On the same day that the
United States Senate failed to pass a bill approving the construction of the
Keystone pipeline, the House managed to sneak one of those little bills that
gets almost no attention from the media.
For background, let's
look at what Representative Chris Stewart (R - Utah 2), sponsor of House Resolution 1422
had to say about the Environmental Protection Administration at a House
Science, Space and Technology Committee Hearing on November
14, 2013:
We now have some sense of
where Mr. Stewart is coming from when it comes to the EPA.
H.R. 1422, the rather
innocuous-sounding EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act of 2014 which was
sponsored by Republican Chris Stewart (R - Utah 2), passed the House by a vote
of 229 to 191 on November 18, 2014. Just in case you wondered, here
are screen captures showing the "ayes" and "nays" and
non-voters:
Here is the text of the
bill:
Note
section (2)(C) which states that "persons with substantial and relevant
expertise are not excluded from the (Science Advisory) Board due to affiliation
with or representation of entities that may have a potential interest in the
Board's advisory activities.". This
changes the EPA's current ability to screen out scientists with financial ties
to corporations that may conflict with the EPA's Science Advisory Board
(SAB). As well, according to section (2) (E), the
new rules forbid scientists from participating in discussions that cite their
own peeer-reviewed research.
The Bill is
being touted as a move to increase the transparency and accountability of the
EPA's science advisors, however, the Union of Concerned Scientists suggests
that the changes open the door for more corporate influence on the Board since
experts with financial ties to the corporations that may be impacted by the
decisions of the SAB are not excluded from serving on the Board as shown in this letter:
It's interesting to note
that H.R. 1422 turns the concept of conflict of interest on its head when it
comes to science. While experts with corporate ties are allowed to serve
on the Science Advisory Board, a Board that may have a direct impact on their corporate masters, scientists
are not allowed to participate in Board activities that are directly or indirectly
connected to their own, peer-reviewed research, a concept that would generally
be considered a plus since that particular scientist would be very well versed on the
subject.
The White House has already announced that they will veto H.R. 1422 because it would "...affect the appointment of experts and would weaken the scientific independence and integrity of the SAB.".
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