EPA Employees Would Like to Have Their Science Recognized
The Washington Post reports that unions at the Environmental Protection Agency have broken with management over Administrator Stephen Johnson’s disregard for scientific integrity. The news comes only a two weeks after Johnson published the official explanation for the agency’s refusal to allow California’s emissions reduction standards, despite the fact that the ruling ignored the “unanimous recommendation of the EPA’s legal and technical staffs.”
Eighteen states pledged or planned to adopt California’s emissions standards in an effort to curb global warming. The denial only continues the Bush Administration’s foot-dragging approach to global warming, as Center for American Progress Senior fellow Robert Sussman explained in a recent column.
The Post reports that union leaders and employees cited decisions on fluoride drinking-water standards and mercury emissions from power plants as further instances in which the management flagrantly disregarded the Agency’s own standards for scientific integrity. As Chris Mooney pointed out in a column on a recent juridical rebuke of the mercury decision, the calculated dismissal of scientific evidence damages the entire decision-making process and exposes citizens and the environment to harmful pollutants. While the regrettable decisions of the current EPA management will likely be reversed in the not-too-distant future, the damage to the integrity of data-driven decision making and the scientific community is a scar that may linger.
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