The House of Representatives recently passed the Secret Science Reform Act (H.R. 4012) which would require the Environmental Protection Agency to base its regulations on data that are public.
Introduced by Environment Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert (R-AZ), the legislation requires that the EPA base its regulations on publically available and verifiable information without compromising protections for personal information. The Act also affirms laws prohibiting the disclosure of confidential or proprietary information. It is not retroactive; it applies only to new, future regulations issued by the agency.
Speaking on the legislation, Schweikert said, “The Secret Science Reform Act rules ‘secret science’ a condition of the past. Public policy should come from public data. Unfortunately, for far too long, the EPA has approved regulations that have placed a crippling financial burden on economic growth in this country without public evidence to justify all their actions. This common-sense legislation forces the EPA to be transparent and accountable with their findings.”
