Scisuprbak 2

<p>name change fail 819

 this is actually ryan jackson</p>

<div style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see secret sci</font></div><div style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>orwellian transparency, no press allowed?</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>secert sci bs:</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><em>: </em>On April 24, <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Environmental Protection Agency (<span class="caps">EPA</span>) Administrator <a href="http://desmogblog.com/scott-pruitt" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Scott Pruitt</a> released a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-pruitt-proposes-rule-strengthen-science-used-epa-regulations" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">proposed rule</a> that would restrict which scientific studies <span class="caps">EPA</span> could use in creating new regulations. The move — already controversial when it was first revealed over a month ago — would <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/24/pruitt-to-unveil-controversial-transparency-rule-limiting-what-research-epa-can-use/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">prevent <span class="caps">EPA</span> from considering studies</a> in which the data is not available to the public, including the private health information of individuals in medical studies, and which is based on one-time events, such as the 2010 <span class="caps">BP</span> oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Prominent <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateDepot/status/988839896285663232" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">climate science deniers were in attendance</a> at the <span class="caps">EPA</span> announcement, including <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/marc-morano" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Marc Morano</a>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/steve-milloy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Steve Milloy</a>, and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/william-happer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Will Happer</a>. </font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>twit: </b></font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>"era of secret science @EPA is coming to an end. The ability to test, authenticate, & reproduce scientific findings is vital for integrity of rulemaking process. Americans deserve to assess legitimacy of the science underpinning Agency decisions"</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060076559" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">March 16, <span class="caps">E&E</span> reported</a> that <span class="caps">EPA</span> Admin Scott Pruitt is brewing more plans to further hobble how the <span class="caps">EPA</span> uses (or in this case, doesn’t use) science to protect the public. According to <span class="caps">E&E</span>, the effort will be similar to the Orwellian-esque <span class="caps">HONEST</span> Act that Lamar Smith sponsored a year ago but is stalled in the Senate. Pruitt’s idea is to apply a blanket set of new criteria to studies the <span class="caps">EPA</span> can cite. The “sound science” recommendations are designed to sound reasonable, but in practice would render lots of high quality, relevant research off-limits.</font></p></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p></div><div style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The order came before Dr. Beck’s arrival at the agency, but Ms. Hamnett saw the industry’s fingerprints all over it.</span><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> </span><b><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson</span><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,</span></b><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><b style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">instructed Ms. Hamnett to ignore the recommendation of agency scientists, she said.</b></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The scientists had called for a ban based on research suggesting the pesticide might cause developmental disabilities in children.</div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Photo Farm workers in a field picking berries.<span> </span><b>Chlorpyrifos</b>, a pesticide blamed for developmental disabilities in children, is still widely used in agriculture. In March, Mr. Pruitt overrode agency scientists’ recommendation to ban it. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times]</div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To keep the pesticide on the market, under E.P.A. guidelines, the agency needed to have a “reasonable certainty” that no harm was being caused.</span></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The science and the law tell us this is the way to go,” Ms. Hamnett said of a ban.</span></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the reaction from her superiors was not about the science or the law, she said. Instead, they queried her about Dow Chemical, the pesticide’s largest manufacturer, which had been lobbying against a ban.</span></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The clash is recorded in Ms. Hamnett notebook as well as in emails among Mr. Pruitt’s top political aides, which were obtained by The Times.</div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">“They are trying to strong arm us,” Mr. Jackson wrote after meeting with Ms. Hamnett, who presented him with a draft petition to ban the pesticide.</div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Mr. Jackson, Ms. Hamnett’s notebook shows, then asked her to come up with alternatives to a ban. He asserted, her notes show, that he did not want to be “forced into a box” by the petition.</div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I scared them,” Mr. Jackson wrote in an email to a colleague about his demands on Ms. Hamnett and her team.</span></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As a possible compromise, Ms. Hamnett’s team had been talking to Dow about perhaps phasing out the pesticide instead of imposing an immediate ban. But Dow, after Mr. Trump’s election, was suddenly in no mood to compromise, Ms. Hamnett recalled. Dow did not respond to requests for comment.</span></div>

</b></div>

<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><b>She now knew, she said, that the effort to ban the pesticide had been lost, something Mr. Jackson’s emails celebrated.</b></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“It was hard, very hard,” she said, worrying that the pesticide would continue to harm children of farmworkers. “That was not one of my best days.”</span></div>

