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Improving the Scientific and Technical Information Available to the Environmental Protection Agency in Its Decisionmaking Process

CED-79-115 Published: Sep 21, 1979. Publicly Released: Sep 21, 1979.
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Highlights

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) statutes proclaim national goals of rapid improvement and protection of the environment and the public against health hazards. Trying to meet these demands places EPA between two groups with divergent views and competing interests. Environmental groups urge EPA to promulgate and enforce strict controls, while industry stresses the economic consequences and technological difficulties in implementing the controls. One by-product of this confrontation is litigation against EPA as a result of its decisions. Even though such suits are commonplace, most of them do not involve substantive issues, but rather procedural or statutory interpretation. The regulations and standards deal with scientific and technical issues where supporting data and research are not yet available or conclusive. In 1977 the National Academy of Sciences made a study of the EPA decisionmaking process, particularly for acquiring and using scientific and technical information.

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