Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s announcement that the EPA would implement so-called “secret science” standards for agency rulemaking:

“The idea that Scott Pruitt, the least transparent and least science-friendly Administrator in the history of the EPA, is suddenly concerned about the transparency of scientific studies is nonsense,” said Rep. Beyer. “This attack on science is another reminder of the endemic corruption that Scott Pruitt has brought to the EPA, and his willingness to serve industry over the public.”

Recent emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists showed that Pruitt’s anti-science proposal was developed with careful consideration for industry and little regard for the rule’s impact on privacy or public health. That proposal was the subject of a letter of opposition yesterday signed by nearly 1,000 scientists and technical experts.

Rep. Beyer was a vocal opponent of previous legislative attempts in Congress to push “secret science” policies through the House Science Committee, including the “Honest” Act and the EPA Science Advisory Board Act, both of which he criticized sharply in Committee hearings and on the House Floor.