The EPA has dismissed two panels of outside scientists that advised the agency on particulate matter and ground-level ozone, which have been linked to smog and respiratory problems.
Under acting administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal-industry lobbyist, analyzing those pollutants will be left to the EPA's internal Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.
The CASAC is a seven-member board made up primarily of government officials, such as state environmental, natural resources, and health officials and the Army Corps of Engineers. Its chairman, Anthony Cox, runs a private scientific research firm in Denver. Member Mark Frampton is an emeritus health professor specializing in the effects of pollution on heart disease at the University of Rochester, in New York.
Environmental groups were quick to criticize the move to disband the advisory panels. “By removing science and scientists, they are making it easier for the administration to set a weaker standard” Gretchen Goldman, research director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Center for Science and Democracy told the Washington Post.
The Particulate Matter Review Panel, which was disbanded Thursday, was made up of 20 academic scientists and was working on developing more stringent standards for soot produced by cars and trucks, power plants, and other sources.
The other panel on ozone had yet to meet, but its members were told the EPA would no longer form the panel.
Together the two panels held more than 20 scientists who were experts on air pollution. . . .
