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Data That Fed Agencies Use to Write Regulations Ca
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Data That Fed Agencies Use to Write Regulations Can be ChallengedFed Regs Ready to Face Challengers
AP
The trucking industry could be affected by government data releases.
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency draws on a variety of scientific studies when it designs new air quality rules.
But how accurate they are, what assumptions they make and the objectives they identify are now all subject to question under a new federal policy.
Beginning Oct. 1, all government agencies will be subject to the "Data Quality Act," which allows any group to look at the data used to justify regulations and to conduct its own study to challenge the data's accuracy.
Business groups see it as an important step forward.
"Two years ago, when we were litigating the air quality regulations, they had somewhere between a $50 billion and $100 billion impact a year on the business community, and no one was ever allowed to see the data," said Bill Kovacs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
But critics fear that the new policy will open the door to a new rash of "science for hire."
"Scientists hired by industry to re-evaluate regulations, who then come up and say that the regulations are too restrictive on industry; I would say that's questionable," said Sean Moulton of the organization OMB Watch.
Moulton said the new rule could slow down the regulatory process while people's health and safety hang in the balance, especially when it comes to agencies that deal with environmental or workplace dangers.
"Actually, their main principal is a precautionary principle they're there to protect, and sometimes you need to act when information isn't yet complete," he said.
Consumer groups expect the first targets will be workplace regulations like laws that prevent truckers from driving too many hours. That rule is considered to be very costly to the trucking industry, which said it pays $850 billion a year to comply with government regulations.
The business community said it wants to make sure that the money is well spent.
"So we want the regulations to work. We want the regulations to protect health and safety but we're asking the tough questions," Kovacs said.
Whether the new rule creates an open door policy for government agencies or a roadblock to regulation may ultimately depend on the courts.
Both sides in the debate fully expect legal battles over the law itself and over individual cases where government regulations are challenged.
Fox News' Steve Centanni contributed to this report
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,60897,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
AP
The trucking industry could be affected by government data releases.
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency draws on a variety of scientific studies when it designs new air quality rules.
But how accurate they are, what assumptions they make and the objectives they identify are now all subject to question under a new federal policy.
Beginning Oct. 1, all government agencies will be subject to the "Data Quality Act," which allows any group to look at the data used to justify regulations and to conduct its own study to challenge the data's accuracy.
Business groups see it as an important step forward.
"Two years ago, when we were litigating the air quality regulations, they had somewhere between a $50 billion and $100 billion impact a year on the business community, and no one was ever allowed to see the data," said Bill Kovacs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
But critics fear that the new policy will open the door to a new rash of "science for hire."
"Scientists hired by industry to re-evaluate regulations, who then come up and say that the regulations are too restrictive on industry; I would say that's questionable," said Sean Moulton of the organization OMB Watch.
Moulton said the new rule could slow down the regulatory process while people's health and safety hang in the balance, especially when it comes to agencies that deal with environmental or workplace dangers.
"Actually, their main principal is a precautionary principle they're there to protect, and sometimes you need to act when information isn't yet complete," he said.
Consumer groups expect the first targets will be workplace regulations like laws that prevent truckers from driving too many hours. That rule is considered to be very costly to the trucking industry, which said it pays $850 billion a year to comply with government regulations.
The business community said it wants to make sure that the money is well spent.
"So we want the regulations to work. We want the regulations to protect health and safety but we're asking the tough questions," Kovacs said.
Whether the new rule creates an open door policy for government agencies or a roadblock to regulation may ultimately depend on the courts.
Both sides in the debate fully expect legal battles over the law itself and over individual cases where government regulations are challenged.
Fox News' Steve Centanni contributed to this report
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,60897,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878