A coalition of House Republicans have introduced a bill that would require the Environmental Protection Agency to publicly release all research related to a policy before implementing it. The Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 is meant to allow independent scientists to verify the data behind environmental regulations, creating more accountability for the agency. It’s also a way for the agency’s opponents to create more barriers to regulation and attempt to discredit environmental policies.
“Virtually every regulation proposed by the Obama administration has been justified by nontransparent data and unverifiable claims,” writes House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX), who is also a sponsor of the bill. “The American people foot the bill for EPA’s costly regulations, and they have a right to see the underlying science.”
The bill is short, but it’s also fairly broad. Before proposing or finalizing any regulation, hazard assessment, standard, or piece of guidance, the EPA must “specifically identify” each piece of scientific or technical information that it’s relying on, then make that data public in a way that lets outsiders independently analyze and attempt to reproduce the results. That technical information includes not only data points but analysis and “detailed descriptions” of how to access and use the information. Obama has already told agencies to make any federally funded research freely available to the public, and it’s not clear how dramatically this would change current practice; the EPA did not immediately return a request for comment.
Obama’s EPA has made mitigating and preparing for climate change a priority, and it’s done so in part by placing new regulations on things like coal plants. This hasn’t sat well with Congress members who are both opposed to environmental regulation generally and dubious that climate change even exists or is caused by humans. Though it’s not raised explicitly in the bill, Smith has expressed skepticism over the issue, and his fellow chair and co-sponsor David Schweikert (R-AZ) says his bill is necessary to stop the EPA from making policy based on “the whims of far-left environmental groups.” The agency, he says, has created regulations that “placed a crippling financial burden on economic growth in this country with no public evidence to justify their actions.”
The EPA’s own IG scolded them for not following the requirements of the Information Quality Act that requires all agencies to do their own analysis and publish the information in support of all actions taken. The EPA has been on a regulatory rampage based on bad science done by far left environmental groups that does not survive scrutiny. All the models the EPA use have failed miserably. They should be defunded and defanged. Oh and tell Hollywood to make movies not promote policy about things you know precious little about. Nothing makes me madder than to see billions go to the useless UN and the environmental groups. Instead of helping mankind, they want to strip the world of its current energy sources, push wind power that kills 600,000 to 900,000 birds including many endangered and protected species, and endangers the health and safety of people anywhere near these monstrosities. They cause energy prices to skyrocket and threaten brownouts and blackouts and drive industry away and unemployment up. I talked to a missionary from India today how there are real problems in the world, high among them is finding fresh water to drink and power to provide light and energy for refrigeration and heating. The environmental movement actually resists these efforts. Some of the key puppetmasters believe there are too many people in the world. Wacky Ted Turner says the world really can only sustain 250 to 500 million (there are 7.1 billion). Bonnie Prince Charles is in his camp and a long list of others including some in the Obama administration. Actually you could take all 7.1 billion people and put them side by side and they would fit in Rhode Island.
Charitable organizations do far more good than the UN and swimming in money environmental groups. $500 can provide a fresh water supply to a village, $2500 home for a family. These charitable groups make the most of every penny. Please stop providing any aid to the NGOs and work with the local charities if you care about the world’s poor. And contact you congress man or women and tell them to support reins on the EPA if you care about the future of our own poor and middle class.