EPA, Interior chiefs shaking up advisory panels

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has decided to replace half of the members on one of its key scientific review boards, the first step in a broader effort by Republicans to change the way the federal government evaluates the scientific basis for its regulations. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is "reviewing the charter and charge" of more than 200 advisory boards, committees and other entities both within and outside his department.

EPA and Interior Department officials began informing current members of the move Friday, and notifications continued over the weekend.

Pruitt's move could significantly change the makeup of the 18-member Board of Scientific Counselors, which advises EPA's primary scientific arm on whether the research it does has sufficient rigor and integrity. The board also addresses important scientific questions. All of the people being dismissed were at the end of serving at least one three-year term, although these terms are often renewed instead of terminated.

EPA spokesman J.P. Freire said in an email that "no one has been fired or terminated" and that Pruitt had simply decided to bring in fresh advisers. The agency informed the outside academics on Friday that their terms would not be renewed.

"We're not going to rubber-stamp the last administration's appointees. Instead, they should participate in the same open competitive process as the rest of the applicant pool," Freire said.

Separately, Zinke is reviewing the composition and work of all of the Interior Department's outside committees. The review will effectively freeze the work of the Bureau of Land Management's 38 resource advisory councils along with other panels focused on a sweep of matters, from one assessing the threat of invasive species to the technical science advisory panel for Alaska's North Slope.

"The Secretary is committed to restoring trust in the Department's decision-making and that begins with institutionalizing state and local input and ongoing collaboration, particularly in communities surrounding public lands," Interior Department spokesman Heather Swift said by email Monday. "As the Department concludes its review in the weeks ahead, agencies will notice future meetings to ensure that the Department continues to get the benefit of the views of local communities in all decision-making on public land management."

Greg Zimmerman, deputy director of the nonpartisan advocacy group Center for Western Priorities, said in an interview that "it just doesn't make any sense they would be canceling meetings as they do this analysis." the bureau's regional advisory councils include officials from the energy and outdoor recreation industries as well as scientists and conservationists, Zimmerman added. "The only reasonable explanation is they don't want to be hearing from these folks."

The moves came as a surprise to the agencies' outside advisers, with several of them taking to Twitter to announce their suspensions.

John Peter Thompson, who chairs the Interior Department's Invasive Species Advisory Panel, tweeted Monday that he had been notified that "all activities are suspended subject to review by Depart of Interior."

Members of EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors had been informed twice -- in January, before President Barack Obama left office, and then more recently by EPA career staff members -- that they would be kept on for another term, adding to their confusion.

"I was kind of shocked to receive this news," Robert Richardson, an ecological economist and an associate professor in Michigan State University's Department of Community Sustainability, said Sunday.

Richardson, who on Saturday tweeted, "Today, I was Trumped," said that he was at the end of an initial three-year term but that members traditionally have served two such stints. "I've never heard of any circumstance where someone didn't serve two consecutive terms," he said, adding that the dismissals gave him "great concern that objective science is being marginalized in this administration."

Information for this article was contributed by Chris Mooney of The Washington Post.

A Section on 05/09/2017

Upcoming Events