It was announced in early February that several EPA research libraries are to be shut down due to a $2 million cut in funding out of a total $2.5 million budget. The research libraries are accessible to the general public, but are largely used by EPA scientists and enforcement officials.

The cuts come at a time when the Bush Administration is proposing an increase in EPA research funding under the “American Competitive Initiative.”

“How are EPA scientists supposed to engage in cutting edge research when they cannot find what the agency has already done? “ asked Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). "The President's plan will not make us more competitive if we have to spend half our time re-inventing the wheel." [1]

Originally, the proposed cuts to the EPA budget – totaling $300 million – included the dismantling of an electronic catalog that provides access to EPA research. Within the catalog collection are more than 50,000 documents that cannot be found elsewhere. The elimination of such a program would have made navigation of the research network impossible. Funds were shifted to enable the continued operation of the system, but that has also led to an additional $500,000 in budget cuts to EPA libraries across the country.

The early closure of the Midwest Regional library, which serves EPA staff and universities in six states, is not an isolated event. Many other branches are pursuing similar cutbacks in anticipation of Congressional approval of the budget. Noted Ruch, "EPA might want to wait for Congress to act before its shutters its libraries." [2]

Moreover, said Ruch, "EPA's national research plan is supposed to build on what we already know. But effectively deploying our existing knowledge base will be increasingly difficult if decades of research are locked away in storage." [3]

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SOURCES:
[1] PEER press release, Feb. 1, 2006.
[2] PEER press release, Mar. 16, 2006.
[3] Ibid.