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<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The episode is one reason she worries the E.P.A. will defer to the chemical industry as it begins to evaluate toxic chemicals under the standards created by the new law. She became particularly concerned because of a more recent exchange with Dr. Beck over<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <b>methylene chloride,</b> which is used in paint removers.</span></div>

<p class="p1" style=" margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Grassroots and Grasstops</font></strong>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To pass legislation in Washington, grass-roots campaigners from the hinterland need the insider known-how of the<b> "grass<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">tops</span>" lobbying organizations in D.C. </b>-- in this instance<b>, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), EWG (the Environmental Working Group), and EDF (Environmental Defense Fund)</b>. For their part, the grasstops lobbyists in D.C. need grass-roots groups all across the country to pressure key legislators at crucial times in the legislative sausage-making process.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sometimes the grasstops in D.C. forget that they can't win without support of a broad grass-roots base. There's no better example of this than the inside-the-beltway <a href="http://goo.gl/kkddtV" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">campaign in 2009 to pass "cap-and-trade" legislation</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[11]</span> to curb emissions of carbon dioxide. The grasstops groups, led by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), imagined that they could play David to the fossil fuel industry's Goliath (oil, coal, natural gas, and electric utilities) without engaging grass-roots campaigners nationwide. Predictably, Goliath slew David handily.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Just as cap and trade was going down to embarrassing defeat, the grasstops took a different tack for TSCA reform -- they helped launch a large national grass-roots coalition now known as <a href="http://www.saferchemicals.org/" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">Safer Chemicals Healthy Families</span></a> </span><span class="print-footnote">[12]</span> (SCHF), today comprising some 450 groups with perhaps 11 million total members. From the beginning, the coalition was partly staffed by grasstops: the coalition's web site lists its two "issue exerts" as Sarah Jensen, a physician with NRDC, and Richard Denison, a scientist employed by EDF. Indeed, the press release <a href="http://goo.gl/kOJxNX" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">announcing the formation of the coalition</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[13]</span> August 4, 2009 listed Richard Denison of EDF as the first of two spokespeople for the coalition.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Thus, it all seemed to be working the way it was supposed to. Except that Congress was not cooperating</b>. The petrochemical industry has a phenomenally deep pocket, and it was not about to roll over for a few green lobbyists, even if they had the backing of 11 million supporters in places like Boise and Little Rock. According to Common Cause, between 2005 and 2012 the chemical industry spent<a href="http://goo.gl/kNdKqf" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">$375 million lobbying</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[14]</span> to prevent meaningful TSCA reform. That's more than $700,000 for each of the 535 members of Congress.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>As time passed, Senator Lautenberg continually watered down</b> his Kid-Safe proposal, each new version weaker than the last. In April of this year Lautenberg and Kristin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) once again re-introduced a "Safe Chemicals Act." By now, the <b>precautionary approach was long gone, as was the goal of protecting vulnerable populations like babies. </b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Senator Lautenberg evidently knew that even this compromised bill wasn't going anywhere because one month later -- May 22, <b>12 days before he died -- he introduced an even more industry-friendly version, "The Chemical Safety Improvement Act" or CSIA. This time his co-sponsor was Sen. David Vitter, conservative Republican from Louisiana and loyal servant of the petrochemical industry.</b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>To say that Lautenberg-Vitter is industry-friendly understates the case. The chemical industry is salivating over the CSIA.</b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Here's a short list of <a href="http://goo.gl/LqYKth" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">industry groups that have endorsed</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[15]</span> the Lautenberg-Vitter bill: Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Association of Global Automakers, Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, California Building Industry Association<b>, California Chamber of Commerce</b>, California Manufacturers & Technology Association, Consumer Electronics Association, Information Technology Industry Council, Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The heaviest hitters supporting CSIA include the <a href="http://goo.gl/mOXGz8" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[16]</span>, the <a href="http://goo.gl/WgCLzV" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">Vinyl Institute</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[17]</span>, and, heaviest of all, the <a href="http://goo.gl/2mX8Ym" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">American Chemistry Council</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[18]</span>, trade association of the chemical manufacturers.</font>

