House Republican leaders on the Science, Space and Technology Committee are investigating the Biden administration for allegedly fabricating a paper trail to support the shutdown of a chemical plant in Louisiana.
They have questioned the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) actions prior to a lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer.
The lawsuit aims to reduce emissions of chloroprene, a chemical associated with health risks.
“Officials in EPA’s Office of Research and Development may have violated scientific integrity policies by influencing EPA’s Region 6 Office to withdraw a request for a scientific review of the cancer risk assessment in the 2010 Toxicology Review of Chloroprene under EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System Program,” Environment Subcommittee Chair Max Miller and Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chair Brian Babin wrote.
“I didn’t write that,” Michael Morton stated. “I didn’t say that. For – for that part, I didn’t – I don’t know that, so I don’t know who wrote that,” he added said of the email from 2021.
“Based on this evidence alone, it appears that ORD officials, in an apparent effort to build a fabricated scientific record, authored the email withdrawing the request for scientific review on behalf of Region 6, which had previously determined a scientific review necessary,” Miller and Babin wrote. “This practice is otherwise known as ‘ghostwriting.'”
“Additionally, because this ghost-written email was sent several weeks after the chloroprene nomination was rejected, the actions undertaken by ORD officials appear to be a retroactive attempt to provide scientific rationales and may have been an action to silence scientific opinions of chloroprene that differ from the Agency’s public position,” they wrote.
The Republicans claim that EPA officials may have violated scientific integrity policies, which prohibit “all EPA employees, including scientists, managers, and other Agency leadership, from suppressing, altering, or otherwise impeding the timely release of scientific findings or conclusions.”
If successful, the lawsuit could impact the future of the chemical plant, which is a significant part of the U.S. petrochemical industry in Louisiana, a major source of jobs and investment in the state.
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