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T
he concept of a National Institute for the Environment, promoted for several years by the Washington, D.C.-based Committee for the NIE and supported by portions of the environmental research community, is being rethought. Bowing to political realities, supporters are now exploring options other than those espoused in its original goals. Most readers are aware that a discussion of such an institute has been proceeding for many years, growing out of a perceived need for more ecological research support. The vision of the NIE has expanded appreciably until now its motto is "to improve the scientific basis for making decisions on environmental issues." Its official goals, as stated on the committee's site on the WorldWide Web (www.cnie.org), are to: Increase scientific understanding of environmental issues by supporting credible, problem-focused research; assist decision making by providing comprehensive assessments of current knowledge and its implications; facilitate and expand access to environmental information; strengthen capacity to address environmental issues by sponsoring higher education and training. The NIE concept is of interest to environmental scientists worldwide because it proposes an independent, nonregulatory institute to coordinate a very broadly based, coherent environmental research agenda. Environmental science research has never had such a coordinated approach, partiy because of its evolution from a variety of disciplines, the perceived need for several parts of the government to have a stake in environmental research, and the desire of existing science agencies to maintain their budgets in the face of declining government funding. The committee recently published an electronic mail request for input on options for establishing the National Institute for the Environment within the U.S. government. Several proposals were offered for comment: • A congressionally chartered institute associated with, but not part of, the National Science Foundation (NSF). The National Center for Atmospheric Research is funded in this way. • An Office or Directorate within NSE • A nonregulatory Natural Resources Science Agency within the Department of Interior. • An entity within the Department of Energy. • A new, independent agency. • A science agency within a new Department of the Environment. Of these plans, a variant of the first option seems to have received the most favorable reaction. Under this plan, NIE would not attempt to cover all of environmental science but would focus on areas that are not now adequately covered elsewhere. To those hoping for a more ambitious NIE plan, this option may be unsatisfactory and discouraging, but some feel it is the only realistic path by which to begin the consolidation of environmental research in this country. I encourage all of you who are interested in this issue to educate yourselves by reading the material on the CNIE Web site and to join in the discussion. A communication to the committee can be addressed to
[email protected].
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William H. Glaze Editor
0013-936X/97/093l-209A$14.00/0 © 1997 American Chemical Society
VOL. 31, NO. 5, 1997 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 2 0 9 A
