SPEA dean testifies for environmental bill

John D. Graham, dean of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, testified Feb. 11 in support of the Secret Science Reform Act bill, introduced by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill, sponsored by subcommittee chairman David Schweikert, R-Ariz., would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from proposing regulations based on “secret science.”

Secret science is science that is not transparent or reproducible, according to a press release. 

Graham outlined the bill in testimony prepared for the hearing.

The EPA is not permitted to issue regulations unless all scientific and technical information relied upon is specifically identified, the information is publicly available and research results could be replicated, Graham said.

Graham was asked to testify by the Environment Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology because of the experience he has both inside and outside government.

He was the former senior official in President George W. Bush’s Office of Management and Budget.

Graham said he supports the first point because it encourages transparency.

“A third party — or even another federal agency or OMB — cannot possibly evaluate the merits of a covered action if they do not know what specific scientific and technical information was relied upon by EPA,” Graham said in his prepared testimony.

He said he supports the second point because it allows public access to information, therefore making independent experiments to reproduce results possible.

Graham testified that the legislation wouldn’t be an undue burden on government agencies, according to a press release.

"What I envision is simply a link on EPA’s website — one for each covered action — that contains one or more files of original scientific and technical information ... a third party could process the information and thereby substantially reproduce the results that the agency is relying upon," Graham said in a press release.

Schweikert said in a statement released by the subcommittee they want to put a stop to from EPA rulemaking out of the public eye.

“The Secret Science Reform Act ends costly EPA rulemaking from happening behind closed doors and out of public view,” Schweikert said. “Public policy should come from public data, not based on the whims of far-left environmental groups.”

Editor's note: an earlier version of this story said Dean Graham would testify Feb. 18. The story has been updated.

— Kathrine Schulze