New York City Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson Calls for National Academy of Sciences, Other Independent Experts to Evaluate EPA’s Science Censorship Plan
March 26, 2020
New York City Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson, joining a 21-member coalition of states, counties, and cities led by Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw its proposal to censor science at the agency.
The coalition’s call was made in a letter to EPA in response to the agency’s recent publication of a supplement to its 2018 science censorship proposal (aka “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” rule). The supplemental rule includes an expansion of the 2018 rule’s limits on the body of scientific evidence that EPA can consider when adopting regulatory standards to protect public health and the environment. The coalition also sent a letter to the National Academy of Sciences formally requesting review of the proposed supplemental rule to ensure EPA receives critical feedback from the independent scientific community regarding the use of best available data in decision-making.
Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson said, "The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the urgency of making the very best information available to our federal regulators. At a time when EPA should be welcoming sound scientific evidence as the foundation for sensible strategies and policies to keep us all safe, EPA is instead seeking to censor valid, peer-reviewed studies. New York City strenuously opposes the supplemental rule, which will undermine EPA's ability to effectively protect human health and the environment by ensuring cleaner air, cleaner water, and safer consumer products."
“Trump EPA’s science censorship proposal attacks the very foundation of our environmental and public health law by censoring, excluding, and undermining the science used in decision making,” said Attorney General Letitia James. “Multiple major independent science organizations have expressed serious concerns about the proposal, yet EPA continues to ignore them. It is long past time for the Trump EPA to dump its science censorship plan and, instead, consult with the National Academies and other independent experts on its use of the best available science."
The EPA first proposed the Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science rule in April 2018. That rule proposed to exclude from EPA decision making scientific studies, models, and other important information that have been validated by peer review simply because not all underlying data are available to the public. In comments submitted by a 23-member coalition in August 2018, the coalition called the proposal “harmful and deeply flawed,” noting that the proposal was “arbitrary and capricious, violates controlling federal law, and contains clear errors in reasoning.”
The supplemental proposal “doubles down” on the 2018 science censorship proposal, expanding its scope to apply to all scientific data and models used by EPA. Similar to the originally proposed rule, the supplemental rule would continue to limit the body of scientific evidence that EPA can consider when adopting regulatory standards to protect public health and the environment.
Joining Corporation Counsel Johnson, Attorney General James and Attorney General Grewal in the letter are the Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia, the Attorneys of King County, Washington and the Cities of Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
Contact:
Nick Paolucci
Director of Public Affairs
& Press Secretary
212-356-4000
pressoffice@law.nyc.gov