Obama Holdovers Work to Save EPA Junk Science, By Angela Logomasini, Ph.D.
Obama administration holdovers at the Environmental Protection Agency are doing their best undermine efforts to drain EPA’s bureaucratic swamp. And thus far, unfortunately, they’re succeeding. A recent example is Congress’s failure to cut, or even reduce, funding of one of EPA’s controversial research programs known as the Integrated Risk Information System, or IRIS.
According to Chemical Watch, the Trump administration proposed significant budget cuts for the EPA’s “chemical safety and sustainability research” budget, which includes IRIS spending within the agency’s Office of Research and Development (ORD). The Senate omnibus spending bill proposed elimination of IRIS completely. Yet the compromise bill that landed on President Trump’s desk last Friday continues to fund ORD at 2017 levels, and report language directs the administration to fund IRIS at its 2017 levels.
IRIS funding was restored after E&E News featured an interview with Obama administration holdover Kristina Thayer, who is in charge of IRIS and has been working to address past problems associated with low productivity, questionable scientific practices, and the lack of transparency. Thayer’s background includes working for environmental activist groups, such as World Wildlife Fund and the Environmental Working Group (EWG). She works under former American Chemistry Council scientist Tina Bahadori, who started her career at EPA during the Obama years. Bahadori recently arranged for a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) workshop to review progress on IRIS program improvements, with the apparent hope that the NAS will provide some praise for recent reforms and support continued funding of IRIS … Read more.
