EIA’s Independence
The Department of Energy Organization Act (Public Law 95-91) allows EIA's processes and products to be independent from review by Executive Branch officials; specifically Section 205(d) says:
"The Administrator shall not be required to obtain the approval of any other officer or employee of the Department in connection with the collection or analysis of any information; nor shall the Administrator be required, prior to publication, to obtain the approval of any other officer or employee of the United States with respect to the substance of any statistical or forecasting technical reports which he has prepared in accordance with law."
Another law, the Paperwork Reduction Act, does require that any data collection proposed by a Federal agency be approved by the Office of Management and Budget. However, the EIA Administrator does not need to get the review and approval of anyone before he or she publishes any energy report.
Since its beginning, EIA has been challenged by the duty to respect Congress' intent to prepare policy neutral reports while fulfilling its role as an integrated office within the Department of Energy. EIA has found that complete transparency in the approach, methodology, and results of each of its products has gained the trust of its clients in the Department, the Congress, and elsewhere in the public. It is now recognized by its customers that EIA neither formulates nor advocates any policy conclusions, even though it often supports the Department with analyses and statistics.
To assure this message is explicit, all EIA products carry the following statement:
"This report was prepared by the Energy Information Administration, the independent statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. The information contained herein should be attributed to the Energy Information Administration and should not be construed as advocating or reflecting any policy of the Department of Energy or of any other organization."