EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES POLICY NEWSLETTER
January 7, 2022 | 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 that are relevant to the environmental research and higher education community.
Members of Congress and their staff returned to Washington from the Winter Recess with a full plate. Ending 2021 with a Democratic stalemate on the Build Back Better spending package, a stall on the highly-anticipated
U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, and without finalizing any of the fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations bills does not set up the ideal start to 2022 that the Biden Administration was hoping to accomplish. Congress and the President will have to work quickly to correct course on appropriations before the end of the continuing resolution (CR) on February 18. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has invited President Biden to deliver the State of the Union address on March 1, about a month later than usual, which would provide time to complete negotiations of the Build Back Better reconciliation package and to release the FY 2023 President’s budget request.
The future of the Build Back Better reconciliation package and the climate change programs proposed therein remain uncertain. The expectation is that Senate Democrats will continue to modify the package to gain support from Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), which is necessary for passage in the absence of Republican support. The package now includes over $550 billion in funding to address climate-related challenges, including significant investments in research and development efforts to reduce carbon emissions. If it does not pass, or if the size and scope of climate and environment provisions are significantly reduced, Democrats may decide to advance a separate climate-focused legislative package as an alternative. As the November midterm elections approach, the legislative calendar will be shortened to allow time for campaigning, which increases the urgency for the Democratic caucus to aim for success early in 2022.
The White House is placing increased pressure on Congress to pass FY 2022 appropriations bills while developing the FY 2023 budget request. Determining funding for the next fiscal year is much more complicated without current spending levels. The Biden Administration has said that it is prepared to release the FY 2023 President’s budget request on time in February. The request will indicate the Administration’s priorities for programs across the federal government and would also likely give critical insights into how funding from the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was passed in November 2021, will be spent. In addition, the passage of FY 2022 appropriations will enable federal agencies to release solicitations for new programs, many of which will address the Biden Administration’s priorities on climate change and environmental equity.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Congressional Updates
Federal Agency and Administration Updates
Funding and Engagement Opportunities
Congressional Updates
NDAA Signed into Law with Significant Environmental Provisions
On December 27, 2021, the fiscal year (FY) 2022
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was signed into law, after the measure passed in both the House and Senate in a bipartisan manner earlier in the month. The FY 2022 NDAA authorizes $768.2 billion in discretionary spending, including $117 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation accounts, a 12.4 percent increase over FY 2021 authorization levels. The accounts representing science and technology, including basic research, applied research, and advanced technology development, received an 18 percent increase above FY 2021 authorized levels.
In relation to environmental and climate provisions, this legislation directs the Secretary of Defense to work with a federally-funded research and development center to identify requirements for Department of Defense’s acquisition workforce to promote obtaining efficiently-resourced and resilient goods and services, to work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to include extreme weather changes in environmental conditions when assessing risk to supply chains.
Further, this legislation authorizes the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) at $81 million, $30 million above the FY 2022 President’s budget request; and authorizes the Environmental Security Technical Certification Program (ESTCP) at $89.4 million, $18 million above the FY 2022 President’s budget request. These programs are the primary source of environmental research funding at the Department of Defense. This legislation also directs DOD to:
- Incorporate the consideration of extreme weather risks into certain planning documents and strategies;
- Create a process to ensure that effective and accurate analytical tools are used to estimate energy resilience;
- Ensure that water, energy, and waste net-zero is achieved by 10 percent of major military installations by 2035;
- Establish a long-duration energy storage technologies demonstration initiative;
- Assess mission impacts related to climate resilience and extreme weather effects; and
- Use data centers industry best practices to create efficiency targets for energy and water.
