In the News

EPN member Janet McCabe, former EPA Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, is quoted in this article about EPA’s plan to replace the Clean Power Plan with a rule that supports the fossil fuel industry instead of cleaner energy sources. A similar article ran in GreenTechMedia.

Joe Goffman, EPN member and former Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel, EPA Office of Air and Radiation, was quoted in this article about EPA Administrator Wheeler’s replacement for the Clean Power Plan, which would apply more lenient restrictions while propping up the coal industry. Similar stories also ran in Earth News and Voice of America.

Janet McCabe, EPN member and former EPA Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, is quoted in this article about the rumored unveiling of EPA’s rewrite of the Clean Power Plan, which would replace sweeping curbs on power plant emissions with requirements for modest upgrades the sites. This piece also ran in Yahoo Finance and Stars and Stripes.

EPN advisor Bob Perciasepe, former EPA Deputy Administrator, was quoted in this article about American air quality stagnating after years of improvement. This article also ran in the New York Post and MarketWatch.

EPN member Chris Zarba, former Director, EPA Science Advisory Board, is quoted in this article about President Trump’s executive order to cut the number of government advisory committees by a third across all federal agencies, a move that former heads of EPA and the Interior Department say would weaken the science-based regulations process that the administration has pushed back against since Trump took office. Excerpts from this article also ran in Zodab.

Mustafa Santiago Ali, EPN member and former EPA Senior Advisor and Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, was quoted in this article about President Trump’s executive order that requires cutting one-third of all eligible federal advisory committees, which further undermines the role of expert advice and scientific data in policy-making.

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.

EPN member Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA Senior Advisor and Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, was interviewed about the disproportionate effects of climate change on communities of color and how the climate crisis will affect these low-income communities the most. (Clip starts at approximately 1:22.)

EPN members Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA Senior Advisor and Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, and Stan Meiburg, former EPA Deputy Regional Administrator in Region 4 and Region 6 and former Acting Deputy Administrator, are quoted in this this article about the executive order President Trump signed late Friday to cut the number of government advisory committees by a third across all federal agencies—a move many believe is the Trump administration’s latest effort to undermine science-based and fact-supported decision-making. This story also ran in NBC Palm Springs and SocioHerald.

EPN members John Bachmann, former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, and Joe Goffman, former Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel, EPA Office of Air and Radiation, are quoted in this article about the administration’s power plant carbon rule, which is expected to be finalized next week, completing the two-year process of replacing the current regulation with a more industry-friendly substitute.

Janet McCabe, EPN member and former EPA Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, is quoted in this article about southern Wisconsin’s air quality and EPA’s recent habit of burying scientific advice about air pollution.

EPN members Betsy Southerland, former Director, EPA Office of Science and Technology in the Office of Water and, and Dan Reich, former Assistant Regional Counsel, EPA Region 9, were interviewed on about how EPA has changed under the Trump administration and how big businesses are seeing climate change affect their bottom lines. Interview starts at approximately 3:05.

EPN member Margo Oge, former Director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, is  quoted in this article on the increasing controversy over and intense scrutiny of the Trump Administration’s proposal to roll back the clean car standards as the deadline approaches.

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 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 members John Bachmann, former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, was quoted in this article about EPA assembling an expert panel to review a draft report on techniques for estimating the health benefits of cuts in fine particulates at low levels.

EPN member Chris Zarba, former Director, EPA Science Advisory Board, is quoted in this article about EPA’s battle with its own board of science advisers over a controversial plan to dismiss certain types of scientific research from consideration when issuing rules.

EPN member Margo Oge, former Director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was interviewed about how automakers are responding to the Trump Administration’s proposal to loosen the clean car standards and what is at stake for them in this battle.

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.

EPN member Kathy Setian, former EPA Superfund Project Manager, Region 9, is quoted in the Burlington County Times article about a proactive initiative to move 3,500 tons of PFAS-contaminated soil from a closed Naval facility that went awry, and likely won’t be tried again anytime soon.

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.

John Bachmann, former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, is quoted in this article about Administrator Wheeler’s vow to make greater use of the Science Advisory Board amidst protests from some advisers and outside experts that the agency is instead limiting its role.

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.

EPN member Lynn Goldman, former EPA Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances, is quoted in this GreenWire article about a plan from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to provide $5 million in funding for five Children’s Environmental Health Translational Centers nationwide as a result of EPA’s refusal to commit to funding for Children’s Environmental Health Research Centers.