Over the December holidays, the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) began shipping 170 barrels of extremely radioactive nuclear waste to the Hanford Nuclear Site, even though no environmental analysis has been performed as required by law, and there is no licensed repository for the waste at Hanford. The nuclear waste contains hazardous and toxic chemicals and is so radioactive that it must be remote-handled by machines and cranes.
"These shipments are the first of tens of thousands of such shipments that the U.S. government plans to make to Hanford -- instead of cleanup, the Hanford Site is being turned into the National Nuclear Waste Dump without even a protest from the State of Washington," said Tom Carpenter, Director of the Government Accountability Project's Nuclear Oversight Campaign.
The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), after meeting with Washington State Department of Ecology director Tom Fitzsimmons, struck a deal with the State of Washington on Friday, December 13, 2002 whereby the State agreed not to file a restraining order to block the illegal waste shipments from coming into Washington, in exchange for a promise by USDOE to negotiate a schedule to clean up Hanford’s existing on-site waste and to remove twice as much waste as is being imported.
However, cleanup of Hanford’s burial grounds is already required by state law and the Hanford Clean-Up Agreement of 1989 (Tri-Party Agreement) and the new waste is much more radioactive and dangers than what the USDOE has promised to remove. Public interest groups were consulted only after the deal had been struck.
The Hanford Site – a former plutonium production factory in Southeastern Washington State -- is the most severely-polluted site in the world, outside of the former Soviet Union. Hanford contains a staggering amount of radioactive and chemically-contaminated materials stored in leaking, unlined storage pits, massive million-gallon waste tanks, and features an estimated 200 square miles of contaminated groundwater. During its 50 years of nuclear materials production, Hanford turned the Columbia River into the most radioactive river in the world. The onsite contamination will require cleanup costing tens of billions of taxpayer dollars and a decades-long commitment from the U.S. government.
The Remote Handled Transuranic (or "TRU") waste shipments to be shipped to Hanford are as radioactive as, or more radioactive than, the High-Level Nuclear Waste to be shipped to Yucca Mountain, but will be transported in trucks that are much less protective of radiation or accidents than Yucca bound trucks will be. The TRU waste will, in some cases, give off the equivalent of 100 full body x-rays per hour at the drum surface, which will likely affect people in cars traveling alongside the trucks. The first truckloads will come up I-5 and I-205 through Portland and through the Columbia Gorge en route to Hanford. Additional shipments would come across eastern Oregon, crossing the passes of the Blue Mountains or through downtown Spokane on I-90.
The Tri-Party Agreement between the USDOE, the US Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State already legally mandates that USDOE clean up buried wastes at Hanford. Gerald Pollet, Executive Director of Heart of America Northwest, stated, "For Washington to accept more radioactive and deadly waste in exchange for USDOE promises to carry out what it is already legally bound to do defies logic and common sense." Additionally, as recently as April of 2002, Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that, “There will be no quid pro quo. You can’t say we’ll clean up in trade for taking the nation’s waste.” Gregoire’s staff was ready to file a Temporary Restraining Order in federal district court when the deal was struck.
The TRU shipments are illegal because USDOE has not assessed properly the dangers of transporting this radioactive waste through Oregon and Washington, the risks from storing and treating these wastes at Hanford, or alternatives to this scheme. USDOE plans to store illegally the waste in areas at Hanford without proper permits. The most radioactive wastes mixed with chemicals will be stored for at least a decade in unlined soil trenches, which are already leaking wastes and deadly vapors.
The Government Accountability Project and Heart of America Northwest (the 16,000 member group leading the fight for Hanford clean-up) urge the public to CONTACT THEIR STATE AND FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES TO OPPOSE THIS AGREEMENT AND THESE SHIPMENTS of additional radioactive waste to Hanford.
The public will have a chance to voice opinions at the upcoming "State of the Site Meetings" which will occur every Wednesday throughout January 2003, starting in Seattle on January 8, Hood River on January 15, Portland on Jan. 22 and Kennewick on Jan 29. If you no longer wish to receive these e-mails, please send an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line. To one of the addresses below. If you are recieving these emails from gap-general-list@whistleblower.org If you are recieving these emails from gap-media-list@whistleblower.org Action Alert for Hanford Waste Shipments Tom Carpenter, Clare Gilbert
Over the December holidays, the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) began shipping 170 barrels of extremely radioactive nuclear waste to the Hanford Nuclear Site, even though no environmental analysis has been performed as required by law, and there is no licensed repository for the waste at Hanford. The nuclear waste contains hazardous and toxic chemicals and is so radioactive that it must be remote-handled by machines and cranes.
"These shipments are the first of tens of thousands of such shipments that the U.S. government plans to make to Hanford -- instead of cleanup, the Hanford Site is being turned into the National Nuclear Waste Dump without even a protest from the State of Washington," said Tom Carpenter, Director of the Government Accountability Project's Nuclear Oversight Campaign.
