SEPA 190B12001 United States Environmental Protection Agency Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategy FY 2011 Action Plan Annual Progress Report Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation Advance a rigorous basic and applied science research and development agenda that informs, empowers, and delivers innovative and sustainable solutions to environmental problems. Provide relevant and robust scientific data and findings to support the Agency's policy and decision-making needs. Executive Summary In FY 2011, EPA took important steps to: (1) plan and implement innovative and sustainable technologies and methods for addressing environmental problems; (2) expand efforts to communicate research results; and, (3) promote partnerships to leverage funding and foster research innovations. Some of the most significant accomplishments and challenges are noted below. Accomplishment Highlights: • EPA's research scientists partnered with Agency program offices, Regions and external stakeholders to address high priority cross-cutting issues such as: the impact of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water; validation of air monitoring methods and new technologies; green and sustainable water infrastructure; and next-generation tools for screening chemicals that disrupt the human endocrine system. • Working collaboratively, EPA's research scientists, program offices, and Regions have developed four integrated research frameworks for: (1) air, climate, and energy; (2) safe and sustainable water; (3) chemical safety for sustainability; and, (4) sustainable and healthy communities. • EPA has initiated an effort to evaluate technology opportunities and market assessments, which will implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13563, "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review," for potential inclusion into the Agency's Action Development Process. • The Agency has initiated a series of efforts to support and promote technologies and methods that scrutinize environmental and human health impacts from the beginning to the end of the technology life cycle. o EPA partnered with several other federal agencies on regional innovation initiatives that focus on technology innovation with environmental relevance. As part of this effort, EPA leveraged its funding with more than $6 million from the Department of Commerce and the Department of Energy for the i6 Green Challenge grants for 6 regional initiatives to bring green technologies to market. o EPA collaborated with the Small Business Administration to support and help launch the Water Technology Innovation Cluster, which is designed to spur innovation and research-to-market activities in the Ohio River Valley. • The Agency has launched the "Great Environmental Moments in Science" website and report to highlight important advances in environmental science realized through EPA research. FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- Challenges: • The collaboration between EPA scientists and state and local partners to identify research and technology needs and solutions has been broadened. Therefore, the effort focused specifically at the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) has been postponed. • The evaluations of water and air monitoring technologies planned for 2011 have not been completed since they have been incorporated into broader efforts to evaluate and prioritize both technology innovation and research needs during FY 2012. • The Agency's efforts to support and promote technologies and methods that scrutinize environmental and human health impacts throughout the technology life-cycle have extended into 2012 to ensure that stakeholders are fully engaged. • Efforts to establish an EPA Senior Environmental Technology Officer (SETO) are well underway but will not be completed during FY 2011. FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- FY 2011 Performance Summary Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation FY 2011 Action Plan Activity Status/Explanation = Activity complete 1. Plan and implement research programs through close partnerships among EPA offices, partners, and external stakeholders (Supports Principles 1 and 4). EPA's research program has engaged internally with EPA program and regional offices and externally with other stakeholders. Together, EPA and its partners defined research questions. These research questions informed the development of problem oriented-research frameworks and action plans. In June, the Science Advisory Board and Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) reviewed the research frameworks. These Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committees support EPA's approach to deliver and communicate research outcomes. According to feedback in the draft BOSC-SAB report: • "Considerable synergies will be realized in integrating [Office of Research and Development] ORD research activities into the new programmatic areas." • "The SAB is highly supportive of the realignment of ORD research programs and of aligning the FY 2012 budget with them." Address the research needs identified by EPA offices, partners, and external stakeholders by: developing and implementing a research plan on the impact of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water; issuing a competitive Request for Applications (RFA) on validating air monitoring methods and new technologies; issuing an RFA on green sustainable water infrastructure; initiating new research efforts to develop next-generation tools that support implementation of the Agency's Endocrine Disrupter Screening Program (EDSP); and publishing findings on the detection, measurement, exposure effects, and environmental applications