David Cay Johnston: “I tell my friend that the American public has come to Congress. That is what we are doing here today. That is what this…”

“I tell my friend that the American public has come to Congress. That is what we are doing here today. That is what this is all about. EPA has reviewed its own rules and says they are not based on real risks, they are based on public perceptions of risk and we need to do something about it. Everybody says let us do something about it. And now that is where we are. There was a 1987 study called ``Unfinished Business'' where EPA systematically ranked the seriousness of the various risks that it was addressing or could address. The report found that there was little correlation between the risk that the EPA staff judged as most threatening and EPA's program priorities. Instead, EPA found a correlation between EPA's priorities and public opinion on the seriousness of the various environmental threats. ``Overall, EPA's priorities appear more closely aligned with public opinion than with our estimated risk.'' Mr. President, these conclusions were confirmed in 1990 by EPA's Science Advisory Board, in its report entitled ``Reducing Risks.'' The report urged EPA to target its environmental protection efforts on the basis of opportunities for the greatest risk reduction. So, Mr. President, I think we now have the picture. The Glenn-Chafee amendment allows aggrieved parties to come to Congress, and that is it. Other than trusting in the judgment--to use the words of the statute, ``the sole discretion of the head of the agency,'' that is it.”