The Pentagon has weighed in against a controversial Environmental Protection Agency proposal that would block the agency from using scientific studies that do not make public the raw data used in research.
“While we agree that public access to information is very important, we do not believe that failure of the agency to obtain a publication’s underlying data from an author external to the agency should negate its use,” Patricia Underwood, a senior Pentagon official in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, wrote in recent formal public comments on the EPA proposal, which were first reported Tuesday by E&E News.
The deadline to receive input from the public on the proposed rule closed Aug. 16. The proposal garnered nearly a quarter of a million comments.
The EPA had extended the deadline for comments to accommodate increased interest in the rulemaking, which critics say causes significant harm to the scientific integrity of the the agency.
Critics say the proposed rule to combat what the Trump administration calls “secret science” would restrict the research the EPA can use in drafting environmental regulations, because it would have less research to work with and could cherry-pick information that fits its goals.
Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who introduced the proposal, said it would improve transparency and ensure science used in policymaking can be independently verified. EPA acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler has stood by the proposed rule he inherited.
But as the Pentagon official pointed out, some scientific research uses personal health information from individuals who participate knowing the details are not to be made public but used to inform policymaking.
Major studies that have depended on confidential information include a major 1993 study by Harvard University linking air pollution to premature deaths.
Underwood, in her comments on the proposal, said it’s “improbable” EPA would always be able to obtain such data.
“This should not impede the use of otherwise high-quality studies,” she said.
The Pentagon relies on scientific research to make key decisions on expanding installations or evaluating the impact of its energy use on the environment.
