ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, JIMFENG
Environmental Protection Agency head Andrew Wheeler announced a final rule today (January 5) that will impose new restrictions on how studies are weighed in formulating the agency’s regulations. While Wheeler and other proponents of the change say the rule ensures the public can access the data that undergird regulatory decisions, critics say it would shield polluters by limiting the consideration of studies that rely on confidential medical information. Such studies investigating the health effects of pollutants on human populations have formed the basis of major environmental regulations in the past.
“This really seems to be an attempt by Wheeler to permanently let major polluters trample on public health,” Benjamin Levitan, a senior attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund, tells the Associated Press. “It ties the hands of future administrations in how they can protect the public health.”
The change has been in the works since 2018, ...
