"Add the Defense Department to the ranks of those expressing concern about EPA's plans to restrict the use of scientific research in writing new regulations.

'While we agree that public access to information is very important, we do not believe that failure of the agency to obtain a publication's underlying data from an author external to the agency should negate its use,' Patricia Underwood, a senior Pentagon official in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment, wrote in recent comments on the EPA proposal.

Because it's 'improbable' EPA would always be able to obtain such underlying data, Underwood added, 'this should not impede the use of otherwise high-quality studies.'"

Sean Reilly reports for Greenwire August 28, 2018. [2]