EPA Faults Findings on Mercury
EPA's political appointees instructed the agency's staff last year to use a predetermined target for reducing mercury, rather than doing the necessary studies to find the lowest possible emission levels that could be achieved in the shortest possible time.
Rather than relying on "an unbiased calculation" to make this determination, she said, the process "was compromised" by intervention from top officials.
Tinsley urged the agency to strengthen its pending rule "to better ensure that human health is protected." She also recommended that it conduct further analysis, including assessing the costs and benefits of emission reductions.
"We concluded that EPA's rule development process for this case was inconsistent with expected and past EPA practices, including a failure to fully assess the rule's impact on children's health," she said in a statement accompanying the 54-page report.
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