EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES POLICY NEWSLETTER
August 3, 2021 | Lewis-Burke Associates LLC
A View from Washington
This newsletter captures significant developments in the U.S. Congress and within the executive branch, as well as new federal funding and engagement opportunities that have been announced over the past month relevant to the environmental research and higher education community.
The House has completed work on nine out of 12 appropriations bills that would provide significant increased investments in energy and environmental research, though overall the increases would be less than those proposed in the Biden Administration's budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2022. The House bills support Biden priorities in climate, clean energy, and racial equity that cut across the federal government. The House has not yet passed the three most controversial bills, including the bill that funds the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The controversial issues are not connected to research and include topics such as investments in law enforcement and the justice system. The Senate is kicking off its appropriations process the first week of August by holding Senate Appropriations Committee mark ups for three bills including those that fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Energy (DOE). The Senate is also expected to support energy and environmental research, though the proposed investments will likely be more modest compared to the House levels and final appropriations will likely align more closely with the Senate. With congressional attention on infrastructure and the August congressional recess, it is almost certain that an extension of current funding levels, known as a continuing resolution (CR), will be necessary to fund federal energy and environmental research agencies beyond the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
Federal agencies released a flurry of new opportunities for funding and engagement over the past several weeks that illustrate the Biden Administration’s energy and environment priorities like climate and environmental justice. Agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NSF, and the Department of Interior (DOI) have released opportunities pertaining to clean water, disaster prediction, and reducing environmental hazards, which are detailed below. A number of additional large environmentally-relevant opportunities are also anticipated in the Fall.
After a long period of negotiations, a bipartisan group of Senators announced an agreement on infrastructure funding legislation focused on traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges that would also include hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy demonstration projects, programs to build resilience to natural hazards and cybersecurity attacks, and drinking water infrastructure. The
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act comprises a subset of President Biden’s priorities from the White House’s American Jobs Plan
. The Senate is expected to pass this legislation the week of August 2. Still, the path forward for additional infrastructure legislation remains uncertain, particularly whether the bipartisan package will be followed by a larger $3.5 trillion reconciliation measure that would only need Democratic support to pass.
The Administration continues to advance key climate initiatives, including providing more prescriptive guidelines for the Justice40 Initiative, a whole-of-government plan to divert 40 percent of investments in areas such as climate change mitigation, clean energy and transportation, and energy efficiency towards communities most impacted by pollution and other environmental externalities. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has instructed more than 20 federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to identify disadvantaged communities and start to flag programs that should be “covered” by the Justice40 plan. While research is not currently slated for one of the grant areas to be impacted by the Justice40 initiative, nearly all agencies have expressed support for increasing diversity in the scientific and bureaucratic workforce and many agencies have added elements of environmental justice into their funding opportunities.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Congressional Updates
Federal Agency and Administration Updates
Funding and Engagement Opportunities
Congressional Updates
House Works to Approve Appropriations Bills Ahead of August Recess
The House has passed the majority of its fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations bills ahead of the August recess. The Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations (CJS) bill, however, remains in limbo over some policing provisions and will have to be revisited in September. Information about the House appropriations proposals for earth and environmental agencies that were released since the last newsletter is detailed below. The July issue had details about both the Agriculture and Interior-Environment House appropriations bills.
Within the CJS bill, the
National Science Foundation (NSF) would be funded at $9.63 billion, $1.15 billion or 13.1 percent above the FY 2021 enacted level. This is $535 million or 5.3 percent below the President’s FY 2022 budget request. The bill would provide $1.202 billion for
climate and clean energy research at NSF, as requested by the President, including $440 million for clean energy research and $762 million for NSF’s participation in the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
NSF’s Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account that includes research directorates such as the Geosciences and Biological Sciences Directorates, would be funded at 7.696 billion, 786 million or 11.4 percent above the FY 2021 level, but $444 million below the President’s FY 2022 budget request. The House supports NSF’s proposed
Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships to be funded within the R&RA account and focused on use-inspired research including climate change.
Funding for the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is also within the CJS bill, would be raised to $6.46 billion, $1.03 billion or 18.9 percent above the FY 2021 enacted level. This is $525.2 million or 7.5 percent less than the budget request. The House bill proposes major increases across NOAA including for many research offices and programs, however, funding for research programs of interest to universities would fall short of the dramatic increases proposed in the President’s budget request. The bill would provide $684.5 million, a $113.9 million or 20 percent increase for
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) compared to the FY 2021 enacted level and 10.2 percent below the request. The
Climate Research Account would receive $253 million, with $120 million going to
Cooperative Institutes, $13 million above the budget request and about $45 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, and $74 million going to other
competitive climate research. The competitive climate research account saw one of the largest discrepancies between the budget request and the House report with the report proposing 43.4 percent less than the request largely due to the exclusion of $40 million that would have gone to an Advanced Research Projects Agency - Climate (ARPA-C) in the request. This account would still receive a $10 million or 16.0 percent increase over FY 2021.
