Chapter 4. Environmental Protection Agency

The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to "protect and safeguard human health and the environment." To that end, EPA administers over a dozen  major laws .

EPA R&D by Strategic Goal  (internal links) : 

• Goal 1: Clean Air and Global Climate Change
• Goal 2: Clean and Safe Water
• Goal 3: Land Preservation and Restoration
• Goal 4: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems
• Goal 5: Compliance and Environmental Stewardship

Office of Research and Development

The Office of Research and Development (ORD) is the principal scientific and research arm of the Environmental Protection Agency. ORD's Strategic Plan describes its approach to fulfilling a mission to "conduct leading-edge research and foster the sound use of science and technology to fulfill EPA's mission to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment. This mission commits ORD to conduct its research in a way that will have a direct and meaningful impact on EPA's decisions and programs."

National laboratories and centers (internal links):

Additional R&D at other EPA offices (internal links):

• National Center for Environmental Economics
• Environmental Modeling and Visualization Lab (EMVL)
• Office of Science and Technology (OST) Office of Water
• Office of Radiation and Indoor Air
• Office of Atmospheric Programs
• Office of Transportation and Air Quality

Additional Resources

EPA Fellowships

Budget Information

• FY 2010 Budget in Brief [PDF 472 K]
• FY 2010 Annual Performance Plan and Congressional Justification [4.39 MB]
• Approximately half of EPA's R&D is implemented intramurally, 29% through universities and colleges, and most of the remainder through industrial firms or nonprofit organizations other than universities and colleges.
• Nearly three quarters of EPA R&D is classified as 'applied' research, 16% as 'development' and 9% as 'basic' research.