Scientists shouldn’t have to face pressure or harassment from political figures or institutions—but too often they do. Our experts expose attacks on science across the country.
April 26, 2018 12:08 PM EDT
With Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s job now hanging in the balance, it is a good time to recall that, just after his Senate confirmation, he gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that emphasized the three principles he said would stand at “the heart of how we do business at the EPA”: process, rule of law, and federalism.
A little more than a year into his tenure, he has violated all of them. Read more >
April 24, 2018 1:17 PM EDT
The EPA today will announce a politically-motivated draft policy to restrict the use of science in agency decisions. The draft policy is based on legislation that has died in Congress for several years. Read more >
April 21, 2018 11:20 AM EDT
On April 17th, the Union of Concerned Scientists obtained EPA records through three separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests demonstrating that a proposed Trojan horse “transparency” policy that would restrict the agency’s ability to use the best available science in decision-making is driven by politics, not science. The records also embarrassingly showed EPA officials were more concerned about the release of industry trade secrets than they were about sensitive private medical information.
April 19, 2018 8:02 AM EDT
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released another misleading “study” about the “costs” of regulation (read: science-based safeguards, public protections) while virtually ignoring the benefits. They do this every year because some reporters fall for it and it confirms what some elected officials and editorial boards want to believe. Policymakers and the public would be best served by ignoring the latest edition of this report that is nothing more than propaganda to promote the rolling back of science-based safeguards that protect public health, safety, and environment. Read more >
April 13, 2018 2:50 PM EDT
The EPA’s plan to limit the types of science that the EPA can use to make decisions may run into an unusual roadblock: the White House itself. In a Senate hearing yesterday, New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan questioned White House official Neomi Rao about the EPA plan (watch here, beginning at 59:02), and the answers suggest that the EPA and the White House are not on the same page. Read more >