The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), after meeting with Washington State Department of Ecology director Tom Fitzsimmons, struck a deal with the State of Washington on Friday, December 13, 2002 whereby the State agreed not to file a restraining order to block the illegal waste shipments from coming into Washington, in exchange for a promise by USDOE to negotiate a schedule to clean up Hanford’s existing on-site waste and to remove twice as much waste as is being imported.
However, cleanup of Hanford’s burial grounds is already required by state law and the Hanford Clean-Up Agreement of 1989 (Tri-Party Agreement) and the new waste is much more radioactive and dangers than what the USDOE has promised to remove. Public interest groups were consulted only after the deal had been struck.
The Hanford Site – a former plutonium production factory in Southeastern Washington State -- is the most severely-polluted site in the world, outside of the former Soviet Union. Hanford contains a staggering amount of radioactive and chemically-contaminated materials stored in leaking, unlined storage pits, massive million-gallon waste tanks, and features an estimated 200 square miles of contaminated groundwater. During its 50 years of nuclear materials production, Hanford turned the Columbia River into the most radioactive river in the world. The onsite contamination will require cleanup costing tens of billions of taxpayer dollars and a decades-long commitment from the U.S. government.
The Remote Handled Transuranic (or "TRU") waste shipments to be shipped to Hanford are as radioactive as, or more radioactive than, the High-Level Nuclear Waste to be shipped to Yucca Mountain, but will be transported in trucks that are much less protective of radiation or accidents than Yucca bound trucks will be. The TRU waste will, in some cases, give off the equivalent of 100 full body x-rays per hour at the drum surface, which will likely affect people in cars traveling alongside the trucks. The first truckloads will come up I-5 and I-205 through Portland and through the Columbia Gorge en route to Hanford. Additional shipments would come across eastern Oregon, crossing the passes of the Blue Mountains or through downtown Spokane on I-90.
The Tri-Party Agreement between the USDOE, the US Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State already legally mandates that USDOE clean up buried wastes at Hanford. Gerald Pollet, Executive Director of Heart of America Northwest, stated, "For Washington to accept more radioactive and deadly waste in exchange for USDOE promises to carry out what it is already legally bound to do defies logic and common sense." Additionally, as recently as April of 2002, Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that, “There will be no quid pro quo. You can’t say we’ll clean up in trade for taking the nation’s waste.” Gregoire’s staff was ready to file a Temporary Restraining Order in federal district court when the deal was struck.
The TRU shipments are illegal because USDOE has not assessed properly the dangers of transporting this radioactive waste through Oregon and Washington, the risks from storing and treating these wastes at Hanford, or alternatives to this scheme. USDOE plans to store illegally the waste in areas at Hanford without proper permits. The most radioactive wastes mixed with chemicals will be stored for at least a decade in unlined soil trenches, which are already leaking wastes and deadly vapors.
The Government Accountability Project and Heart of America Northwest (the 16,000 member group leading the fight for Hanford clean-up) urge the public to CONTACT THEIR STATE AND FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES TO OPPOSE THIS AGREEMENT AND THESE SHIPMENTS of additional radioactive waste to Hanford.
The public will have a chance to voice opinions at the upcoming "State of the Site Meetings" which will occur every Wednesday throughout January 2003, starting in Seattle on January 8, Hood River on January 15, Portland on Jan. 22 and Kennewick on Jan 29.
If you no longer wish to receive these e-mails, please send an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line. To one of the addresses below.
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Thu Jan 9 20:15:00 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 9 Jan 2003 20:15:00 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectEPA OMBUDSMAN CITIZENS' FORUM
Message-ID: <20030109201500.36489.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
EPA OMBUDSMAN CITIZENS' FORUM
Martin Edwin Andersen
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) are sponsoring a January 14, 2003 joint congressional/citizen oversight hearing on the need for an independent ombudsman at the Evironmental Protection Agency.
PRESS ADVISORY
WHAT: Congressional/citizen oversight forum on the need for an independent ombudsman at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
WHEN: Tuesday, January 14, 2003, 9:00 A.M.
WHERE: 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building
WHO: Senator Michael Crapo, R-Idaho
Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY
Robert Martin, former EPA ombudsman
Christine Todd Whitman, EPA administrator (invited to testify)
CONTACT: Martin Edwin Andersen, Government Accountability Project,
(202) 408-0034. Ext. 124; Claire Lobdell, ext. 132
Danni Downing, Project On Government Oversight,
(202) 347-1122
BACKGROUND:
The forum will make a record of the reality behind EPA promises last year of improved service to resolve community concerns about threats from Superfund sites and toxic wastes. A 2001 General Accounting Office (GAO) report recommended that the EPA "provide [its] Ombudsman with a separate budget and … [t]he authority to hire, fire and supervise his own staff." Instead, EPA anounced it was implementing the reforms by abolishing the national ombudsman’s office and reconstituting it within the agency’s Office of Inspector General. (GAO) In a report last fall, GAO rejected that response as counterproductive and contrary to its recommendations.
