UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON D.C. 20460
OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR
SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
March 7, 2014
EPA-SAB-14-005
The Honorable Gina McCarthy
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Subject: Science Advice and EPA Priority Topics
Dear Administrator McCarthy:
After reflecting on your remarks at the December 4-5, 2013 meeting of the chartered Science Advisory
Board (SAB) and the comments received from other senior agency leaders at that time, the Board has
identified several areas where science advice would be helpful in advancing the agency's mission. This
advice can come in the form of early consultations, reviews, short commentary letters, or original
studies. For each of the areas below, the SAB suggests some of the opportunities that external science
advice can provide.
Climate change - adaptation and mitigation
In your December 2013 remarks you were clear that addressing climate change is a top priority for the
agency. Following the Board's discussion with you, members had a robust conversation with the EPA's
senior leadership and senior scientists about science and research supporting the agency's climate
adaptation and mitigation efforts. Informed by those discussions, the SAB can be a resource on a wide
range of related scientific and technical topics.
It will be important to integrate climate change considerations into agency assessments of human health
risks and ecological risks (including impacts on biodiversity) and to clearly communicate the results of
such assessments. The Board can provide advice and peer review on innovative frameworks for risk
assessments that consider climate change factors and on individual high-profile assessments that must
consider the effects of climate change.
The Board also can assist the agency in prioritizing among science and research activities relating to
adaptation and mitigation. The Office of Research and Development (ORD) has recently asked the
Board to provide additional advice on its strategic research action plans, including a new plan for the
Air, Climate and Energy program. The SAB is particularly interested in the Climate Roadmap that ORD
has developed in concert with other agency programs and expresses the desire to review that document
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in detail this summer. The Board may also provide science advice to assist with regional and program
adaptation plans and may be able to identify opportunities to leverage science and research being
developed by other entities.
Scientific and technical aspects of sustainability and environmental justice
The SAB supports the EPA's policy of integrating the goals of sustainability and environmental justice
into agency programs, decisions and actions. The agency has requested SAB peer review of the Draft
Technical Guidance for Assessing EnvironmentalJustice in Regulatory Analysis (May 1, 2013 Draft);
this peer review is currently under way. In addition to this review, technical peer review is needed for
related guidance, frameworks and tools, especially in the multi-disciplinary area of sustainability
science. The SAB welcomes the opportunity to provide the review and science advice needed to
institutionalize these important initiatives.
Risk assessment
Human health and ecological risk assessment are important tools for the EPA. The SAB looks forward
to continuing to provide peer review to the agency on the chemical-specific human health toxicological
assessments the EPA is developing as part of agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The
increased transparency and accountability of the IRIS program, and the agency's request for peer review
by the new SAB Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee through the chartered SAB are important
new developments.
Even as these chemical-specific assessments are developed, however, there is a need for new guidance
and frameworks for the application of 21st century toxicology and exposure approaches. The SAB can
assist in providing advice and peer review as the EPA develops these new approaches. Finally, the SAB
can be helpful to the agency as it considers how to access, learn from and further develop risk
assessment communities outside the agency. Board members' experience with a broad range of
professional associations and disciplines can help the agency build networks with risk professionals
outside the agency.
Decision science
The SAB was particularly delighted by your interest in potential applications of decision science at the
EPA. For many years, the SAB has recommended that the agency strengthen its capabilities in the
behavioral and decision sciences. We would welcome an opportunity to provide advice that would
illustrate how insights from decision sciences can help the agency structure complex decision making
processes that may involve multiple stakeholders, conflicting goals and objectives, long planning
horizons, and high uncertainty. Insights from the decision sciences may be used by the agency across a
wide range of applications; these include regulatory rule making, agency priority setting, identifying
indicators of environmental change, and decisions that may require formal tradeoff analysis. The SAB
also could provide advice on how to develop empirically based and scientifically validated tools to help
communities and individual decision makers untangle and structure complex problems and identify
opportunities to make choices and implement actions that serve their long-term best interests.
