# Science & Technology

**Agency:** EPA  
**Account:** Science & Technology  
**Source document:** Environmental Protection Agency · p. 15  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/budget/epa/science-technology  

> **Trust:** parsed from the agency Congressional Justification. Approximate, **not summable**, verify at the cited page.

## Funding ($M)

| Fiscal year | Basis | Amount |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FY2026 | enacted | 744.2 |
| FY2027 | request | 508.4 |

## EPA discretionary budget authority (OMB PBDB — authoritative)

FY2027 $5.90B, FY2026 $22.30B. This is the agency total, not a sum of the parsed lines.


## What this funds

The Agency notes that FY 2026 levels are estimates and subject to refinement based on Administration priorities. Exposure to chemical agents, pathogens, and radiological materials released into the environment can pose catastrophic consequences to the health of responders and American citizens. EPA has the responsibility to remediate contaminated environments created by terrorist and advances response capabilities for contaminant characterization and consequence assessment, environmental cleanup and infrastructure remediation, and community engagement and systems-based tools supporting resilience. This research supports EPA in carrying out its primary mission to help communities prepare for, endure, and recover from disasters. Researchers collaborate with states, local communities, Tribes, private sector organizations, and other federal departments/agencies to deliver effective tools, methods, information, and guidance that address critical terrorism related issues and disasters.7 These efforts underline EPA's commitment to safeguard clean air, land, and water for every American, making great advances through cooperative federalism and cross-agency partnerships, and adopting and adapting AI to enhance response and recovery capabilities. EPA also is responsible for operating and maintaining the network of near real-time radiation monitors, known as RadNet, a key resource necessary for responding to certain incidents as noted within the Nuclear/Radiological Incident Annex to the National Response Framework. The RadNet fixed monitoring network provides near real-time radiation monitoring coverage near each of the most populous U.S. cities, as well as expanded geographic coverage, for a total of 140 monitoring sites. RadNet improves officials' ability to make decisions about protecting public health and the environment during and after an incident. Additionally, RadNet data is used by scientists to better characterize the effect of a radiological incident. 7 Partners include Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DOD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of Agriculture (USDA). RadNet is critical in responding to large-scale incidents, such as the accident at the Fukushima nuclear facility and potential incidents in Ukraine. It is an EPA Critical Infrastructure/Key Resource asset and is supported by the information technology (IT) system known as the Analytical Radiation Data System (ARadDS). EPA will continue to maintain, update, and modernize RadNet as it is the only nationwide environmental radiation monitoring system that monitors the Nation's air, ambient radiation exposure rates, precipitation, and drinking water for radiation. FY 2027 Activities and Performance Plan: Work in this program directly supports Goal 3/Objective 2, Cooperative Federalism, in the FY This program supports efficient and effective clean-up after contamination incidents, enabling recovery and growth and engages across the federal, state, Tribal, and local enterprise, and in public-private partnerships. The program is pioneering AI innovation, positioning the U.S. as a Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American: ' Develop methods for clean-up of hazardous chemicals, such as chemical warfare agents, pesticides, and opioids (e.g., fentanyl) from various surfaces and materials. ' Enhance capabilities for biological threats, including the development of methods for sample collection/processing and advancing decontamination capabilities. ' Determine capabilities for response to wide-area radiological/nuclear contamination. ' Advance capabilities for water contamination response. Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership: ' Support pesticide registration improvement by developing standard testing criteria and ' Leverage collaboration with federal, state, Tribes, and community partners to enhance preparedness to respond to chemical, biological, and radiological threat incidents. ' Develop an AI-based system for accurate indoor navigation during emergency response using video and sensor data with private partner(s) via the Small Business Innovation Make the United States the Artificial Intelligence Capital of the World: ' Evaluate the use of AI tools to enhance clean-up strategy development by optimizing sampling, decontamination, and waste management outcomes. Improve water infrastructure security by developing an AI supported cyber security application to aid in the identification of weaknesses and new attack vectors and mitigating impacts. In FY 2027, the Agency will continue to: operate and maintain the RadNet air monitoring network, add exposure rate measurement capability to the network, and provide essential maintenance to the network. This expansion of exposure rate measurement capability will enhance the federal government's ability to effectively communicate radiation measurement information to the public and to non-technical decision makers after a radiological release. In addition to aiding in explaining data to the public and decision makers, the addition of exposure rate meters aligns EPA's monitoring system with that of the international community. In FY 2027, EPA is requesting additional resources to update aging equipment. As a part of this request, EPA also will modernize IT infrastructure for ARadDS and support enhanced lab and field office facility operations and maintenance. EPA's state engagement program is designed to inform states about their role within EPA and EPA's research programs and to better understand the science needs of state environmental and FY 2027 performance goals and targets are located in the FY 2027 Performance Goals tab. ' (-$3,222.0) This change to fixed and other costs is a decrease due to the estimated calculation of base payroll costs for existing FTE, adjustments to provide essential workforce support, and estimated changes to benefits costs. ' (+$166.0) This change to fixed and other costs is an increase due to the recalculation of lab ' (+$3,567.0 / +23.1 FTE) This program change supports the Administration's priorities of protecting the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public ' (+$441.0 / +2.7 FTE) This program change will modernize IT infrastructure for homeland ' (-$24.0) This program change reduces non-payroll resources in the Homeland Security: ' (+$2,500.0) This program change supports the continued operation of the RadNet Air Monitoring Network which monitors the release of radioactivity in the environment and supports the response to radioactive material incidents. ' (+$656.0 / +1.2 FTE) This program change is an increase in resources and FTE for updating the aging equipment that monitors the Nation's air for radiation. This increase also will modernize IT infrastructure for ARadDS and support enhanced lab and field office facility 1442; Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act; National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997, '' 1411-1412; Public Health Security and


**Where it sits:** Civilian / Non-Defense › EPA › Environmental Protection Agency › Science & Technology


*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. government. Civilian line dollars are parsed from agency Congressional Justifications and are approximate.*