ELR Citation: 50 ELR 20093
No(s). 19cv5174 (DLC) (S.D.N.Y. Apr 15, 2020) (Cote, J.)

A district court vacated EPA's 2017 directive that prohibited scientists in receipt of certain EPA grants from serving on the Agency's federal advisory committees. An environmental group argued the directive should be vacated and remanded following the court's previous ruling that granted summary judgment to the group, finding the directive was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the APA. The court found that remand and vacatur was appropriate here because EPA's deficiencies in instituting the directive—failing to articulate any reason for changing its long-standing practice of permitting grant recipients to serve on advisory committees, and providing no basis for finding that recipients suffered from bias on account of those grants—were serious, and because the consequences of vacatur were unlikely to be disruptive. It therefore vacated the directive and remanded to the Agency for further proceedings.