Research to Protect, Restore, and Manage the Environment (1993) / Chapter Skim
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5 Recommendations
5 Recommendations
Pages 87-128
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From page 87... ...
The committee presents its recommended cultural changes and four organizational frameworks to implement them. Framework A, current agency structure with enhancements, preserves in large part the identity and functions of existing agencies, but adds some new offices that are essential if the desirable characteristics stated in Chapter 4 are to be put into effect and the critical cultural changes implemented.
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From page 88... ...
The following are the committee's two chief recommendations: The cultural changes in the nation's environmental program described below must be implemented if today's and tomorrow's environmental problems are to be addressed. The cultural changes are required, regardless of which organizational structure is decided on.
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From page 89... ...
The committee recommends that environmental research advance the social goals of protecting the environment for present and future generations, resforu~g damaged environmental functions so that they are once more ecologically productive, and managutg our natural, economic, cultural, and human resources in ways that encourage the sustainable use of the environment. In advancing those three goals, environmental research should, first, collect and analyze information needed in and outside government to pursue the goals; second, improve our knowledge of the fundamental processes that shape the natural world and the human behavior that affects that world; and, third, apply the knowledge to solving environmental problems with a comprehensive management strategy in the context of economic and social needs.
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From page 90... ...
Advisory committees for the council should be established to represent the scientific community, the public, state government and the private sector. The council should provide national leadership and coordination among the federal agencies for environmental research and oversee implementation of the National Environmental Plan.
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From page 91... ...
However, the link between environmental data and information and their use in decision-making is now weak within agencies and almost absent when larger issues that cross agency boundaries are in question. Linkages between science and decisions need to be strengthened at both levels.
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From page 92... ...
It would be advantageous if the center were represented also on the president's National Security Council and Economic Council, in recognition that decisions on environmental issues strongb influence national security and the national economy. PERFORMANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH Fundamental changes must be made in how environmental research is conducted and used within the federal research enterprise.
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From page 93... ...
With chemical and radiological hazardous-waste cleanup estimated to cost many billions of dollars, with inadequate technologies available for that cleanup, and with inadequate research seeking better technology, the need for attention to environmental engineering is obvious. The committee recommends that all relevant environmental disciplines be supported and that additional emphasis be placed on the biological and social sciences and on engineering.
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From page 94... ...
MISSION-AGENCY BALANCE AND USE OF EXTRAMURAL FUNDING MECHANISMS Mission and sector agencies that have environmental responsibilities should themselves carry out environmental research of sufficient quality, amount, and kind to support their agency goals, to permit them to collaborate with other agencies that have environmental responsibilities, and to keep the agencies alert to and applying the findings of environmental research from all sources. Some agencies conduct research largely intramurally.
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From page 95... ...
Shims and Trends Progr~un to be coordinated by the National Environmental Council to function as an integrated cooperative program among the federal agencies to inventory and monitor the status and trends of the nation's natural resources. A national biological survey of appropriate scope would be a valuable addition to the existing programs and an important component of the status and trends program.
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From page 96... ...
We recommend the establishment of a NadonalEitv~nm~tal Data and Irlfom~ion System to be coordinated by the National Environmental Council and conducted by the federal agencies with the best available technology to collect and make available and easily accessible a wide range of environmental data from the biological, physical, social, and engineering sciences. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND INFORMATION The importance of developing sustainable environmental systems for tuture generation~and thus for making the best decisions for protecting, restoring, and managing these resource~is so great that both this generation and the coming ones must be informed.
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From page 97... ...
FRAMEWORK A: CURRENT AGENCY STRUCTURE WITH ENHANCEMENTS Description The object of Framework A is to conserve the identity and placement of federal agencies; that is, no far-reaching organizational change in federalagency organization is called for. Nevertheless, the cultural changes recommended above must be instituted if the nation is to improve its ability to address pressing environmental problems, and several essential new offices are recommended in Framework A to perform functions required to implement the cultural changes.
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From page 99... ...
, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of the Interior (DOI) that are involved in environmental research would be encouraged, under the direction of the NEC, to focus on the environment to a greater degree and to adopt the cultural changes that we have recommended.
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From page 100... ...
The National Environmental Data and Information System and the National Status and Trends Program described in Chapter 4 could serve as foci for individual agency efforts for the collection and standardization of data relevant to monitoring the status and trends of environmental resources. Education and Traipsing Each federal agency should take seriously its responsibility to provide environmental education and training programs.
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From page 101... ...
The proposal has merit, but the committee believes that the advantages of making NOAA an independent agency would be only marginal in Framework A because NOAA would still be one of many agencies with relatively small parts of the responsibility for environmental research. Nevertheless, NOAA's contribution to environmental science is substantial, and the agency should be given the resources to continue to be an important partner in the overall environmental research enterprise.
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From page 102... ...
In practical terms, that means that agencies should organize their research programs to contain a reasonable balance between directly mission-oriented research and research that meets the criteria of research support in keeping with the recommended cultural changes. A major goal of the NEC should be the encouragement of mission-oriented agencies to develop research programs that both serve their mission goals and add to the store of knowledge about the environment in general.
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From page 103... ...
Every agency must try to implement the cultural changes we have recommended. National Environmental Council The creation of the NEC is essential.
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From page 104... ...
Therefore, the NEC must encourage coordination of the work of many individual agencies in these fields to ensure that the cultural changes come into being. Environmental Status and Trends Program The NEC will coordinate an Environmental Status and Trends Program, as included in the cultural changes needed in the nation's environmental program.
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From page 105... ...
The CNIE proposal calls for the establishment of a federal science agency, the National Institute for the Environment (NIE) , focused exclusively on environmental research, assessment, information management, and higher education and training.
