A first guess about the make-up of a scientific advisory board might be that such boards were staffed by scientists. But in the anti-science Trump regime, that’s no longer true.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday afternoon sweeping changes to who can advise the agency on its research and regulatory priorities, opening the door to more industry participation.
Blocked from participating: Scientists who have received funding from the EPA. So … basically every scientists who has long done research on any topic related to the environment.
EPA chief Scott Pruitt provided a highly scientific justification for his actions and how this will protect the advisory boards from conflicts of interest.
On the journey to the promised land, "Joshua says to the people of Israel: choose this day whom you are going to serve," Pruitt said. "This is sort of like the Joshua principle — that as it relates to grants from this agency, you are going to have to choose either service on the committee to provide counsel to us in an independent fashion or chose the grant. But you can’t do both. That’s the fair and great thing to do."
So, scientists who have taken money from the EPA can’t work for the EPA because they might feel beholding to … the EPA. However, industry insiders who make their money from the industries that are regulated by the EPA, are just fine.
"Frankly, this directive is nuts," Al Teich of George Washington University wrote in an email to BuzzFeed News.
That’s putting it kindly.
At the same time he put in a block that keeps most legitimate scientists off the advisory boards, Pruitt brought in a highly non-legitimate scientists to head the whole show.
Pruitt also announced the new chairs of EPA's advisory committees on Tuesday.
Michael Honeycutt, a controversial toxicologist from Texas, is the new head of EPA's Science Advisory Board, which provides scientific counsel to the agency's top official. Honeycutt once told Congress he didn't agree with the EPA's toxic evaluation for mercury, and he's argued against the agency's ozone standards, according to a 2014 investigation by InsideClimate News and the Center for Public Integrity.
Honeycut doesn’t just reject scientists. He rejects science.
“It’s a big mistake to appoint Michael Honeycutt to lead the Science Advisory Board,” Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, said in a written statement. “Dr. Honeycutt has made repeated public statements undermining the integrity of the science on ozone as well as other pollutants, including mercury, despite consensus from the medical community on the harms of exposure to such pollutants.”