Surely a step in the right direction. The public is entitled to something better than smoke and mirrors when it comes to the use of science – or alleged science – to determine national policy. But the aim of objectivity is a tough one.
H/T The GWPF
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt will soon end his agency’s use of “secret science” to craft regulations, reports Michael Bastasch.
“We need to make sure their data and methodology are published as part of the record,” Pruitt said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Otherwise, it’s not transparent. It’s not objectively measured, and that’s important.”
Pruitt will reverse long-standing EPA policy allowing regulators to rely on non-public scientific data in crafting rules. Such studies have been used to justify tens of billions of dollars worth of regulations.
EPA regulators would only be allowed to consider scientific studies that make their data available for public scrutiny under Pruitt’s new policy. Also, EPA-funded studies would need to make all their data public.
“When we do contract that science out, sometimes the findings are published; we make that part of our rule-making processes, but then we don’t publish the methodology and data that went into those findings because the third party who did the study won’t give it to us,” Pruitt added.
“And we’ve said that’s fine — we’re changing that as well,” Pruitt told TheDCNF.
Conservatives have long criticized EPA for relying on scientific studies that published their findings but not the underlying data. However, Democrats and environmental activists have challenged past attempts to bring transparency to studies used in rule making.
Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith pushed legislation to end the use of what he calls “secret science” at EPA. Pruitt instituted another policy in 2017 backed by Smith against EPA-funded scientists serving on agency advisory boards.
“If we use a third party to engage in scientific review or inquiry, and that’s the basis of rulemaking, you and every American citizen across the country deserve to know what’s the data, what’s the methodology that was used to reach that conclusion that was the underpinning of what — rules that were adopted by this agency,” Pruitt explained.
Continued here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Reblogged this on Climatism and commented:
Common sense injected back into ‘science’. Fancy that…
Yay! Scott Pruitt, the right man in the right place at the right time .
Our state was trying to pass legislation requiring disclosure of the science papers being used for environmental policies.
There has also been excessive use of Executive Privilege to keep proceedings from meetings undisclosed.
And our state is bad. They are getting very aggressive about Smart Meters. And I do not one of those.
Looking under the rocks where ‘secret science’ hides could expose all kinds of creepy-crawlies 😐
Basing any policy on a one-variable climate theory that only sees linear variation (upwards) in temperatures was/is never going to work.
JoNova says it succintly: In a bombshell, Scott Pruitt is expecting scientists to act scientifically … there is no such thing as “secret science”. If it can’t be replicated, it isn’t science. What Pruitt is stopping is Fake Science.
and “the dog ate my data” is another excuse requiring a refund of payment. Several times in the past so-called scientists have claimed that the original data somehow got erased or “lost”. If they turned over the computer code and methodology logs we could recreate the original data so of course, they claim copyright privilege.
Enough already. If a government agency contracts you to do a science study you must cough up everything from original data, copies of logs, and all computer code. Without repeatability by third parties it’s not science. But of course we all know that. It is why we’ve been crying out about it for years now.
Where does this leave climate modelling? Not sure it’s ‘transparent’.
IS EPA’S SCOTT PRUITT PLANNING A FINAL BLOW TO OBAMA’S CLIMATE AGENDA?
Date: 21/03/18 Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller
It was “absolutely false” the White House shot down plans for a public debate on global warming science, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Monday.
The concept of a “red team, blue team exercise” had “evolved” since he first proposed it last year, Pruitt said. “Don’t believe everything you read,” Pruitt told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
http://www.thegwpf.com/is-epas-scott-pruitt-planning-a-final-blow-to-obamas-climate-agenda/
TABLES TURNED: Alarmists Now ‘Deny’ Climate Science While Big Oil Defends It
Climate scientists Kate Marvel of NASA and Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech went on to argue the IPCC’s 2013 report was outdated and scientific studies in the years since have painted a more alarming picture of man-made warming.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/21/chevron-agrees-global-warming/
But they accuse the oil firms of bobbing and weaving
– – –
BOOM! Federal Judge Dismisses Claim Of “Big-Oil” Conspiracy To Suppress Global Warming Science
Anthony Watts March 21, 2018
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/03/21/boom-federal-judge-dismisses-claim-of-a-conspiracy-to-suppress-global-warming-science/
‘IRON LAW:’ The World Got Richer, So CO2 Emissions Went Up
So why did this happen?
The answer is simple: “It’s the economy, stupid!” According to the Center for International Climate Research Director Glenn Peters.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/23/iron-law-energy-emissions-economy/