EPA Removes Scientists From Science Review Board

The Environmental Protection Agency has removed several members from an internal review board meant to provide scientific advice to the agency, a move some say could impair future research into climate change and provide sweeping benefits to polluting industries. The news, quietly announced on Friday, affects the EPA’s 18-member Board of Scientific Counselors, which reviews the agency’s own research in an effort to “sustain and enhance the quality of science.” The New York Times reports at least five members have been dismissed from their roles after serving a three-year term, and E&E News said up to a dozen could eventually be let go. A spokesman for EPA head Scott Pruitt told the Times the positions, which have mostly been filled with university-affiliated researchers, could likely be given to representatives from polluting industries the EPA is meant to monitor, in an effort “to take as inclusive an approach to regulation as possible.” “The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community,” said the spokesman, J.P. Freire. Freire told E&E News the dismissals weren’t firings, but that researchers completing their terms hadn’t been asked to participate in another. “They’re not guaranteed a second three-year term,” he said.  Now-former members of the board say their dismissal amounts to a continued war on sci...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news