Sources and additional information:
Federal Agency and Administration Updates
President Biden Signs Executive Order Catalyzing America’s Clean Energy Economy Through Federal Sustainability
On December 8, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order (EO) 14057 “Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability.” The EO directs agencies and offices across the federal government to reduce emissions and invest in domestic clean energy industries. President Biden set the following ambitious goals for the federal government to meet:
- “100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity (CFE) by 2030, at least half of which will be locally supplied clean energy to meet 24/7 demand;
- 100 percent zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) acquisitions by 2035, including 100 percent zero-emission light-duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027;
- Net-zero emissions from federal procurement no later than 2050, including a Buy Clean policy to promote use of construction materials with lower embodied emissions;
- A net-zero emissions building portfolio by 2045, including a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2032;
- Net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050, including a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030;
- Climate-resilient infrastructure and operations; and
- A climate- and sustainability-focused Federal workforce.”
To meet these goals, the Administration released a new federal sustainability plan with detailed descriptions of the different steps that each agency is taking. In addition to meeting the goals above, the federal sustainability plan aims to advance environmental justice and increase partnerships with public, private, and non-profit organizations to catalyze the growth of clean energy industries and jobs. The EO also establishes the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer within the Council of Environmental Quality to lead the development of policies, programs, and partnerships to achieve the policies set forth in this order, advance sustainability and climate-resilient Federal operations, and ensure that the federal government leads by example in combating the climate crisis.
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OSTP Releases 2022-2026 Arctic Research Plan
In December 2021, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee’s (IARPC) Arctic Research Plan 2022-2026. IARPC is charged with collaborating across 16 agencies, departments, and offices to develop a new Arctic Research Plan every 5 years, and will present their report on the last five years and new plan to Congress in January. Priority areas in the report include community resilience and health, arctic systems interactions, sustainable economics and livelihoods, and risk management and hazard mitigation. To accomplish these priorities, the plan recommends increased investment in data management, education, monitoring, indigenous participation, and technological innovation. IARPC will continue to solicit feedback and ideas on implementing the plan in the coming months, including through public meetings and an online comment form open until March 31, 2022. This will culminate in the release of an accompanying implementation plan in September 2022.
Sources and additional information:
DOD Environmental Programs Hold 2021 Symposium
The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), the leading environmental research, remediation, and operational energy offices within the Department of Defense (DOD), held their annual symposium in December 2021. This year’s symposium discussed the offices’ top funding priorities, which include Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) chemical detection and remediation, deployment of innovative environmental and energy technology, cleanup and remediation, and environmental resilience and restoration. In line with the Biden Administration’s focus on climate and environment, as well as recent budgetary decisions within DOD, SERDP & ESTCP are looking to fund research with tangential application to the climate sciences, and encourage innovative and broad proposals.
Researchers interested in working with SERDP & ESTCP should consider the increasing interest in sustainability and familiarize themselves with DOD’s sustainability plan and climate adaptation plan. Many symposium sessions addressed what makes a proposal most effective with program managers, noting that successful proposals often include teams of multidisciplinary researchers and coordinate with military services and their statements of need (SONs). The symposium also coincides with the submission period for both offices’ broad agency announcements (BAA) and SERDP Exploratory Development (SEED) solicitation. Both BAAs require pre-proposals due
January 6, 2022, with full proposals due
March 10, 2022. Proposals for the SEED solicitation are also due
March 10, 2022. The initiation of new SERDP and ESTCP programs will not occur before fiscal year 2022 appropriations are passed.
Sources and additional information:
USDA, DOI, and FEMA Establish Joint Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of the Interior (DOI), and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) jointly announced the establishment of a Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. The directive to create this Commission was included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law on November 15, 2021. The Commission, to be comprised of stakeholders from federal, state, Tribal, county governments and private industry representatives, will be responsible for recommending federal strategies to prevent and mitigate wildland fires and to restore affected lands more effectively.
The Commission is tasked with providing policy recommendations to Congress one year following its first meeting, with a focus on implementation of effective wildland fire risk reduction, community risk reduction, and resilience. While Commission membership currently does not involve representation from academia or the research community, the establishment of this group builds upon other coordinated federal efforts, including the White House Wildfire Resilience Interagency Working Group. Together, these actions signal that the Biden Administration and Congress will continue to advance whole-of-government approaches to address wildland fire and to enhance disaster resilience.