Identifying future environmental challenges and opportunities
The SAB has a long history of engaging the EPA in discussion of future environmental challenges. In
calling for the establishment of the EPA in 1970, the Ash Commission noted that "The environment,
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despite its infinite complexity, must be perceived as a unified, interrelated system"1 The Board has a
strong interest in helping the EPA identify and characterize future environmental challenges and
opportunities in an integrated manner. The Board's report on integration of science into decision-
making2 and the report on reactive nitrogen flows, consequences and management options3 are
examples of the types of forward-looking and systems-based advice and guidance that the Board can
provide.
Highlight the role of science in the EPA's decision making
Finally, we note the central role that science has played in EPA decision-making from the beginnings of
the agency. Again, the Ash Commission noted that an environmental protection agency must have
capabilities "to conduct research on the adverse effects of pollution, to gather information on
environmental conditions and use it in modifying programs or recommending policy changes." The
Board welcomes the opportunity to support the EPA through consideration of the science supporting
actions in the agency's regulatory agenda, peer review of scientific work products and other advisory
activities. The SAB's semi-annual consideration of the science basis for regulatory actions announced in
the regulatory agenda, as well as individual SAB reviews of significant scientific and technical
documents, provide public opportunities for the EPA to highlight its scientific processes. In these
advisory activities, the SAB learns about and reviews agency efforts, takes public comment, and
commends the science and research efforts of the agency where appropriate, while providing advice to
strengthen such efforts, as needed.
The Board appreciates this opportunity to reflect on the strategic insights that you and other senior
leaders provided in December. We hope that the significant topics that you identified for Board attention
will develop into well-conceived advisory activities for the SAB. The SAB Staff Office is also exploring
new processes to help the SAB be responsive to the agency's evolving needs and priorities.
We look forward to your response regarding opportunities to engage with the agency on the priority
topics in this letter.
Sincerely,
Dr. David T. Allen, Chair
Science Advisory Board
Enclosure
Roster of SAB Members
1 Ash, Roy L. et al. 1970. Memorandum to the President entitled "Federal Organization for Environmental Protection," April
29, 1970. http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/history/org/origins/ash.html (accessed 11/09/2011).
2 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board. 2012. Science Integration for Decision Making at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. EPA-SAB-12-008.
http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/8AA27 AA419BlD41385257A330064A479/$File/EPA-SAB-12-008-
unsigned.pdf pdf (accessed 02/12/2014).
3 U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board. 2012. Reactive Nitrogen in the United States: An Analysis
oflnputs, Flows, Consequences, and Management Options-A Report of the Science Advisory Board.. EPA-SAB-11-013.
http://vosemite.epa. gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/67057225CC780623852578F10059533D/$File/EP A-SAB-ll-013-unsigned.pdf
(accessed 02/12/2014).
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NOTICE
This report has been written as part of the activities of the EPA Science Advisory Board, a public
advisory group providing extramural scientific information and advice to the Administrator and
other officials of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Board is structured to provide balanced,
expert assessment of scientific matters related to the problems facing the Agency. This report has not
been reviewed for approval by the Agency and, hence, the contents of this report do not necessarily
represent the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor of other agencies in
the Executive Branch of the Federal government, nor does mention of trade names or commercial
products constitute a recommendation for use. Reports of the EPA Science Advisory Board are
posted on the EPA website at http://www.epa.gov/sab.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Science Advisory Board
CHAIR
Dr. David T. Allen, Gertz Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Director of the Center
for Energy and Environmental Resources, The University of Texas, Austin, TX
MEMBERS
Dr. George Alexeeff, Director, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California
Environmental Protection Agency, Oakland, CA
Dr. Pedro Alvarez, Department Chair and George R. Brown Professor of Engineering, Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX
Dr. Joseph Arvai, Svare Chair in Applied Decision Research, Department of Geography, University of
Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Dr. Thomas Burbacher, Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,
School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Dr. Ingrid Burke, Director and Wyoming Excellence Chair, Haub School and Ruckelshaus Institute of
Environment and Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Dr. Edward T. Carney, Departmental Senior Science Leader and Director of Predictive Toxicology
Center, Toxicology & Environmental Research and Consulting, The Dow Chemical Company, Midland,
MI
Dr. Peter Chapman, Principal and Senior Environmental Scientist, Golder Associates Ltd, Vancouver,
BC, Canada
Dr. Terry Daniel, Professor of Psychology and Natural Resources, Department of Psychology, School
of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Dr. George Daston, Victor Mills Society Research Fellow, Global Product Stewardship, The Procter &
Gamble Company, Mason, OH
Dr. Costel Denson, Managing Member, Costech Technologies, LLC, Newark, DE
Dr. Otto C. Doering III, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, W.
