[Esip-preserve] House Bill Prohibits EPA from Using Secret Science

[Tilmes, Curt (GSFC-6190)]

http://science.house.gov/press-release/bill-prohibits-epa-using-secret-science

Washington, D.C. – Members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology today introduced the Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 (H.R.
4012), a bill to prohibit the EPA from proposing regulations based upon
science that is not transparent or not reproducible. The bill was
introduced by Environment Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert
(R-Ariz.) and cosponsored by Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

Chairman Smith: “Virtually every regulation proposed by the Obama
administration has been justified by nontransparent data and
unverifiable claims. The American people foot the bill for EPA’s costly
regulations, and they have a right to see the underlying science. Costly
environmental regulations should be based on publicly available data so
that independent scientists can verify the EPA’s claims. The Secret
Science Reform Act of 2014, which I sponsored, prohibits EPA from using
secret science to justify new regulations.”

Chairman Schweikert: “The Secret Science Reform Act ends costly EPA
rulemaking from happening behind closed doors and out of public view.
Public policy should come from public data, not based on the whims of
far-left environmental groups. For far too long, the EPA has approved
regulations that have placed a crippling financial burden on economic
growth in this country with no public evidence to justify their actions.
This common-sense legislation forces the EPA to be transparent and
accountable with their findings.”

A 2013 poll from the Institute of Energy Research found that 90 percent
of Americans agree that studies and data used to make federal government
decisions should be made public. Provisions in the bill are consistent
with the White House’s scientific integrity policy, the President’s
Executive Order 13563, data access provisions of major scientific
journals, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the recommendations of the
Obama administration’s top science advisors.
[...]

-- 
Curt Tilmes, Ph.D.
U.S. Global Change Research Program
1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 250
Washington, D.C. 20006, USA

+1 202-419-3479 (office)
+1 443-987-6228 (cell)
globalchange.gov