Y 4.SC12:103/15 ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT AND AVIATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY GEORGE E. BROWN, JR., California, Chairman MARILYN LLOYD, Tennessee TIM VALENTINE, North Carolina JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR., Ohio JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee PETE GEREN, Texas JIM BACCHUS, Florida TIM ROEMER, Indiana ROBERT E. (BUD) CRAMER, JR., Alabama PAUL MCHALE, Pennsylvania DON JOHNSON, Georgia SAM COPPERSMITH, Arizona JAY INSLEE, Washington EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas ROBERT S. WALKER, Pennsylvania* F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., Wisconsin SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York HARRIS W. FAWELL, Illinois ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland Dr. Mark Schaefer, Assistant Director, Environment, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Washington, DC Dr. Dale R. Corson, president emeritus, Cornell University, and chair- man, National Research Council Committee on Environmental Re- search; Dr. Stephen J. Gage, president, Cleveland Advanced Manufac- turing Program, and member, Carnegie Commission on Science, Tech- nology, and Government; Dr. J. Clarence Davies III, director, Center for Risk Management, Resources for the Future, and executive director, the National Commission on the Environment; and Dr. Henry F. Howe, professor and ecology coordinator, University of Illinois-Chicago, and vice-chair, Committee for the National Institute for the Environment ... Schaefer, Assistant Director for Environment, Office of Science and ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1993 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:06 a.m. in room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Tim Valentine (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. VALENTINE. Ladies and gentlemen, we will get started. Without objection, permission is granted for coverage of this meeting by television, radio, and still photography. Good morning and welcome to this hearing of the Technology, Environment, and Aviation Subcommittee. This morning we will examine perceived problems with Federal environmental research and development. This hearing will further the Committee's exploration of how Federal environmental research and development activities may be made more effective in addressing today's environmental problems. In the past, four independent groups: The National Research Council, the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government, the National Commission on the Environment, and the Committee for the National Institute for the Environment, have released reports which are critical of the Federal Government's environmental R&D enterprise and its impact on environmental decision making. They have found that the Federal Environmental Research and Development Enterprise has developed piecemeal over the last 25 years into a collection of diffuse, substantially uncoordinated programs. The reports have also indicated that the Nation's environmental science efforts have no clear leadership or goals. They state that many Federal environmental research efforts are narrowly targeted to meet the regulatory needs of a specific department or agency, that long-term monitoring and assessment of environmental trends and of the consequences of environmental rules and regulations are seriously inadequate, and that the quality and credibility of environmental R&D conducted or supported by Federal departments and agencies is often in question. We hope that our witnesses will take some time here today proving the case that they have made in their reports. It is not obvious to me that a majority of the policy makers are agreed as to whether there is a Federal environmental R&D problem, not to mention agree on how the problem should be defined. |