A federal appeals court has rejected arguments from Trump-era EPA advisers that the Biden administration conducted an illegal reset of a committee that helps the agency set air quality limits.
In a unanimous opinion issued Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that Tony Cox, who formerly led the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and Stanley Young, who served on the Science Advisory Board, lacked standing to make their claims in court.
The court was unpersuaded by arguments from Cox and Young, who said that the Biden administration’s selection process for the committees was biased because it eliminated candidates who did not think there was scientific evidence to justify stronger standards for fine particles and other contaminants.
“But the committee’s view on one isolated standard does not demonstrate bias in the selection process,” wrote Judge Justin Walker in the opinion for the court. “After all, the committee advises on numerous other unrelated air-quality standards.”
