Hall Supports Science Committee Subpoena of EPA

Press Release

Yesterday, Rep. Ralph Hall (TX-04) joined Republicans on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee Members and approved a resolution to issue a subpoena to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force the agency to release the undisclosed science it uses as the basis for costly Clean Air Act regulations proposed and finalized by the current Administration.

This subpoena follows up on numerous requests by the Committee under Rep. Hall's Chairmanship in the previous Congress. The Committee repeatedly requested, and the Administration repeatedly failed to produce, transparent data on which these regulations are based.

Regarding the subpoena, Hall made the following statement:

"This Administration has made numerous commitments to this Committee to provide the data we have requested. Each time, they have failed to meet their obligations.

"We began these requests almost two years ago with a promise from Gina McCarthy, who was then the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation and who is now the newly confirmed Administrator of the EPA. In November, 2011, she again promised in writing that she would, "take action….as soon as possible to provide . . . any data and analysis produced with EPA funds." This commitment has not been kept.

"Likewise, in a hearing before this Committee during February of last year, the President's Science Advisor, Dr. John Holdren, promised to provide this data, but this commitment also has not been kept.

"Over the course of two years this Committee has sent multiple letters to various EPA and Administration officials and received from them an answer that offered little of what we asked.

"And at a hearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee in September, 2011, Administrator McCarthy had this to say:"I certainly don't want to give the impression that EPA is in the business to create jobs."

"This is what is happening. The EPA is in the business of creating job-killing regulations. And business is good as long as the EPA can hide their science from the American people.

"The time has come to demand that the EPA respond to our requests to provide this taxpayer-funded information, and I support this resolution to do so."

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