Lafayette, IN
Dr. Michael Dourson, President, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, Cincinnati, OH
Dr. Joel Ducoste, Professor, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering,
College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
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Dr. David A. Dzombak, Walter J. Blenko, Sr. University Professor of Environmental Engineering,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. T. Taylor Eighmy, Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, Office of Research, University
of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Dr. Elaine M. Faustman, Professor and Director, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Dr. R. William Field, Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, and
Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Dr. H. Christopher Frey, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Civil, Construction and
Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Dr. John P. Giesy, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and
Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Dr. Steven Hamburg, Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund, Boston, MA
Dr. Cynthia M. Harris, Director and Professor, Institute of Public Health, Florida A&M University,
Tallahassee, FL
Dr. Robert J. Johnston, Director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute and Professor, Economics,
Clark University, Worcester, MA
Dr. Kimberly L. Jones, Professor and Chair, Department of Civil Engineering, Howard University,
Washington, DC
Dr. Catherine Karr, Associate Professor - Pediatrics and Environmental and Occupational Health
Sciences and Director - NW Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, University of Washington,
Seattle, WA
Dr. Madhu Khanna, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
Dr. Nancy K. Kim, Senior Executive, Health Research, Inc., Albany, NY
Dr. Francine Laden, Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental
Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, and Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham
and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Dr. Lois Lehman-McKeeman, Distinguished Research Fellow, Discovery Toxicology, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Princeton, NJ
Dr. Cecil Lue-Hing, President, Cecil Lue-Hing & Assoc. Inc., Burr Ridge, IL
Dr. Elizabeth Matsui, Associate Professor, Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD
m
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Dr. Kristina D. Mena, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental
Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, El Paso, TX
Dr. Surabi Menon, Director of Research, ClimateWorks Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Dr. James R. Mihelcic, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida,
Tampa, FL
Dr. Christine Moe, Eugene J. Gangarosa Professor, Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins
School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Dr. H. Keith Moo-Young, Chancellor, Office of Chancellor, Washington State University, Tri-Cities,
Richland, WA
Dr. Eileen Murphy, Director of Research and Grants, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers
University, Piscataway, NJ
Dr. James Opaluch, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Natural Resource
Economics, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Dr. Duncan Patten, Director, Montana Water Center, and Research Professor, Hydroecology Research
Program, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University,
Bozeman, MT
Dr. Martin Philbert, Dean and Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Mr. Richard L. Poirot, Air Quality Planning Chief, Air Quality and Climate Division, Vermont
Department of Environmental Conservation, Montpelier, VT
Dr. Stephen Polasky, Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological/Environmental Economics, Department
of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
Dr. Amanda Rodewald, Director of Conservation Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Associate
Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY
Dr. James Sanders, Executive Director, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Georgia,
Savannah, GA
Dr. William Schlesinger, President, Gary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY
Dr. Gina Solomon, Deputy Secretary for Science and Health, Office of the Secretary, California
Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA
Dr. Daniel O. Stram, Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Division of Biostatistics,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
IV
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Dr. Peter S. Thorne, Director, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center and Professor and
Head, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of
Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Dr. Paige Tolbert, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public
Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Jeanne VanBriesen, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. John Vena, University of Georgia Foundation Professor in Public Health and
Head, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar,
College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Dr. Peter J. Wilcoxen, Associate Professor, Economics and Public Administration, The Maxwell
School, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD STAFF
Dr. Angela Nugent, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington,
DC,
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