September 12, 2003
E. Donald Elliott testifies on proposed legislation to elevate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cabinet rank.
On September 9, Willkie Environmental partner and Head of Environmental Department worldwide, E. Donald Elliott, testified on proposed legislation to elevate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cabinet rank. Other witnesses before the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs (of the House Committee on Government Reform) included Marianne Horinko, Acting EPA Administrator, and James Connaughton, Chairman of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. Mr. Elliott’s testimony focused in particular on the need for a high level science advocate, or Undersecretary for Science, in a new Department of the Environment. An Undersecretary for Science would advise the Secretary of the Environment on whether proposed policies are consistent with available scientific knowledge. In Mr. Elliott’s view, the greatest danger for a new Department of the Environment is that it will be taken over by some passing political “enthusiasm” --of either the right or the left -- that is not grounded in science. Mr. Elliott, a former EPA General Counsel, observed that although the EPA Administrator has the benefit of a General Counsel that provides legal advice on regulatory approaches under all of the different environmental media and programs, she does not have comparable scientific advice that encompasses the breadth of the Agency’s activities. The problem, Mr. Elliott concluded, is not that EPA lacks accurate scientific information, but rather that science is not often heard in the top councils of the Agency when decisions are made.