PCAP - Presidential Climate Action Project

special committees but are expressly prohibited from being compensated for this service. 389 ThePresident may direct the NSF to sponsor research: “When so directed by the President, theFoundation is . . . authorized to support, through other appropriate organizations, appliedscientific research and engineering research relevant to national problems involving the publicinterest.” 390Authority over the Agency. The CCSP is an executive branch agency, but aspects of theCCSP’s functions involve implementing research under the United States Global Research Actof 1990. (See footnotes 3 and 4.). Authority over the CCSP flows down from the Presidentthrough the Committee on Climate Change Science and Technology Integration (“CCCSTI”),which, according to a CCSP publication, is a cabinet-level management committee: “Themanagement structure places accountability and leadership for the science and technologyprograms in the relevant cabinet departments. The relevant research continues to be coordinatedthrough the National Science and Technology Council in accordance with the Global ChangeResearch Act of 1990.” 391 The membership of the CCCSTI includes cabinet-level officials, theAdministrators of the EPA and of NASA, and the Director of the NSF, among others. 392 Thismanagement structure is generally consistent with the dual function of the CCSP as (1) thestatutory committee tasked by the USGCRA with implementing and integrating researchpursuant to the Act and (2) the implementing entity for President George W. Bush’s CCRI. TheCCSP is directly organized under the Interagency Working Group on Climate Change Scienceand Technology (“Interagency Working Group”), which appears to be responsible for integratingresearch between the CCSP and the related Climate Change Technology Program. According tothe CCSP publication, the Interagency Working Group is responsible for “setting top-level goalsfor the program and determining what products will be developed and produced to meet thosegoals. Through this structure, the CCSP also coordinates with the Climate Change TechnologyProgram (CCTP) to address issues at the intersection of science and technology.” 393 The CCSP,inasmuch as it is the implementing agency for the CCRI, is completely under presidentialcontrol. The President’s control over the statutory functions of the CCSP is more limited,although the USGCRA grants considerable discretionary authority to the President, as notedabove.The NSF, as noted above, is an independent agency, although its officials are appointed by thePresident subject to Senate confirmation. The President explicitly has authority to direct theNSF to support research in the public interest.Executive Orders. There appear to be no Executive Orders relating directly to either the CCSPor the CCRI. Sixty-six executive orders mention the National Science Foundation. One of these389 Id. at § 1873(d).390 42 U.S.C. § 1862(c).391 U.S. Climate Change Science Program, “Overview of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program,” CCSP-1, 2(January, 2006).392 Composition of CCCSTI: Secretary of Commerce (chair), Secretary of Energy (vice-chair), Director of the Officeof Science and Technology Policy (CCCSTI director), EPA Administrator, OMB Director, Director of the NationalEconomic Council, NASA Administrator, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Department of Health andHuman Services, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Secretary of Agriculture,Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, NSF Director. See id.393 Id.CEES 103 | P age