The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Division (ESD), which houses NASA’s climate and earth observations work, would receive $2.25 billion, $250 million above the FY 2021 and equal to the President’s request.
Several climate and environment priorities are also included within the House Appropriations Committee’s FY 2022 Department of Defense and FY 2022 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bills. The House Defense bill would give DOD’s environmental research and remediation offices, the
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and the
Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), $81.9 million and $91.4 million respectively, a combined $50 million increase above the President’s budget request. The Defense bill also highlighted other climate and environment provisions including curbing DOD’s reliance on fossil fuels, promoting resilience and conservation across DOD’s energy portfolio, and calls for DOD to produce a report on greenhouse gas emissions on military bases. The Committee praised DOD for its work in energy conservation and base resilience and urges the Department to continue these efforts by investing in new technologies and updating building codes to remain resilient against the effects of climate change.
The House FY 2022 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill would provide $45.1 billion for the
Department of Energy (DOE), with the largest increase in funding, $906 million of 32 percent, for
renewable energy and energy efficiency projects (EERE). The House provided no funding for Biden’s proposed
ARPA-C but did increase funding for
ARPA-Energy and directed it to continue to address the environmental missions of DOE. With the increased focus on climate change, other important provisions include $130 million for
Energy Frontier Research Centers which will likely be focused on clean energy and energy efficient manufacturing technologies and the creation of
Urban Integrated Climate Fields Laboratories which will be established at a Minority Serving Institution to address critical research questions and center frontline communities in our fight against climate change.
The Appropriations Committee wrote its bills with the understanding that there will likely be an infrastructure package and a competitiveness authorizing bill in the works, so some accounts especially related to infrastructure, resilience, and energy may see additional infusions of funding later in the year.
Sources and Additional Information:
Federal Agency and Administration Updates
OMB Releases Interim Implementation Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its Interim Implementation Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative
, which has been anticipated since President Biden announced in Executive Order 14008 that 40 percent of the benefits for certain federally funded activities should flow to disadvantaged communities. The guidance addresses how agencies should define “disadvantaged communities,” identify covered federally funded activities, and quantify the benefits of such investments. Additional input is being collected from other stakeholders and it is expected that further standards for agencies will be issued later this year.
Federally funded investments covered under the interim guidance include those that produce environmental benefits, including in the areas of climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transportation, affordable and sustainable housing, workforce development on environment-focused topics, pollution remediation, and water/waste infrastructure. The guidance memo does
not address scientific research as topics to be addressed under the Justice40 initiative.
Sources and Additional Information:
White House Names Nominees for Leadership Positions at NOAA, USDA
The Biden Administration announced on July 28, 2021 that Dr. Jainey Bavishi would be nominated for the position of Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Bavishi previously served as Associate Director for Climate Preparedness at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and as a Senior Policy Advisor at NOAA. She is currently the Director of Climate Resiliency for the New York City Mayor’s office and will bring her background in resilience and climate change preparedness to the role. She will work directly under NOAA’s newly confirmed Administrator, Rick Spinrad.
In the same announcement, the White House also announced that Chavonda Jacobs-Young would be nominated to become the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics (REE) at the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Jacobs-Young has extensive familiarity with the agency and currently serves as the Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service and in an acting capacity as both the Chief Scientist and as the head of REE.
Sources and Additional Information:
Funding and Engagement Opportunities
NOAA Releases FY 2022 Climate Program Office Competitions
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office (CPO) has released its fiscal year (FY) 2022 solicitation for approximately 90 new awards with a total of $15 million in available funds. This annual series of competitions supports research through the CPO’s four programs including Earth System Science and Modeling (ESSM); Climate and Societal Interactions (CSI); National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS); and Communication, Education and Engagement (CEE). The FY 2022 competitions will be centered around the four high-priority risk areas which were developed in FY 2020: (1) Coastal Inundation, (2) Marine Ecosystems, (3) Water Resources, and (4) Extreme Heat. While in past years there has been some overlap in the competition topics, this year, all of the programs are brand new. The eight competitions for FY 2022 are:
- Fire and Smoke at the Wildland-Urban Interface
- Joint Competition to Advance Process Understanding and Representation of Precipitation in Models
- Observation and Modeling Studies in Support of Tropical Pacific Process Studies
- Improving Climate Understanding and Information For Marine Sanctuary Management Planning.
- Atmospheric Aerosols and Their Potential Roles in Solar Climate Intervention Methods
- Climate-Smart Communities Initiative (CSCI)
- Ecological Drought
- Building Tribal Drought Resilience
Deadlines: Letters of Intent are due at 5:00 pm ET on
August 9, 2021 and full applications are due
by
5:00 pm ET on
October 18, 2021.
