Lamar Smith: “First of all, I would like to thank Science Committee member and Environment Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert for…”

“First of all, I would like to thank Science Committee member and Environment Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert for his great efforts on this particular subject. Our goal is to help advance not just any science, but the best science. Costly environmental regulations should only be based upon data that is available to independent scientists and the public and that can be verified. H.R. 1030, the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015, gives independent scientists an opportunity to validate the studies EPA uses to make new regulations. In 2012, the President's own science adviser testified that, ``absolutely, the data on which regulatory decisions are based should be made available to the committee and should be made public.'' The chair of EPA's Science Advisory Board testified that EPA's advisers recommend ``that literature and data used by EPA be peer reviewed and be made available to the public.'' Let me repeat. The chair of EPA's own Science Advisory Board said the data EPA relies upon should be public. And a recent poll from the Institute for Energy Research found that 90 percent of Americans agree that studies and data used to make Federal Government decisions should be public. Relying on public data prevents the manipulation of scientific evidence. So this bill is no different from any other sunshine law, such as the Freedom of Information Act.…”