When the Ombudsman’s office was abolished, some two dozen cases were pending. At Senate and House hearings last summer EPA promised intensified efforts and improved service to affected communities as a result reorganizing the ombudsman duties. Unfortuately, citizen leaders consistently have reported that in fact the agency abandoned them, and that threats from deadly poisons in their ground and water continue unabated without any grounds for hope. The forum will allow affected commuities to make a record of the reality since last summer’s rhetoric. Citizens from Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas will be attending.
On Congress’ final day last session, the Senate approved S.606, a bill that would create by statute a structurally indpendent EPA national ombudsman office. Both GAP and POGO have praised it as outstanding good government legislation and a possible model for all agencies, if adopted. GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest law firm that assists whistleblowers. POGO is a nonprofit, non-profit watchdog group that strives to promote a government that is accountable to the citizenry.
- 30 -
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EPA OMBUDSMAN CITIZENS' FORUM
Martin Edwin Andersen
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) are sponsoring a January 14, 2003 joint congressional/citizen oversight hearing on the need for an independent ombudsman at the Evironmental Protection Agency.
PRESS ADVISORY
WHAT: Congressional/citizen oversight forum on the need for an independent ombudsman at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
WHEN: Tuesday, January 14, 2003, 9:00 A.M.
WHERE: 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building
WHO: Senator Michael Crapo, R-Idaho
Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY
Robert Martin, former EPA ombudsman
Christine Todd Whitman, EPA administrator (invited to testify)
CONTACT: Martin Edwin Andersen, Government Accountability Project,
(202) 408-0034. Ext. 124; Claire Lobdell, ext. 132
Danni Downing, Project On Government Oversight,
(202) 347-1122
BACKGROUND:
The forum will make a record of the reality behind EPA promises last year of improved service to resolve community concerns about threats from Superfund sites and toxic wastes. A 2001 General Accounting Office (GAO) report recommended that the EPA "provide [its] Ombudsman with a separate budget and … [t]he authority to hire, fire and supervise his own staff." Instead, EPA anounced it was implementing the reforms by abolishing the national ombudsman’s office and reconstituting it within the agency’s Office of Inspector General. (GAO) In a report last fall, GAO rejected that response as counterproductive and contrary to its recommendations.
When the Ombudsman’s office was abolished, some two dozen cases were pending. At Senate and House hearings last summer EPA promised intensified efforts and improved service to affected communities as a result reorganizing the ombudsman duties. Unfortuately, citizen leaders consistently have reported that in fact the agency abandoned them, and that threats from deadly poisons in their ground and water continue unabated without any grounds for hope. The forum will allow affected commuities to make a record of the reality since last summer’s rhetoric. Citizens from Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas will be attending.
On Congress’ final day last session, the Senate approved S.606, a bill that would create by statute a structurally indpendent EPA national ombudsman office. Both GAP and POGO have praised it as outstanding good government legislation and a possible model for all agencies, if adopted. GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest law firm that assists whistleblowers. POGO is a nonprofit, non-profit watchdog group that strives to promote a government that is accountable to the citizenry.
- 30 -
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Mon Jan 13 18:15:01 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 13 Jan 2003 18:15:01 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectScranton Times-Tribune reports on GAP Ombudsman hearing
Message-ID: <20030113181501.32714.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
Scranton Times-Tribune reports on GAP Ombudsman hearing
News Article
Community activists flock to GAP/POGO congressional oversight forum on the need for an independent ombudsman at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Scranton Times Tribune
Advocates take stand on Marjol
By Stephen Daily 01/13/2003
THROOP -- Throop officials and the leading advocates for a Marjol Battery site cleanup are traveling to Washington today in support of a national effort to restore independence to the Environmental Protection Agency's ombudsman's office.
They will join people from Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas -- all states with Superfund waste sites -- in lobbying members of Congress with the hope that legislation will be passed that transfers the ombudsman's office out of the Office of the Inspector General and back to an independent position.
The group will speak at a joint congressional/citizen oversight forum on the EPA ombudsman on Tuesday, beginning at 9 a.m.
"The Independent National Ombudsman's Office within the EPA plays an important role. It serves as a watchdog for the citizens and as a backstop to ensure that the best decisions are being made for the community," said Susan Shortz of Throop, president of the Citizen Review Committee for the Marjol site.
"My concern is to ensure that the National Ombudsman's Office be resurrected to allow it to continue to operate in a transparent way and provide meaningful assistance to local communities, like Throop, when EPA falters, as it has in our case," she said.