Award Information: NOAA anticipates granting 90 awards across all eight competitions with a total of $15 million in funding with possible exceptions, pending budget appropriations. Notably, the budget for these competitions is significantly higher than the FY 2021 ($8 million) competitions.
Eligibility: Any U.S. institution of higher education, non-profit, or state and local government is eligible to apply; see each competition program page for specifics. There is no cost-sharing requirement.
Sources and Additional Information:
EPA Released the National Priorities: Water Innovation, Science, and Engagement to Advance Water Reuse Program
The National Priorities: Water Innovation, Science, and Engagement to Advance Water Reuse program, overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Research and Development and the Office of Science Advisor for Policy and Engagement funds extramural research on nationally relevant water quality and availability topics. This year, the program is focused on research to “accelerate water innovation, information availability, and engagement to advance clean and safe water reuse goals, promote better understanding of the Nation’s water and wastewater treatment and infrastructure, and enhance the availability and efficient use of water resources through water reuse.” Applications should address: (1) Science, Technology Development, and Validation for Water Reuse Applications and (2) Social Science, Information, Engagement, and Organizational Barriers to Water Reuse.
Eligibility: Public and private nonprofit institutions and public and private universities and colleges located in the United States and its territories or possessions are eligible.
Award Information: There will be up to two awards funded at up to $3,246,000 each for a maximum of four years.
Match Requirement: Each applicant must contribute a minimum 25 percent non-federal cost share/match of the federal funds awarded, which may include in-kind contributions.
Deadline: Applications must be submitted by September 29, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. ET.
Informational Webinar: EPA will host an informational webinar about this award on August 5, 2021 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET.
Sources and Additional Information:
NOAA NOS Releases Solicitation on Multi-Stressor Impacts on Marine Ecosystems
On July 27, 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service (NOS) through the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) released a solicitation for proposals to understand the impact of multiple stressors on the sustainability, function, and health of marine ecosystems within the context of climate change. The goal of this opportunity is to improve the place-based management of marine protected areas (MPAs), including the great lakes, and proactively protect critical ecosystems from future damaging climate scenarios.
Climate change worsens stressors that are already taxing on the environment (e.g. hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and ocean acidification) by changing the fundamental drivers of ecosystems (e.g. temperature, precipitation, seasonal cycles, and biogeochemistry). These changes impact oxygen, nutrient, carbon cycling and many other processes. Understanding how stressors affected by climate change interact with each other in an ecosystem is critical for place-based management and avoiding irreversible ecosystem effects. For these reasons, proposals should specifically focus on understanding how multiple stressors are currently impacting ecosystems and how these impacts will change and interact under future climate scenarios. All research projects must:
- Describe the importance of the region or habitat under study, key species, and/or parameters and why they are chosen for analysis with respect to thresholds, tipping points, and social and economic factors.
- Apply model (e.g., reanalyses, hindcasts, and large ensembles) and observational data to examine conditions/drivers of past extremes, tipping points, and benchmark variability patterns that drive ecosystem response.
- Integrate models to enable exploration of multiple stressors in the context of future climate scenarios, building upon and leveraging existing modeling platforms where possible.
- Conduct lab and/or field studies to better understand the relationship between multiple stressors, quantify ecological impacts, and resolve critical model parameters.
- Focus on or have application to species and/or ecosystems of importance to U.S. MPAs.
- Engage the relevant end users of the information through a management transition advisory group or MTAG (see Expected Outcomes). This includes translation of research results (e.g., development and/or contribution to online tools and workshops).
Award Information: Program funding is contingent upon funds made available by fiscal year (FY) 2022 federal appropriations. It is expected that 1-2 projects will be supported for up to 4 years with an annual budget of $1 million, not exceeding more than $4 million total per project.
Eligibility: Eligible applicants include U.S. institutions of higher education, non-profits, for-profit organizations, state, local, and Indian tribal governments, and U.S. territories. While all applications must include a statement of diversity and inclusion, NOAA strongly encourages individuals from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal colleges and universities, and institutions that work in underserved areas to apply.
Deadlines: All proposals are required to include a letter of intent (LOI) which must provide the relevance and competitiveness of their proposed project. LOIs must be submitted by email to
nccos.grant.awards@noaa.gov and received by 11:59 p.m. EST on
October 4, 2021. Full applications must be received and validated by Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. EST on
January 18, 2022.
