EPA Administrator Michael Regan, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the “reboot” of the Scientific Advisory Council and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee will return the EPA to its ancestral practice of relying on the recommendation of a balanced panel of experts. . Clean the two vital panels, existing members would possibly request reinstallation.
“Scientific integrity is a staple price for the EPA,” Regan said. “And I’m committed to making sure that each and every resolution we make meets the highest clinical standards. “
Restoring public confidence in the EPA is a major goal,” Regan said. “And I think to do that, we want to identify and all the decisions from beyond that weren’t well aligned with science,” he said.
Regan has said that “science is back” is about the solution of clinical integrity in the EPA. ‘
Regan, 44, North Carolina’s leading environmental regulator for 4 years. At the EPA, he is helping lead President Joe Biden’s efforts to combat climate replacement and advocate for environmental justice. Regan is the first black man to lead the EPA.
The reform announced Wednesday will overthrow more than 40 members of the two clinical advisory councils, some of whom do not expire this year. Members would possibly apply to continue serving, but will have to compete with other candidates. Regan will make the final selections, expected in a few months.
The panels provide clinical expertise and recommendations for air quality criteria and other policies for public health and the environment.
Democrats said Donald Trump’s first EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who removed many educational scientists from advisory committees had tilted them in favor of the chemical and fossil fuel industries. Pruitt prohibits scientists from participating in advisory forums if they have won SCHOLARSHIPs from the EPA. Pruitt later resigned amid ethical scandals, however, his policies were largely carried out under his successor and former deputy, Andrew Wheeler.
In similar development, Regan said the EPA will be a White House effort to investigate Trump-era political interference in science across the government. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced monday a working group to identify beyond changes in clinical decisions.
“Science is a great component of our mission, and I hope we will be part of this exercise,” Regan said, and called on clinical integrity to go back to practice beyond a new initiative. “Science did not care before the afterlife administration There were standards, structures and transparency to which we return ”.
John Graham, a former management partner of George W. Bush who has led the Scientific Advisory Council since last year defended the group’s work and said in an email that he “exposed the clinical deficiencies of Trump’s EPA plans to weaken the criteria for automotive greenhouse fuels. and many federally protected bodies of water against contaminants. “″
Graham said he was saddened by Regan’s “radical action,” which he said “disrupts” the service of each board member and hinders the panel’s work.
Graham, a professor at Indiana University’s School of Public affairs and environmental affairs, said he would re-apply “because I respectfully protest the total procedure that Administrator Regan has invented. “
Regan, in the AP interview, said focusing on clinical integrity also plays a leading role in recruiting new and former workers as the EPA tries to rebuild after wasting more than 10% of its bass Trump.
“The other EPA individuals joined this firm for an express reason. They’re on the mission. They are in public service and need to protect public fitness and the surrounding area,” he said. promote science, data, integrity and transparency. We’re going to have to walk in that direction, show that we’re a dignified position for paintings. I think a lot of other people already perceive that message. “
Regarding policy issues, Regan is committed to addressing climate change, ensuring environmental justice in communities close to refineries and other dangerous sites, and protecting public fitness from problems such as a “chemicals forever” organization known as PFAS that provides private well and even food water systems in public consumption.
The recent federal court ruling to overturn the Trump administration’s replacement of the Obama-era blank power plan provides the Regan team with a “blank slate” for coal-fired power plants that contribute to global warming, he said.
Regan said it was also open to stricter air quality criteria for ozone and other pollutants and will compare Trump administration exemptions to reject a number of environmental regulations on the coronavirus pandemic. beyond the year.
“Sometimes poorly informed decisions that seem politically convenient end up helping any party,” Regan said, referring to the movements of Wheeler and Pruitt, his two soon predecessors.
Regan has rejected the complaint by some Republican senators that he would have less force than “irresponsible” White House officials such as former EPA chief meteorological adviser Gina McCarthy or meteorological envoy John Kerry, former senator and secretary of state.
“My task is to discover that this theory is incorrect, and it is exactly my goal to do so,” he said, pointing out the powers granted through the EPA through Congress.
“We have set the timetable here, according to the president’s vision, and we are guilty of protecting public health and the environment,” he said.
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