of nano-sized particles in environmental media. • Fracking: Released Draft Hydraulic Fracturing Study for public comment and peer review. Study examines the impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. The study plan reflects extensive input from the public, Science Advisory Board (SAB), EPA Regions, EPA's water program, industry, and communities. First report due end of 2012. • Air RFA: Awards in process. Grantees to receive funding in FY 2012. • Green Infrastructure RFA: Issued an RFA and identified one candidate for a grant. Funding package has been completed. ORD is issuing an additional RFA to use remaining funds. Under the new RFA, three additional applicants will be funded by October 2012. • Supporting EDSP: EPA has started developing next- generation screening tools for its Endocrine Disrupter Screening Program. EPA has screened over 2,000 chemicals using ToxCast rapid endocrine testing methods. (Initiated testing of 2,100 chemicals in ToxCast and 10,000 in Tox21.) FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- FY 2011 Performance Summary Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation FY 2011 Action Plan Activity Status/Explanation = Activity complete • Identify the barriers to developing sustainable solutions to high priority environmental problems in collaboration with the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) and other State and local partners. Recommend science and technology solutions that can aid in overcoming those barriers. The collaboration between EPA scientists and state and local partners has been broadened. Therefore, the effort focused specifically at the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) has been postponed. Conduct an inventory of water and air monitoring technologies developed and funded by other federal agencies that may be appropriate for environmental application. The evaluations of water and air monitoring technologies planned for FY 2011 were not completed. They have been incorporated into broader efforts to evaluate and prioritize both technology innovation and research needs in FY 2012. Select two pending regulatory actions and conduct a technology opportunity and market assessment, to begin developing a framework for such assessments as part of the Action Development Process (ADP). Implementation is underway but is taking longer than expected. The Agency developed a plan for implementing E.O. 13563, "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review/' and issued it in August 2011. Under the plan, EPA will select two pending regulatory actions and conduct a technology opportunity and market assessment. EPA will then develop a framework for such assessments as part of the Action Development Process. Technology opportunity and market assessments will be tied to this plan. EPA expects to complete pilot analyses in FY 2012, which will inform future work in this area. Conduct a retrospective analysis of the technology cost of selected rulemakings to estimate the actual costs of developing and deploying new environmental technologies. The National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE) is conducting a pilot project that evaluates the degree to which ex-ante and ex-post cost estimates of regulations differ, and possible reasons for the differences. For select regulations, NCEE is attempting to determine what affected entities did to comply with the new requirements and how much it cost them to comply. Various methodologies are being used to collect ex-post cost information, ranging from using publicly available data sources to reaching out to experts on industry compliance as well as associations and trade groups. A draft report for the first round of pilot projects is expected to be completed by December 2011. FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- FY 2011 Performance Summary Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation FY 2011 Action Plan Activity Status/Explanation = Activity complete Identify which of the more than 50 regional innovation initiatives funded by other federal agencies focus on technology innovation with environmental relevance, and develop actions for EPA to support these to speed the development and utilization of new technologies that may significantly lower environmental impacts by engaging a wide range of stakeholders, including technology developers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and economic development organizations. EPA partnered with several federal agencies on regional innovation initiatives which focus on technology innovation with environmental relevance, as well as shared funding and implementation of these innovation drivers. In FY 2011, EPA leveraged $280K of Agency funding with more than $6 million from the Department of Commerce and the Department of Energy for i6 Green Challenge grants for 6 regional initiatives to bring green technologies to market. In FY 2011, EPA collaborated with the Small Business Administration to support and help launch the Water Technology Innovation Cluster, which is designed to spur innovation and research-to-market activities in the Ohio River Valley. 