Washington D.C., April 30, 2014—Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on the Environment released the following statement following his 5-minute speech on the House Floor Tuesday. The general speech was in response to Monday’s statement and press from the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on data and science collection practices.

“The information that creates the rules that we all live under belongs to all of us,” said Chairman Schweikert. “So how would you feel if you pull up a piece of paper and on that piece of paper is an article about the statement Administrator McCarthy gave on Monday morning in defense of secret science?”

“According to Ms. McCarthy only ‘qualified or real scientists’ should be allowed to see the data sets that make public policy. The concept of having a government that runs substantially on secret information is outrageous.”

In the coming weeks, the Science Committee will consider the Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 (H.R. 4012) to prohibit the EPA from proposing regulations based upon data that has not been publicly disclosed.

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Chairman David Schweikert is the author of the Secret Science Reform Act and a strong advocate for transparent data, evidence, and scientific research. The Secret Science Reform Act, H.R. 4012, prohibits the EPA from proposing regulations based on science that is not transparent or reproducible.

Contact Maggie Zehring: margaret.zehring@mail.house.gov
(202) 680-9613