"The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) independent board of science advisers had harsh words for an agency plan to limit the types of studies it considers when crafting regulations, saying the EPA had failed to justify the need for the policy.

The policy was first proposed by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in 2018 to battle “secret science.” He argued that in order to increase transparency, the agency should limit consideration of studies that don’t share their underlying data.

But the agency’s own Science Advisory Board (SAB), in a review of the proposal released Tuesday, said it has “concerns about the scientific and technical challenges of implementing” a rule the EPA has not proved is necessary."

Rebecca Beitsch reports for The Hill April 28, 2020. [2]