Abstract |
EPA does not have an overall plan to ensure developing consistent, compatible climate change strategies across the Agency. We surveyed EPA regions and offices and found they need more information on a variety of climate change topics. They need technical climate change research and tools as well as other climate change policy guidance and direction. We learned that, in the absence of an overall Agency plan, EPAs Office of Water and several regional offices have independently developed, or are developing, their own individual climate change strategies and plans. The lack of an overall climate change policy can result in duplication, inconsistent approaches, and wasted resources among EPAs regions and offices. EPA has not issued interim guidance to give its major components consistent direction to ensure that a compatible national policy when it emerges will not result in wasted efforts. EPAs latest plan for future climate change research does not address the full range of emerging information needs. Specifically, the projected time of completion or the scope of some research projects do not match the timing or the scope of regions needs. ORD does not have a central repository of its climate change research for its internal users, nor does it effectively communicate the results of its climate change research to EPAs internal users. While ORD collects research requirements from regions and program offices, the selection criteria for research topics are not transparent to the regions. Finally, ORD does not have a system to track research requests through completion, or a formal mechanism to obtain feedback from its users. |