An SAB Synopsis
Volume 1 Number 1
A Summary of a Just-Released SAB Report
April 28, 1998
Review of the FY 1999 Presidential Budget Request for the Office of
Research and Development: EPA-SAB-RSAC-98-006
rhile the Science Advisory Board
(SAB) of the US EPA applauded the
process used by the EPA in developing its first
goal-based science budget, it has expressed
concern about the adequacy of the Agency's
proposed budget. The SAB indicated that the
science budget may not be sufficient, in a number
of areas, to generate the scientific and
technological information needed to fulfill the
Agency's mission to protect human health and to
safeguard the environment.
The SAB examined the Agency's
Presidential Budget Request for the Office of
Research and Development (ORD) in a public
session on February 26-27, 1998. On March 11,
two SAB reviewers testified on their findings
before the Energy and the Environment
Subcommittee of the House Science Committee.
The report was formally approved by the SAB's
Executive Committee on April 15, 1998 and sent
to the Administrator today.
For the first time, after years of the SAB's
reviewing ORD budget requests, this SAB report
explicitly compliments the Agency on a clear,
well-organized presentation that links its research
requests to the ORD Strategic Plan and the
Agency's overall Strategic PI an. This goal-oriented
articulation of the ORD budget is a welcome
improvement over the solely media-oriented
presentations of prior years.
At the same time, the members expressed
concern that the research budget is eroding relative
to the overall EPA budget request. This trend is
occurring at a time when environmental problems
are more complex and probably need more
scientific insights than the budget can deliver. The
report cites several areas in which budgets are not
likely to be sufficient to meet the goals established
by the Agency and ORD in their Strategic Plans.
These areas included particulate matter, endocrine
disrupters, ecosystem protection, global climate
change, waste site remediation technologies,
microbial pathogens, and indoor air.
While generally endorsing the research
budget priorities, the SAB report notes that more
should be done to develop an evaluation process
that can lead to better accounting of existing
expenditures, both intramural and extramural, and
to better assess needs for new research areas in
emerging environmental threats.
A complete copy of this report from the
SAB's Research Strategies Advisory
Committee is available
1. On the SAB Website [http:7www.epa.gov/sab]
2. By request from the SAB office through
Email [pope.derrick@epa.gov], or
3. By fax [202-260-1889].
Office of the Science Advisory Board, US Environmental Protection Agency
Website: www.epa.gov/sab
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Office of the Science Advisory Board, US Environmental Protection Agency
Website: www.epa.gov/sab
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