Press Release

January 05, 2021

EPA’s Censoring Science Rule Benefits Polluters

Supposed 'transparency' measure endangers clean air and water.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its last days, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule that will allow political appointees to disregard vital public health studies in setting policy.

Called “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science,” this rule would allow EPA officials to reject studies if the entire data set isn’t made available to the public. That includes some of the most important public health studies where private medical information has been made anonymous.

“The Trump EPA is once again distorting and ignoring sound science,” said Environmental Law & Policy Center Executive Director Howard A. Learner. “EPA and the federal government should be making decisions based on the best available information to protect healthy clean air and safe clean drinking water.”

“In its final days, the Trump EPA is still working to discount and disqualify peer reviewed public health studies that support protections for cleaner air and safer water. This final rule is not about transparency – it’s about the Trump EPA weakening public health protections in order to benefit polluters.”