</font> 

<b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CSIA: "Somewhere between a rout and a retreat"</font></b>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The position of the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition is <a href="http://goo.gl/QWMVNX" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">crystal clear</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[19]</span>: "We do not support the legislation in its current form."  Ken Cook, president of EWG in D.C. doesn't mince words: "If you look at the bill Lautenberg was pushing last year, I don't know if this is a retreat or a rout, but it's somewhere in that range," he says of the CSIA.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Objections to the Lautenberg-Vitter CSIA bill include these:</b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. EPA must decide that "no unreasonable risk of harm to human health or the environment will result from exposure to a chemical." To determine what's "unreasonable," EPA must do a cost-benefit analysis -- weighing the dollar value of the chemical against the dollar value of the cancers, birth defects, attention deficits, and other diseases it may cause over the years. In such studies, the commercial value of the chemical can be estimated, but the dollar value of the harms is not easily quantified. In the past, after losing too many such duels with industry, EPA has refused to engage, allowing chemicals onto the market unchallenged.  CSIA seems unlikely to change that pattern. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Once EPA determines that a chemical presents "no unreasonable risk of harm" (for example, by refusing to challenge it in a cost-benefit duel) federal and state courts would not be allowed to accept new evidence in toxic tort lawsuits. Whatever evidence was available to EPA at the time of its decision would be the only information that a judge or jury could hear. New scientific studies would be<a href="http://goo.gl/sbRZSE" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">excluded from courtrooms</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[20]</span>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Lautenberg-Vitter contains sweeping language that <a href="http://goo.gl/sbRZSE" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">preempts states</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[20]</span> from enforcing existing laws, or adopting new ones, designed to supplement federal law. So California's "Prop 65" labeling requirements would be illegal under Lautenberg-Vitter. Washington state's current restrictions on flame retardants would be nullified. Maine's goal of eliminating toxic mercury from products would be set aside.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The California <a href="http://goo.gl/s1EziN" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">attorney general's office</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[21]</span> says Lautenberg-Vitter, as currently drafted, "cripples the police powers that California relies upon to protect public health... and, in addition, severely compromises California's authority to supplement and complement federal efforts to regulate the safety of chemicals."</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greens have universally condemned the Lautenberg-Vitter bill, with one exception: EDF <a href="http://goo.gl/RgEfKO" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">supports the bill</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[22]</span> and Richard Denison has been lobbying for it on capitol hill.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is not really a surprise. EDF has long been known as "a <a href="http://goo.gl/hcmxG1" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">home for business-friendly</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[23]</span> environmentalism."  People who engage with EDF generally do so knowing that it's often on the opposite side of issues that matter to grass-roots pollution-fighters.   </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this instance, EDF's position on CSIA creates a real conundrum for the Safer Chemicals Healthy Family Coalition, where EDF's Denison is both a scientific adviser and a coalition spokesperson yet is employed by an organization lobbying against the coalition's position..</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, during intense jockeying in the senate, no one can be quite sure who they're talking to when Richard Denison comes knocking. Is he representing EDF, which supports CSIA, or the Safer Chemicals coalition, which opposes it?</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EDF web site is no help in sorting out this question. To a naive viewer, the site could even give the impression that the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition supports EDF's pro-CSIA position, which it emphatically does not. The "Chemicals Policy" <a href="htttp://goo.gl/gEZOsu" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">page on EDF's site</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[24]</span>, urging passage of Lautenberg-Vitter, says, "EDF is a founding member of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families campaign, a broad coalition of state and national environmental groups, associations of health professionals, advocates for health-affected individuals and environmental justice organizations. The group has launched a broad effort to achieve comprehensive reform of TSCA. The campaign is advocating for a set of legislative proposals in Congress summarized in its platform [<a href="http://goo.gl/o70pQj" style=" text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><span class="s1">PDF</span></a> <span class="print-footnote">[25]</span>]."</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nowhere does the EDF web site clarify that the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition opposes Lautenberg-Vitter, which EDF supports.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The value of EDF's stance to the chemical industry cannot be overstated. With EDF on its side, the Chemical Industry Council's chief lobbyist, Calvin M. Dooley, can tell senators that "reasonable" environmentalists support Lautenberg-Vitter. Only green extremists oppose it.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For its part, EDF management may be feeling a bit desperate to back a winner. With an annual budget of $105 million, and egg on its face from the cap-and-trade fiasco of 2009-2010, EDF perhaps needs to claim a victory after years invested in TSCA reform. Faced with the disastrous Lautenberg-Vitter bill, perhaps siding with the chemical industry against its 450 grass-roots allies in the Safer Chemicals coalition will prove to be a wise financial decision for EDF going forward.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For the Safer Chemicals coalition, on the other hand, Lautenberg-Vitter portends hard times ahead not only for chemicals policy but for the politics of reform more generally. Not only must future coalitions dissect what went wrong this time, but they must try anew to figure out how to discern in advance who are their real friends, and who's likely to sell them out at the last minute.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One thing's for sure: divide and conquer is still industry's most powerful tactic. "We're delighted there's a path forward," says Calvin Dooley of the Chemical Industry Council, "and we're eager to capitalize on it."...</font></p>

