Congress

The House Energy & Commerce Committee has significantly broadened its investigation into the chemical industry's influence over the scientific community and EPA's risk assessments by demanding that the industry lobbying group, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), provide extensive documentation of its role in influencing scientific publications and agency chemical review panels.

The House has begun consideration of legislation that increases authorized funding to protect water quality at beaches and would allow states to use the money to determine the source of pollution, with key amendments set for debate, including a measure that would require EPA to study the impact of climate change on beach pollution.

Environmentalists and EPA union officials are urging lawmakers to ensure that any effort to reconcile competing House and Senate whistleblower protection bills include language that protects EPA and other federal scientists from retaliation by managers when they report distortions, changes or delays in their research.

The fate of several key agriculture programs aimed at protecting water quality remains uncertain while Congress wrangles over the Farm Bill, despite the start of House-Senate conference committee negotiations April 10 to hash out the final details of the compromise legislation.