II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1176

To strengthen research conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 12, 2001

Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself and Mr. CARPER) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and

Public Works

A BILL

To strengthen research conducted by the Environmental

Protection Agency, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Environmental Re5 search Enhancement Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY RESEARCH

7 ACTIVITIES.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6 of the Environmental

9 Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization
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1 Act of 1979 (42 U.S.C. 4361c) is amended by adding at

2 the end the following:

3 ‘‘(e) DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR FOR SCIENCE AND

4 TECHNOLOGY.—

5 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in

6 the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in

7 this section as the ‘Agency’) the position of Deputy

8 Administrator for Science and Technology.

9 ‘‘(2) APPOINTMENT.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Adminis11 trator for Science and Technology shall be ap12 pointed by the President, by and with the ad13 vice and consent of the Senate.

14 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDA15 TIONS.—In making an appointment under sub16 paragraph (A), the President shall consider rec17 ommendations submitted by—

18 ‘‘(i) the National Academy of

19 Sciences;

20 ‘‘(ii) the National Academy of Engi21 neering; and

22 ‘‘(iii) the Science Advisory Board es23 tablished by section 8 of the Environ24 mental Research, Development, and Dem-
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1 onstration Authorization Act of 1978 (42

2 U.S.C. 4365).

3 ‘‘(3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—

4 ‘‘(A) OVERSIGHT.—The Deputy Adminis5 trator for Science and Technology shall coordi6 nate and oversee—

7 ‘‘(i) the Office of Research and Devel8 opment of the Agency (referred to in this

9 section as the ‘Office’);

10 ‘‘(ii) the Office of Environmental In11 formation of the Agency;

12 ‘‘(iii) the Science Advisory Board;

13 ‘‘(iv) the Science Policy Council of the

14 Agency; and

15 ‘‘(v) scientific and technical activities

16 in the regulatory program and regional of17 fices of the Agency.

18 ‘‘(B) OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES.—The

19 Deputy Administrator for Science and Tech20 nology shall—

21 ‘‘(i) ensure that the most important

22 scientific issues facing the Agency are

23 identified and defined, including those

24 issues embedded in major policy or regu25 latory proposals;
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1 ‘‘(ii) develop and oversee an Agency2 wide strategy to acquire and disseminate

3 necessary scientific information through in4 tramural efforts or through extramural

5 programs involving academia, other gov6 ernment agencies, and the private sector in

7 the United States and in foreign countries;

8 ‘‘(iii) ensure that the complex sci9 entific outreach and communication needs

10 of the Agency are met, including the

11 needs—

12 ‘‘(I) to reach throughout the

13 Agency for credible science in support

14 of regulatory office, regional office,

15 and Agency-wide policy deliberations;

16 and

17 ‘‘(II) to reach out to the broader

18 United States and international sci19 entific community for scientific knowl20 edge that is relevant to Agency policy

21 or regulatory issues;

22 ‘‘(iv) coordinate and oversee scientific

23 quality-assurance and peer-review activities

24 throughout the Agency, including activities
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1 in support of the regulatory and regional

2 offices;

3 ‘‘(v) develop processes to ensure that

4 appropriate scientific information is used

5 in decisionmaking at all levels in the Agen6 cy; and

7 ‘‘(vi) ensure, and certify to the Ad8 ministrator of the Agency, that the sci9 entific and technical information used in

10 each Agency regulatory decision and policy

11 is—

12 ‘‘(I) valid;

13 ‘‘(II) appropriately characterized

14 in terms of scientific uncertainty and

15 cross-media issues; and

16 ‘‘(III) appropriately applied.

17 ‘‘(f) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH

18 AND DEVELOPMENT.—

19 ‘‘(1) TERM OF APPOINTMENT.—Notwith20 standing any other provision of law, the Assistant

21 Administrator for Research and Development of the

22 Agency shall be appointed for a term of 6 years.

23 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—Paragraph (1) applies to

24 each appointment that is made on or after the date

25 of enactment of this subsection.
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1 ‘‘(g) SENIOR RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS IN OFFICE

2 OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT LABORATORIES.—

3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The head of the Of4 fice, in consultation with the Science Advisory Board

5 and the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Office,

6 shall establish a program to recruit and appoint to

7 the laboratories of the Office senior researchers who

8 have made distinguished achievements in environ9 mental research.

10 ‘‘(2) AWARDS.—

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of the Of12 fice shall make awards to the senior researchers

13 appointed under paragraph (1)—

14 ‘‘(i) to support research in areas that

15 are rapidly advancing and are related to

16 the mission of the Agency; and

17 ‘‘(ii) to train junior researchers who

18 demonstrate exceptional promise to con19 duct research in such areas.

