In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic that has made the importance of science abundantly clear, EPA attempted to gut critical science that guides our public health protections. 

Even worse, they were rushing this through with only 30 days for the public and health experts – who are currently overwhelmed by a major global health crisis – to weigh in. 

But you spoke out. You flooded EPA with nearly 15,000 messages demanding they reverse course. And the Trump administration yielded – sort of.

They’ve extended the comment period by one more month – giving experts and others until May 18th to weigh in. The problem? The current COVID-19 crisis won’t be resolved by then, and the public, including doctors and scientists, will still need more time.

That’s why we’re asking you to speak out, one more time. Demand EPA suspend this proposal until after we have dealt with the national emergency that is imminently threatening thousands of lives.

Americans deserve a reasonable amount of time to raise their voices on something this serious. Here’s a snapshot of EPA’s disastrous proposal: 
 

• It would severely limit EPA’s ability to rely on strong science when making decisions about the protection of public health and the environment by forcing the agency to ignore studies unless the underlying data is publicly available The problem with that? Many key studies rely on personal information to understand environmental impacts on our health. Your personal health data is private – and shouldn’t be made public. But it’s one of the best sources of the crucial information EPA needs to make smart public health decisions. 
   
• It would apply to nearly every piece of scientific information EPA considers when developing significant regulatory decisions or preparing scientific documents. 
   
• It fails to articulate any actual benefit of the proposal, but would impose immense and costly burdens on the scientific community, including EPA’s own scientists. 

When this was proposal was released – in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic – EDF demanded a minimum of 90 days after the national emergency concluded for the public and health experts to weigh in.

And you joined the call – flooding EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s email inbox with calls to delay this egregious attack on Americans’ health and safety during such a precarious time. 

But you didn’t stop there. You also overwhelmed his Tweeter feed – his boss’s favorite medium – with calls to halt this dangerous attack on science and our health.

You made him listen, and his agency responded by giving us a cursory extension – but it’s still not enough.

The public health crisis won’t be over by May 18th. Our public health experts deserve more time. Demand the Trump administration give it to them.

Thank you for standing with us,

Heather Shelby
Action Network Manager