Story highlights The panels' meetings will be postponed until September at the earliest, a memo said

The EPA also dismissed a group of scientists

Washington (CNN) The Interior Department froze the work of more than 200 advisory boards, committees and subcommittees last week, according to a department memo obtained by CNN.

An agency spokeswoman said about a third of those advisory boards are science-based.

The memo, received by a member of one of the advisory panels, said the department was instituting the freeze to review "the charter and charge of each committee" and that the review required the groups' meetings be postponed until September at the earliest.

News of the May 5 memo came as CNN learned Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt had dismissed half of the scientists serving on a scientific review board that provides guidance to the EPA.

An Interior official said the halt to the work of the department advisory boards was "very different" from the EPA dismissals.

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