U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, questioned Gina McCarthy, the nominee to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about the agency's lack of transparency and tendency to create new, costly rules using backroom "sue-and-settle" deals.

"McCarthy did make some promises, like providing cost-benefit analysis for rulemaking and producing the data behind EPA's science, which has long been kept a secret, and I intend to follow up with her immediately," Vitter said. "We still have a lot of unanswered questions, and while she did acknowledge the EPA's abysmal transparency record, acknowledgement doesn't equal action. The days of EPA claiming benefits from extremely costly regulations and saying ‘just trust us' desperately needs to come to an end."

During the nomination hearing McCarthy stated that she is committed to transparency. She also said she would use the law, the science, transparency, and the cost benefit analysis to guide her judgment.

The committee has not yet set a date for a vote on her nomination.

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