Why I'm not applying to EPA's Boards

The History of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency; born: 1970; expired: 2017)

The EPA was founded to facilitate enactment of federal policy on clean air, water, and lands, as a follow up to important environmental legislation of the 1960s into 1970.  It was created by President Richard Nixon in 1970 and authorized by Congress in a bipartisan manner.

In 2017, President Donald J. Trump, Jr., nominated Scott Pruitt, former Attorney-General of Oklahoma, to be the new EPA Administrator.  His nomination was confirmed by the US Senate.  Pruitt has the distinction of being the person who has sued the EPA more than anyone else (I'm just making this up, but I'd encourage people to make a good list - I bet he's in the top 10!).

By the time 2017 is over, EPA will have been effectively renamed as the Economic Protection Agency, since the GOP power structure is invested in removing any regulation it deems harmful to the economy, and so many of the ones already removed and slated for removal fall under the purview of the EPA.

With the recent announcement that Scientific Advisors and Counselors are being told that their services are no longer needed, and all advisory board meetings for the summer are canceled (while the environmental deregulation moves apace), there is no scientific oversight of EPA.  We are left to trust the remaining civil servants who are now being offered buy-outs to meet the most severe budget cut of any large (pseudo-cabinet level) administration at the table.

That is why, in spite of several people who have suggested that I do so, I will not nominate myself for BOSC or any other EPA oversight board, since it is apparent from Mr. Pruitt's and Mr. Trump's own words that environmental protection mean nothing other than obstacles to economic growth.  No spin here, just using their own language.