After 3 years, EPA Responds to Chamber Petition: Claims Valid Reasons for Data Inconsistency

WASHINGTON, DC— After waiting 1124 days for a response from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has finally received a response to its May 27, 2004 request, filed under the Information Quality Act, to correct numerical errors in EPA's online chemical databases. EPA's response in essence is: we are not concerned about correcting errors in our databases used by the public for making risk assessments.

"EPA has publicly declined to assume responsibility for the integrity for the data it provides, disseminates or sponsors," said Bill Kovacs, Chamber vice president for Environment, Technology and Regulatory Affairs. "It has essentially said, 'use the data at your own risk.'"

EPA's final response stated that there were "valid reasons why databases may contain differing values for physical or chemical parameters," and noted that "slight variations in assessment values between tools are not errors." EPA also refused to remove disclaimers for those databases maintained by third-party contractors, further showing that the agency does not vouch for the accuracy of the data.

The Chamber filed a correction request with EPA after it identified many significant numerical discrepancies in EPA's chemical databases. When EPA denied the Chamber's original Request for Correction, the Chamber filed a Request for Reconsideration on April 11, 2005, which became the longest unresolved data quality petition at EPA. Subsequently, the Chamber received eight interim responses from EPA—issued every 90 days for two years—requesting more time to address the request.

As the Chamber suggested, EPA recognized the "potential benefit" of convening an inter-agency task force to address the problem of inconsistent data, but the agency declined to convene one in this instance. The Chamber had recommended that EPA contact the U.S. Geological Service (USGS)—the group that initially reported on EPA's faulty data—and National Institutes of Science and Technology (NIST), a recognized expert in this area, to discuss an inter-agency effort to develop good quality data for public use.

"In failing to form an inter-agency workgroup involving NIST and USGS, EPA is ensuring the use of poor data for making public policy; and that is bad public policy" said Kovacs.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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