Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette Re-Appoints Dupont (1) And Corporate Hired Guns To DEP Science Advisory Board

Another Example Of Corporate Capture

Back in March, before their terms were schedule to expire in May, I urged Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette to not reappoint corporate hired guns to the DEP’s Science Advisory Board, most importantly including Dupont corporate hacks, see:

• Corporate Members Of Murphy DEP Science Advisory Board Must Be Replaced

Corporate influence must be eliminated. Any role in regulation must be strictly prohibited. And far stronger scientific integrity, conflict of interest, transparency, public involvement, and ethical standards must be imposed on the SAB.

That’s why it’s important to note that several members of the NJ DEP SAB terms expire on May 14, 2021, including Dupont’s corporate representative John Gannon. (1)

Remarkably, Gannon is not the only Dupont man on the DEP SAB. He is joined by Gerald Kennedy, a “risk assessment” expert whose term also expires

The SAB term of John Dyksen, also expires on May 14, 2021. Dyksen is a corporate man, who serves as Director of United Water’s corporate engineering and planning group.

The term of  Paul Bovitz also expires. Bovitz is a corporate consultant for Weston.

Another corporate dirty water consultant, Tom Amidon’s of Kleinfelder term also expires.

All five of these current corporate SAB members whose terms are expiring must be replaced by Acting Commissioner Shawn LaTourette.

My arguments were ignored by the NJ press corps and NJ environmental groups.

I guess they don’t care about scientific integrity, government ethics, conflicts of interest, and corporate capture of regulatory science and policy. 

[Does it really take an elaborate argument to demonstrate why corporations like Dupont (or IFF), who make billions of dollars in profits manufacturing toxic chemicals, should not be involved in the science or regulation of DEP standards set to protect public health and the environment from those chemicals? Those same chemical corporations are on the hook for billions of dollars in liability for their toxic poisoning, including billions to cleanup toxic sites, billions more to reduce toxic emissions, billions to manage and dispose of toxic wastes, billions more to compensate injured victims, and billions more to restore damaged natural resources and compensate the public for their lost use.]

I even reached out to the Union of Concerned Scientists, who talk a big game about scientific integrity (they call it Science and Democracy), but they told me that they had more important national issues to work on.

Commissioner LaTourette also simply ignored my recommendations.

On June 17, 2021, Commissioner LaTourette issued ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2021-13 that re-appointed 4 of the 5 corporate hired guns I flagged to 3 year terms, including the notorious John Gannon of Dupont.

The only 1 of the 5 I flagged that was not reappointed was Gerald Kennedy, a “risk assessment” expert also from Dupont whose term expired. It is not clear why Kennedy was not reappointed, but given his age, I assume he retired.

LaTourette also refused to strengthen the scientific integrity, ethics, and public interest standards governing the SAB.

I also assume that this latest corrupt corporate decision by Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette will be ignored as well.

I guess it’s not newsworthy – it’s exactly what we can expect from a Wall Street Governor and a former corporate lawyer as DEP Commissioner.

The environmental sycophants and the clueless and Foundation funded press corps may not hold LaTourette accountable for this crap, but we will.

(1) According to Gannon’s current CV, he left Dupont and joined International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) in Feb. 2021. At the time I wrote the March post, I had linked to Gannon’s prior CV when he was with Dupont, which has since been updated.

[End Note – here’s a heads up I sent to NJ Spotlight reporter Jon Hurdle, who has written so many favorable stories on DEP and DWQI science and regulation of PFOA/PFAS – I wonder if Hurdle is aware of how successful Dupont was in backing DEP off PFOA regulation for over a decade?

Jon – news – if only for this history of success Dupont had in backing DEP and the DWQI off regulation of PFOA. Of course, Dupont has many toxic catastrophes in NJ as well, which should disqualify them from DEP SAB: (sources copied)