) 490-9198.
Abstract:
In virtually every major environmental act, Congress has required that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not only ensure that the air is safe to breathe, the water safe to drink, and the food supply free of contamination, but also that it protect the environment. As a result, EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) has established ecological protection as one of the highest priority research areas for investment over the next five years. Within this context and recognizing the work underway and proposed by other agencies during the last year, scientists within ORD have developed an Ecological Research Strategy. This document serves primarily to guide planning and implementation of the in-house research program, but also discusses extramural research needs in key areas.
The ORD Ecological Research Strategy focuses on the single, broad goal: Provide the scientific understanding required to measure, model, maintain and/or restore, at multiple scales, the integrity and sustainability of ecosystems now and in the future. The research is organized around four fundamental areas of research needed by the Agency and in which ORD has made significant contributions traditionally. These research areas are: (1) ecosystem monitoring; (2) ecological processes and modeling; (3) ecological risk assessment; and (4) ecological risk management and restoration. Within this comprehensive framework, research objectives and priorities are presented in terms of what basic science capabilities are needed to maintain focused, core research competencies and for how these capabilities may be used to address high priority environmental threats.
The strategy was developed after an assessment of the current capability and capacity of the scientific resources in ORD coupled with the current and future needs of the EPA Program and Regional Offices. It also considers other Agency activities and proposed research to complement and not duplicate those programs.
The ORD Ecological Research Strategy further articulates the current and future direction of the program within the context of the Agency's Government Performance and Results Act commitments, establishes the long-term program goals and objectives, and documents the rationale for the chosen program direction. While the strategy delineates the research areas comprising the overall Ecological Research Program, the specifics for these research areas -- including the scientific approach at the individual project level, and the anticipated project products, performance measures and specific schedules -- will be included in subsequent research plans for specific areas of research and in Laboratory/Center implementation plans and are not a part of this strategy.
Contact Gary Foley at foley.gary@epa.gov
Abstract:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) develops research plans to guide its research direction pertaining to specific environmental issues over a 5- to 10-year time frame. This research plan addresses opportunities to enhance the scientific basis for understanding the health risks associated with arsenic in drinking water as well as research to support improved control technologies for water treatment. Better understanding of arsenic health risks will provide an improved science base for arsenic risk assessment and regulatory decisions in the United States. Further evaluation of control technologies will support cost-effective implementation of future regulatory requirements.
Contact Lynn Papa: at papa.lynn@epamail.epa.gov.
Abstract:
This research strategy was developed to provide a roadmap for the EPA Office of Research and Development's program on endocrine disruptors. It was developed by a team of scientists representing all of ORD's National Laboratories and Centers and is intended to provide guidance to both the intramural research program and the extramural grants program in terms of research priorities and the pacing of the research programs over the next five years (e.g., the need for risk management activities is recognized, but efforts are not scheduled to begin in earnest for several years as we strive to better comprehend the extent, magnitude, and sources of the biological effects). The plan recognizes that there is a great deal of research in this area being funded by the federal government and seeks to emphasize those areas where EPA can make a substantive and meaningful contribution. The plan has been circulated through the CENR (Committee on the Environment and National Resources) Working Group on Endocrine Disruptors that is coordinating efforts across the federal government. Briefly, the plan addresses research needs in the areas of biological effects (both for human health and wildlife) and exposure assessment. Importantly, it also contains a "linkage" section that strives to integrate effects and exposure research to provide a more complete analysis of the risks than has generally been done in the past for endocrine disruptors. It is the intent of this strategy that specific projects will be chosen for funding following peer review of proposals submitted under targeted RFAs during each budget year. These RFAs will be based on the overall strategy, and fine tuned each year to ensure the appropriate balance and mix of research given progress achieved in prior years. With its risk assessment based organizational structure, ORD is in a unique position to provide national leadership in this important public health issue.
Contact: Robert Kavlock at kavlock.robert@epamail.epa.gov.
Abstract:
This research plan was developed to describe research needed to support EPA‚s development of drinking water regulations concerning disinfectants, disinfection by-products (DBPs) and microbial pathogens, focusing on key scientific and technical information needed. The research plan was developed by a team of scientists from EPA's National Laboratories and Centers, within the Office of Research and Development, and from the Office of Water. The Plan is intended to provide guidance to both the intramural research program and the extramural grants program in terms of research priorities and sequencing of research. The challenge in providing safe drinking water today lies in reaching an acceptable balance among competing risks from microbial contamination and disinfection by-products. Research is needed to obtain a better understanding of these risks and how to reduce them through water treatment and other means. The research plan addresses research needs in the areas of exposure, health effects, risk assessment and risk management for both microbial pathogens and disinfection by-products. The EPA also has been using this research plan as a vehicle for discussion with outside groups, including those who participated in the DBP regulatory negotiation, and as a tool to promote coordination and cooperation among various agencies, private organizations, and universities involved in DBP research, in the context of broader research coordination efforts. The Plan has been reviewed by the Science Advisory Board, and by other agencies and stakeholder groups, and was revised to reflect many of their recommendations and to update developments in the state of the science since 1995.
