Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
grams that are intended to provide and communicate science and tools for deci-
sion-makers and practitioners outside EPA. Several of EPA's large-scale re-
gional research programs (for example, the Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, and
Puget Sound programs) are designed specifically to develop and deliver science
and decision support tools to help environmental authorities outside EPA. ORD
conducts research programs to develop widely applicable decision-support tools.
ORD's Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability pro-
vides grants
to explore “new approaches to environmental protection that are
systems-oriented, forward-looking, preventive, and collaborative” (EPA 2011b).
The Tribal Science Program supports community-based research in an effort to
improve understanding of the relationship between tribal-specific factors and
health risks posed by toxic substances in the environment (EPA 2011c). Web-
based platforms are essential for delivering science and tools to state, local,
tribal, and other non-EPA practitioners, and EPA has made an effort to take ad-
vantage of such platforms, such as the Health and Environmental Research
Online (HERO) system (see below).
INTEGRITY, ETHICS, AND TRANSPARENCY IN
THE US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S
PRODUCTION AND USE OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION
Since its founding, EPA has been challenged by the need to use the best
available scientific information in developing policy and regulations. Critics of
EPA's regulations (as either too lax or too stringent) have sometimes charged
that valid scientific information was ignored or suppressed, or that the scientific
basis of a regulation was not adequate. EPA's best defense against those criti-
cisms is to ensure that it transparently distinguishes between questions of sci-
ence and questions of policy in its regulatory decisions; to demand openness and
access to the scientific data and information on which it is relying, whether gen-
erated in or outside of the agency; and to use competent, balanced, objective,
and transparent procedures for selecting and weighing scientific studies, for en-
suring study quality, and for peer review.
Distinguishing Science Questions from Policy Questions
In a memorandum on scientific integrity issued on March 9, 2009, Presi-
dent Obama declared that “political officials should not suppress or alter scien-
tific or technologic findings and conclusions” (The White House 2009). After
the president's directive, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson stated in a memo is-
sued on May 9, 2009, that
while the laws that EPA implements leave room for policy judgments, the
scientific findings on which these judgments are based should be arrived
at independently using well-established scientific methods, including peer
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