Science Policy Report

Address all comments to the Science Policy Office at:
sciencepolicy@sciencesocieties.org

18 August 2010

In This Issue:

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Conferences, Meetings and Reports

Congressional/Administration News

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Developing Country Collaborations in Plant Genome Research (DCC-PGR) supports research collaborations between US scientists and scientists in developing countries as part of ongoing or new Plant Genome Research Program awards. The intent of DCC-PGR awards is to support collaborative research linking US researchers with partners from developing countries to solve problems of mutual interest in agriculture, energy, and the environment. Research projects that build on prior PGRP investments and that tackle problems specific to crops grown in the developing world will be prioritized. Collaborative activities that focus on research problems important to developing countries and that include scientist-to-scientist interactions potentially leading to long-term partnerships among participating laboratories are highly encouraged. Priority will be given to projects that facilitate equal exchange of ideas among US scientists and scientists of developing nations. Requests can be submitted at any time. View the full announcement here: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf04563

USAID/Peru seeks to develop innovative alliances that strengthen value chains of Alternative Development Program (ADP) supported commodities such as oil palm, cocoa, and coffee. Alliances will complement the existing efforts of the ADP by leveraging resources, strategies, ideas, technologies and commitment from the private sector, other donors, and institutions of the Government of Peru for long-term sustainable development of ADP communities and regions. The partnerships are intended to increase competitive advantage through improved quality, better business practices, and social and environmental certifications. Proposals are expected to focus primarily on the San Martin region, but proposals for work in other regions will be considered. Total estimated program funding is $21,000,000. There is a cost sharing or matching requirement. The closing date for applications is 30 Sept. View the full announcement here: http://haiti.usaid.gov/our_work/global_partnerships/gda/resources/2010APSAddendum_AlternativeDevUSAIDPeru.pdf

The purpose of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program is to provide an opportunity for US-owned, for-profit small business firms to submit innovative and/or applied research and development projects that address important problems facing American agriculture. The SBIR program exists in three phases. In Phase 1, which typically lasts for eight months, applicants prove the scientific or technical feasibility of the proposed research and development effort. Research proposals are accepted in any of the following topic areas: 1) Forests and Related Resources; 2) Plant Production and Protection - Biology; 3) Animal Production and Protection; 4) Air, Water, and Soils; 5) Food Science and Nutrition; 6) Rural Development; 7) Aquaculture; 8) Biofuels and Biobased Products; 9) Marketing and Trade; 10) Animal Manure Management; 11) Small and Mid-Size Farms; and 12) Plant Production and Protection - Engineering. Phase I applications are due on 2 September. Total estimated program funding is $21,881,251. The award ceiling for the program is $100,000. View the full announcement here:  http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/rfas/sbir_rfa.html

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Indonesia (USAID/Indonesia) is seeking applications that describe approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in both the land-use/forestry sector and the energy sector. Subject to the availability of funds, USAID/Indonesia intends to award a series of cooperative agreements ranging in funding from $500,000-$1,500,000 for projects lasting up to three years. USAID/Indonesia is expecting to award two proposals. Total program funding is $1,500,000. There is a cost sharing or matching requirement. Applications are due on 15 September.  View the full announcement here:  http://indonesia.usaid.gov/documents/document/Document/407/APSIndonesia10011_Greenhouse_Gas_Mitigation

BLM offers opportunities for youth to gain land-management experience by working with managers on various projects. The expected number of awards is 50, with total program funding being $500,000. Applications are due on 31 August. View application here:  http://apply07.grants.gov/apply/UpdateOffer?id=20353

The purpose of this project is to conduct air quality monitoring in the Uinta Basin of Utah in order to support current and future energy development. This will include the deployment and operation of a long-term air quality monitoring station to observe ambient concentrations of ozone, oxides of nitrogen, and meteorological parameters in the Vernal Field Office near the city of Fruitland, Utah. The monitoring station will supplement the Utah Department of Air Quality current monitoring network and provide BLM with data for NEPA modeling and analysis of impacts. Total program funding is $350,000. The closing date for applications is 27 August. View the full announcement here:  http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=56535

The DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) is an element of the University Research Initiative, which is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Office, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The MURI program supports basic science and/or engineering research at US universities that is of potential interest to the DoD. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. Specific MURI topics are listed in the full announcement. The detailed descriptions are intended to provide the proposer a frame of reference and are not meant to be restrictive to the possible approaches to achieving the goals of the topic and the program. Innovative ideas addressing these research topics are highly encouraged. White papers are due 30 September, whereas full applications are due 7 December. View the full announcement here:  http://www.arl.army.mil/www/DownloadedInternetPages/CurrentPages/DoingBusinesswithARL/research/FY2011_MURI_BAA.pdf

