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Former Employees Issue
Comprehensive Report To Reset The Course Of The Environmental
Protection Agency
More than 500 former
career employees and political appointees from both Democratic and
Republican administrations have compiled a set of recommendations to
“reset” the course of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The
group, organized as the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), states
“We strongly believe that EPA should
recommit to its
mission of protecting public health and the environment and set a
course toward a new vision for the agency as it confronts pressing
needs---from addressing environmental risks and inequities to
vigorously confronting climate change.”
According to its
website, the EPN
was
launched in January 2017 to harness the expertise of former EPA career
staff and confirmation-level appointees from multiple administrations
to provide an informed and rigorous defense against efforts to
undermine the protection of public health and the environment.
Letter From
Administrators
In a letter
accompanying the report, six former EPA administrators write “As EPA
approaches its 50th anniversary this December, we believe the time has
come to reset the future course for EPA in a new, forward-looking
direction to address the environmental challenges we face today and
those that lie ahead. …The Environmental Protection Network (EPN) and
its over 500 EPA alumni have developed detailed recommendations for
setting new directions at EPA. We invite everyone to take a look at
this important report, available at:
https://bit.ly/3cqg3C3“
Ten Topic Areas
The report contains
dozens of recommendations in 10 topic areas covering the breadth of
EPA’s mandate including but not limited to air, water, toxics,
pesticides, enforcement, environmental justice, science and economics.
The group identified six priorities which they call critical to
creating a renewed EPA. In their letter, the six former administrators
agreed that these six “overarching recommendations are essential to
meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century and improve
people’s lives and our economy.”
Priorities
These priorities are:
1. EPA must reaffirm
its commitment to fully protect public health and the environment.
2. EPA must conduct
its scientific and economic analysis free from political interference.
3. EPA must
incorporate environmental justice in every aspect of its work in order
to address and resolve inequitable environmental conditions.
4. EPA must focus on
the most significant and pervasive public health and environmental
risks, prioritizing actions that provide the greatest health benefit
for the greatest number of people, including vulnerable populations.
5. EPA must innovate
and collaborate with states, tribes, local governments, and federal
agencies as coregulators, as well as with stakeholders, including the
private and non-profit sectors and community groups, to build an
effective and resilient system of public health and environmental
protections.
6. EPA must earn and
maintain broad public trust by demonstrating the best ethical
behavior, transparently considering all stakeholder viewpoints, and
providing objective environmental information.
Detailed Report
In a more detailed
report entitled Restoring Science as the Backbone of EPA Decision
Making, an EPN workgroup stated “In recent years, adverse changes to
the way science is used and managed by EPA has: 1) marginalized the
scientific basis for EPA policies and decisions; 2) significantly
reduced the credibility of EPA actions and efforts; 3) jeopardized
human health and the environment; 4) and provided opportunities for
special interests to have a disproportionate influence on EPA actions.
"
The workgroup added
"EPA must restore science as the backbone of decision-making, building
on its strength in understanding ecological systems to develop better
systems-based approaches for addressing complex issues. Such
system-based scientific approaches are needed to reveal interventions
that may positively impact multiple outcomes, while avoiding
unintended consequences. The increasing availability of very large
datasets and massive computing capacity, which has driven fundamental
discovery in understanding the complexity of the human genome and
health, has yet to be fully tapped for the purpose of
environmental public health. “
Recommendations
The science workgroup
made four clear cut recommendations:
1. Eliminate the
inappropriately-named “transparency” rule.
2. Restore the
integrity of the science peer-review process.
3. Rebuild EPA’s
research program.
4. Update risk
assessment practices.
In their letter, the
former administrators (Lee Thomas 1985-89, William Reilly
1989-1993, Carol
Browner
1993-2001, Christine Todd Whitman 2001-2003, Lisa Jackson
2009-2013, and Gina McCarthy 2013-2017) state “While we are
concerned about the current state of affairs at EPA, we are hopeful
for the agency’s future. EPA has a strong foundation on which to
build. Capable and talented staff are ready to answer the call. They
have labored in good faith across administrations of both parties to
fulfill EPA’s mission by following the law, applying the best
available science, and displaying openness and transparency with the
public.”
To access the report,
visit:
https://bit.ly/32PGzBG
To access the letter,
visit
https://bit.ly/3kCTyN0
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