Findings and Recommendations - Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead - page 180

The strengthening of science leadership is not without its challenges. For
example, whether or not the position is held by a political appointee could affect
the ability of the person in the position to be effective throughout the agency,
especially with the other political appointees who head the programs that rely on
science (and supervise many of the agency's scientists). There is also the possi-
bility that new procedures established from the central administration could
serve to discourage innovation in science if not carefully applied. To a certain
extent, the recent EPA decision to re-establish the position of science advisor as
a non-political position distinct from ORD (as had been the case in earlier EPA
administrations) will provide a test of how to overcome some of these chal-
lenges. However, the revised role of the current science advisor does not fully
implement the committee's recommendation unless that person is empowered
with the tools and support described above. Even with the full support of the
administrator and senior staff, the effort will fail if the need to improve the use
of science in EPA is not accepted by staff at all levels.
STRENGTHENING CAPACITY
Assessing and obtaining the proper scientific expertise within the agency
is necessary to address complex environmental problems facing the nation and
to create and implement solutions. That includes having the expertise to take
advantage of new technologies that will improve the science basis of regulatory
decision-making at the national, state, and local levels. It also includes having
broad interdisciplinary expertise and engaging in collaboration to more effec-
tively evaluate system-level impacts and sustainable solutions. In order to be
prepared to address a wide array of environmental and health challenges and
their complex interactions, EPA will need to continue to ensure that it has exper-
tise in critical fields. In some cases, the agency will need to advance scientific
understanding through inhouse research; in others, it will need to assimilate and
influence scientific efforts that are undertaken elsewhere. However, even as the
agency moves to increase the breadth and depth of its skills in new disciplines,
and especially in light of an aging work force, continued support is needed to
ensure that basic scientific disciplines are strongly represented. In order to have
the capacity to address future environmental challenges, the agency will need to
have enough internal expertise to identify and collaborate with the expertise of
all of its stakeholders so that it can ask the right questions; determine what exist-
ing tools and strategies can be applied to answer those questions; determine the
needs for new tools and strategies; develop, apply, and refine the new tools and
strategies; and use the science to make recommendations based on hazards, ex-
posures, and monitoring.
Finding: EPA has been a leader in environmental science and technology both
nationally and internationally. If it is to retain that leadership in the coming dec-