Environmental -- 2009



National Association of Manufacturers v. EPA   (EPA)

Request for Reconsideration of Information Quality Act request regarding ozone

The NAM filed a Request for Correction under the Information Quality Act asking that EPA correct scientific errors in a package of documents related to its proposed revision of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. See summary linked below.

EPA rejected, disagreed with, or otherwise denied every information quality error described in the NAM's request for correction. Consequently, on Oct. 14, 2008, the NAM submitted a 160-page Request for Reconsideration detailing a variety of problems with the EPA's studies and processes. Many of the epidemiological studies EPA staff found persuasive used research designs that were known at the time to be demonstrably substandard. Staff relied on complex statistical methods to coax data into revealing effects from ozone so small that humans cannot even recognize experiencing them. Finally, EPA staff insisted that certain studies provide valid and reliable evidence of respiratory health effects from ozone even though they rejected these same studies in their July 2007 draft Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen.

The appeal seeks more cogent answers than EPA provided in its response to the Request for Correction. The document also identifies a number of process changes that are necessary to ensure that future NAAQS reviews fully and consistently adhere to the Agency's Information Quality Guidelines and the Information Quality Act.

On Jan. 15, 2009, EPA responded by "deferring consideration" of our request, pending resolution of the challenge to the ozone NAAQS rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see link below). NAM may resubmit this request after the conclusion of that litigation.


Related Documents:
NAM Request for Reconsideration  (October 14, 2008)