Congress Just Doesn't Have Chemistry

In a 229 to 191 vote, mostly led by Republicans, the House of Representative quietly passed the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act on November 18^th, 2014. Currently, the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) ensures that the most pertinent and up to date research is used for all decision making. The bill states that the EPA will not be allowed to exclude individuals from sitting on the SAB board. There are specific qualifications that one must have to hold a position on the SAB board, such as being a well educated and established scientist.

If this bill passes the Senate it would prevent qualified independent scientist from advising the EPA and would allow for those with financial links to corporations to then sit on the advisory panel. Their claim for passing this bill is to gain a wider group of expertise by improving the selection process for the panel however we know that’s not the motive behind this bill. The Union of Concerned Scientists released a statement stating “This proposal will make it nearly impossible for the [SAB] to do the crucial independent evaluations of EPA scientific analyses that enable the agency to protect public health,” the letter added. “This bill opens the door for more corporate influence on the Board, because the bill directly stipulates that experts with financial ties to corporations affected by SAB assessments are ‘not excluded”. President Obama has already stated that he plans to veto the legislation if it reaches the oval office due to the foolish amount of harmful power that it would give to the oil and gas industry.

Although it sounds like this bill has good intentions by “expanding expertise” (or at least the Republicans think so) there’s an ulterior motive here. This is yet another asinine attempt for the powerful to gain more power and increase their bank account at the expense of the public’s health. There’s clearly a conflict of interest and the Senate should think twice before passing this bill. Corporate influenced, money-grubbing business men are not who the EPA needs on the board to ensure the safety of the environment and the public’s health. 

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