ELR Citation: 50 ELR 20068
No(s). 19-1383 (1st Cir. Mar 23, 2020)

The First Circuit reversed the dismissal of a challenge to an EPA directive that prohibits scientists in receipt of certain EPA grants from serving on the Agency's federal advisory committees. A nonprofit group argued the directive violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by disproportionately excluding scientists with academic and nonprofit institutions and thus skewing the composition of Agency committees in favor of regulated industries, and by creating committees that were inappropriately influenced by special interests. The district court found no objective standard to apply to determine when a committee's membership has, or has not, achieved a fair balance or whether a special interest could influence a particular committee to an inappropriate level, and thus dismissed the suit. On appeal, the court found that FACA requires EPA to maintain a fair balance on its committees and to avoid inappropriate influences by both the appointing authority and any special interest, and thus that the group's challenge was judicially reviewable. It therefore reversed the district court's dismissal and remanded for further proceedings.