Energy and Environment
Information regarding my stance on Energy and Environment issues.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici visited a proposed restoration project Tuesday at South Tongue Point, highlighting the importance of the Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund in aiding local habitat projects.
The Columbia Land Trust recently secured federal and state grants to purchase 90 acres of South Tongue Point. The Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce will oversee the restoration. Afterwards, the property will be transferred to Clatsop Community College for use as a living laboratory in a new environmental sciences program.
A new EPA-backed proposal could end up limiting the role science plays in creating public regulations on environmental activity. Back in April, the now ex-head of the EPA Scott Pruitt introduced a piece of legislation aimed at increasing the "transparency" of regulatory science.
The new bill would allow the EPA to disregard scientific research if the raw data underlying that research is not made publicly available. Although Pruitt is no longer head of the EPA, the agency is still planning to introduce the bill to congress come August.
Today, the House of Representatives unanimously passed S. 756, the Save Our Seas Act, a bill to assist local communities and states in removing garbage and debris from our oceans and shores. House Oceans Caucus Co-Chairs Congressman Don Young (R-AK) and Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) introduced the bill, H.R. 2748, last year.
Aproposed rule purportedly aimed at strengthening the transparency of the Environmental Protection Agency's decision-making process would gut environmental regulations that protect human health, critics argued at a public hearing yesterday at the EPA (July 17). The rule would require that the data underlying any studies used to craft the agency's policies be publicly available—a bar that would be impossible to reach for many public health studies that rely on confidential health information.
WASHINGTON
Democratic lawmakers joined scores of scientists, health providers, environmental officials and activists Tuesday in denouncing an industry-backed proposal that could limit dramatically the scientific studies the Environmental Protection Agency considers in shaping protections for human health.
