Pruitt to Put New Members on EPA Science Panels

WASHINGTON — 

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that he would replace the outside experts who advise him on science and public health issues with new board members holding more diverse views.

In announcing the changes, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt suggested that many of those previously appointed to the panels were potentially biased because they had received federal research grants. The 22 boards advise EPA on a wide range of issues, including drinking water standards and pesticide safety.

"Whatever science comes out of EPA shouldn't be political science," said Pruitt, a Republican lawyer who previously served as the attorney general of Oklahoma. "From this day forward, EPA advisory committee members will be financially independent from the agency."

Pruitt has expressed skepticism about the consensus of climate scientists that man-made carbon emissions are the primary cause of global warming. He also overruled experts who had recommended pulling a top-selling pesticide from the market after peer-reviewed studies showed it damaged children's brains.

Pruitt said he would name new leadership and members to three key EPA advisory boards soon: the Science Advisory Board, Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and the Board of Scientific Counselors.

As part of his directive, Pruitt said he would bar appointees who were currently in receipt of EPA grants or who were in a position to benefit from such grants. He exempted people who work at state, local or tribal agencies, saying he wanted to introduce more "geographic diversity" to the panels.

Corporate funds

The five-page policy Pruitt issued Tuesday didn't mention other potential conflicts of interest, such as accepting research funding from corporate interests regulated by EPA.

Tuesday's announcement came after Pruitt in May said he would not reappoint nine of the 18 members of the Board of Scientific Counselors to serve a second three-year term, as had been customary.

Current board Chairwoman Deborah Swackhamer said the members were already required to follow rules intended to prevent conflicts of interests.

"It obviously stacks the deck against scientists who do not represent corporate special interests," said Swackhamer, a retired professor who taught environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota. "It speaks volumes that people funded by special interests are OK to be advisers, but not those who have received federal grants."

Environmentalists that Pruitt would now select board members with financial ties to the fossil fuel and chemical industries.

The EPA's "continued attack on science will likely be one of the most lasting and damaging legacies" of President Donald Trump's administration, said Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee that approves EPA's funding. "Pruitt is purging expert scientists from his science boards — and replacing them with mouthpieces for big polluters."

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