Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chairman for the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, subpoenaed records from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) early this August. Rep. Smith hopes the records will show how the agency decided to instate newer and stricter air quality regulations in the United States. By subpoenaing the records, the committee wishes to independently verify the EPA’s decisions regarding the controversial regulations. The agency complied on August 19th, providing the committee with decades-old raw data on the health effects of air pollution. The subpoena was filed after House Republicans were unsatisfied by the EPA’s response to previous requests to disclose records. Referred to by the Chairman as “secret” science, the records include data sets, test results, and health records, which EPA considers to be the sensitive documents; Rep. Smith made assurances that the committee would remove any personal identifiers before making the information public.