Democratic House Leaders Use New Powers to Fight Bush's EPA Research Library Closings

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

House Democratic leaders are using their new authority as pending committee chairmen to push the EPA to stop closing its research libraries. As BuzzFlash has previously reported, the EPA has ignored protests from politicians and even its own scientists by preemptively eliminating research resources as instructed by President Bush's 2007 budget - despite the fact that Congress has yet to approve any such action.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson was given a letter demanding he "maintain the status quo" by Committee Ranking Members Bart Gordon (Science), Henry Waxman (Reform), John Dingell (Energy and Commerce), and James Oberstar (Transportation and Infrastructure). They also requested that the EPA compile records of materials that have already been dispersed to ensure the information can be retrieved and used by Agency personnel and the public.

"Over the past 36 years, EPA's libraries have accumulated a vast and invaluable trove of public health and environmental information, including at least 504,000 books and reports, 3,500 journal titles, 25,000 maps, and 3.6 million information objects on microfilm," the letter notes. "It now appears that EPA officials are dismantling what is likely one of our country's most comprehensive and accessible collections of environmental materials."

The Democrats' usage of their new authority in Congress is a reassuring sign of the shifting power in Washington. They spoke up before without result, but with control of oversight and appropriations, Bush-appointees like EPA Administrator Johnson will now be forced to listen.

Click here to read the letter (pdf)

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

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