Statement by Francesca Grifo, Union of Concerned Scientists

WASHINGTON (Sept. 28, 2011) – The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) inspector general (IG) today released a report that examined how the agency handled the peer review of the science underpinning its December 2009 finding that heat-trapping emissions endanger public health and welfare.

Francesca Grifo, senior scientist and director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Scientific Integrity Program, authored a recent blog post that reviews the many steps the agency took to arrive at its conclusion that climate change endangers public health and welfare.

Below is a statement by Grifo:

“The inspector general made it clear that EPA followed current guidelines for ensuring that it based its decision on robust scientific analysis. Nothing in this report questions the agency’s ability to move forward with global warming emissions rules.

“The process matters, but the science matters more and in this endangerment finding, the science is accurate. Climate change is a threat to public health and welfare, and the peer-reviewed scientific assessments the EPA used back up that claim. The agency has accepted the IG’s findings and is taking appropriate action.”

 

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C.