The reorganization of EPA’s research program from 12 base research programs into four was called out in President Obama’s FY12 budget of $584 million for research and innovation at EPA, $12.6 million less than what was enacted in FY10. The four program areas correspond with the first four goals of EPA’s FY 2011-2015 strategic plan: air, climate and energy; safe and sustainable water resources; sustainable and healthy communities; and chemical safety and sustainability. The goal of the research program restructuring is more efficient and effective research.
The president’s proposed FY 12 budget for safe and sustainable water resources is $118.8 million – a $7.7 million dollar increase over previous years. Compared with FY10 enacted levels, drinking water research would see a $3.4 million increase while the water quality research program would receive $4.3 million more. Homeland security research would be cut by $8.2 million.
Included in the total research budget is a $24.7 million increase to Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants . The STAR program aims to complement internal EPA research by funding research grants and graduate fellowships in “numerous environmental science and engineering disciplines through a competitive solicitation process and independent peer review.”