FACA Database Offers Major Tool for Gumshoes

Journalists: if you haven't been paying attention to federal advisory committees, maybe it's time to start. These panels are a major back door through which industry exerts quiet influence on government regulators — but they are kept available to scrutiny by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and the Sunshine Act.

There are boatloads of advisory committees at EPA and the many other federal agencies that deal with environment, energy, health, agriculture, resources, and related topics. One way to begin exploring them is via the FACA Database.

It is available here. Parts of it are online and searchable by the public without registration.