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<div source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" roboto="Roboto" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" box-sizing: border-box; transition: background-color 0.25s linear 0s, border-color 0.25s linear 0s, box-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, color 0.25s linear 0s, opacity 0.25s linear 0s, text-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, transform 0.25s linear 0s; color: rgb(33, 33, 33);">Jackson serves as the Chief of Staff of the EPA. His responsibilities include serving as a key advisor to  Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, managing daily operations of the EPA, coordinating the Administrator’s strategic initiatives, and serving as the principal liaison with the White House. </div>

<div source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" roboto="Roboto" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style=" box-sizing: border-box; transition: background-color 0.25s linear 0s, border-color 0.25s linear 0s, box-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, color 0.25s linear 0s, opacity 0.25s linear 0s, text-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, transform 0.25s linear 0s; color: rgb(33, 33, 33);"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mr. Jackson joined EPA after nearly 20 years working in the U.S. Senate, first as counsel to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and later as chief of staff to U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma). As the staff director of the Committee, he coordinated a legislative and oversight plan for Chairman Inhofe that resulted in:</span></div>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; transition: background-color 0.25s linear 0s, border-color 0.25s linear 0s, box-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, color 0.25s linear 0s, opacity 0.25s linear 0s, text-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, transform 0.25s linear 0s;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the first long-term reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure in 10 years,</span></li>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; transition: background-color 0.25s linear 0s, border-color 0.25s linear 0s, box-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, color 0.25s linear 0s, opacity 0.25s linear 0s, text-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, transform 0.25s linear 0s;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the enactment of the<span> </span><b>Frank R Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century</b><span> </span>(the first major federal environmental statute rewrite in 20 years), and</span></li>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; transition: background-color 0.25s linear 0s, border-color 0.25s linear 0s, box-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, color 0.25s linear 0s, opacity 0.25s linear 0s, text-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, transform 0.25s linear 0s;"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">a new Water Resources Development Act that prioritized funding for national ports and water infrastructure.</span></li>

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<p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" roboto="Roboto" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style=" box-sizing: border-box; transition: background-color 0.25s linear 0s, border-color 0.25s linear 0s, box-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, color 0.25s linear 0s, opacity 0.25s linear 0s, text-shadow 0.25s linear 0s, transform 0.25s linear 0s; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(33, 33, 33);"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In all, his leadership contributed to the enactment of over 60 statutes. While working in Congress, Mr. Jackson also worked closely with EPA on new state permitting for</span><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span> </span>coal ash disposal and regulation, and on the reauthorization of the Brownfields program to promote beneficial use and new economic development for these areas.    </span>

Previously, Mr. Jackson was an assistant district attorney in Oklahoma's 14th Judicial District, which covers Tulsa and Pawnee counties. A native of Oklahoma City, Mr. Jackson received his B.A. in public administration and political science from the University of Oklahoma, and his law degree from Oklahoma City University.</p>

