EPA-NIH: The Regulatory Gambit

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

Tom,

You are right to point out the difference between the NIH and the 
EPA.

As a regulatory agency, EPA has to contend with political 
climates as well as ambient climates. From its inception under 
the Nixon Administration to the present Clinton Administration, 
the EPA has dealt with (and survived, so far, though bloodied and 
bruised at times).

As I mentioned on the first day of this dialogue, Dr. Marta Dosa 
provided as part of her definition that environmental 
information reflects the peaks and valleys in public-policy 
attention to these [environmental] problems in uneven funding of
research, information services, and collection development.

This is the primary reason why in 1990 efforts were begun to call 
for the creation of a NON-REGULATORY National Institute for the
Environment (including a National Library for the Environment). 
In the past decade, the NIE concept grew and matured under the 
Committee for the NIE. The concept continues to evolve under its 
new name, National Council for Sceince and the Environment.

For more details look at  www.cnie.org

Fred Stoss
(National Library for the Environment Advisory Board)
Science and Engineering Library
University at Buffalo