House Takes Aim At EPA, White House Threatens Veto

The House passed two bills taking aim at the EPA in November and the White House threatened to veto both of them.

It's the latest example of the wide gap between how the White House and congressional Republicans view the proper role of the EPA, a tension that will be exacerbated next year when the GOP has control of the Senate.

One of the bills, H.R. 1422, would amend the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 "to revise the process of selecting members of the Science Advisory Board, guidelines for participation in Board advisory activities, and terms of office."

Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, the measure's sponsor, framed it as an accountability bill.

"There is a process that is broken. And it's through this bill we can not only improve that process, but also restore trust between the American people and the federal government," Stewart said, per The Hill.

The White House issued a veto threat, arguing that the legislation would "negatively affect the appointment of experts and would weaken the scientific independence and integrity of the SAB," according to The Hill.

According to a critical commentary in Salon, the bill would "create room for experts with overt financial ties to the industries affected by EPA regulations." The legislation would "allow more industry-associated scientists to join EPA's independent Science Advisory Board and which reviews some of the agency’s rulemakings," Politico reported.

In another bill targeting the EPA, the House approved HR 4012 in November.

This legislation would amend the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 "to prohibit the [EPA] from proposing, finalizing, or disseminating a covered action unless all scientific and technical information relied on to support such action is specifically identified and publicly available online in a manner sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results."

Rep. David Schweikert, R-AZ, framed it as a measure that would promote transparency.

"The Secret Science Reform Act rules 'secret science' a condition of the past," Schweikert said in a statement. "Public policy should come from public data."

The White House threatened to veto this bill, as well.

"The bill 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, as required under an array of environmental laws, while increasing uncertainty for businesses and States," the statement of administration policy said.

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