EPA sets permanent research unit on homeland security

12 November 2004 22:39  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (CNI)--The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Friday it will establish a permanent research centre to support US homeland security operations and policy makers on issues of biological and chemical contamination.

 

The EPA said it is raising to “permanent” status a research centre that it first set up on a temporary basis shortly after the September 2001 terrorist attacks.  Located at Cincinnati, Ohio, the National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) was authorized initially to provide technical assistance for first responders and decision makers in a relatively short time frame.

 

The NHSRC had a start-up budget of $52m (Euro40m) in 2002 and had a continuing - although temporary - operating budget of around $25m in 2003 and this year.  EPA officials said today they could not yet estimate what the centre’s budget would be for 2005.

 

The NHSRC is being made permanent because EPA has been given increased responsibility by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to “provide the scientific expertise, advice and guidance on homeland security issues to emergency personnel, decision makers and government officials that will result in improved protection for all citizens.”

 

EPA officials were not immediately available Friday to say whether the expanded and now permanent role of NHSRC might have any bearing on chemical plant site security issues.

 

The now elevated NHSRC will be organised into three divisions, EPA said.  One division will deal with threat and consequence assessment; the second will handle decontamination and consequence management; and the third division will deal with water infrastructure protection.

 

An EPA official said that while the NHSRC is chiefly designed to serve first responders and policy makers, the centre will accept queries from chemical firms or other segments of industry.

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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