WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Donald Trump’s Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, suspended meetings of the Board of Scientific Counselors, a key scientific advisory committee, for the rest of this year. Pruitt has publicly commented that he’d like to staff the board with people he deems “industry experts”, instead of scientists with climate, environmental, and health expertise.
In response, Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club’s Legislative Director, released the following statement:
“Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt have been unable to convince the American people to believe their alternative facts, so now they’re suspending the kind of reality-based, scientific discussion we need to guide the government's decision making on environmental and public health policy. This decision to suspend the Board of Scientific Counselors' work is a dangerous and irresponsible breach of the basic recognition that the EPA’s findings and rulemakings be informed by science, not polluter opinion. Moving forward without science puts the health of families across the country at risk.”