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<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="241" data-total-count="241" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style=" margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/environmental_protection_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the Environmental Protection Agency." class="meta-org">Environmental Protection Agency</a>’s chief of staff pressured the top scientist on the agency’s scientific review board to alter her congressional testimony and play down the dismissal of expert advisers, his emails show.</b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Deborah Swackhamer, an environmental chemist who leads the E.P.A.’s Board of Scientific Counselors</b>, was to testify on May 23 before the House Science Committee on the role of states in environmental policy when<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b> Ryan Jackson, the E.P.A.’s chief of staff, asked her to stick to the agency’s “talking points” on the dismissals of several members of the scientific board.</b></span></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I was stunned that he was pushing me to ‘correct’ something in my testimony,” said Dr. Swackhamer, a retired University of Minnesota professor. “I was factual, and he was not. I felt bullied.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Swackhamer’s testimony came two weeks after the dismissals, which were met with fierce pushback from a scientific community that saw it as evidence that the Trump administration is seeking to weaken the role of academic science in environmental policy. <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That criticism has sharpened in recent weeks, after the E.P.A. administrator, Scott Pruitt, and the energy secretary, Rick Perry, openly questioned the established science of human-caused<span times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem"> </span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about global warming." class="meta-classifier" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" color="color" rgb="rgb">climate change</a><span times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem">, and as the E.P.A. has taken down websites about climate change. Scientists have also expressed concern that Mr. Pruitt has staffed his senior offices with several former senior staff members of Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a prominent </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/02/26/jim-inhofes-snowball-has-disproven-climate-change-once-and-for-all/?utm_term=.5d13038ff105" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" color="color" rgb="rgb">denier of human-caused climate change</a><span times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem">. Mr. Jackson also came from Mr. Inhofe’s staff.</span></span></font></p>

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<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="473" data-total-count="2087" id="story-continues-3" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style=" margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among other requests in his May 22 emails, Mr. Jackson asked Dr. Swackhamer to note that “a decision had not yet been made” about whether to dismiss her colleagues on the agency’s scientific review board. However, at that time, several scientists on the board had already received notices that their terms would not be renewed. Since that testimony, the E.P.A. has sent out dozens more notices to academic scientists that their terms on the board will not be renewed.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The Board of Scientific Counselors had 68 members two months ago. It will have 11</span>come Sept. 1,” Dr. Swackhamer said. “<b>They’ve essentially suspended scientific activities by ending these terms. We have no meetings scheduled, no bodies to do the work.”</b></font></p>

<h2 class="visually-hidden" id="newsletter-promo-heading" style=" line-height: 1.375rem; margin: -1px; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Newsletter Sign Up</font></h2>

<a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/us/politics/epa-official-pressured-scientist-on-congressional-testimony-emails-show.html#continues-post-newsletter" style=" position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Continue reading the main sto</font></a></div>

<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="265" data-total-count="2614" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style=" margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">James Thurber, the founder and former director of the <a href="http://www.american.edu/spa/ccps/">Center for Congressional Studies</a> at American University, said he had never heard of an administration pressuring a witness, particularly a scientist, to alter testimony already submitted for the official record.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s shocking and insulting to be told before you go in to alter your testimony to what the administration wants,” he said. “This just shows a certain amount of amateurishness about how these hearings work. They’re supposed to be places where you get objective views. You don’t go around telling people what to say.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Mr. Jackson and the E.P.A. communications office did not respond to emailed questions about Mr. Jackson’s communications with Dr. Swackhamer.</b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the chairman of the committee, dismissed the accusations.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s disappointing that the minority is politicizing what seems to be nothing more than a federal agency making sure that information provided to Congress is accurate,” he said in a statement. “Dr. Swackhamer and the Minority have repeatedly stated that she was testifying in her personal capacity and not in connection with her role as chair of the E.P.A. Board of Scientific Counselors. However, it is clear that the Minority invited her in an attempt to hijack the stated purpose of the Committee’s hearing on states’ role in E.P.A. rulemaking and shift the focus to recent E.P.A. actions involving the” Board of Scientific Counselors.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Any attempt by E.P.A. to ensure that what Congress heard in testimony about official E.P.A. matters included the full breadth of information seems entirely appropriate,” Mr. Smith continued. “Unfortunately, the Minority has made the choice to waste taxpayer dollars as part of a politically motivated<b><span> </span>agenda</b>.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Swackhamer said she had already submitted her testimony to the congressional committee by the time she received Mr. Jackson’s email. She had also told the Science Committee and the E.P.A. that she planned to speak in her role as an independent scientist rather than an E.P.A. employee, and that she would make this plain at the outset of her testimony.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Swackhamer made her emails with Mr. Jackson available to the committee’s Democrats. On Monday, the panel’s Democrats<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, led by the ranking member, Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, sent a letter to Mr. Pruitt expressing concern that Mr. Jackson’s attempt to shape Dr. Swackhamer’s testimony may have been improper or even illegal.<span> </span></span>The Democrats requested that the agency’s inspector general investigate the matter.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We contend that Mr. Jackson, and perhaps other senior E.P.A. employees, attempted to interfere with the testimony of an independent scientist to the Science Committee and may have sought to mislead Congress,” they wrote</font></p>

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