Creating a National Environmental Information Infrastructure

[Fred Stoss <fstoss@acsu.buffalo.edu>]

The EPA can only do so much. It is a regulatory authority and therefore bound by the regulatory requirement to which it must restrict its activities.

The EPA reflects political changes. Sometimes the political agendas of the administration under which the EPA functions cast long and dark shadows over the EPA distorting the EPA's image, trust, and abilities to function on behalf of the citizens.

There is, however, a report of which all of us participating in this National Dialogue should be aware, "Recommendations for Improving the Scientific Basis for Environmental Decisionmaking: A Report from the first National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment,"  <http://cnie.org/2000conference/, and held December 7-9 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. This report was produced by the National Council for Science and the Environment (formerly the Committee for the National Institute for the Environment). 

The NCSE report makes recommendations on 14 specific areas of concern:
               
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health 
Environmental Implications of Biotechnology 
Environmental Indicators
Federal Government Structure 
Global Environmental Change
Human Health and the Environment 
Higher Education 
Information Systems    
Invasive Species     
Pollution Prevention/Waste Management 
Population and the Environment 
Public Education 
Sustainable Communities 
Sustainable Resource Management 

I served as co-chair of the discussion group that formulated the recommendations for the creation of a National Environmental Information Infrastructure (NEII)(see: 

               http://cnie.org/2000conference/13.cfm

and would urge participant in this National Dialogue to read this NCSE report and take part in the 2nd NCSE environmental conference this coming December. The NCSE has the potential for enhancing our abilities to inform, communicate, and educate about environmental issues and use the full array of resources to assist that process.

The EPA sets the stage for many of our environmental agendas, serves as the government agency that oversees the implementation of regulations to assure the quality of the environment, and supports basic research and development activities related to the EPA's regulatory mandates. However, the EPA is only one of about 20 federal departments and agencies that deals with our environmental concerns.

The NCSE provides a series of guidelines to help the nation and its leaders and its publics identify the critical environmental issues with which we must deal.

NCSE has been working since 1990 to improve the scientific basis for environmental decisionmaking. NCSE is supported by nearly 500 academic, scientific, environmental, and business organizations and promotes a new crosscutting approach to environmental science integrating interdisciplinary research; scientific assessment; communication of science-based information to decisionmakers and the general public; and environmental education. As a neutral science-based organization, NCSE promotes science and its relationship with decisionmaking only, and does not take positions on environmental issues themselves.

NCSE maintains the National Library for the Environment as a universal, timely, easy-to-use, single-point entry to quality environmental data and information for the use of all participants in the environmental enterprise. The online Library includes directories of academic environmental programs, journals, funding sources, meetings, job opportunities, news sources, laws and treaties, reports, reference materials, and more. 

Fred Stoss