Press Release: Secretary Rooney Comments on Environmental Scorecard

For Immediate Release (C-20-97)
Contact: Communications Office (916) 324-9670
November 19, 1997

555 Capitol Mall, Suite 525
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 324-9670
FAX (916) 445-5563

SACRAMENTO--Secretary for Environmental Protection Peter M. Rooney issued the following comments in response to today's release by the California League of Conservation Voters of their 1997 California Environmental Scorecard:

"We must view our record on the environment not only by the successes we claim in the State Capitol, but by the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink.

"California's environment is in many ways dramatically cleaner than it was 24 years ago when the League began publishing its Scorecard.

"Over that same period of time California's population has risen 56 percent and the number of registered vehicles in the state has jumped 72 percent.

"References in the Scorecard, however, to a need to "restore scientific integrity" at Cal/EPA are misguided. Sound science is the underpinning of all Cal/EPA decisions about public health and environmental safety.

"Cal/EPA will continue to seek nothing less than sensible environmental protection, based on sound science and reasonable regulations, coupled with a high level of compliance assured by vigorous enforcement.

"A unified Cal/EPA policy on scientific peer review will be issued before the end of the year. Our policy will not only address the peer review requirements of SB 1320, which we supported and Governor Wilson signed. It will also seek to integrate and organize peer involvement processes, to establish a hierarchy of levels of external peer review, and to create a process for evaluating the effectiveness of agency peer involvement programs.

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