Green Thursday: May(day) at the EPA

A congressional watchdog agency has found that White House officials repeatedly intervened in the government's scientific process for assessing the health risks of toxic chemicals.

The Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday that the White House's budget office, the Pentagon and other agencies had delayed or blocked efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to list chemicals as carcinogens by requesting more research or more time to review the risks.

A top EPA official, who was grilled at a Congressional committee hearing Tuesday, responded that it was helpful to have more input from the White House and other agencies. Helpful for protecting big business!

Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who is chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the findings scandalous.

Scandal, in the Bush administration?

If EPA does not speed up its assessments of toxic chemicals, she warned that Congress might step in and start banning substances that threaten the public health.

GAO officials also faulted the administration for setting new rules that keep secret any involvement by the White House or a federal agency in a decision about the risks of a chemical. Secrets, in the Bush administration?

Since President Bush took office in 2001, the White House has sought to take more control of a process that has long been led by EPA scientists. The Office of Management and Budget, the Defense Department, the Energy Department and even NASA have taken steps to influence risk assessments that could affect those agencies or hurt U.S. industries.

Case in point: The EPA started a risk assessment of naphthalene, a chemical used in jet fuel, in 2002, and agency scientists have been moving toward listing it as a likely human carcinogen. But many military sites are contaminated with naphthalene, which could lead to major cleanup costs for the Pentagon. So, White House budget officials slowed the process, repeatedly requesting more analysis. Six years later, the risk assessment is back at the drafting stage.

Risk assessments have slowed to a crawl because of the prolonged inter-agency review. Out of 32 draft risk assessments prepared by the EPA over the last two years, only four were approved.

Public health advocates warn that the results are years-long delays in regulating harmful chemicals that scientists have linked to rising cancer rates in some groups.

Thank you President George W. Bush.

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