Over the past two months EPN members submitted two sets of formal comments, provided testimony on two different air issues, released several levels of analyses on the FY2020 proposed budget cuts and affected programs, and continued to be a trusted source of information to reporters.
The Environmental Protection Network was launched in January 2017 to harness the expertise of former EPA career staff and confirmation-level appointees from multiple administrations to provide an informed and rigorous defense against efforts to undermine the protection of public health and the environment.
Highlights of this update:
Volunteer and staffing highlights of this update:
EPN member John Bachmann, former EPA Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, is quoted in this article about Administrator Wheeler’s claim that he disbanded two advisory panels of scientific experts because they were preventing the EPA from meeting deadlines set by the Clean Air Act.
Dr. Bernie Goldstein, EPN member and former EPA Chair of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, is quoted in this article covering his op-ed about the Trump Administration’s unparalleled assault on the EPA’s mechanisms for ensuring independent scientific advice.
EPN member David Coursen, formerly at EPA’s Office of General Counsel, was interviewed about the Administration’s recent FY2020 budget proposal and its effects on EPA.
Bonnie Bellow, EPN member and former EPA Director of Public Affairs, Region 2, was interviewed about the Trump Administration’s recent FY2020 budget proposal, which cuts EPA’s budget by 31%.
EPN members penned their own op-eds on MATS, WOTUS and CASAC.
EPN members David Coursen, former EPA Office of General Counsel, and Robert Wolcott, an economist and former EPA Senior Counsel, Office of Research and Development, and Deputy Assistant Administrator for Policy, wrote this op-ed about EPA’s proposal to eliminate the co-benefits of regulating mercury emissions from any cost-benefit analysis. EPN member Dave Evans, former EPA Director, Wetlands Division, wrote this op-ed about his personal connection to wetlands and streams and the Trump Administration’s proposal to dramatically reduce the scope of the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) protection of these bodies of water by redefining what constitutes “waters of the U.S.” Dr. Bernie Goldstein, EPN member and former EPA Chair of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, had his op-ed published about the assault on the independence and expertise of the scientific advisory processes. The op-ed also ran in The Salt Lake Tribune, the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the Napa Valley Register and the Santa Fe New Mexican.
EPA Accounting: Like Pretending Viagra Just Treats Hypertension
Spring Memories of Why We Must Protect Wetlands and Streams
I If Were Still Working at EPA, I Would Resign
In addition to the news articles above, EPN members contributed to a range of articles on topics such as climate change, methane emissions, pesticides and toxic substances, compliance, PFAS, proposed agency re-organization and vehicle emissions.
Cynthia Giles, EPN member and former EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, is quoted in this article about civil penalties for polluters plummeting under the Trump Administration.
EPN member Joe Goffman, former EPA Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel in the Office of Air and Radiation, co-wrote this op-ed about the need to sue EPA to compel the agency to regulate methane.
EPN member Betsy Southerland, former EPA Director, Office of Science and Technology in the Office of Water, is quoted in this article about two major fossil fuel trade groups lobbying to stop the EPA from updating a decades-old list of toxic chemicals found in petroleum wastewater.
