A lack of transparency could complicate efforts by environmental or good governance advocates to file lawsuits challenging rules that don’t follow the science.
Tim Whitehouse, the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said it’s already difficult for citizen groups to get the information they need in order to challenge an EPA decision.
Career staffers within the agency are best positioned to bring concerns to light, he said. “If they don’t feel confident speaking up, if they don’t feel protected in developing their own science and defending it, then the system will collapse.”
