Latest news with #CASAC
Eyewitness News
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Parliament to get to work on amending Constitution following high court order barring John Hlophe from serving on JSC
CAPE TOWN - Following last week's high court ruling that a judge impeached for gross misconduct can't serve on the Judicial Service Commission, Parliament is set to get to work on amending the Constitution during this administration. Besides a submission made to the Constitutional Review Committee by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC), the DA says a bill to this effect is already in the pipeline. ALSO READ: The party's justice spokesperson, Glynnis Breytenbach, said it's important to tighten the law to prevent impeached individuals from making a return in other spheres of government. The National Assembly speaker is yet to announce the next steps in filling the vacancy on the judicial service commission. The seat belongs to the MK party, which plans to appeal a ruling preventing its parliamentary leader, John Hlophe from serving on the body. CASAC wants Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee to consider amending sections 177 and 194 to specify that any person removed from judicial office or a Chapter 9 institution may not hold any other public office. Breytenbach, co-chair of the committee, said a Private Member's Bill has already been prepared and is with Parliament's legal drafters. "I think it's very important that Parliament is populated with MPs who are ethical, honest, reliable and have integrity, so the sooner we can prevent bad eggs like John Hlophe and Busisiwe Mkhwebane coming to Parliament, the better." The Western Cape High Court said in a judgment last week that the National Assembly had not acted rationally nor constitutionally when it rubberstamped the MK Party's nomination for the JSC.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
EPA dismisses clean air, science advisory boards
The Trump administration dismissed members of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board on Tuesday, a day before the confirmation of new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, The Hill has confirmed. 'A decision has been made to reset the Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and reestablish its current membership. This action emphasizes the importance of SAB and CASAC to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment,' then-acting administrator James Payne said in a Tuesday evening email obtained by The Hill. 'EPA is working to update these federal advisory committees to ensure that the agency receives scientific advice consistent with its legal obligations to advance our core mission,' Payne wrote. 'A request for nominations to the SAB and CASAC will be announced in the coming weeks, and we encourage all members to reapply.' 'The decision to reset these federal advisory committees emphasizes the importance of SAB and CASAC to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment and seeks to reverse the politicization of SAB and CASAC made by the previous Administration,' an EPA spokesperson told The Hill in an email. During President Trump's first term, his first EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, dismissed 12 SAB members in 2017. His successor, Andrew Wheeler, appointed eight replacement members the following year — one of whom, John Christy, has been criticized by Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Law for contradicting the scientific consensus on climate change. President Biden's EPA chief, Michael Regan, dismissed several Trump appointees to the boards, including Louis Anthony 'Tony' Cox Jr., whose research into soot pollution allegedly used funding from the fossil fuel industry. However, Regan re-appointed two Trump-appointed CASAC members he had previously dismissed, James Boylan and Mark Frampton. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, condemned the dismissals as political in a statement. 'By removing these independent experts, this administration is—yet again—selling out our nation's public health and environmental protections to the same polluting industries that bankrolled much of Trump's campaign. This is not about good governance, this is about rigging the system for polluters; corruption at the expense of the American people,' Whitehouse said. Rachel Frazin contributed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
30-01-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
EPA dismisses clean air, science advisory boards
The Trump administration dismissed members of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board Tuesday, a day before the confirmation of new EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, The Hill has confirmed. 'A decision has been made to reset the Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and reestablish its current membership. This action emphasizes the importance of SAB and CASAC to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment,' then-acting administrator James Payne said in a Tuesday evening email obtained by The Hill. 'EPA is working to update these federal advisory committees to ensure that the agency receives scientific advice consistent with its legal obligations to advance our core mission,' Payne wrote. 'A request for nominations to the SAB and CASAC will be announced in the coming weeks, and we encourage all members to reapply.' 'The decision to reset these federal advisory committees emphasizes the importance of SAB and CASAC to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment and seeks to reverse the politicization of SAB and CASAC made by the previous Administration,' an EPA spokesperson told The Hill in an email. During Trump's first term, his first EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, dismissed 12 SAB members in 2017. His successor, Andrew Wheeler, appointed eight replacement members the following year, one of whom, John Christy, has been criticized by Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Law for contradicting the scientific consensus on climate change. President Biden's EPA chief, Michael Regan, himself dismissed several Trump appointees to the boards, including Louis Anthony 'Tony' Cox Jr., whose research into soot pollution allegedly used funding from the fossil fuel industry. However, Regan re-appointed two Trump-appointed CASAC members he had previously dismissed, James Boylan and Mark Frampton. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, condemned the dismissals as political in a statement. 'By removing these independent experts, this administration is—yet again—selling out our nation's public health and environmental protections to the same polluting industries that bankrolled much of Trump's campaign. This is not about good governance, this is about rigging the system for polluters; corruption at the expense of the American people,' Whitehouse said.
