ADI News Services
Arizona Congressman David Schweikert and members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee sent a letter last week to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy expressing “serious concerns with the lack of balance and transparency in the Environmental Protection Agency’s public outreach process associated with forthcoming greenhouse gas regulations for existing power plants.”
“On September 30, EPA announced a ‘listening session tour’ to ‘solicit ideas and input from the public and stakeholders about the best Clean Air Act approaches’ to regulating existing power plants,” the letter reads. “It is our understanding that EPA did not transcribe, webcast, or otherwise record the comments presented at the 11 listening sessions. If there is no record of what was said, it’s unclear how the Agency can claim the sessions were designed for the purpose of ‘helping EPA develop smart, cost-effective guidelines.’ While EPA did allow written comments to be submitted at the sessions, many if not most presenters gave only oral remarks. In addition, it is our understanding that EPA does not intend to make public the written comments that were submitted.”