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) are sponsoring the joint congressional/citizen oversight hearing.
Danni Downing, research assistant at POGO, said the goal of the Washington trip is to educate members of Congress about the need for an independent ombudsman and to help them understand it is not just a local issue.
"We are having citizens from all regions of the country go to Washington to talk to their congressmen. This affects a huge number of Superfund sites," Ms. Downing said. "The EPA ombudsman is the only independent recourse these towns have to go through. It is the only way to get an investigation before a remedy."
Ms. Shortz will be joined by Throop Mayor Stan Lukowski, solicitor Louis Cimini, and about five other residents.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, will not be in Washington during the forum because Congress will be in recess. But Mr. Kanjorski, who now represents Throop, said he would strongly support legislation to restore the Office of the Ombudsman and will focus his efforts on a total cleanup of Marjol.
"There is a lot to be gained in an event like this. I don't think the citizens of Throop have been treated correctly. I am planning on working with state legislatures to make all the arguments we can to get the site cleaned up," Mr. Kanjorski said.
In November, on the final day of Congress' session, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would create a structurally independent EPA national ombudsman office.
In April, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman merged the ombudsman's office with the Office of the Inspector General -- a move that many contend stripped the authority and independence of the position. Following the merger, then-Ombudsman Robert Martin resigned and his files were confiscated. Mr. Martin said he needed just six more months to complete his full review of Marjol.
Mr. Martin will be among 12 people to speak in Washington on Tuesday.
Earlier, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who co-sponsored the bill, told the Scranton Times the chances of legislation passing when Congress reconvenes are good.
"The ombudsman should be tough, vigorous, independent and an advocate for the people," Mr. Specter said. "Mr. Martin was very effective and they got rid of him, much to my chagrin."
©Scranton Times Tribune 2003
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Scranton Times-Tribune reports on GAP Ombudsman hearing
News Article
Community activists flock to GAP/POGO congressional oversight forum on the need for an independent ombudsman at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Scranton Times Tribune
Advocates take stand on Marjol
By Stephen Daily 01/13/2003
THROOP -- Throop officials and the leading advocates for a Marjol Battery site cleanup are traveling to Washington today in support of a national effort to restore independence to the Environmental Protection Agency's ombudsman's office.
They will join people from Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas -- all states with Superfund waste sites -- in lobbying members of Congress with the hope that legislation will be passed that transfers the ombudsman's office out of the Office of the Inspector General and back to an independent position.
The group will speak at a joint congressional/citizen oversight forum on the EPA ombudsman on Tuesday, beginning at 9 a.m.
"The Independent National Ombudsman's Office within the EPA plays an important role. It serves as a watchdog for the citizens and as a backstop to ensure that the best decisions are being made for the community," said Susan Shortz of Throop, president of the Citizen Review Committee for the Marjol site.
"My concern is to ensure that the National Ombudsman's Office be resurrected to allow it to continue to operate in a transparent way and provide meaningful assistance to local communities, like Throop, when EPA falters, as it has in our case," she said.
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) are sponsoring the joint congressional/citizen oversight hearing.
Danni Downing, research assistant at POGO, said the goal of the Washington trip is to educate members of Congress about the need for an independent ombudsman and to help them understand it is not just a local issue.
"We are having citizens from all regions of the country go to Washington to talk to their congressmen. This affects a huge number of Superfund sites," Ms. Downing said. "The EPA ombudsman is the only independent recourse these towns have to go through. It is the only way to get an investigation before a remedy."
Ms. Shortz will be joined by Throop Mayor Stan Lukowski, solicitor Louis Cimini, and about five other residents.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, will not be in Washington during the forum because Congress will be in recess. But Mr. Kanjorski, who now represents Throop, said he would strongly support legislation to restore the Office of the Ombudsman and will focus his efforts on a total cleanup of Marjol.
"There is a lot to be gained in an event like this. I don't think the citizens of Throop have been treated correctly. I am planning on working with state legislatures to make all the arguments we can to get the site cleaned up," Mr. Kanjorski said.
In November, on the final day of Congress' session, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would create a structurally independent EPA national ombudsman office.
In April, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman merged the ombudsman's office with the Office of the Inspector General -- a move that many contend stripped the authority and independence of the position. Following the merger, then-Ombudsman Robert Martin resigned and his files were confiscated. Mr. Martin said he needed just six more months to complete his full review of Marjol.
Mr. Martin will be among 12 people to speak in Washington on Tuesday.
Earlier, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who co-sponsored the bill, told the Scranton Times the chances of legislation passing when Congress reconvenes are good.
"The ombudsman should be tough, vigorous, independent and an advocate for the people," Mr. Specter said. "Mr. Martin was very effective and they got rid of him, much to my chagrin."