20 ‘‘(B) SELECTION PROCEDURES.—The head

21 of the Office shall establish procedures for the

22 selection of the recipients of awards under this

23 paragraph, including procedures for consulta24 tion with the Science Advisory Board and the

25 Board of Scientific Counselors of the Office.
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1 ‘‘(C) DURATION OF AWARDS.—Awards

2 under this paragraph shall be made for a 5-year

3 period and may be renewed.

4 ‘‘(3) PLACEMENT OF RESEARCHERS.—Each

5 laboratory of the Office shall have not fewer than 1

6 senior researcher appointed under the program es7 tablished under paragraph (1).

8 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

9 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

10 as are necessary to carry out this subsection.

11 ‘‘(h) OTHER ACTIVITIES OF OFFICE OF RESEARCH

12 AND DEVELOPMENT.—

13 ‘‘(1) ACTIVITIES OF THE OFFICE.—The Office

14 shall—

15 ‘‘(A) make a concerted effort to give re16 search managers of the Office a high degree of

17 flexibility and accountability, including empow18 ering the research managers to make decisions

19 at the lowest appropriate management level

20 consistent with the policy of the Agency and the

21 strategic goals and budget priorities of the Of22 fice;

23 ‘‘(B) maintain approximately an even bal24 ance between core research and problem-driven

25 research;
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1 ‘‘(C) develop and implement a structured

2 strategy for encouraging, and acquiring and ap3 plying the results of, research conducted or

4 sponsored by other Federal and State agencies,

5 universities, and industry, both in the United

6 States and in foreign countries; and

7 ‘‘(D) substantially improve the documenta8 tion and transparency of the decisionmaking

9 processes of the Office for—

10 ‘‘(i) establishing research and tech11 nical-assistance priorities;

12 ‘‘(ii) making intramural and extra13 mural assignments; and

14 ‘‘(iii) allocating funds.

15 ‘‘(2) ACTIVITIES OF THE ADMINISTRATOR.—

16 The Administrator of the Agency shall—

17 ‘‘(A) substantially increase the efforts of

18 the Agency—

19 ‘‘(i) to disseminate actively the re20 search products and ongoing projects of

21 the Office;

22 ‘‘(ii) to explain the significance of the

23 research products and projects; and

24 ‘‘(iii) to assist other persons and enti25 ties inside and outside the Agency in ap-
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1 plying the results of the research products

2 and projects;

3 ‘‘(B)(i) direct the Deputy Administrator

4 for Science and Technology to expand on the

5 science inventory of the Agency by conducting,

6 documenting, and publishing a more com7 prehensive and detailed inventory of all sci8 entific activities conducted by Agency units out9 side the Office, which inventory should include

10 information such as—

11 ‘‘(I) project goals, milestones, and

12 schedules;

13 ‘‘(II) principal investigators and

14 project managers; and

15 ‘‘(III) allocations of staff and finan16 cial resources; and

17 ‘‘(ii) use the results of the inventory to en18 sure that activities described in clause (i) are

19 properly coordinated through the Agency-wide

20 science planning and budgeting process and are

21 appropriately peer reviewed; and

22 ‘‘(C) change the peer-review policy of the

23 Agency to more strictly separate the manage24 ment of the development of a work product

25 from the management of the peer review of that
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1 work product, thereby ensuring greater inde2 pendence of peer reviews from the control of

3 program managers, or the potential appearance

4 of control by program managers, throughout

5 the Agency.’’.

6 (b) DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR FOR POLICY AND MAN7 AGEMENT.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The position of Deputy Ad9 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

10 is redesignated as the position of ‘‘Deputy Adminis11 trator for Policy and Management of the Environ12 mental Protection Agency’’.

13 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law,

14 map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of

15 the United States to the Deputy Administrator of

16 the Environmental Protection Agency shall be

17 deemed to be a reference to the Deputy Adminis18 trator for Policy and Management of the Environ19 mental Protection Agency.

20 (c) EXECUTIVE SCHEDULE LEVEL III.—Section

21 5314 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by strik22 ing the item relating to the Deputy Administrator of the

23 Environmental Protection Agency and inserting the fol24 lowing:
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1 ‘‘Deputy Administrator for Policy and Manage2 ment of the Environmental Protection Agency.

3 ‘‘Deputy Administrator for Science and Tech4 nology of the Environmental Protection Agency.’’.

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