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University of Georgia Environmental Impact Facility Loses Some Federal Funds

Posted on: Thursday, 7 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Jul. 7--A University of Georgia facility that studies the environmental impacts of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina must cut employees and scale back programs because of a drastic reduction in federal funding.

The U.S. Department of Energy had proposed eliminating $7.748 million that helps fund the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Instead, the department will reduce the grant amount by to $4.7 million for the fiscal year which begins Oct. 1.

The lab has been operated by UGA since it opened in 1951, but was supported heavily by energy department funds. An energy department grant funded 150 of the 180 jobs at the laboratory, and the reduction means the lab must cut 51 jobs as of Oct. 1.

Ecology lab researchers will work to find other sources of funding, but in the meantime, the lab must scale back some of its programs -- which range from basic ecological studies to remediation and toxicology.

The ecology lab's main purpose is to provide an independent assessment of the environmental impacts of the Savannah River Site -- a 310-square-mile facility that once produced nuclear materials for weapons and now recycles some nuclear materials.

But as the ecology lab looks to find new funding sources, it is likely to move to a project-by-project funding model, which could compromise the independent research aspect of the facility, said ecology lab Director Paul Bertsch.

Under the current arrangement, the energy department has funded the laboratory on a five-year basis and researchers are free to publish and disseminate all their findings, Bertsch said.

"I see that as a potential issue in the future," Bertsch said, because now there will be a possibility the organization funding a particular study may not like the outcome.

"This is a major loss," said Gordhan Patel, UGA's vice president for research. "Hopefully we will be able to maintain the strength that we have there, and as times get better. ... I think the lab will be successful in getting other sources of funding, because what they do is so important."

The laboratory is unique in the United States and the information it provides could become even more important as nuclear energy re-emerges as an alternate energy source, Bertsch said.

Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from a variety of UGA departments do research in the lab, and scientists come from all over the world use the facility, Bertsch said.

The cutbacks will be felt throughout the science community and the Augusta area, said ecology professor Ron Pulliam, who has done work at the facility.

"It is a major player in ecological research circles," said Pulliam, who grew up in the Augusta area. "I think that anyone who lives in that area feels a little safer knowing there is an independent research facility there."

Though the bulk of the research is focused on environmental and ecological impacts of the nuclear plant, the findings also are tied to human health, Bertsch said.

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Source: Athens Banner-Herald

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