Michael Regan, the Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, has revoked the membership of 40 outside experts respectively serving on the EPA Science Advisory Board and the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.  The experts were appointed by the previous Administration and were instrumental in modifying regulations related to air pollution and fracking among other issues. The previous Administration favored experts from within industry and ignored independent specialists from academia.  Administrator Regan intends to reestablish scientific integrity in the Agency and to suppress interference with research on climate change and pollution.  Regan maintains that “resetting these two scientific advisory committees will ensure the agency receives the best possible scientific insight to support our work and protect human health and the environment.” 

The dismissals are opposed by Jeff Holmstead who led the EPA Office of Air and Radiation in the Bush Administration and is now a partner in a law and lobbying firm.  Holmstead observed that the action would undermine rather than restore confidence by eliminating experts with views contrary to the Administration and would detract from trust in the Agency. Dr. John D. Graham, previously Chair of the Science Advisory Board who served in the Bush Administration, stated “We have an EPA Administrator interested in receiving scientific advice only from those scientists that he has personally appointed.”

In a related issue, Administrator Regan reintroduced an EPA webpage on climate change that was deleted when the previous Administration assumed office.  Regan has told staff that science should inform policy and that politics should not drive science.  Procedures and policies developed during the previous Administration will now undergo scrutiny.  These include standards for ozone and permitted levels of particulate matter emitted by trucks and other vehicles.