Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said this week that he will purge more than 40 outside experts from two scientific advisory committees that guide the work of the EPA, Bloomberg reported. The move is seen as an effort to shrink the influence of industry on the panels, known as the Science Advisory Board and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.
“Resetting these two scientific advisory committees will ensure the agency receives the best possible scientific insight to support our work to protect human health and the environment,” Regan said in a statement. “Today we return to a time-tested, fair and transparent process for soliciting membership to these critically important advisory bodies.”
Critics said Trump had packed the committees with appointees who were too often tied to the industries that EPA regulates, Bloomberg reported, creating conflicts of interest over EPA policies ranging from air pollution regulations to fracking. The Trump administration also attempted to bar experts from serving on the panels if they received grant money, a prohibition that critics said limited the participation of academic scientists. That restriction was dropped after a federal court ruling last year, however.
The EPA is calling for new applications for the two panels. An EPA spokesman said advisers dropped from the committees are eligible and encouraged to reapply if they choose.