EPN In Action May-June 2019

EPN is mentioned in this article about the historic hearing held by the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the future of EPA with a bipartisan group of former EPA Administrators. The hearing referenced their joint letter offering lawmakers help on substantive Congressional oversight, as well as help of former EPA staff. Similar articles also ran in The Colorado Independent, Maryland Matters, and a second article in The Hill.

EPN is mentioned in this CNN article about the seven former Democratic and Republican EPA administrators who sent a letter to Congress offering assistance, as the Trump administration seeks to roll back clean air and water regulations, among other policy changes. This story also ran in numerous other media outlets: KLIF-AM, WOKI-FM, KAOK-AM, California Coastal Coalition, KMJ-AM, News Stand Hub, Reddit, WRAL.com, Channel 3000, and WFMZ-TV.

EPN Advisor William Ruckelshaus, former EPA Administrator (1970-1973 and 1983-1985), and EPN member Bonnie Bellow, former EPA Director, Public Affairs Division, Region 2, are quoted in this article about seven former EPA administrators sending a letter to Congress, offering their assistance in creating an oversight strategy and a path forward for the agency.

EPN members Chris Zarba, former Director, EPA Science Advisory Board, and Steve Silverman, former Attorney, EPA Office of General Counsel, are quoted in this article about the Science Advisory Board rejecting EPA’s call to take a narrow look at its scientific transparency proposal by voting to review it, signaling keen interest in the far-reaching consequences the proposal could have on public health and environmental regulations. A similar piece quoting Chris Zarba ran in E&E News.

EPN members Penny Fenner-Crisp, former Senior Science Advisor to the Director, EPA Office of Pesticide Programs, and Dr. Bernard Goldstein, former Chair, EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, are quoted in this article about EPA’s plans to quickly revamp its guidelines for evaluating whether environmental contaminants can cause cancer or other ailments, a move Trump administration critics fear is part of a broader effort to weaken the basis for regulating a wide range of pollutants. The article also ran in Science Magazine.

EPN members Chris Zarba, former Director, EPA Science Advisory Board, and John Bachmann, former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, are quoted in this article about EPA’s plan to forego a review by scientific advisers on the agency’s planned changes to how it justifies the need for major air regulations, which former agency employees and environmental groups say could result in weaker public health protections.

Jeff Alson, EPN member and former EPA Senior Engineer and Policy Advisor, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted in this article about EPA’s controversial new rule for vehicle emissions and various attempts to shut certain employees out of the process, which EPA Administrator Wheeler denied in a recent letter to Congress. A similar article ran in Inside EPA.

EPN members Trish Koman, former Senior Environmental Scientist, Program Manager and Supervisor in EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, and Jeff Alson, former Senior Engineer and Policy Advisor, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, are quoted in this article about EPA’s Science Advisory Board planning to review the science behind the proposed overhaul of the clean car standards, zeroing in on the technical analysis underpinning the proposal. This article also ran in Scientific American.

EPN member Margo Oge, former Director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, is quoted in this article about the world’s largest automakers warning President Trump that his rollback of the clean car standards threatens to cut their profits and produce “untenable” instability in a crucial manufacturing sector.

Dr. Bernard Goldstein, EPN member and former chair, EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, wrote this op-ed about Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s misinterpretation of a double-blind study and the current lack of knowledgeable scientific leadership and appreciation for accurate scientific advice at EPA.

Ruth Greenspan Bell, EPN Board of Directors President and former EPA Manager in the Office of General Counsel, and Steve Silverman, former Attorney, EPA Office of General Counsel, wrote this op-ed about the Trump administration’s heedless approach to the environment and the delicate regulatory ecosystem that guaranteed all citizens a level of protection from pollution being upset by officials.

David Coursen, EPN member and former EPA Office of General Counsel, wrote an op-ed published in Water Online about the EPA budget proposal’s staggering cuts to water protection and restoration programs, despite Administrator Wheeler’s claim that drinking water is the world’s greatest environmental challenge. For more information, see EPN’s fact sheets on Proposed FY2020 Cuts to Clean Water and Proposed FY2020 Cuts to Clean Drinking Water.

EPN members, Ellen Kurlansky, former EPA Air Policy Analyst and Advisor, Joe Goffman, former Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel, EPA Office of Air and Radiation, and Janet McCabe, former EPA Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, are quoted in this article about EPA Administrator Wheeler’s announcement Wednesday of the Agency’s replacement for the Clean Power Plan, which had aimed to reduce CO2 levels from energy production by a third by 2030. The new rule stipulates that to reduce emissions, coal-fired power plants only need to install more efficient technology.

EPN members Bob Kavlock, former Acting Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Research and Development, and former EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science, and Chris Zarba, former Director, EPA Science Advisory Board, are quoted in this article about the executive order released Friday that could make more than half of EPA’s science advisory committees vulnerable to repeal by the end of the fiscal year.

John Bachmann, EPN member and former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, was interviewed by Christiane Amanpour about EPA’s controversial plan to change how it calculates the health risks of air pollution.