US EPA selects air pollution advisers

After purging its members in late March, US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan has reconstituted the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). Four of the seven members, whom Regan selected from a pool of 100 candidates, have previously served on the panel. They include two scientists who were on the committee when Regan removed all its members and directed the EPA staff to assemble a better blend of expertise than the panel had during the previous administration. The committee now consists of six academics and a state air pollution regulator. This mix reflects the composition of CASAC for decades before the EPA under the Trump administration banned academics as advisers if they received agency grants. A federal court struck down the ban last year. In addition, Regan is resurrecting a group of scientific advisers that the Trump administration eliminated. That group has expertise in science around particulate matter, a major type of air pollution.