On April 28th the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works passed The Secret Science Reform Act (S. 544) along a party line vote. Similar to H.R. 1030, which passed the House last month, this bill prohibits the EPA from “proposing, finalizing, or disseminating a rule, regulation or any “covered action” unless all scientific and technical information” used to inform the action is publicly available to allow reproducibility by independent analyses.
The bill’s supporters contend that the EPA conducts research in a secretive fashion, and that the public cannot properly assess the basis for EPA actions. However, science organizations, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Statistical Association (ASA), have expressed serious concern over the bill, stating it would prevent the EPA from making well-informed decisions by prohibiting the use of data that cannot be reproduced. In a letters to Congress AAAS and ASA expressed concerns that this bill will prohibit the EPA from using scientific data which could not realistically be reproduced such as data from large or long duration longitudinal studies, one-time events, or data gathered in real-time, such as the data collected following the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill. AAAS and ASA also reiterated their support for a robust, transparent scientific process to inform EPA actions.
Opponents of the bill also worry that this bill does not address how or if the EPA would be allowed to use data collected under confidentiality pledges, and if so how this data would be kept secure. Senate Democrats introduced two amendments to address these concerns, which were both voted down along party lines. The first would have required EPA to only disclose the funding sources of studies used by the agency, while keeping the raw data confidential. The second would have allowed EPA to issue rules using peer-reviewed scientific publications, even if its data is not publically available.
After passing the Committee, the bill now awaits a vote on the Senate floor. The President has threatened to veto the House version of the bill, stating it “would impose arbitrary, unnecessary and expensive requirements that would seriously impede the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) ability to use science to protect public health and the environment.”
- Karen Paczkowski, GSA Science Policy Fellow