©Scranton Times Tribune 2003
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Thu Jan 16 17:00:01 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 16 Jan 2003 17:00:01 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectDevine calls for independent EPA ombudsman
Message-ID: <20030116170001.91792.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
Devine calls for independent EPA ombudsman
Tom Devine
STATEMENT OF THOMAS DEVINE, GAP LEGAL DIRECTOR
CONGRESSIONAL/CITIZEN OVERSIGHT HEARING ON EPA OMBUDSMAN
Today’s forum is a badly-needed opportunity for congressional oversight, and a forum for community leaders who believe their voices no longer are heard by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on issues with life and death stakes for their families. More specifically, it is a chance for affected citizens to blow the whistle on empty promises by their government. Those who bear witness today will arm Congress with evidence to hold EPA accountable for bad faith commitments of stepped-up service by its reorganized ombudsman, made in House and Senate hearings last summer.
Hopefully, today’s record will be the foundation for quick congressional action to pass legislation creating an independent statutory EPA ombudsman, independent and safe from political pressures and retaliation that have plagued the office whenever it has been effective in making a difference against political abuses of power. Last year a federal judge found a substantial likelihood that the previous National Ombudsman office led by Mr. Martin was abolished in retaliation for his exercise of First Amendment free speech rights. The controversy involved alleged conflicts of interest by the agency administrator, precisely when the public most needs an independent ombudsman on the job.
There is little question that the current EPA structure flunks the laugh test for a credible ombudsman, even if it did not have a history of obstructing ombudsman investigations. Last fall the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded it would undermine prior recommendations for a strengthened office that EPA had insisted it was carrying out by relocating it, to the point where basic ombudsman duties have been legally barred in the new home for ombudsman work. By contrast, S. 606 as approved by the Senate is outstanding good government legislation. It meets the standards of the model ombudsman program recommended by the Organization of American States to implement its Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.
One flaw must be corrected, however, to secure a safe channel for the free flow of information to the ombudsman, which is the lifeblood for any government agency to operate effectively. Due to a technical drafting mistake, the whistleblower protection clause of the bill references a 1992 law enacted to help nuclear power workers. While well intentioned at the time, Congress has learned many lessons in the intervening decade. In particular, the administrative process that adjudicates nuclear whistleblower cases has been plagued by backlogs that commonly exceeds three years, and in some cases have extended over a decade – as long as the statute has been in existence. Last summer Congress corrected that problem in the Sarbanes-Oxley law’s whistleblower provision. Like Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) cases, those who do not receive a decision in 180 days can file an action in district court, where they can seek injunctive relief for cases that threaten to drag out. This frees whistleblowers from being prisoners of an administrative law process commonly known as the “black hole.”
The bottom line in correcting this technical mistake is that it would turn exercising rights from a time-consuming exercise in frustration, to a genuine chance for justice. In order to better fight corporate crime, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower law with a near-unanimous mandate. Defending America’s communities against potentially fatal toxic threats deserves just as effective protection.
Finally, today’s forum is the chance to test a hybrid model for government accountability – citizen ombudsmen teaming up with those in Congress who care, when normal agency channels to break citizen-agency impasses are either compromised or unresponsive. Hopefully, this event will help to – 1) break an impasse on Superfund cleanups that has existed throughout the current EPA administrator’s term; and 2) establish a new model creating a voice for disenfranchised citizens. As referenced earlier, GAP’s attached Senate testimony from last summer provides context for these views.
If you no longer wish to receive these e-mails, please send an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line. To one of the addresses below.
If you are recieving these emails from gap-general-list@whistleblower.org
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Devine calls for independent EPA ombudsman
Tom Devine
STATEMENT OF THOMAS DEVINE, GAP LEGAL DIRECTOR
CONGRESSIONAL/CITIZEN OVERSIGHT HEARING ON EPA OMBUDSMAN
Today’s forum is a badly-needed opportunity for congressional oversight, and a forum for community leaders who believe their voices no longer are heard by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on issues with life and death stakes for their families. More specifically, it is a chance for affected citizens to blow the whistle on empty promises by their government. Those who bear witness today will arm Congress with evidence to hold EPA accountable for bad faith commitments of stepped-up service by its reorganized ombudsman, made in House and Senate hearings last summer.
Hopefully, today’s record will be the foundation for quick congressional action to pass legislation creating an independent statutory EPA ombudsman, independent and safe from political pressures and retaliation that have plagued the office whenever it has been effective in making a difference against political abuses of power. Last year a federal judge found a substantial likelihood that the previous National Ombudsman office led by Mr. Martin was abolished in retaliation for his exercise of First Amendment free speech rights. The controversy involved alleged conflicts of interest by the agency administrator, precisely when the public most needs an independent ombudsman on the job.
