Thanks for joining us on the call today for our deeper dive on EPA’s proposal to restrict science. We highly encourage all orgs to submit comments to EPA opposing this sweeping proposal, which would lead to pollution standards that are too weak to protect health. EPA’s deadline for comment is May 30. Here’s a roundup of action opportunities and resources.

How to Submit Comments

Join the environmental community organizational sign-on, drafted by Clean Air Task Force and organized by NRDC. The letter and form to sign your organization on are here. The deadline is Friday, May 25th, at 5 PM ET.
Submit your own comments as well (as an organization or as an individual). As we talked about on the 9:05 today, quality of comments is key for pushing back on this proposal.
- Public comment guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wcwMj8bWODawabH99rPaPsE45qCSmEgv16nZmP1ek08/edit (click through here and you’ll get more information)
- More detailed summary of proposed rule: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ucs-documents/science-and-democracy/restricted-science-rule-comment-guide.pdf
- You’re invited to join a webinar hosted by UCS and Earthjustice tomorrow, May 23, at 1 pm Eastern, which will give more info on drafting comments and opportunities and opportunities to ask attorneys any questions you have. RSVP here: http://bit.ly/pubcomments101

Other Ways to Take Action

Join the Twitter storm this Thursday, 5/24, from 1-2pm Eastern and use #ScienceNotSilence to highlight the harms of this proposal. Social guidance will be shared shortly.
Put together an action alert for your members. Many orgs already have – I’m happy to share examples.
The Lung Association has a petition specifically for health professionals here (physicians, nurses, MPHs, etc.) that you can feel free to share with health and medical contacts.

Questions? Contact:

Yogin Kothari at the Union of Concerned Scientists: ykothari@ucsusa.org

Laura Kate Bender at the American Lung Association: laura.bender@lung.org

Helpful Resources

UCS blogs on this topic:

On comment period: https://blog.ucsusa.org/andrew-rosenberg/now-is-the-time-to-halt-the-epas-restrictions-on-science
6 things you should know about the proposed rule: https://blog.ucsusa.org/gretchen-goldman/six-things-you-should-know-about-the-epas-new-science-restriction-draft-policy
Questionable White House review: https://blog.ucsusa.org/genna-reed/what-happened-during-the-hasty-white-house-review-of-epas-science-restriction-rule
List of scientific orgs who have supported and opposed limiting what research EPA can use: https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/a-list-of-scientific-organizations-that-have-supported-and-opposed-limiting-what-research-epa-can-use-to-make-decisions
Proposal driven by politics: https://blog.ucsusa.org/yogin-kothari/internal-epa-emails-confirm-that-scott-pruitts-secret-science-proposal-is-entirely-driven-by-politics

Lung Association factsheet: http://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/healthy-air/outdoor/fighting-for-healthy-air/healthy-air-resources/epas-censoring-science-rule.html (Contact Laura Kate Bender if you need a printable version)