x>EPA
190B13007
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
ross-Cutting Fundamental Strat
2013 Action Plan Annual Progress Re
strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
Advance a rigorous basic and applied science research and development agenda that informs, enables, 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
Over the past few years, EPA has made remarkable progress towards integrated transdisciplinary research that takes a
systems approach to sustainability. The Strategic Research Action Plans for the Agency's six new integrated research
programs are important tools for communicating this new approach. In FY 2013, EPA established an Executive
Management Council committee to focus on sustainability. This group promoted workshops on Next Generation Air
Monitoring (NGAM), developed new analytical tools, and increased communication and sharing of best practices and
new tools/approaches.
Accomplishments:
S EPA established an Executive Management Council committee to coordinate the integration of sustainability
principles into EPA's programs and policies.
S Region 6 and the Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducted a workshop on Next Generation Air
Monitoring (NGAM) to foster interaction between EPA's regional and headquarters offices and collaboratively
inform and stimulate concepts in low-cost, highly-portable sensors for use by citizens, community groups, schools,
researchers, government agencies, and industries.
S The draft EPA Roadmap for NGAM was released for review in March 2013. Continued NGAM work in FY 2013
included: the Open Source Challenges (e.g., My Air My Health); the Air Pollutions Apps and Sensors Workshop in
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; the Fence Line/Source Perimeter Monitoring initiative, a collaborative effort
with EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance to develop and evaluate fenceline and mobile
monitoring capabilities for use in emissions characterization and enforcement and compliance activities; and the
first public pilot launch of the Village Green Project, a community-based monitoring system built into a park bench
platform using solar power with wireless streaming data.
S EPA prepared Sustainability Analytics for online release. Sustainability Analytics is a collection of science-based tools
and approaches available to support more sustainable decisions. It does not dictate a process or policy for
implementing sustainability, nor is it meant to be a comprehensive list of all assessment tools or approaches. It is a
collection of existing tools and is meant to be a starting point for discussions on how to better understand the
relationships among the three pillars of Sustainability: environment, society, and economy
S ORD models, methods, tools, and, databases were reviewed for relevance to EPA research efforts and were posted
to EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/research/mmtd/.
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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Challenges:
•S Advancing science, research, and technological innovation in a time of declining resources and a reduced scientific
workforce is a major challenge for both planning and managing the sustainability of our existing workforce. EPA is
utilizing the ORD Workforce Enhancement Project and senior ORD leaders to identify opportunities to streamline
programs and identify ways to mitigate resource limitations.
S Lack of Agency resources in the areas of buildings and facilities, repairs and improvements, capital equipment,
utilities, and maintenance are presenting challenges to EPA's network of laboratories. EPA is exploring business
process improvements to help meet these challenges.
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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FY 2013 Performance Summary
Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
FY 2013 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
S = Activity Complete
Integrating Sustainability into EPA Policies and Programs
1. Sustainable approaches consider economic,
environmental, and societal factors over the long term
and can be effective in dealing with complex, multi-
media environmental problems. For this reason, EPA
strives to integrate Sustainability more fully into its
policies and programs. Whenever possible, EPA will
integrate the principles of Sustainability in our science,
research, and technology to enhance our effectiveness
in fulfilling our mission (Supports Principle 4).
• Integrating Sustainability Principles into EPA: In FY
2013, EPA will establish a committee under the EPA
Executive Management Council (EMC) to coordinate
how to integrate Sustainability principles into EPA's
programs and policies and develop an
implementation plan by June 30, 2013. In addition,
the committee will work in collaboration with the
Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Strategic
Plan Core Team to provide early input and develop
specific recommendations by March 2013 for
integrating Sustainability into the EPA FY 2014-2018
Strategic Plan development.
The EMC Sustainability Committee was established in
December 2012. Sustainability is a new Cross-Agency
Strategy in the draft FY2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan.
The Office of Research and Development (ORD) will
complete and release a report featuring methods
and tools for analyzing Sustainability issues. This
report will help Agency employees and others better
integrate Sustainability into their decisions, thus
allowing the Agency to more effectively protect
human health and the environment and to better
promote sustainable solutions.
EPA initiated the Sustainability Analytics website which
provides existing science-based tools and approaches for
integrating Sustainability into environmental decision
making.
