Clean Water Current

A May 23 executive order requires all federal agencies to review and change their scientific evaluation, disclosure, and conduct policies based on guidance from the Office of Science and Technology Policy set to come out within 30 days. The executive order, “Restoring Gold Standard Science,” includes requirements to evaluate and document uncertainties in scientific information, which could impact some aspects of clean water policy.

While it will take time for the full effects of the executive order to develop, the requirement to recognize and communicate uncertainty will likely have implications on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) work related to PFAS, since the science related to PFAS is still developing and published research can have a wide range of results. NACWA will follow developments related to the executive order and will incorporate provisions of it into advocacy as appropriate.   

The executive order requires agencies to review all regulations, guidance, policies, and scientific evaluations taken during the Biden Administration, and to revise them consistent with the executive order. The stated goal is to restore public confidence in the scientific information published by federal agencies by acknowledging the uncertainties in scientific information.  

The executive order further requires that “when using scientific information in agency decision-making, employees shall transparently acknowledge and document uncertainties, including how uncertainty propagates throughout any models used in the analysis.” In addition, the likelihood of occurrence should be considered.  

The order also states that “employees shall be transparent about the likelihood of the assumptions and scenarios used. Highly unlikely and overly precautionary assumptions and scenarios should only be relied upon in agency decision-making where required by law or otherwise pertinent to the agency’s action.” 

The executive order addresses how uncertainty should be communicated: “Agency communication of scientific information must be consistent with the results of the relevant analysis and evaluation and, to the extent that uncertainty is present, the degree of uncertainty should be communicated. Communications involving a scientific model or information derived from a scientific model should include reference to any material assumptions that inform the model’s outputs.” 

NACWA members with questions may contact Cynthia Finley, NACWA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs.