The Hill

Republican lawmakers battling planned Environmental Protection Agency climate change rules said Thursday that EPA has run afoul of federal data standards — and they’re citing the now-infamous hacked climate science e-mails to bolster their case.

Four GOP lawmakers say EPA’s recent “endangerment finding” that greenhouse gas emissions threaten human health — a finding that’s a precursor to regulation — violates the Data Quality Act (DQA).

The lawmakers — Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), Sen. David Vitter (La.), Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (Wis.) — made the allegation in a Thursday letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

The DQA is a very brief statute that was buried in a 2000 appropriations bill. It says federal agencies must ensure the integrity of data they disseminate and allows outside parties to submit petitions for corrections.

Here is the letter:

epaletterdqa –