The State of California is unique in requiring all draft environmental rule-makings originated by the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) to undergo independent external scientific peer review.
The mission of the Cal/EPA Interagency Agreement for Scientific Review is to contract with the University of California at Berkeley to provide to Cal/EPA, upon request, the names of pre-screened qualified candidate reviewers for these statutorily-mandated science reviews of draft rule-makings by any of the five boards, departments, or offices (BDOs) that constitute Cal/EPA:
- The Air Resources Board (ARB),
- The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR),
- The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC),
- The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), and
- The State Water Resource Control Board (SWRCB).
Our responsibility is to identify candidate reviewers from a global pool of highly-qualified scientists and recruit them to serve the State of California in this process. Conflict-of-interest determination of all candidates is managed independently by Cal/EPA. The current Interagency Agreement is in force for five years, expiring on June 30, 2016.