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From page 106... ...
NIE, as conceived by the CNIE, would have no regulatory or resourcemanagement responsibilities. Agreement with Cultural Changes Recommended by our Committee The CNIE's call for better integration of basic and applied science, more extramural research and training, interdisciplinary problem-solving, a comprehensive environmental information program, and an international component to address global changes parallels the recommendations of this committee.
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From page 107... ...
, the CNIE proposes a new agency that would complement existing agencies, but not encompass them. Because no agency focuses on environmental research to the exclusion of other missions, such as land management or regulation, there is no institutional home, comparable with the National Institutes of Health for human health research, for the nurturing of environmental science.
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From page 108... ...
- ~ c ~ E c o E _ ~ _ o E = ,, ~ ~ ~ C C ~ o 0 ~n E ce tn C - ~ o 3 a: .
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From page 109... ...
research; the part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration involved in environmental research, in particular the Earth Observing Satellite/Mission to Planet Earth program; and the research component of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , but not EPA's regulatory functions.
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From page 110... ...
A model for such an entity is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Implementation of the Cultural Changes Research Focus on Protection, Restoration, and Management of Resources and Research Pe Romance Charactenstics The focus on protection, restoration, and management of resources addresses a set of critically important and broad scientific, social, and economic issues concerning the environment.
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From page 111... ...
Among them is human-factors research. Because human behavior and institutions are major agents of environmental stress, the study of behavioral factors would be an integral function of the institute and would have to be organized along the general lines set forth in our recommended cultural changes.
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From page 112... ...
The institute is a natural home for both these entities. Environmental Assessment Center The Environmental Assessment Center, performing the functions described previously, would be established as a separate entity.
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From page 114... ...
With coordination overseen by the National Environmental Council (NEC) and as a major implementer of the National Environmental Plan (NEP)
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From page 115... ...
Each of the resource-management agencies not proposed for incorporation into the department engages in protection and restoration activities, including research. These include the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and DOD.
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From page 116... ...
Implementation of the Cultural Changes Research Focus on Protection, Restoration, and Management of Resources arid Research Perforn~a,~ce Characteristics The department would include the mission and functions described in Framework C for the National Institute for Environmental Research. Accordingly, it would have the same focus on protection, restoration, and management of resources and the same research performance characteristics as detailed in Chapter 4 and in the section of this chapter on cultural changes.
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From page 117... ...
National Environmental Status and Trends Program and National Environmental Data and Inforn~ation System The National Environmental Data and Information System and the National Environmental Status and Trends Program described in Chapter 4 would be housed in the department. Most of the agencies now involved in gathering and managing environmental information would be incorporated into the department, and their location in one department might facilitate the missions of preparing status and trends reports and providing for an information and data network that enhances research, regulation, resource management, and policy formation.
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From page 118... ...
that provide for the implementation of the cultural changes recommended by the committee, addresses some of the needs for a strong program in environmental protection, restoration, and management of resources. This framework is the least expensive to implement, would minimize disruption of existing agencies, and would create minimal political tension.
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From page 119... ...
are the most likely candidates under Framework A to serve as the home of the new Environmental Status and Trends Program and the NEDI~two parts of the cultural changes recommended by the committee. Again, it would be the responsibility of the NEC to determine whether the lead for these two programs would be assigned to an individual agency or be a distributed responsibility among the agencies that is coordinated by the NEC.
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From page 120... ...
style of investigator-initiated fundamental research and other federal agency research directed at specific regulatory and management problems. The NIE proposal attempts to structure environmental research in a way that will incorporate the skills of all pertinent disciplines and sectors: business, academe, nongovernment organizations, the states, and the federal government.
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From page 121... ...
The NIE proposal is predicated on the view that the niche to be filled in federal programs for environmental research is extramural research. The CNIE believes that it would be less difficult to have a new NIE that focused on merit-reviewed extramural research, policy assessment, and information management than to rearrange the existing mission-oriented agencies and change their cultures for these tasks, especially because their own tasks must continue to be addressed.
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From page 122... ...
, toxic-site cleanup, risk assessment, wetland preservation, and other problems at the forefront of public concern. NIER would administer the Environmental Status and Trends Program and the National Environmental Data and Information System.
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From page 123... ...
The Department of the Environment would easily accommodate most of the cultural changes recommended in this report. With the NEC, the department could lead in the setting and implementation of a national research agenda through the NEP.
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From page 124... ...
. If environmental research is to meet the requirements identified in this report, it is crucial that any new cabinet-level agency be designed to take the cultural changes called for into account so that the necessary reorganization improves the quality of research.
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From page 125... ...
The difficulties with EPA's research program administered by its Office of Research and Development are well analyzed in EPA's own report Safeguarding the Future: Credible Science, Credible Decisions (EPA, 1992a)
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From page 126... ...
Although EPA has undertaken this task in its Environn~ental Monitoring and Assessment Program, we believe a more comprehensive effort is needed. We think it unlikely that these cultural changes in our environmental research effort can be accomplished by simply raising EPA to cabinet level unless the implementation of the essential cultural changes can be ensured.
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From page 127... ...
To get an idea of necessary added costs, we can examine Framework A, which keeps existing mission agencies and adds several functions, including the National Environmental Council (NEC) , the Environmental Assessment Center, the National Environmental Status and Trends Program, and the National Environmental Data and Information System.
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From page 128... ...
Almost any amount of mone~from the 10% increase suggested above to the tripling of the federal investment in environmental research suggested by the National Commission on the Environment- could be wisely invested, provided that the recommended cultural and organizational changes were adopted. In thinking about costs, one must keep in mind the costs of doing nothing.
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