Science for Sale by David L. Lewis

Author:David L. Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2014-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Congressional Oversight

In the fall of 1995, Representative John Linder, a dentist before running for Congress, stopped by my home as he made his rounds in Oconee County, Georgia. He offered to introduce me to Republican leaders focusing on EPA science, and arranged for me to meet with Newt Gingrich in the Speaker’s office in Washington, DC. I took him up on the offer. While traveling back and forth to Washington, I also met with Charles E. Cooke, who worked for Texas Representative Ralph Hall. Hall was a Democrat serving on the Science Committee at the time. After switching parties in 2004, he became the committee’s ranking member, then became chairman when Republicans regained control of the House in 2010. Cooke indicated at the time that many Democrats agreed that EPA had some serious problems when it came to integrating science in its regulatory framework. But they preferred to stand back, he said, and just let Republicans keep reinforcing their “anti-environment” reputation by trying to reform EPA.

I also approached Minority Whip Anthony Weiner of New York, a member of the House Science Committee. He had requested my help with infection control issues with flexible endoscopes, which he was working on with HHS Secretary Donna Shalala. Weiner and his staff, however, weren’t interested in getting involved with problems associated with EPA science. So, I decided to continue working with Linder, so long as we picked an EPA regulation where science argues for strengthening, not weakening, it. It was the only way we could have any credibility. We focused on EPA’s sludge rule, and our arrangement worked well for more than a year.

Things suddenly fell apart in March 1999, however, when Representative Linder arranged a press conference for me in the Rayburn House Office Building. Speakers were to include Linder and Representatives Richard Pombo and David McIntosh. They were to be followed by me, several other EPA scientists, and a special guest, Joanne Marshall. Joanne and her husband, Tom, at the time were involved in a lawsuit against Synagro over the death of their seventeen-year-old son, Shayne Conner. As described in chapter 3, residents in their New Hampshire neighborhood developed difficulty breathing whenever biosolids were applied to a hayfield at the end of their street. Shayne, who often suffered from the effects, stopped breathing and died in his sleep before he could be resuscitated.

Several days before the conference, someone from Linder’s office informed me that Linder had met with other Republican leaders and decided that our conference shouldn’t mention biosolids, and that Joanne Marshall shouldn’t be included as a speaker. I replied that I wasn’t dropping Joanne Marshall, and I moved the meeting to the National Press Club. A delegation from the University of Georgia administrators seeking congressional support met with Linder in his office in Washington not long afterwards. A member of the delegation told me later that, as soon as they entered Linder’s office, Linder stood up and handed them a piece of paper with my name written on it. He

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