Contact Bruce Peirano: at peirano.bruce@epamail.epa.gov.
Draft Research Strategies include . . .
Abstract:
Economics research is an essential component for developing efficient environmental policy. The Environmental Economics Research Strategy (EERS) was developed to guide environmental economics research at EPA for the next few years. EPA staff and managers were interviewed to identify research priorities in environmental economics. By using these priorities, and comparing them to existing research, EPA established strategic objectives to help the Agency and its clients achieve their missions. The strategic objectives include research in:
- Human Health and Ecological Valuation
- Environmental Behavior and Effective Government Interventions
- Market Mechanisms and Incentives
- Benefits of Environmental Information Disclosure
EPA plans to apply internal and extramural resources to fill the most important research gaps in the above areas. This information will:
- fill critical gaps in our knowledge about the behavior of regulated entities;
- predict responses to government regulation;
- evaluate the efficiency and equity effects of environmental policies; and
- predict future environmental problems driven by economic factors.
Abstract:
The Research Strategy of ORD’s Global Change Research Program outlines a ten-year plan and a major redirection of the Program towards an emphasis on assessing the consequences of global change and on conducting research to support such assessments. Assessments will be conducted on the impacts of global change on human health, water quality, air quality, and ecosystem health. These four assessment areas represent topics for which EPA has substantial expertise and where EPA can contribute to the national scale assessment called for in the Global Change Research Act. In addition, the emphasis of the research Program is consistent with the mandate and goals of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The Research Strategy represents a blueprint for research and assessment activities focused on understanding the risks and opportunities presented by global change, the interdependent and interactive effects of multiple stresses (including climate change and climate variability, UV radiation, and land use change), the human dimensions of global change, and adaptation options. The long-term goal of the Global Change Program is to articulate, in terms that are meaningful for decision makers and other stakeholders, the consequences of global environmental change for human health, ecosystems, and social well-being in the U.S.
Abstract:
EPA’s goal for clean air is to protect and improve the air so it is healthy to breathe and risk to human health and the environment are reduced. This long-term outcome will be accomplished by providing and applying a sound scientific foundation to achieve healthier outdoor and indoor air and other objectives. EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) will provide criteria air pollutant and air toxics research to achieve this outcome. Air toxics research will develop and improve air quality models and source receptor tools, cost-effective pollution prevention and other control options, and scientific information and tools to understand and characterize environmental outcomes associated with nationwide, urban, and residual air toxic risks. Consequently, ORD has developed a draft Air Toxics Research Strategy (ATRS) to improve its understanding of air toxics and to manage effectively and efficiently its air toxics resources.
The ATRS specifies five strategic principles for air toxics research, develops seven key research questions based on the risk assessment/risk management paradigm, and indicates priority hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) of the 188 HAPs listed in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. The five strategic principles guiding the strategy for air toxics research are as follows: 1) group air toxics to facilitate structure-activity relationship research; 2) focus research on the greatest risk to people and the environment; 3) focus research on reducing major uncertainties in risk assessment and improving cost effectiveness in risk management; 4) foster multi-disciplinary research; and 5) ensure a balance of near-term and long-term research. Seven key research questions are developed in the strategy and are drawn from an expansion of the risk assessment/risk management paradigm. The key research questions cover areas of source emission, fate and transport, personal exposure, dose to target organ tissues, hazard identification, human health dose-response, risk characterization, and risk reduction. Prioritization of the air toxics is carried out by cross walking the chemical groupings (metals, aldehydes and ketones, POM and hydrocarbons, and halides) with regulatory needs (urban air toxics, stationary sources, mobile sources, and indoor air sources) and potential national and regional drivers of non-cancer hazard and cancer risk. The ATRS and the follow-on Air Toxics Multi-Year Plan were reviewed by the Science Advisory Board (July 23-24, 2003).
Contact Chon Shoaf at shoaf.chon@epa.gov.
EPA has completed a research strategy for conducting a national Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) that outlines how the Agency intends to demonstrate and transfer science to better meet the monitoring and assessment needs of states, tribes and regions. The EMAP Research Strategy focuses on developing indicators and unbiased statistical design frameworks (similar to opinion polls) that allow the condition of aquatic ecosystems to be cost-effectively assessed at local, tribal, state, regional, and national scales. States and tribes adopting and using this approach can aggregate their data to provide a national picture of the condition of aquatic ecosystems. Over time, changes and trends in aquatic ecosystem conditions can be determined. This would provide the larger context for evaluating local conditions and provide trends to gauge the effectiveness of environmental protection programs and policies.