There is little question that the current EPA structure flunks the laugh test for a credible ombudsman, even if it did not have a history of obstructing ombudsman investigations. Last fall the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded it would undermine prior recommendations for a strengthened office that EPA had insisted it was carrying out by relocating it, to the point where basic ombudsman duties have been legally barred in the new home for ombudsman work. By contrast, S. 606 as approved by the Senate is outstanding good government legislation. It meets the standards of the model ombudsman program recommended by the Organization of American States to implement its Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.
One flaw must be corrected, however, to secure a safe channel for the free flow of information to the ombudsman, which is the lifeblood for any government agency to operate effectively. Due to a technical drafting mistake, the whistleblower protection clause of the bill references a 1992 law enacted to help nuclear power workers. While well intentioned at the time, Congress has learned many lessons in the intervening decade. In particular, the administrative process that adjudicates nuclear whistleblower cases has been plagued by backlogs that commonly exceeds three years, and in some cases have extended over a decade – as long as the statute has been in existence. Last summer Congress corrected that problem in the Sarbanes-Oxley law’s whistleblower provision. Like Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) cases, those who do not receive a decision in 180 days can file an action in district court, where they can seek injunctive relief for cases that threaten to drag out. This frees whistleblowers from being prisoners of an administrative law process commonly known as the “black hole.”
The bottom line in correcting this technical mistake is that it would turn exercising rights from a time-consuming exercise in frustration, to a genuine chance for justice. In order to better fight corporate crime, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower law with a near-unanimous mandate. Defending America’s communities against potentially fatal toxic threats deserves just as effective protection.
Finally, today’s forum is the chance to test a hybrid model for government accountability – citizen ombudsmen teaming up with those in Congress who care, when normal agency channels to break citizen-agency impasses are either compromised or unresponsive. Hopefully, this event will help to – 1) break an impasse on Superfund cleanups that has existed throughout the current EPA administrator’s term; and 2) establish a new model creating a voice for disenfranchised citizens. As referenced earlier, GAP’s attached Senate testimony from last summer provides context for these views.
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Thu Jan 16 17:45:00 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 16 Jan 2003 17:45:00 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectDenver Post covers GAP's Ombudsman hearing
Message-ID: <20030116174500.99422.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
Denver Post covers GAP's Ombudsman hearing
News Article
Shattuck neighbors miss EPA watchdog,
Old ombudsman quit; new one closed case
By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Washington Bureau
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency's watchdog agency isn't watchdogging in Denver anymore.
The EPA's acting national ombudsman, Peggy Boyer, has closed the case on the Shattuck Superfund site in Denver's Overland Park neighborhood. The previous ombudsman, Robert Martin, had helped force the EPA to remove the radioactive waste it had left at the site.
Martin resigned in protest last April when EPA Administrator Christie Whitman transferred him and his agency to the control of the EPA's inspector general, without giving him control over his budget or hiring and firing decisions.
Now, residents of the neighborhood say they don't feel that they have anyone to stick up for them as the EPA begins removal of the 6-acre radioactive "monolith."
"I don't know where to call," said Deb Sanchez, who lives 300 yards from the site. "This is stuff we would use Bob's office for. He was able to get the information for us."
Sanchez came to Washington on Tuesday with activists from other Superfund sites around the country to protest Whitman's ombudsman decision and to press for a more independent watchdog operation at the EPA. Several of the activists said they hadn't heard from the ombudsman's office since Martin left.
The acting ombudsman sent out letters to officials and residents closing the Shattuck case because the result that community residents wanted - removal of the radioactive waste - has begun, said Eileen McMahon spokeswoman for the EPA's inspector general office. She said it's not the ombudsman's job to answer questions for residents.
"The ombudsman's job is not to monitor and when people have questions, provide answers," McMahon said. "We'd not heard anything from anyone. We assumed satisfaction."
Martin kept after the Shattuck matter, attacking a settlement that EPA made with Shattuck's owner, Citigroup, as a sweetheart deal for a politically powerful company. He had planned to hold hearings on the method of cleanup at Shattuck, but those were scrapped when Martin quit.
Martin's chief investigator, Hugh Kaufman, launched investigations of EPA Superfund cleanups in several states that embarrassed his agency and in some cases forced it to reverse decisions. Martin said that made EPA managers in both the Clinton and Bush administrations want to silence him.
Whitman said she transferred Martin from the EPA's Superfund division to the inspector general's office not to silence him but to give him more independence.
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, is one of several senators who are pushing a bill to create a new, independent ombudsman answering to Congress. The bill has not yet been introduced.
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Denver Post covers GAP's Ombudsman hearing
News Article
Shattuck neighbors miss EPA watchdog,
Old ombudsman quit; new one closed case
By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Washington Bureau
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency's watchdog agency isn't watchdogging in Denver anymore.
