Eco Friendly Driver

Interference at EPA - Who’s surprised??

by Hilary on April 26th, 2008

In January, a number of states sued the EPA because, despite states having the right to adopt their own emissions standards (and well they should, California is 12th in the WORLD for producing green house gasses) the EPA denied their emissions waiver saying the agency was in favor of a federal policy. Unfortunately, they can’t do that. Thus the reason they’re being sued.

It was frustrating, but not surprising given the government’s habit of putting their two cents in along with their funding.

To prove that point further, the results of a five-year study published by the Union of Concerned Scientists on Wednesday says 889 of the staff scientists working for the EPA (56% of respondents) were unduly pressured to skew their findings to fit political objectives.

Follow the link for an in-depth dissection of the study. Here are some highlights:

Nearly 100 scientists identified the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the primary culprit. In scientists’ responses to an essay question, “How could the integrity of scientific work produced by the EPA best be improved?,” OMB took center stage:

- “Currently, OMB is allowed to force or make changes as they want, and rules are held hostage until this happens,” said a scientist at the agency’s Office of Air and Radiation. “OMB’s power needs to be checked as time after time they weaken rulemakings and policy decisions to favor industry.”

– “OMB and the White House have, in some cases, compromised the integrity of EPA rules and policies; their influence, largely hidden from the public and driven by industry lobbying, has decreased the stringency of proposed regulations for non-scientific, political reasons,” said a scientist from one of the agency’s regional offices. “Because the real reasons can’t be stated, the regulations contain a scientific rationale with little or no merit.”

In addition to looking over the EPA’s ruling on the California waiver, Congress is also investigation government interference with a toxicity review and a new ozone standard. (Which isn’t to say this is the only time we’ve face these problems or that we won’t have them in the future. This isn’t “attack President Bush” day. There were just a lot of political issues to bring to your attention.)

If anything this is a wake-up call to the fact that our scientists aren’t protected. We need to stand behind them, and support them in asking  Congress to put regulations in place which prevent this abuse by any administration. We can’t successfully fight the planet’s issues without first having an honest understanding of them.

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