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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FY 2013 Performance Summary
Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
FY 2013 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
S = Activity Complete
ORD's Nitrogen and Co-Pollutant Science Integration
(ORD, the Office of Water (OW), the Office of Air and
Radiation (OAR), and the Regions) are developing an
integrated, systems-based approach to reactive
nitrogen and co-pollutant management. The goal of
this "EPA Nitrogen Research Roadmap" is to protect
human health and public welfare, along with
ecosystem health, through the restoration of air and
water quality. EPA intends to accomplish this by
integrating Agency research to inform decisions and
policies that impact the regulation or management
of nitrogen and co-pollutants. The Nitrogen
Roadmap will create a path for unifying and
integrating EPA efforts across multiple media and
temporal and spatial scales in an economically
efficient, socially acceptable, and environmentally
sound manner. Demonstrations of this effort are
anticipated in the Narragansett Bay Watershed, the
Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin, and the
Northern Gulf of Mexico. EPA will finalize the
Nitrogen Research Roadmap by August 2013.
o EPA will complete additions to EnviroAtlas,
including atmospheric modeling inputs (using
the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model),
data from the national nitrogen inventory, and
modeling inputs of crop nutrient requirements
(using the Environmental Policy Integrated
Climate Model) by September 2013.
The Nitrogen and Co-Pollutant Roadmap
Implementation Plan was completed. Work to finalize
the roadmap is ongoing.
EPA completed additions to EnviroAtlas.
Promoting Innovative Science and Technologies
2. In FY 2012, EPA issued its Roadmap, Technology
Innovation for Environmental and Economic Progress.
This document reflects the Agency's commitment to
innovative, cost-effective, sustainable approaches to
protect public health and the environment while also
promoting economic growth. The Roadmap also
highlights the need for EPA to engage the private sector
and the investor community to catalyze technology
innovation and deployment (Supports Principles 1, 2, 3,
and 4).
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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FY 2013 Performance Summary
Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
FY 2013 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
S = Activity Complete
Technology Network: A cross-agency Technology
Innovation Network now serves in a central role for
sharing and operationalizing technology innovation.
Under its workplan, the Network will: (1) identify
actions to catalyze innovation by surveying at least
four initial pilot areas (biodigesters and biogas, air
sensors, the energy efficiency/wastewater treatment
nexus, and the automotive supply chain); (2) develop
an internal system to better share EPA-related
technology projects and activities; (3) draft and
begin to implement an external communications
strategy; and (4) publicize a list of market
opportunities to promote private sector investment.
The Technology Innovation Network has partially
completed the actions identified in the FY 2013 Action
Plan including surveying four initial pilot areas and
developing an internal system to more effectively share
EPA-related technology projects and activities.
The draft external communications strategy and draft
list of market opportunities to promote private sector
investment are waiting further vetting by senior
leadership before they are finalized.
Targeted Stakeholder Engagement: Identify
opportunities to facilitate stakeholder collaboration
to accelerate the development and adoption of
technologies to achieve both environmental
protection and economic growth. These
opportunities will emerge throughout the year. For
example, the May 2012 Technology Market Summit
featured three environmental area case studies,
where technology and innovation can accelerate
solutions and promote new cost-effective
approaches to environmental protection, while also
improving the economy and creating jobs. In early FY
2013, these areas were identified as pilot areas for
both the new agency-wide Technology Innovation
Network established under EPA's Technology
Roadmap, as well as a newly formed public-private
partnership on Technology Innovation and the
Environment that EPA joined in December 2012,
adding greater visibility and more focused attention
to environmental technology innovation and
deployment.
Several of the Summit participants established a new
Partnership on Technology Innovation and the
Environment. The Partnership is a non-binding, non-
legal, voluntary collaborative committed to accelerating
the development, adoption, deployment, and export of
technologies that protect human health and the
environment while growing the U.S. economy. The
partnership creates a forum for:
• Pre-competitive technical information exchange
among experts to discuss research, development,
and deployment needs, development of joint goals
and roadmaps, and evaluation of progress;
• Analyses and evaluations of approaches to address
institutional, policy and financial barriers that
inhibit innovation, development, deployment,
commercialization, and export of environment-
friendly technologies; and,
• Development of consensus recommendations for
going forward.
EPA's former Chief Financial Officer, Barbara J. Bennett,
signed the partnership agreement on behalf of the
Agency on November 29, 2012.
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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FY 2013 Performance Summary
Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
FY 2013 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
S = Activity Complete
Confluence, the Water Technology Innovation
Cluster: Confluence is a public-private partnership
working to catalyze water technology
commercialization and economic development in
the greater Cincinnati-Dayton, Ohio, Northern
Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana regions. Lead
federal partners include EPA and the Small Business
Administration (SBA). In FY 2013, ORD will continue
to conduct research and develop technologies within
its Safe and Sustainable Water Research (SSWR)
Program in support of Confluence as a global water
technology innovation hub. ORD will also share the
results of its Small Business Innovation Research
solicitation and awards with stakeholders in the
region.
o In FY 2013, as part of SSWR, the Agency will
award a contract for a Small Drinking Water
Systems Ultraviolet Technologies Demonstration
Study. This will also serve as a pilot of
Confluence's tri-state technology adoption
cooperation agreement in Ohio, Kentucky and
Indiana. Concurrently, ORD's National Center for
Environmental Research (NCER) has released a
competitive national solicitation for Innovative
Water Treatment Technologies for Small Utilities
to further fulfill Agency commitments to the
cluster.
