FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 2014

1. FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 2014
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FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 2014
Prepared by Peter Saundry, Ph.D. for the COUNCIL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEANS AND DIRECTORS,
AND THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE AFFILIATE PROGRAM OCTOBER 2014
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

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Foreword
he National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) is pleased to acknowledge and express its deep appreciation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program has provided the budget analysis behind this report for the past fifteen years, first under Kei Koizumi and, in recent years, under Patrick Clemins and now Matthew Hourihan.
AAAS drew the data for this report from White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) R&D data, Budget of the United States Government, and from agency and historical data. Yearly values are adjusted for inflation using OMB's GDP deflators. Nominal values are unadjusted. FY 2013 are estimates adjusted for the full-year continuing resolution and sequestration. The text of this report is largely drawn directly from the budget justifications of the agencies, their websites, and other public resources produced by the agencies.
The definition of environmental R&D used in this report includes environmental physical, life, and social sciences; environmental engineering; energy-related fields; environmental data and information; and studies that utilize any or all of the above to address pollution problems or activities that impair the sustained functioning and productivity of the earth’s environment.
We have made no effort to analyze activities by specific “fields of science” or “scientific disciplines.”
Because terms such as “environmental science” and even “research” and “development” have imprecise definitions, estimates of federal funding for environmental R&D must be considered approximations. That is not to say the data and descriptions of particular programs are not accurate, rather that definitions are important in deciding which programs and projects to include in the analysis. We have attempted to maintain consistency over the past fourteen years in order to identify trends.
The budget of the federal government and the activities of its agencies are subject to change — sometimes significant change at short notice. We again encourage readers to explore the websites and documents of the respective agencies and programs for the latest information.

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Executive Summary
ollowing a year in which significant political disagreement on spending levels and priorities between the two major political parties dramatically impacted the federal budget, Fiscal Year 2014 (October 1, 2013 to September 30, 2014) was more stable and positive for spending on environmental research and development by the federal government.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, the federal government of the United States spent nearly $9 billion on environmental research and development (R&D).
This amount is 7.8 percent higher than in Fiscal Year 2013 in inflation-adjusted “constant dollars.” It is very close to the level spent in Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011.
Figure 1 shows spending on environmental research and development by the federal government over the past fifteen years. Note that the red bar, or “spike,” in FY 2009 is funding related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of that year intended to stimulate the economy in response to the major economic downturn occurring at that time. The bars reflect inflation-adjusted constant dollars while the line reflects unadjusted “nominal dollars.”
Figure 1: Estimated Federal Environmental R&D 2000 – 2014 (budget authority in billions of dollars)

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Federal funding for environmental R&D has not significantly changed over the past fifteen years. FY 2014 expenditures are 0.3 percent lower than FY 2000 expenditures. For eight years (FY 2001-2004 and FY 2009-2012), expenditures were slightly higher than in FY 2014 – typically 2-5 percent.
Figure 2: Federal Environmental R&D percent change from previous year
The notable exception to this oscillating trend was FY 2009, when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a one-time boost of nearly 80 percent to environment R&D.
Table 1 shows the agency-by-agency totals for environmental R&D funding in recent years.
Three agencies provide nearly two-thirds of all federal environmental R&D funding: the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). These agencies also reflect the diversity of federal funding for environmental R&D.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding is dominated by intramural R&D, predominantly through National Laboratories run by non-governmental organizations. DOE funding is also dominated by applied research and development directed at advancing the energy goals of the United States.

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Table 1: Estimated Federal Environmental R&D (budget authority in millions of dollars)
FY 2012
FY 2013
FY 2014
Change FY 14-13
Percentage of Total Federal Environmental R&D Department of Energy 2,257 2,144 2,329 8.6% 26.0%
NASA
1,761
1,659
1,825
10.0%
20.4% National Science Foundation 1,722 1,672 1,729 3.4% 19.3%
Department of the Interior
820
785
826
5.2%
9.2% NOAA 574 543 666 22.7% 7.4%
U.S. Department of Agriculture
645
558
606
8.7%
6.8% Environmental Protection Agency 596 533 555 4.1% 6.2%
Department of Defense
409
241
234
-2.7%
2.6% National Institutes of Health 79 75 77 3.3% 0.9%
Department of Transportation
57
54
59
10.5%
0.7% Smithsonian Institution 37 35 37 5.4% 0.4%
Corps of Engineers
11
11
11
0.0%
0.1%
TOTAL
8,967
8,309
8,954
7.8%
100%
NASA funding is dominated by the development and deployment of satellite-based observing systems and the collection and use of the data from those systems.
The National Science Foundation provided support for basic research, primarily conducted at academic institutions or facilities operated by groups of academic institutions.
This diversity is deflected in the programs of other federal agencies.
Collaboration between researchers inside and outside of government and with state and local governments and private sectors partners is significant and encouraged by the federal government.
The objective of collaboration is to make the investment of public dollars in environmental science provide a positive return to U.S. society. This positive return is realized in several ways, including:
 more informed and effective decision making on environmental and energy issues at the local, regional, national, and global level;
 stronger and more environmentally sustainable economic growth;
 improved health of the U.S. public;

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Federal Funding for Environmental Research and Development 2012
 sustainable access to environmental services and resources such as clean water and air, parks, forests, fisheries, and minerals; and
 enhancing the environmental education, knowledge, and training of the U.S. public, particular young Americans who will address many significant environmental challenges in the future.
Over the course of the last fifteen years, the relative environmental R&D funding levels have changed more significantly than the total level of funding, as shown in Figure 2.
Of note is the relative increase in funding by the National Science Foundation, which was nearly 50 percent higher in FY 2014 than in FY 2000, in constant dollars (adjusted for inflation).
Figure 3: Estimated Environmental R&D expenditures for different agencies of the federal government 2000 – 2014 (budget authority in $ billions)

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NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

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