Polis Amendment to Include Academic Input on EPA Advisory Panel Passes House

Press Release

An amendment sponsored by Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) to include academic and research institutions on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) science advisory panel unanimously passed the House today. The underlying bill, which Rep. Polis opposed, would affect the ability of EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) to form panels and perform its essential functions of reviewing scientific and technical information used by EPA.

"The EPA deserves to have the most current, accurate, and unbiased information as it goes about conducting its vitally important mission of protecting our human health and the environment," said Rep. Polis. "The underlying bill takes an unfortunate step backward by imposing quotas and restrictions on panel membership that give added weight to arbitrary factors. Should this bill become law, my amendment helps balance board objectivity by ensuring highly qualified representatives from the academic and scientific research community are included on these panels."

As part of his testimony in support of the amendment, Representative Polis spoke to the groundbreaking research conducted by Colorado University (CU) and Colorado State University (CSU) professors like John White.

"As a professor at the University of Colorado, I am very pleased that Rep. Polis has offered this amendment," said James White, Director, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Professor at CU-Boulder. "Ensuring that the EPA has access to the best and most unbiased advice is crucial to the agency as it watches over the environment that nurtures us all. While I share Rep. Polis' opposition to the bill, his amendment to include highly qualified representatives from the academic and scientific research community on advisory panels is a significant improvement."

The underlying bill, the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act, passed the House by a largely party-line vote of 236-181.

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