"The expert panel advising EPA on particulate pollution doesn't include a representative from the discipline responsible for most of the scientific evidence that soot is a public health hazard.

The seven-member Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee is tasked with guiding EPA on whether to change the fine particle standard. Administrator Andrew Wheeler is pressing to complete a review of the Obama-era limit ahead of schedule by the end of President Trump's first term.

But while most of the evidence about the causal link between fine particles and health impacts is based on observational epidemiological studies, CASAC's roster is missing an epidemiologist.

To make matters worse, experts say, Wheeler has dismissed — and refused to reappoint, despite urging from some of CASAC's own members — a supplementary panel that would have filled in gaps in CASAC expertise in areas like epidemiology and toxicology."

Jean Chemnick reports for ClimateWire July 30, 2019. [2]