The NRCS is seeking the assistance of an administrative agent to manage a Congressional Earmark to reduce phosphorous loading into Lake Champlain. The purpose of this announcement for funding is to secure an agent to advertise, rank, contract, and mange projects involving new and emerging technologies in manure management. The selected agent will work with the Alternative Manure Technology Coordinator to implement projects. Applications are due 27 August. View the full announcement here:  http://www.vt.nrcs.usda.gov/FundingOpps/

NOAA’s Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Programs meet NOAA's mission goal to protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management.  B-WET regional funding opportunities are published in July of each year, with closing dates ranging from August to November. Funded projects provide meaningful watershed educational experiences for students and related professional development for teachers in support of regional education and environmental priorities in six areas of the United States: California, Chesapeake Bay, the northern Gulf of Mexico, Hawai'i, New England, and the Pacific Northwest. View the full announcement here:  http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/BWET/BWET_funding.html

Conferences, Meetings and Reports

This report describes a range of options from mechanical recovery and use of dispersants to doing nothing, in addition to posing and addressing questions of responsibility. Report was released on 7 July. Summary: The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April and the resulting oil spill began a cascade of effects on the coastal areas of the Gulf and on the wealth of species that inhabit those areas. These wetlands, like those elsewhere, have value for water quality, flood control, shoreline protection, and recreation. Impacts of oil spills on wetland ecosystems depend on multiple factors, including the type of oil, exposure of the oil to weathering factors before it reaches the shore, the season in which the spill occurs, etc. Mitigation and cleanup of damage to wetlands is far from an exact science and involves many trade-offs: there is no single, best solution. View the full report here: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41311.pdf

In this report, the GAO analyzed inventory reviews and inventories from the seven highest-emitting Annex I nations and seven of the highest emitting non-Annex I nations, as well as interviewed experts. Report was released on 30 July. Summary: GAO was asked to report on comparability and quality of inventories and barriers; the strengths and limits of the inventory review process; and views of experts on implications for current and future international agreements to reduce emissions. View the full report here: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10818.pdf

The AAAS Annual Meeting will take place in Washington D.C. between 17-21 of February in 2011; advance registration, with a special discounted rate, opened Tuesday, 10 August. The theme of the meeting—“Science Without Borders”—covers human health, energy and climate, security, and education issues that transverse national borders. The increasing complexity of these challenges calls for innovative problem-solving as these challenges cut-across several disciplines and areas of technical expertise. Learn more about the meeting here: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2011/.

Agriculture’s Role in Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Capture, commissioned by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, examines the evidence for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sequestration in America’s major agroecosystems. The report summarizes current knowledge of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane emissions and capture across six regions—Northeast, Southeast, Corn Belt, Northern Great Plains, Southern Great Plains, and Pacific—as influenced by cropping system, tillage, and soil management. The report also outlines conservation agricultural systems and practices including: no-till, reduced tillage, cover crops, leguminous green manures, and nutrient-use efficiency—that, when adopted, will result in increased capture and reduced emissions of these GHGs. Additionally, critical knowledge gaps for research are identified. The full report can be viewed online at:  https://www.agronomy.org/files/science-policy/ghg-report-august-2010.pdf.

The new temporary exhibition Dig It! The Secrets of Soil, will be on display at the The Durham Museum this fall and early winter. The 4,000-square-foot display reveals the complex world of soil and how this hidden ecosystem supports nearly every form of life on earth. Visitors can explore soil found in their own backyard and in obscure locations, with 54 soil samples representing each U.S. state and territory and the District of Columbia, as well as soil maps and touchable soil models. In doing so, they will discover a world teaming with life. In fact, so many organisms contribute to the health of soil that scientists have not even named them all. For more information about the events which will complement the exhibit's stay at the museum, please visit: http://durhammuseum.org/about/whats-new/details.aspx?ID=169

Congressional/Administration News

The US Senate passed a NASA authorization bill, S. 3729, on Aug. 5 before adjourning for summer recess. The authorization bill provides $58.4 billion from FY ‘11 through FY ‘13 operations and programs in NASA. The bill would direct NASA to retain its human-manned space shuttle activities through FY ‘11, but it would also authorize the agency to foster development of commercial crew services, mirroring the interests expressed in the Administration’s FY ’11 budget request. The Senate bill would direct NASA to contract with the National Academies to review the U.S. human spaceflight program beginning in FY ‘12. The companion bill in the House however outlines a $3.3 billion investment in a commercial crew transportation system over the next three years. It was passed by the House Science and Technology Committee, but has not been passed by the full House because of delay caused by opponents to the bill. To view the Senate bill, please visit: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.3729:. To view the House companion bill, please visit: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.5781:.

