Congressman Jeb Hensarling

Representing the 5th District of Texas

Hensarling Votes to Bring Transparency, Accountability to EPA

Nov 19, 2014
Press Release

WASHINGTON—U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed the Secret Science Reform Act (H.R. 4012) and the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act (H.R. 1422):

“President Obama declared at the outset of his term that his administration would be the ‘most transparent administration in history’ and directed his administration to ensure that Americans were ‘offered increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information.’ Unfortunately – as with virtually every other agency in Obama Administration – it seems the president’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) didn’t get the message.

“The EPA has been relentlessly conducting a war on carbon-based energy, issuing regulation after regulation that will significantly impact our economy, destroy jobs, and raise energy prices for hardworking Americans already struggling to make ends meet.  Despite the significant impact these regulations will have, the EPA refuses to make public the scientific data it used in crafting its regulations.  This stunning lack of transparency leaves the public and Congress in the dark and unable to scrutinize the EPA’s actions and hold them accountable. 

“Even the Science Advisory Board (SAB) – which was created by Congress in 1978 to provide expert advice and review the scientific foundation of the EPA’s regulatory decisions – has turned into little more than a rubber stamp for decisions made by unelected bureaucrats at the EPA as dissenting voices are silenced, the membership is far from independent, and public participation is limited.

“The bills passed by the House today would provide a meaningful opportunity for the voices of the American people to be heard in the regulatory process by reforming the Science Advisory Board to bring greater independence to the panel membership and promote greater transparency and public participation, and by requiring the EPA to base its regulations on public data—bringing much needed accountability and transparency to the EPA.” 


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