EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who has pledged to ensure clean air for all Americans, faces stark choices in shaping the makeup of an agency advisory panel pivotal to that goal.
A newly released list of 64 nominees to serve on the seven-member Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee reveals candidates who have previously split on the need to tighten key air pollution standards.
As the agency undertakes a new review of its ground-level ozone cap, for example, the nominees include Georgia state air chief Jim Boylan, who in an earlier stint on the committee in 2023 was the lone member to oppose tightening the current 70 parts per billion threshold to somewhere in the range of 55 to 60 ppb.
Supporting a stronger standard at the time was Judith Chow, a scientist based at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada. Chow, who had since rotated off the panel, is also among those now nominated for a fresh term.