2. Support and promote technologies and methods that scrutinize environmental and human health impacts from the beginning to the end of the technology life cycle (Supports Principles 1, 2, and 4). FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- FY 2011 Performance Summary Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation FY 2011 Action Plan Activity Status/Explanation = Activity complete • Implement a competitive program that encourages EPA scientists and engineers to develop integrated trans-disciplinary research projects and partnerships with entrepreneurs, universities, and other research institutions. Completed Pathfinder Projects: Pathfinder Projects are part of EPA's research program's approach to promote innovation among scientists. Over 110 applications were received and reviewed by a panel of nearly 30 external experts in innovation and sustainability. In this competitive process, 12 project awards were made on January 31, 2011 covering "high risk/high reward" research. Examples of projects include: • EPA scientists are collaborating with the Naval Research Lab to make water quality data as accessible to the "person on the street" as weather data by using remote sensing technology on the International Space Station. • EPA scientists are using smart phones, social networking sites ("Facebook"), and life-simulation virtual environments ("The Sims" or "Second Life") to develop realistic simulations of human activities and chemical exposures. This project will use smart phones to scan bar-codes on products in homes to determine potential exposure sources. Convene a meeting to engage external stakeholders and private markets and to communicate emerging opportunities for environmental technology and product innovation that support EPA's regulatory agenda. An EPA cross-office working group is organizing a Spring 2012 symposium. Symposium themes have been developed in partnership with EPA program offices and Regions, and session planning is underway (see below). The working group has identified venue options and is analyzing which option will minimize costs to EPA and maximize participation by co-conveners. Utilize the EPA Futures Community of Practice to evaluate emerging issues and technology innovations to inform Agency planning and achieve the Administrator's priorities. • EPA's Futures Community of Practice is identifying, developing, and organizing technical sessions for a Market Opportunities Symposium in Spring 2012 (see above). Sessions will bring together EPA experts, partners in other federal agencies, private industry, and the private finance sector to explore how innovative technologies and market opportunities can be used to improve environmental outcomes. • EPA developed a new crowd-sourcing website (http://futures.ideascale.com/) that serves as the EPA Futures Community of Practice online collaboration tool. The site promotes information sharing, best practices, collaboration, and the generation of ideas on technology innovation and emerging environmental issues. FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- FY 2011 Performance Summary Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation FY 2011 Action Plan Activity Status/Explanation = Activity complete Launch a challenge prize for technology innovation and work with key partners to catalyze international innovation adoption of key environmental technologies. EPA is serving as a technical consultant supporting the World Bank and US Agency for International Development (USAID) on a proposal for a challenge competition with the X-Prize Foundation on financing innovative water technologies. USAID is currently working on alternative ways to fund the project after procedural issues arose over funding and forced a delay in project development. Leverage the technology and innovation insights of the Environmental Financial Advisory Board, which provides advice to the Agency on "how to pay" questions for environmental protection. Seek advice to advance the most promising technology and financing innovations. In response to an Agency request, the Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) identified creative options to provide incentives to boiler facility owners to comply with the new Maximum Available Control Technology standards for air. • EFAB's Clean Air Technology Project Workgroup has been collecting and analyzing information on the financial condition of the corporations and industries that must comply with the new standards, and examining the costs of obtaining and operating both new and traditional control technologies. • Ongoing developments in finalizing and promulgating the standards have impacted completion of this effort. • The EFAB Clean Air Technology Workgroup is developing an interim report delineating its preliminary findings, observations, and recommendations. • The EFAB plans to continue its analysis of the various corporations, industries, and technologies using the information that becomes available as the final standards are developed and implemented. • Establish an EPA Senior Environmental Technology Officer (SETO) to coordinate environmental technology-related issues across the Agency. Two top candidates will be selected by the end of FY 2011. Conduct an independent external review process of the top candidates before making a final selection decision. Communicate the design, definition, conduct, transfer, and implementation of research and technological innovation so that it can be understood readily and used by stakeholders (Supports Principle 3). FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- FY 2011 Performance Summary Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation FY 2011 Action Plan Activity Status/Explanation = Activity complete Launch the "Impact Initiative/' which gathers and communicates information on the results of EPA's research, to better inform the public on the impact of EPA's research on public policy, human health, and the environment. Fully implement GEMS (Great Environmental Moments in Science) to highlight important advances in environmental science realized through EPA research. A GEMS website and report were launched that highlights advances in science that are attributed to EPA. FY 2011 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research and Technological Innovation ------- |