Science Committee members submit comment on supplemental to proposed EPA rule to undercut science

Statement

Today, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) along with Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Ami Bera (D-CA), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Bill Foster (D-IL), Don Beyer (D-VA), Sean Casten (D-IL), and Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) submitted a comment to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler for the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) entitled, "Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science." This follows a number of requests from Chairwoman Johnson to further extend the comment period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the first comment on the proposed rulemaking then-Ranking Member Johnson submitted in May 2018.

"This proposed rulemaking undermines the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to protect human health and the environment and contravenes the Agency's statutory responsibility to use the best available science in promulgating health-protective regulations," said the Committee Members in the comment. "We believe this rulemaking is not only dangerous, but is fundamentally flawed by failing to justify a legitimate purpose beyond arbitrary, political manipulation of the Agency's science-based work."