EPA Data Not Reliable, Business Lobby Says

Since the information quality law was implemented in 2002, the EPA has had 28 requests for corrections. The agency said it made changes in some of the challenged information, but was precluded by law or regulation from granting relief in many of the cases. Nine of the decisions have been appealed.

Overall, various interest groups have filed scores of such challenges at other government agencies. Most of the petitions are denied, experts said.

The chamber's interest in this issue was piqued by findings in 2001 of two scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey . They discovered discrepancies in the values assigned to various physical and chemical properties of the pesticide DDT.

Some public interest groups and academics criticized the increasing number of petitions filed, though they have made some challenges themselves.

Sean Moulton , senior policy analyst with OMB Watch , which monitors federal regulation and policy, said the chamber petition is a substantive one. But he adds the changes it seeks are unrealistic because the agency can't afford the time or expense of revamping the databases. Correcting the errors would take EPA away from other priorities, Moulton said.

The Center for Progressive Regulation , a liberal think tank, said in a March paper that "disgruntled industries have used the Act as an end-run around well-established procedures for promulgating rules to improve air quality, clean up toxic waste sites, and protect children and wildlife from pesticide residues."

Still, Rena Steinzor , a law professor at the University of Maryland and one of the authors of the paper, said the chamber petition has legitimacy and identifies a problem that needs to be corrected. But she said a more efficient solution would have been for the chamber to meet with EPA first.

"Don't they have access to these people?" she said.

Kovacs said other users of the data raised the issue earlier and EPA did not make corrections. The chamber, he said, also tried to interest John Graham , head of the Office of Management and Budget's regulatory shop, in the problem with no success. Graham responded: "OMB has an open mind as to whether an interagency review of this matter is appropriate. That decision should await EPA's response to the chamber's appeal. "