Transforming EPA Science to Meet Today's and Tomorrow's Challenges (2023) / Chapter Skim
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2 ORD's Approach to Providing Forward-Looking Science
2 ORD's Approach to Providing Forward-Looking Science
Pages 15-29
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From page 15... ...
and career Deputy AA, Chief Science Officer, and others on a senior leadership team, ORD provides direction, coordination, workforce expertise, laboratory capacity, and other resources for ● Research that addresses emerging and long-term environmental challenges, provides the sci entific basis for future environmental protection, and is applied to a range of needs of EPA program offices and regional offices; ● Targeted research to support agency efforts for meeting statutory requirements and assisting states, tribes, and communities in addressing environmental challenges; and ● Technical support for responding to emergencies and other environmental issues. In addition to research conducted within EPA, relevant research is conducted outside the agency by academia, nonprofit organizations, industry, consultants, and other government agencies and institutions.
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Chemical Safety for Sustainability Research Program provides decision-support tools to improve the safe produc tion, use, and disposal of chemicals and to advance ways to evaluate chemicals, conduct risk management, and prioritize time-critical research. Homeland Security Research Program advances EPA's ability to carry out its homeland security responsibilities, including protecting and restoring drinking water supplies and infrastructure and helping communities become more resilient to acts of terrorism that might involve chemical, biological, or radiological weapons as well as to natural disasters.
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ORD communications staff work with researchers for media outreach to develop news releases for major reports, investigations, or emergency actions. ORD communications staff also offers an online biweekly EPA Science Matters Newsletter highlighting research findings and accomplishments, as well as podcasts and regular social media messaging.
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● Framework for assessing environmental health risks to children ● Guidelines for carcinogen risk assessments Support EPA science at the regional and state levels. ● Regional Science Liaisons to link ORD research programs with EPA regional offices ● Regional Applied Research Effort and Regional Methods program ● Cooperative agreements with the Environmental Council of the States Support and collaborate with research partners in ● Science to Achieve Results program academia and business.
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Historically, ORD has focused on developing a scientific basis for environmental regulatory decisions. Its clients in the regulatory program offices (e.g., air, water, waste)
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. To develop StRAPs, the leadership and staff of each ORD national program engage EPA regulatory program offices and regional offices, external partners, and stakeholders to identify public health and environmental challenges and outline engagement activities and opportunities for public input.
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As described in the next section, this lack of scientific support for ORD cannot be made up simply from other governmental support for environmental health and environmental sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NSF, given their much broader programs in basic scientific research and the needs of ORD and EPA to identify the most advanced science that is relevant to addressing the environmental challenges the nation faces.
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As an institution, EPA consolidated several disparate federal agencies and functions under a common roof. Simultaneously, the agency received rapidly expanding legislative and administrative authorities through enactment of the 1970 Clean Air Act, 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and other statutes.
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The kind of scientific data needed for regulatory decision-making also differs significantly from fundamental science funded by NIH or NSF. While the latter typically investigate and fund research focused on mechanisms of disease causation, molecular design and behavior, and emerging scientific concepts, EPA's scientific mission is to provide data that informs policy-makers to address specific questions related to exposures, environmental transport, and chemical conversion of pollutants harmful to human health and ecosystems.
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ORD CAPACITY AND CONSTRAINTS FOR INCORPORATING NEW AND EMERGING ADVANCES EPA's dual roles of providing science support for and carrying out regulatory mandates creates unique challenges for research. EPA science findings may have broad environmental, health, and social impacts.
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One key factor was the naming of Robert Kavlock as NCCT's director, who was a 28-year veteran manager at EPA at the time of his appointment and had an excellent grasp of EPA's existing research capabilities as well as the needs of EPA's regulatory program offices and regional offices. He was able to tap EPA experts in statistics, biological modeling, and informatics to staff most of the positions in the center.
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Approaches are discussed further in Chapter 4. External Barriers Controversy surrounding emerging environmental science predates the establishment of EPA.
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A common theme of these reports is the importance of systems-thinking, integrated interdisciplinary research incorporating social and behavioral science along with biological, chemical, and physical sciences; synthesis; collaboration; and stakeholder engagement. Examples of National Academies' reports that have recommended that EPA pursue integrated systems thinking include: ● Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century (NRC, 2007)
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CHAPTER SUMMARY Science is essential to the mission of EPA, and ORD is EPA's primary home for scientific research that spans a broad spectrum of expertise areas including biology, ecology, engineering, toxicology, air quality, water quality, exposure science, social science, and environmental health. The 2019 reorganization of ORD into six national research programs and four centers facilitates cross-media and cross-disciplinary research, including a bridging of human health and ecosystems science.
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2012. Environmental futures research at the US Environmental Protection Agency.
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