Sources and additional information:
NSF Releases New Convergence Accelerator Topics for 2022
The National Science Foundation (NSF) released three new topics for its 2022 Convergence Accelerator solicitation, which supports projects from interdisciplinary, cross-sector teams that accelerate use-inspired convergence research in areas of national importance. Two of the topics announced are directly relevant to environmental research: Track I, Sustainable Materials for Global Challenges; and Track J, Food & Nutrition Security. Through Track I, NSF intends to fund research focused on innovative materials for critical applications, especially to improve the sustainability of polluting industries and products. In addition, this solicitation highlights the importance of “systems-level” thinking, including data and analysis of the supply chain, and workforce development. Through Track J, NSF intends to support research at the intersection of agricultural, food, and sociological systems to improve food and nutrition equity, strengthen the supply chain, and reduce waste, while encouraging the use of data, modeling, and the social and behavioral sciences. NSF is planning to release the full solicitation in the coming months.
Sources and additional information:
Funding and Engagement Opportunities
EPA Releases STAR Solicitation on Research to Reduce Consumer Food Waste in the United States
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a request for applications (RFA) utilizing innovative, interdisciplinary research to develop and test community-based practices to reduce food waste in U.S. households. This RFA is seeking proposals through the EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program that should involve communities by focusing on at least one of three prevention-oriented strategies: “changing the food environment to discourage consumer waste; enabling and incentivizing consumers to reduce food waste; or applying novel research and technologies to support consumers in reducing their food waste.” The EPA is seeking to support projects that will develop, apply and test innovative and creative interventions that involve partnerships with state, local, or community entities with the ability to influence the food environment. Community engagement plans are required as part of an application to describe how applicants will incorporate input from appropriate partners in the design and implementation of the project, complement other projects to increase positive outcomes, and address the needs of local communities. EPA intends to provide a total of $1.5 million for approximately two awards, with award funding up to $750,000 per project and a maximum duration of three years. Applications are due
February 9, 2022 by 11:59pm ET.
Sources and additional information:
NASA Releases ROSES for Earth Science, Equity, and Environmental Justice
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) to advance progress on equity and environmental justice (EEJ) domestically through the application of Earth science, geospatial, and socioeconomic information. This NRA is seeking proposals through NASA’s Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) 2021 funding mechanism that will expand the use of NASA Earth science information to advanced equity and environmental justice. The program will support “building awareness of environmental justice (EJ) issues that communities face through the near-term,” as well as developing “effective engagement approaches for longer-term EEJ-oriented application efforts.” The NRA includes three program elements that proposers can submit to, each with separate funding details:
- Landscape analyses that utilize data collection and assessment to increase understanding of the EEJ landscape to inform ESD’s short-and-long term priorities and activities, for which NASA will provide $100,000 per award and a duration of 6-9 months.
- Community-based feasibility studies done in coordination with EJ communities to understand user needs in using Earth science data in actions and policies, for which NASA will provide $150,000 per award and a duration of 12-18 months.
- Data integration projects that that develop, test, and demonstrate sustained use of integrated Earth science, geospatial, and socioeconomic data, tools, and/or applications to support EJ communities, for which NASA will provide $250,000 per award and a duration of 12-24 months.
NASA will host two pre-proposal teleconferences on
January 7, 2022, and
February 17, 2022. Proposals are due
March 18, 2022.
Sources and additional information:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program Released
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Costal Program provides technical and financial assistance through cooperative agreements to protect and restore the habitat of wildlife and fish on both private and public lands. Projects for this program are collaborative and must be based on the best science available and programmatic missions. Projects for this program seek to increase coastal resilience and support the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) “America the Beautiful” initiative, which, among other goals, aims to pursue collaborative and inclusive approaches to conservation that stimulate local economies; conserve 30 percent of America's lands and waters over the next 30 years; encourage locally-led conservation efforts; and support Tribal conservation priorities. Of the $6 million in funding, the DOI plans to make 200 awards, with a maximum award amount of $200,000. Applications for this program will be accepted on a rolling basis until
September 30, 2022. To be considered for fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding, applications must be submitted by
June 30, 2022.
