WASHINGTON   –  U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) is fighting to force the Environmental Protection Agency to adhere to federal standards for data quality on new rules governing greenhouse gas emissions, but says the agency is instead using its own rules.

“The public gets very little insight into how these regulations are formulated or the data that goes into setting rules and requirements.  That’s a huge disservice to taxpayers, to American businesses and to the millions of people for whom energy is an important part of daily life,” Emerson said.

In late 2009, Emerson penned a letter to the EPA Office of Inspector General requesting adherence to the federal Data Quality Act, a law requiring the best available science to be used to inform the rulemaking processes of government agencies.  In their response, the EPA’s Inspector General told Emerson that the law  “does not specifically provide for only scientifically-reliable data to be included in the formulation of regulations as suggested in your letter.”

The EPA response goes on to assert that the agency is allowed to come up with its own guidelines for quality, objectivity, utility and integrity of scientific data.

Emerson says that is where the bureaucracy is running amok.  “Leave it to a bunch of inside-the-beltway bureaucrats to determine that they are accountable to no one but themselves.  The decision to measure, limit and tax the emission of carbon dioxide from U.S. energy producers and users will have very serious consequences for the American economy.  The costs of these regulations will hit every American family at the gas pump, in the store, and even at home for energy use.”

The EPA Inspector General also declined to commit any resources to ensure that data quality standards are being properly enforced as the EPA moves forward with future findings on greenhouse gases.

“These rules are just the beginning.  The Obama Administration is counting on literally hundreds of billions of dollars of brand-new revenue from taxes and surcharges on energy production and use.  Set aside the question of whether the EPA even has the authority to put these regulations in place, and you must still consider the fact that if carbon dioxide emissions are a problem, then they are a global problem, and the effects on human health are mild compared to the other public safety issues we need to deal with first,” Emerson said.