Sources and Additional Information:
NSF Requests Proposals for Geo-Themed Industry University Cooperative Research Centers
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) to announce its expansion of the Industry University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) to include the translation of basic and use-inspired research in the geosciences into usable products, datasets, and tools of interest to the private sector, government, and other entities. The topics specifically highlighted as of interest to NSF through this DCL include strategic minerals, climate change, sea level rise, water resources, and earth-sun interactions. The IUCRC program provides support to faculty to develop partnerships with entities outside of academia, especially public-private partnerships. In this sense, IUCRC centers receive funding to support research activities, translation of research results to society and/or the marketplace, capacity building, and workforce development with the expectation that the centers will become self-sustainable. The topics specifically highlighted as of interest to NSF through this DCL include strategic minerals, climate change, sea level rise, water resources, and earth-sun interactions. Planning grant proposals for IUCRC proposals are due
September 8, 2021 and March 9, 2022. Those interested in developing proposals are encouraged to reach out to Barbara Ransom (
bransom@nsf.gov) in the Directorate for Geosciences.
Sources and Additional Information:
DOI Releases Desalination and Water Purification Research Program for FY 2022
The Department of Interior (DOI) is interested in supporting research to find innovative, cost-effective, and technologically efficient ways to desalinate or treat water. Although this is not an exhaustive list, applications should: (1) Reduce energy consumption and lower the cost of desalination; (2) Reduce the environmental impacts of desalination and develop the mechanisms to minimize those impacts; (3) Improve current desalination technologies; and (4) Identify metrics to analyze success and cost of technologies. The award will fund two different scales of work. Laboratory scale interventions are intended to support high-risk bench-studies to determine feasibility of novel processes, new materials, or process modifications. Pilot scale interventions are intended to support the scaling up of already piloted methods or technologies by generating data to understand the operational requirements and/or performance parameters for new water treatment approaches.
Eligibility: The solicitation is open to individuals, institutions of higher education, for-profit organizations, private entities, state and local governmental entities, entities that are an administrator of a federally funded research and development center, tribal governments and organizations, and non-profit organizations.
Award Information: There will be approximately 10 to 20 awards funded up to $7.85 million in FY 2022 or thereafter. Laboratory scale awards will be up to $250,000 over two years. Pilot scale awards will be up to $800,000 over three years.
Deadline: Applications must be submitted by
September 9, 2021 at
4:00 p.m. MT.
Sources and Additional Information:
EPA Releases the Collection of Concordant Multimedia Measurements to Evaluate PFAS Human Exposure Pathways Program
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Research and Development is soliciting applications for research that will supplement exposure measurements where biomonitoring of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is taking place. Projects should advance biomonitoring data and inform understanding of the sources and pathways related to personal exposures to PFAS, including through water, air, food, and soil.
Eligibility: The solicitation is open to public and private universities and colleges, public and private nonprofit institutions, hospitals, and laboratories in the U.S. and its territories. EPA especially encourages applications from minority-serving-institutions. For-profit firms and individuals are not eligible.
Award Information: There will be up to two awards funded at up to $250,000 for a maximum of three years.
Deadline: Applications must be submitted by
August 23, 2021 at
11:59 p.m. ET.
Sources and Additional Information:
EPA Releases Children’s Healthy Learning Environments in Low-Income and/or Minority Communities Program
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Children’s Health Protection is seeking proposals to support capacity building, outreach, and education activities to increase awareness of the wide range of disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards that impact children in school and childcare settings that primarily serve low-income and/or minority communities, with a focus on health outcome disparities from pollution and/or the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooperative agreements under this award will not fund research but should instead support proposals that promote learning to prevent exposures to multiple environmental health hazards through engagement of a diverse set of stakeholders and partnerships. All proposed activities should take place within school and childcare facilities.
Eligibility: The solicitation is open to public and private universities and colleges, among others. For-profit organizations, including proprietary colleges and universities, are not eligible.
Award Information: Up to 10 cooperative agreements will be funded up to $200,000 each. EPA intends to award one cooperative agreement to each of EPA’s 10 regions.
Deadline: Applications must be submitted by
September 10, 2021 at
11:59 p.m. ET.
Sources and Additional Information:
Fall Workshop Series on International Policy for Biodiversity Research Collaborations
With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the USA Nagoya Protocol Action Group (USANPAG) are organizing an international workshop series this fall that will explore how the international scientific community can study biodiversity in the changing landscape of international policy. The virtual series will consist of six thematic modules, each featuring presentations from a team of transboundary, international scientists who have engaged in international research collaborations. Topic areas will include:
- Phylogenetics, genome evolution, taxonomy
- Applied ecology and infectious disease
- Crop and livestock research and improvement, vertebrate genetic rescue
- Anthropology, ethnobiology and paleobiology
- Evo-Devo, bioengineering and synthetic biology
- Macrosystems and international long term ecological research (LTERs)
To receive the latest information and updates about these events, sign up at
http://io.aibs.org/nagoya.
Sources and Additional Information:
