OSU should not embrace new hire’s policy past at EPA

We understand the concern of those who question Ohio State University’s recent hiring of a Trump administration bureaucrat with a track record of opposing and dismantling environmental protections.

University officials point out that, as director of strategic partnerships for the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Clint Woods won’t be setting environmental policy. That’s a relief, considering his policy history.

As a Trump appointee to the U.S. EPA, he was part of a team whose primary task was to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which set targets for states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants with a far weaker rule that, according to the EPA’S own analysis, would lead to 1,400 additional premature deaths and 48,000 new asthma cases each year.

The Environmental Defense Fund claims that he helped redesign the federal process for setting healthbased air quality standards to one that ignored peerreviewed, science-based research.

Long before Trump, Woods worked for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed group known for lobbying state legislatures to pass industry-written laws opposing environmental, consumer and labor protections.

Woods’ job for OSU is to develop partnerships between the college and outside entities. His industry-friendly background could be useful.

As a public institution, Ohio State should not apply a political litmus test to its hires, and officials contend it does not. Still, the concerns regarding Woods aren’t only about politics but also about environmental policy that most experts consider harmful to the environment and public health.

We hope Woods’ work at OSU will be a departure from his career to date.