U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                   Office of Inspector General

                   At  a  Glance
                                                            09-P-0089
                                                        February 2, 2009
                                                                 Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Why We Did This Review

We sought to answer the
question:  how well do the
policies, procedures, and plans
of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) help
I ensure that its climate change
research fulfills its role in
climate change?
Background
EPA is 1 of 13 federal
agencies that make up the
U.S. Climate Change Science
Program, which guides federal
research through its strategic
plan. Part of EPA's role is
understanding the  regional
consequences of global
change.  EPA's Office of
Research and Development
(ORD) handles this function.
EPA's Office of Air and
Radiation conducts activities
related to mitigating
greenhouse gases.  ORD
manages EPA's climate
change research function
through its Global Change
Research Program.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public Affairs
and Management at
(202)566-2391.

To view the full report,
click on the following link:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2009/
20090202-09-P-0089.pdf
EPA Needs a Comprehensive Research Plan and
Policies to Fulfill its Emerging Climate Change Role
 What We Found
EPA does not have an overall plan to ensure developing consistent, compatible
climate change strategies across the Agency. We surveyed EPA regions and
offices and found they need more information on a variety of climate change
topics. They need technical climate change research and tools as well as other
climate change policy guidance and direction. We learned that, in the absence of
an overall Agency plan, EPA's Office of Water and several regional offices have
independently developed, or are developing, their own individual climate change
strategies and plans. The lack of an overall climate change policy can result in
duplication, inconsistent approaches, and wasted resources among EPA's regions
and offices. EPA has not issued interim guidance to give its major components
consistent direction to ensure that a compatible national policy - when it emerges
- will not result in wasted efforts.

EPA's latest plan for future climate change research does not address the full
range of emerging information needs. Specifically, the projected time of
completion or the scope of some research projects do not match the timing  or the
scope of regions' needs.  ORD does not have a central repository of its climate
change research for its internal users, nor does it effectively communicate the
results of its climate change research to EPA's internal users. While ORD
collects research requirements from regions and  program offices, the selection
criteria for research topics are not transparent to  the regions. Finally, ORD does
not have a system to track research requests through completion, or a formal
mechanism to obtain feedback from its users.
 What We Recommend
We recommend that the Deputy Administrator direct Assistant and Regional
Administrators on how to plan for climate change challenges in their media
areas/regions until the Agency develops an overall strategy; and establish
guidance for regularly entering their climate change scientific information in the
Science Inventory. We also recommend that the Assistant Administrator for ORD
establish various management controls to ensure EPA fulfills its emerging climate
change role and related information needs. The Agency concurred with our
recommendations.

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