On 22 July, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2011 (S.3635). In the bill, the DOE Office of Science (DOE OS) is funded at $5 billion. The House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Bill was approved in subcommittee on 15 July. In the House bill, the DOE OS is funded at $4.9 billion. View Senate bill here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.3635:. View the summary table for the House here: http://appropriations.house.gov/images/stories/pdf/ew/FY2011_EW_Summary_Table.7.15.10.pdf.
View a table showing the status of all FY ’11 appropriation bills here: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app11.html

On 14 July, Senators John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) released a discussion draft of the Carbon Capture and Storage Deployment Act of 2010. As written, the bill would authorize a cooperative industry-government research and development program in the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy to encourage development of additional technologies that capture, use, or store carbon dioxide. It includes a section about the ‘pioneer phase’ of development where operational incentives would be required to mitigate economic risks. Where operational incentives are provided as tax credits based on the amount of carbon dioxide captured at a given facility. The authors intend to spur private sector development and innovation for clean technologies to reduce air pollution and capture and store greenhouse gases. To view the draft legislation, please visit: http://rockefeller.senate.gov/press/CCS1X9.pdf

On 30 July, the House passed the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010 (H.R. 3534). The bill, also referred to as the CLEAR Act, imposes fees on oil production, strengthens offshore drilling standards, and introduces three new agencies—the Bureau of Energy and Resources Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and the Office of Natural Resource Revenue, which will take the place of the Minerals Management Service in the Department of the Interior. The bill also redirects some of the revenue from offshore drilling to research and coastal planning efforts. The related Ocean Resources Conservation and Assistance Fund (Fund) would provide grants to coastal states and Regional Ocean Partnerships for ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems research and planning. The Fund will also support a competitive grants program. The Senate version of the bill establishes an interagency research effort to address spill prevention and response. Right now, the Senate version does not include an ocean research fund. However, Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced S.3641, a marker bill which would establish an Ocean Endowment Fund. View the full House bill here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3534:. See the Snowe/Whitehouse marker bill here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:s3641:.

On 29 July, the Information Policy, Census and National Archives Subcommittee held a hearing entitled, Public Access to Federally-Funded Research. The purpose of the hearing was to foster dialogue and discussion on the impact of increasing public access for stakeholders. Ten witnesses from the publishing, patient advocate, and research sectors presented their opinions on public access to federally-funded research. Proponents of public access policies argued that immediate access to research will lessen expenses to libraries that pay for research publications, accelerate scientific research and results, and allow greater public access to findings. Opponents of these policies argued that subscription fees recoup the costs in time and money that is needed for proper peer-review, copy-editing, manuscript development, and printing of articles and journals on behalf of for-profit and non-profit publishers. During the hearing, proponents suggested using the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 5116) or the Federal Research Public Access Act (S. 1373) to increase public access to federally-funded scientific research. the Federal Research Public Access Act, introduced by Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in 2009 requires each federal agency which funds $100 million or more in R&D to support an open access policy similar to NIH. Currently, NIH requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts with NIH funded research to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. To view the list of speakers, please visit: http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5061:qpublic-access-to-federally-funded-researchq&catid=48:hearings&Itemid=29

On August 10, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the State of Israel signed a formal agreement to collaborate on research to meet the world’s food and fiber needs and address other high-priority agricultural issues. The five-year agreement addresses key bilateral and global agricultural development issues such as climate change, international food security, alternative energy production, precision agriculture, sustainable natural resources management, capacity building and rural development. The new agreement will complement existing collaborative research activities supported by the United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund, a program that was created in 1978. To date, BARD-sponsored research has led to new technologies in drip irrigation, pesticides, fish farming, livestock, poultry, disease control, and farm equipment.

Sources: Sources: Congressional Quarterly; E&E Publishing; Food Industry Environmental Network, LLC, AAAS

Vision: The Societies Washington, DC Science Policy Office (SPO) will advocate the importance and value of the agronomic, crop and soil sciences in developing national science policy and ensuring the necessary public-sector investment in the continued health of the environment for the well being of humanity. The SPO will assimilate, interpret, and disseminate in a timely manner to Society members information about relevant agricultural, natural resources and environmental legislation, rules and regulations under consideration by Congress and the Administration.

This page of the ASA-CSSA-SSSA web site will highlight current news items relevant to Science Policy. It is not an endorsement of any position.