EPA chief Scott Pruitt finds himself facing another lawsuit. This one has been filed by scientific advocacy groups and individuals who disagree with his ban of scientists sitting on EPA advisory committees if they have received EPA grants.
In their lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court, the groups claim his ban violates federal rules and is an effort to favor industry and deregulation.
Among those suing were Physicians for Social Responsibility, the National Hispanic Medical Association and the International Society for Children’s Health and the Environment. They are groups whose members have EPA grants and serve on committees or cannot do both.
The advocacy firm Earthjustice and the Environmental Law Clinic at Columbia University represent the groups.
The lawsuit contends Pruitt’s new ethics policy is an unprecedented break from the past. It calls the policy “unlawful, arbitrary and capricious” and claims Pruitt did not have the authority to change the agency’s ethics rules.
“The new policy is being used ‘to remove highly qualified independent scientists from these boards,” claimed Neil Gormley, the lead attorney for Earthjustice on the case. “And they’re being replaced with people who are almost exclusively friendly to industrial polluters.”
The suit wants the federal court to declare Pruitt’s directive illegal. It also wants the policy struck down and to have anyone who had been removed from an EPA Committee to be reinstated.
Pruitt announced the policy in October and said it was designed to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure the objectivity of the agency’s 22 advisory committees.
A spokesman for the EPA said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.