The Agency awarded a contract for a Small Drinking
Water Systems Ultraviolet Technologies Demonstration
Study. This research is piloting Confluence's tri-state
technology adoption cooperation agreement in Ohio,
Kentucky, and Indiana.
NCER is currently evaluating proposals for a Center
for Innovative Water Treatment Technologies for Small
Water Systems to fulfill Agency commitments to the
cluster effort.
The Cincinnati water research effort highlighted its 100-
year history through a number of workshops and events.
Over ten regional events were held on topics including
citizen science, intellectual property protection,
environmental technology export and small drinking
water systems, attracting over 2,000 participants.
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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FY 2013 Performance Summary
Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
FY 2013 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
S = Activity Complete
Clean Air Technology Initiative: EPA's Region 9 (R9)
will help bring new clean air and energy technologies
to market. R9 will continue to serve as an active
partner in the Clean Air Technology Initiative; along
with the California Air Resources Board; the
California Energy Commission; and several other
local, state, and federal agencies to help bring to
market new clean air and energy technologies. This
partnership will use innovative solutions and non-
traditional forms of funding to test and demonstrate
technologies with the potential to result in major
emission reductions in California and beyond.
o EPA will support grants on low-emission goods
movement and non-road technologies that will
bring, once fully adopted, significant emission
reductions.
o R9 will also support a Technology Symposium
and Funders Forum to identify ways to deploy
the necessary technologies and resources to
meet EPA's air quality health goals.
o R9 will fund four to five early-stage, advanced
technology demonstration projects. Through a
competitive request for proposal in the San
Joaquin Valley, two to three of these funded
projects may include the initial testing of
alternative-fueled or electric-powered
technologies, such as on-road and non-road
trucks and construction equipment, as well as a
biogas waste-to-energy project.
In FY 2013, EPA's Region 9 funded several partnership
initiatives in California including: replacement of over 60
old diesel delivery trucks and school buses with zero
emission battery electric vehicles; the initial testing of
zero-emission battery electric and hybrid
electric/natural gas trucks that operate around the
ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach; advanced
technology demonstration projects in the San Joaquin
Valley including: battery electric, hybrid electric/natural
gas and hybrid electric/diesel trucks and several
projects to convert methane to a transportation fuel at
landfills, food waste processing facilities, and dairies.
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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FY 2013 Performance Summary
Strategy 3: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
FY 2013 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
S = Activity Complete
Next Generation Air Monitoring (NGAM) Workshop:
Region 6 and ORD will conduct an innovative
workshop in November 2012 on Next Generation Air
Monitoring (NGAM). The workshop will foster
interaction between EPA's regions, ORD, the Office
of Air and Radiation, and the Office of Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance. The EPA entities will
discuss ways to work together to bring promising air
monitoring technologies and methods to fruition in
the most efficient manner. The goal of the NGAM
workshop is to collaboratively inform and stimulate
concepts in low-cost, highly-portable sensors for use
by citizens, community groups, schools, researchers,
government agencies, and industries.
The workshop was held in November 2012.
Communicate Widely and Openly
3. Make our science accessible, understandable, relevant
to, and useful for the Agency, stakeholders, and general
public. For our science to have an impact, EPA will
widely communicate the work we do (Supports Principle
3).
• Decision Support Tools: Ensure the most up-to-date
methods, models, tools, and databases are publicly
available on EPA's website. In FY 2013, models,
methods, tools and databases will be reviewed for
their relevance to EPA's research efforts and posted
to a reorganized web page. This reorganization will
allow for the most high-profile decision support
tools to be organized and displayed in a way that will
be most useful to the user community. Also, in FY
2013, communication strategies will be developed
for new tools like EnviroAtlas and the Stormwater
Calculator as they come online. Included in the
communication strategies will be measures to assess
the effectiveness of the outreach.
ORD models, methods, tools, and databases were
reviewed for relevance to EPA research efforts and
posted in January 2013 at
http://www.epa.gov/research/mmtd/.
Communication strategies for new tools like EnviroAtlas
and the Stormwater Calculator were also developed.
FY 2013 Annual Progress Report: Advancing Science, Research, and Technological Innovation
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