Facing Legal Hurdles, EPA's 'Secret Science' Plan Punts On Key Issues

摘要

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has signed a long-promised plan barring the agency's use of any information in decision-making that is not publicly available, but the proposed rule punts on a host of tricky legal and implementation issues, including statutory mandates to use the best available science and how to address confidential trade secrets and medically protected data.Instead, the proposed rule - which appears to have cleared White House regulatory review within days of its submission - seeks public comments on a host of topics, including whether there are additional statutory authorities the agency could use and what criteria it should use to justify any exceptions.