The EPA's acting national ombudsman, Peggy Boyer, has closed the case on the Shattuck Superfund site in Denver's Overland Park neighborhood. The previous ombudsman, Robert Martin, had helped force the EPA to remove the radioactive waste it had left at the site.
Martin resigned in protest last April when EPA Administrator Christie Whitman transferred him and his agency to the control of the EPA's inspector general, without giving him control over his budget or hiring and firing decisions.
Now, residents of the neighborhood say they don't feel that they have anyone to stick up for them as the EPA begins removal of the 6-acre radioactive "monolith."
"I don't know where to call," said Deb Sanchez, who lives 300 yards from the site. "This is stuff we would use Bob's office for. He was able to get the information for us."
Sanchez came to Washington on Tuesday with activists from other Superfund sites around the country to protest Whitman's ombudsman decision and to press for a more independent watchdog operation at the EPA. Several of the activists said they hadn't heard from the ombudsman's office since Martin left.
The acting ombudsman sent out letters to officials and residents closing the Shattuck case because the result that community residents wanted - removal of the radioactive waste - has begun, said Eileen McMahon spokeswoman for the EPA's inspector general office. She said it's not the ombudsman's job to answer questions for residents.
"The ombudsman's job is not to monitor and when people have questions, provide answers," McMahon said. "We'd not heard anything from anyone. We assumed satisfaction."
Martin kept after the Shattuck matter, attacking a settlement that EPA made with Shattuck's owner, Citigroup, as a sweetheart deal for a politically powerful company. He had planned to hold hearings on the method of cleanup at Shattuck, but those were scrapped when Martin quit.
Martin's chief investigator, Hugh Kaufman, launched investigations of EPA Superfund cleanups in several states that embarrassed his agency and in some cases forced it to reverse decisions. Martin said that made EPA managers in both the Clinton and Bush administrations want to silence him.
Whitman said she transferred Martin from the EPA's Superfund division to the inspector general's office not to silence him but to give him more independence.
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, is one of several senators who are pushing a bill to create a new, independent ombudsman answering to Congress. The bill has not yet been introduced.
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Thu Jan 16 19:00:02 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 16 Jan 2003 19:00:02 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectGovExec.com coverage of EPA ombudsman hearing
Message-ID: <20030116190002.11263.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
GovExec.com coverage of EPA ombudsman hearing
news article
Bill would make EPA ombudsman independent
Daily Briefing
January 14, 2003
By John Stanton
CongressDaily
The EPA's ombudsman would get expanded power to conduct independent reviews of federal cleanup decisions in the Superfund program under legislation outlined today by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
The bill—whose sponsors include Florida GOP Reps. Jeff Miller and Michael Bilirakis, and Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.—would formally authorize the Office of Ombudsman and separate its funding and staffing decisions from EPA, making it an independent entity operating within the agency. Bilirakis and Crapo sponsored similar legislation during the 107th Congress. The Senate passed its bill, but the House measure failed.
The measure is aimed at responding to citizen groups that complain about EPA officials frustrating ombudsman investigations of agency decisions. Those complaints have dogged Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Crapo has been a longtime proponent of boosting the ombudsman's authority because of continued community complaints about the federal cleanup at the Bunkerhill Superfund site in Idaho.
Nadler, meanwhile, became involved in the spat in response to EPA's handling of the cleanup of contaminated waste created by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. The World Trade Center cleanup became a political nightmare for EPA, which initially brushed aside community concerns that airborne dust contained asbestos. At Nadler's request, the ombudsman intervened. The agency subsequently reversed its stance and offered assistance to residents near the trade center site.
Both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations have viewed the ombudsman as a thorn in their side, with EPA officials complaining privately that whistleblowers and communities manipulate the office to embarrass the agency.
EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman in 2001 moved the ombudsman out of the Superfund office and into the agency's Office of Inspector General, claiming the move would free up investigators to conduct impartial inquiries. But then-Ombudsman Bob Martin, as well as his congressional allies, balked at the reorganization, charging Whitman was using the move to silence critics. Martin ultimately resigned in protest.
Brought to you by GovExec.com
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GovExec.com coverage of EPA ombudsman hearing
news article
Bill would make EPA ombudsman independent
Daily Briefing
January 14, 2003
By John Stanton
CongressDaily
The EPA's ombudsman would get expanded power to conduct independent reviews of federal cleanup decisions in the Superfund program under legislation outlined today by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
The bill—whose sponsors include Florida GOP Reps. Jeff Miller and Michael Bilirakis, and Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.—would formally authorize the Office of Ombudsman and separate its funding and staffing decisions from EPA, making it an independent entity operating within the agency. Bilirakis and Crapo sponsored similar legislation during the 107th Congress. The Senate passed its bill, but the House measure failed.
