&EPA
United States Office of Research and
Environmental Protection Development
Agency Washington, DC 20460
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EPA's Research
Office Lists
Achievements
For Earth Day 1995,
Assistant Administrator
Reviews ORD's Progress
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Working
determinedly behind the scenes to
provide the scientific basis for envi-
ronmental protection, EPA's Office
of Research and Development
(ORD) has made some considerable
scientific contributions throughout its
20-year history.
EPA Assistant Administrator
Robert J. Huggett said in comments
for Earth Day 1995, "I am very proud
of what ORD has accomplished, but
rest assured — the best is yet to
come."
Since its inception, ORD has de-
veloped, refined, disseminated, and
helped others use much of today's
basic environmental science.
See ACHIEVEMENTS, pg. 2
EPA/600/F-95/008
April 1995
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Drawing on unique laboratory facilities
and staff expertise, ORD develops, tests,
and verifies new technologies and
scientific methods — providing sound
scientific data for effective environmental
protection.
In close partnership with scientists from
Other Federal and state agencies, industry,
academia, and the environmental commu-
nity, ORD leads the cutting edge of
enviromental research, shares new
knowledge, and maps the Nation's
continuing environmental science needs.
When environmental emergencies arise,
ORD responds as a vital team player —
providing technical support to local, state,
and Federal decision-makers and often
performing the fieldwork and analysis
leading to timely, effective solutions.
Examples of ORD accomplishments
span the entire range of environmental
science, engineering, and technical
assistance:
Protecting Human Health
• ORD conducted and supported key re-
search defining the effects of lead on
children and fetal development. Result:
strong data to help guide the Nation's
phasedown of lead in gasoline and
other actions.
• ORD pioneered research on
waterborne, disease-causing parasites
such as cyrptosporidiitm and giardia, gen-
erating new data for better identifying
these organisms, understanding their
effects, and safeguarding the Nation's
drinking water.
• ORD developed test methods widely
used by government and industry as
benchmarks under U.S. toxic sub-
stances and pesticides laws to evaluate
chemicals
for neurotoxicity and other adverse ef-
fects. The World Health Organization
and others use these methods as the
basis for current efforts to harmonize
testing requirements world-wide.
Key Partner in Emergency
Response
• ORD dispatched experts to help local
authorities control outbreaks of
waterborne diseases in Milwaukee,
New York, and Peru.
• ORD led EPA's initial emergency re-
sponse at the Three Mile Island
nuclear incident in 1979.
• ORD helped locate and recover the So-
viet Union's Cosmos-954 after the
nuclear reactor-powered satellite
crashed in the Canadian wilderness.
• ORD led the on-site assessment of en-
vironmental damages from the Persian
Gulf oil fires.
Providing Technical Expertise
• ORD responded to almost 700 re-
quests for technical assistance at more
than 400 Superfund sites — aiding site
clean-up managers who need authorita-
tive information on contaminants and
effective remediation strategies.
• ORD is coordinating an interagency
project to identify and measure pollut-
ants on the U.S./Mexico Border, laying
the groundwork for research that will
help Federal, state, and local agencies
and health officials address local resi-
dents' concerns.
• ORD helped Poland and Russia to
adopt state-of-the-science U.S. tech-
nologies to clean up severe air pollu-
tion.
• ORD dispatched technical assistance
for monitoring and clean-up at the Bi-
kini Atoll nuclear test site in the
1970s.
Pioneering Fundamental
Environmental Knowledge
• ORD's laboratories developed and vali-
dated more than half of today's meth-
ods for measuring pollutants.
• ORD developed the primary models
used to understand and track the com-
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plex dynamics of groundwater — criti-
cal for effective clean-up at Superfund
hazardous waste sites.
• ORD led the development of models
for tracking the movement and fate of
pollutants in lakes, rivers, estuaries,
and oceans. These models provided
key information for subsequent deci-
sion-making that banned the offshore
dumping of sewage sludge. They also
provide the scientific underpinnings
for efforts to restore and protect the
Everglades and watersheds in the
South, the Midwest, and elsewhere.
• ORD developed an ecosystem model
that guided efforts to reduce phosphate
discharges into the Great Lakes and to
return Lake Erie to a valuable fishery.
• ORD conducted the research on radon
that has 1) helped EPA and other orga-
nizations diagnose and/or mitigate ra-
don in homes, schools, and commercial
buildings, and 2) stimulated new, cost-
effective technologies used extensively
by engineers, architects, homeowners,
and others.
• ORD led environmental monitoring re-
search by 1) developing, pilot-testing,
and transferring new designs and
methods that the U.S. Forest Service
and more than 30 states are using or
evaluating for their specific environ-
mental monitoring objectives, and 2)
helping develop a Federal interagency
partnership that saved the government
$30 million in acquiring, processing,
and sharing satellite data for environ-
mental monitoring and other purposes.
Innovating New Technologies
• ORD revolutionized the harnessing of
natural bioremediation to clean up oil
spills and hazardous waste by stimulat-
ing joint government/industry demon-
stration projects in Alaska's Prince
William Sound and elsewhere. ORD is
leading similar research using natural
enzyme reactions from plants to clean
up hazardous wastes naturally and eco-
nomically.
• ORD identified potential replacements
for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in
air conditioners, commercial chillers,
insulation foam, and other applications
— helping users find effective substi-
tutes as CFCs are phased out.
• ORD is at the forefront of developing
and testing innovative methods for
cleaning and disinfecting drinking wa-
ter — including the GAC (granular ac-
tivated carbon) process now used by
Cincinnati, Ohio, in its municipal wa-
ter-treatment system, and portable
"package plant" systems that give small
communities an effective, economical
way to provide clean drinking water to
residents.
• ORD developed mobile treatment sys-
tems for cleaning up hazardous waste
— saving site managers the time and
cost of hauling contaminated soil be-
tween the clean-up site and an off-site
treatment facility.
Leadership in Risk Assessment
• ORD develops the detailed guidance
used domestically by government and
industry, and recognized internation-
ally, to conduct risk assessments for en-
vironmental pollutants.
• ORD conducted a state-of-the-science
reassessment of the chemical dioxin,
drawing on the expertise of world-class
scientists to evaluate trie latest data
and achieve a scientific consensus on
this complex issue.
• ORD issued a definitive risk assess-
ment of environmental tobacco smoke
widely used by Federal agencies, states,
and localities as a basis for setting new
smoking policies.
• ORD performed hundreds of compre-
hensive assessments on the health and
ecological hazards of pollutants, form-
ing the scientific basis for many of
EPA's complex policy decisions.
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For copies of ORD technical publications and further
information about science at EPA, contact the
Center for Environmental Research Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
26 W. Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
(513)569-7562.
FAX: (513)569-7566
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