Challenges of the 21st Century - Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead - page 25

BOX 2-1 Environmental Protection Agency Involvement in Climate Change
The Global Change Research Act of 1990 established a framework for
federal research that continues today as the US Global Change Research
Program. EPA is one of 13 agencies and departments participating in the
program and has special responsibility for research to assess consequences
of global change for air and water quality, aquatic ecosystems, and human
health. EPA is responsible for the greenhouse-gas inventory that the United
States submits to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Conven-
tion on Climate Change, which the United States ratified in 1992. In 2007,
the US Supreme Court held that EPA is responsible for regulating green-
house gas emissions as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act if the adminis-
trator finds that the act's endangerment condition is satisfied. EPA Adminis-
trator Lisa Jackson made that finding in December 2009. Accordingly, the
agency has set greenhouse-gas emission standards for motor vehicles and
is moving forward with greenhouse-gas emission regulations for stationary
sources. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 required EPA to
promulgate requirements for large sources of greenhouse-gas emissions to
track and report these emissions.
ozone nonattainment). As it grapples with climate change, this type of research
would give the agency better understanding of interactions between climate
change and air quality with respect to both atmospheric responses and opportu-
nities for mitigation.
Water Quality
During the 1970s, key legislation that focused on developing sound poli-
cies for protection of surface water and groundwater was passed, including the
Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act . Both concentrated on water
quality and public health, but the presence of different goals, approaches, and
targets led to fragmented water science and research agendas (Table 2-1). It has
long been argued that a harmonization of the two acts is needed, and some view
a national water quality policy as a threat to or a necessity for achieving secure
and safe water supplies and addressing key challenges in the future.
Drivers of Water-Quality Policy
The major drivers for developing national research and science agendas
are focused on looming water problems. Since 1970, although understanding of
hydrologic systems has advanced, water problems have been overshadowed by
the challenges and rapid changes in land use and economic systems (Langpap et