EPA pushes forward with rule to block studies on air and water pollution [View all]

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The Environmental Protection Agency's fight against science continues even in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Environmental Protection Agency is continuing to move forward with a rule that will make it harder for high-quality scientific studies to be used in policymaking, even as the coronavirus pandemic engulfing the country makes it more difficult for health care professionals to comment on the rule before it is finalized.

The rule, first introduced in 2018 and known formally as "Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science," would require scientists to hand over the raw data underlying studies before the EPA would consider them. A slight revision of the rule, announced in March, stated that the agency would give preference to studies for which researchers hand over all raw data, according to the New York Times.

However, many of the data used in carrying out scientific studies contain confidential medical records that could identify individuals who participated, and scientists are unable to release that data due to confidentiality agreements.

The rule could be applied retroactively, limiting the use of previous research such as a landmark 1993 study that linked air pollution to health outcomes.

The effort "caps more than three years of efforts to dilute scientific research, especially on climate change and air pollution, which has underpinned rules that the fossil fuel industry calls burdensome," the Times reported in early March.

Public officials and health experts have requested that the EPA allow more time for public input as the coronavirus outbreak rages on.


Read more: https://americanindependent.com/donald-trump-epa-block-studies-clean-air-water-environmental-protection-agency/



Andrew R. Wheeler, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency