The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reversed an Obama-era rule that allowed the agency to rely on secretive scientific studies when creating new laws and regulations, as the Daily Caller reports.
The rules now dictate that the EPA must rely on scientific studies that are publicly available. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler confirmed the rule change, saying that “the agency will give greater consideration to studies where the underlying data and models are available in a manner sufficient for independent validation.”
The change angered Obama-era officials who did rely on secret studies, with former EPA head Gina McCarthy saying that “now is not the time to play games with critical medical research that underpins every rule designed to protect us from harmful pollution in our air and in our water.” McCarthy had previously served on the National Resources Defense Council, which, with a budget of nearly $350 million, used such secret studies to act as “shadow staff” for the EPA.