ISTOCK, DRNADIGEmailed correspondence between the offices of Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt reveal a partnership to enact a proposal Smith has been trying to get into law. The initiative would limit the data used in making environmental policies to only those that are publicly available.
Supporters say the data restriction is intended to boost transparency at the agency, while opponents are concerned that certain studies—such as public health research that includes sensitive information—would be tossed out when crafting policies.
“This idea to restrict the use of science at EPA was hatched solely and worked on almost exclusively by political appointees who are doing everything they can to ensure that independent science doesn’t get in the way of policy decisions at the agency,” Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) spokesman Yogin Kothari tells E&E News. “It’s an effort to stack the deck in favor of industry that EPA is supposed to regulate.”
The policy is based on the so-called HONEST Act, passed by the US House of Representatives last year, but not ...
