EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Friday named a new slate of members to the Science Advisory Board, an influential panel that advises the agency on scientific matters in rulemakings.
Among those named to the panel are a prominent critic of mainstream climate science and two executives from the chemical giant Chemours.
The Biden-era members of the science board and another powerful panel, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, were fired en masse just days into President Donald Trump’s second term, before Zeldin even arrived at EPA.
The “reset” was needed to “to ensure that the agency receives scientific advice consistent with its legal obligations to advance our core mission,” James Payne, then the acting EPA administrator, told the fired members. Biden-era EPA Administrator Michael Regan similarly reconstituted the two panels in 2021, alleging it was needed to “reverse deficiencies” from the first Trump administration’s appointments.
