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At a House Science Committee markup of H.R. 4012, the Secret Science Reform Act of 2014, Rep. Larry Bucshon, a physician from Southern Indiana, argued that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should make scientific data on regulatory policy publicly available. Dr. Bucshon also dispelled confidentiality concerns regarding the public release of the EPA’s scientific research.

On Data Transparency:

“Transparency and reproducibility are basic tenets of science…Costly environmental regulations should only be based upon data that is available to independent scientists and the public.

“Dr. John Graham, Dean of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, stated in testimony supporting the bill on February 2014 that, and I quote, ‘Once environmental scientists have published their work in the peer-reviewed scientific community, it is already common practice for them to share their data with other scientists who have an interest in their research.’”

On Confidential Information:

“I’m a medical doctor practicing cardiothoracic surgery for over 15 years and have read multiple medical journals that have grouped patient information that protects the privacy of the individual patient.  So hiding behind regulations like HIPAA Law and saying this information can’t be used in a fashion that can protect patient privacy just isn’t true.

 “H.R. 4012 makes very clear that no protected information will be disclosed and any confidential information can easily be coded through existing statistical methods.

“This committee has also received significant testimony from respected experts that the provisions of H.R. 4012 would not raise confidentiality issues.”

BACKGROUND:

In a recent WSJ op-ed, Science Chairman Lamar Smith argued that the EPA's current regulatory process is a closed loop - including their new costly regulations on existing power plants. When developing a regulation, the EPA funds the scientific research it uses to support its regulations, and usually picks agency-funded scientists (that are supposed to be independent) to review it.

If its regulation is challenged, the courts will often defer to the EPA on scientific issues based on scientific research the agency refuses to make available publicly.

Bucshon is an original cosponsor of H.R. 4012, which was approved by the Science Committee on Tuesday.  The bill has received letters of support from over 80 scientists, 30 trade associations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the former head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the former head of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and the California Construction Trucking Association.

To watch the full video, click the image above or click here.