Sources and additional information:
CDC Releases RFA for Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued a request for applications (RFA) for the Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health (Ag Centers) to conduct research to improve the safety and health of agricultural, forestry, and fishing workers. Centers should focus on local, regional, or national worker health and safety issues, and utilize innovative practices to address barriers to the adoption and scale-up of evidence-based solutions. Applicants must establish direct connections between the research and outreach activities to address occupational health and safety, describe the expected impacts of the project, and are expected to collaborate with other academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and other relevant groups. Ag Centers are required to have an Evaluation and Planning Core for oversight and coordination, an Outreach Core to ensure that approaches are implemented to benefit affected populations, and a Research Core to design projects aligned with the Center’s strategic plan. CDC intends to provide a total of $15-18 million for approximately 10-12 awards, with award funding up to $1.4 million per project and a maximum duration of five years. Letters of intent are required, and are due 30 days prior to the application deadline. Applications are due
October 24, 2022; October 24, 2023; and October 22, 2024.
Sources and additional information:
NSF Releases International PIRE Solicitation Focused on Climate Change and Clean Energy
The National Science Foundation (NSF) released the solicitation for its new Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) competition focused on Use-Inspired Climate Change and Clean Energy Research Challenges. PIRE teams will involve international partnerships, including interdisciplinary researchers and stakeholders outside of academia, and should demonstrate potential for rapid growth through adding new partners to become prominent international centers of excellence. PIRE projects should “utilize multi-stakeholder and international partnerships that are essential to address these challenges of critical societal importance at a regional or global scale.” NSF encourages proposals that will advance the understanding of the human and behavioral aspects of climate change and clean energy. Educational activities are also an essential component of successful PIRE projects, and both research and education plans should clearly state how they plan to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in science and engineering.
NSF has anticipated funding of $15 million for this competition. NSF plans to make 10-15 awards of up to $1.5 million in total over three years. The award size is smaller and the award duration is shorter than previous PIRE solicitations, which awarded up to $4 million over five years.
Letters of intent are required and are due
February 8, 2022. Full proposals are due
March 25, 2022.
Sources and additional information:
USGCRP Requests Input on its 2022-2031 Strategic Plan Prospectus
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) published a call for inputs on the 2022-2031 Strategic Plan prospectus. According to the Federal Register notice, the “USGCRP is seeking feedback on the strategic pillars and priorities, as well as themes or topics that should be included in the final Strategic Plan.” Given that the USGCRP consists of leaders from a cross-section of the U.S. Interagency, faculty review of this document could be an avenue to elevate consideration of specific research priorities. Comments are due by no later than
11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 11 January 2022. To access the draft prospectus and submit comments, one must establish an account through the USGCRP Review and Comment (R&C) System.
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UNFCCC Technical Committee Calls for Input from Experts on Response Measures
The Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures (KCI), a constituted body under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), invites experts, practitioners, and relevant institutions to submit inputs for the committee to consider in preparation for its upcoming meeting this spring. The three areas in which inputs are welcome include (1) examples of how gender, intergenerational equity, the needs of local communities, indigenous peoples, youth and other people in vulnerable situations can be considered in the context of climate change mitigation activities and policies; (2) case studies and methods that examine the economic impacts of new industries and businesses resulting from the implementation of climate mitigation policies or actions; and (3) experiences and best practices on the assessment of the environmental, social and economic co-benefits of climate change policies and actions. Inputs may include published academic articles, reports, or publications. While studies and examples in the United States or other developed countries are welcome, the committee is especially interested in examples that take place in and/or are translatable to developing country settings. The submission deadline is
January 31, 2022 for topic one and
March 31, 2022 for topics two and three. All input should be e-mailed to
KCI@unfccc.int copying
klata@unfccc.int.
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