‘Secret science’ must end, Republicans declare

Legislation introduced Thursday in the House would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing new rules without first disclosing all of the scientific research that went into them.

The bill, backed by GOP members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, is designed add constraints to an agency that Republicans have accused of running amok with its rule-making authority.

{mosads}“Public policy should come from public data, not based on the whims of far-left environmental groups,” said Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), who penned the bill.

“For far too long, the EPA has approved regulations that have placed a crippling financial burden on economic growth in this country with no public evidence to justify their actions,” he said in a written statement.

The bill has a dozen co-sponsors from the committee’s Republican ranks, including Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

The bill, dubbed the Secret Science Reform Act of 2014, would prohibit the EPA’s administrator from proposing or finalizing any rules unless he or she also discloses “all scientific and technical information” relied on by the agency in the regulations’ development. That includes all data, materials and computer models, according to the bill’s text.

“Virtually every regulation proposed by the Obama administration has been justified by nontransparent data and unverifiable claims,” Smith said.

Schweikert, chairman of the panel’s Environment subcommittee, has scheduled a hearing for next week to consider the legislation. It was not immediately clear whether an EPA official would be present.