"[P]eople acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about." - FDR

News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

EPA Considers Industry Allies for Key Advisory Committee

Scientific advisory committees provide important, impartial advice on a wide range of issues. A committee's recommendations provide a strong analytical and scientific basis for agency rulemaking activity. EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) is one of the federal government's most important.

As we've seen with EPA's ozone standard, when an advisory committee calls for a tighter standard, environmentalists and public health advocates are given a valuable piece of evidence in advocating for more protective regulation. That's a pesky problem for an administration which prefers environmental rollbacks to progressive protections.

One way to solve the problem is to stack scientific advisory committees with industry allies. EPA is considering for CASAC's particulate matter unit a number of scientists who have been vocal in doubting the relationship between particulate matter exposure and adverse health effects. Not surprisingly, those scientists have also taken money from the energy industry.

GoozNews has more on this issue and descriptions of two nominees with dubious records.