Nine AGs Object to Pruitt’s Removal of Independent Scientists from Advisory Committees

Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson led a coalition of nine attorneys general objecting to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s directive that bars independent scientific experts affiliated with universities from serving on EPA advisory committees if their institutions receive EPA grants, while continuing to welcome participation by industry-funded scientists.

The nine attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs in Physicians for Social Responsibility, et al. v. E. Scott Pruitt, objecting to the arbitrary and capricious line-drawing used by EPA to exclude independent scientific experts from serving on advisory committees under Congressionally-authorized science advisory committees. “The advisory committee Directive has already caused dozens of uniquely qualified scientists to be removed from their posts on EPA advisory boards and committees, while leaving in place (and even increasing) persons affiliated with regulated industries,” said the attorneys general in their brief. “Industry-funded or even industry- employed members of the Science Advisory Board thus have risen from comprising 40 percent of Board members to now comprising nearly 70 percent.”

“EPA’s directive unlawfully favors industry-sponsored representatives over independent academic scientists,” said David J. Hayes, Executive Director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center. “Stacking the deck in this way is a cynical ploy to sideline independent scientific experts who have been objecting, on scientific grounds, to Administration rollbacks of long-standing environmental, health and safety protections. Once again, we must look to the courts to redress this wrong.”

California, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection joined Washington in filing the brief.

BACKGROUND

In October 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt released a directive that prohibits scientists and experts who are recipients of EPA grants from serving on EPA federal advisory committees (FACs). Excluding leading scientists and experts from serving on FACs will deprive EPA of the scientifically sound and balanced guidance that it has received for decades from FACs.

In December 2017, Physicians for Social Responsibility, two other medical organizations, and three individual scientists affected by the directive, filed suit against EPA challenging the lawfulness of the directive as arbitrary and capricious contrary to the statutes establishing EPA advisory committees. The next month, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council in separate suits also challenged the lawfulness of the directive.

Since January 2017, state attorneys general have taken over 100 actions to advance and defend progressive clean energy, climate and environmental laws and policies. View all actions on the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center’s website.

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About the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center:
The State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan academic center at NYU School of Law. The Center is dedicated to working towards a healthy and safe environment, guided by inclusive and equitable principles. The Center studies and supports the work of state attorneys general (AGs) in defending, enforcing, and promoting strong laws and policies in the areas of climate, environmental justice, environmental protection, and clean energy.