Environmental Science Under Siege: A Report to the Democratic Caucus of the Committee on Science

Environmental Science Under Siege: A Report to the Democratic Caucus of the Committee on Science:

"TO: Members, Democratic Caucus
Committee on Science

FROM: George E. Brown, Jr.
Ranking Democratic Member

During the 104th Congress, the Committee on Science launched a major initiative directed at the basic integrity of the science community. Three major hearings, entitled 'Scientific Integrity and the Public Trust,' were convened by the Energy and Environment Subcommittee to showcase allegations that science had been distorted to promote an environmentalist agenda. The hearings focused on alleged abuses in the science on stratospheric ozone depletion, global climate change, and the health risks posed by dioxin.

This series of hearings did not occur in a vacuum. The new Republican Congress promised as part of its 'Contract with America' to fundamentally change the way environmental regulations would be promulgated. With a new majority, dominated by what has been characterized as an inexperienced and ideological freshman class, the Republicans launched an attack on the basic methods by which environmental regulations could be established. In fact, this attack spread to encompass almost all forms of regulation-including those designed to insure public health, protect the environment, and guarantee workplace safety.

This radical effort in the House went too far, even for a Republican-dominated Senate, and regulatory reform legislation died in the 104th Congress. However, the two most prominent qualities of the effort to pass this legislation in the House were (1) the shameless use of industry lobbyists to draft the legislation and staff Committee mark-ups, and (2) the widespread reliance on anecdotal stories, usually apocryphal, of the stupid consequences of regulations or the weak scientific basis for regulation. Again and again, like a mantra, we heard calls for 'sound science' from Members who had little or no experience of what science does and how it progresses."