The measure is aimed at responding to citizen groups that complain about EPA officials frustrating ombudsman investigations of agency decisions. Those complaints have dogged Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Crapo has been a longtime proponent of boosting the ombudsman's authority because of continued community complaints about the federal cleanup at the Bunkerhill Superfund site in Idaho.
Nadler, meanwhile, became involved in the spat in response to EPA's handling of the cleanup of contaminated waste created by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. The World Trade Center cleanup became a political nightmare for EPA, which initially brushed aside community concerns that airborne dust contained asbestos. At Nadler's request, the ombudsman intervened. The agency subsequently reversed its stance and offered assistance to residents near the trade center site.
Both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations have viewed the ombudsman as a thorn in their side, with EPA officials complaining privately that whistleblowers and communities manipulate the office to embarrass the agency.
EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman in 2001 moved the ombudsman out of the Superfund office and into the agency's Office of Inspector General, claiming the move would free up investigators to conduct impartial inquiries. But then-Ombudsman Bob Martin, as well as his congressional allies, balked at the reorganization, charging Whitman was using the move to silence critics. Martin ultimately resigned in protest.
Brought to you by GovExec.com
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Mon Jan 27 21:45:01 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 27 Jan 2003 21:45:01 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectUSDA's Linda Lewis returns to work
Message-ID: <20030127214501.42674.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
USDA's Linda Lewis returns to work
Martin Edwin Andersen
USDA whistleblower on terrorist risk
against U.S. food supply returned to job
For Immediate Release For further information, please contact:
Tom Devine or Martin Edwin Andersen
(202) 408-0034, or
Don Soeken (301) 776-2223
A U.S. Department of Agriculture emergency planning specialist who blew the whistle on the USDA's failure to protect Americans from terrorist attack on our nation’s food supply returned to work today, January 27. Linda Lewis was placed on home leave for two years and lost her security clearance in reprisal for her disclosures about vulnerabilities of the U.S. food supply in the advent of a terrorist strike. “I have not been given an official explanation for the sudden decision to request my return to work,” Lewis declared. “I am happy to know that the proposal to remove me has been withdrawn after two years. However, I cannot be certain they will not try again to remove me.” Whistleblower advocates say they will be carefully monitoring Lewis’ work conditions, including her job assignments, to ensure that the return to work order will not serve as a pretext for her eventual back-door dismissal.
“The jury is out whether USDA will let this public servant start defending the taxpayers again,” said Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington, D.C. based whistleblower support organization. GAP recently voted to join Lewis' counsel team headed by attorney David Nolan. Added Devine: "Under the circumstances I think we should be cautiously optimistic but also wary—because the jury's out whether USDA is going to stop wasting one of nation's premier emergency planning experts and let her help defend safety of nation's food supply, or whether this is just the latest tactic in over three years of Kafkaesque harassment.”
“Linda's return is fraught with danger since the Department of Agriculture ignored their own physician's evaluation and forced Linda to take a psychiatric fitness for duty exam from a ‘hired gun’ psychologist, added Don Soeken, president of Integrity International, another public interest group. “Linda is one of a few federal employees trained as an emergency management specialist. During these times of national emergency it is a monumental blunder for the Department of Agriculture to ignore her warnings about the food supply related to attacks on nuclear facilities.”
Lewis’s new job will be working as one of a team of four in a new USDA office of scientific and technical support in the Office of External Relations and Emergency Planning. However, the activities and structure of the new office reportedly are "still being worked out” and both Lewis’s new supervisor and her new timekeeper work in a building different from hers. Lewis said that even before returning to her new job, she learned that several of the people who had abused her in the past were working nearby or even in her new office. Her treatment by these individuals, Lewis recalled, which ranged from extreme verbal abuse and being forced, without cause, to seek psychiatric evaluation, “left me feeling frustrated, depressed, humiliated and victimized.”
The decision to put Lewis back to work represented an about-face by USDA senior management. On Wednesday, June 19, USDA held secret hearing for Lewis where she was required to defend herself from unspecified charges. Although no classified information was involved, USDA would not allow observers and would not allow Lewis to present or cross-examine witnesses, nor was she allowed to appear before the judges who made a decision on her top secret security clearance. A single USDA official decided how much of her defense was allowed into the official record for review by the unidentified judges. Lewis was also required to be present her defense in writing before she learned of the details of the charges against her.
“Now, I'm about to go walk back into that place, with no more protection that I had the first time,” Lewis said. “If anything, USDA officials will be more hostile as a result of my public activism over the last three years. But, I know I must go back, to send the message that leaving Americans vulnerable to harm and attacking their protectors is not acceptable, and will not be easy. I must go back, because there is a tiny chance that I might be able to make a difference, as I hoped to do when I became a federal employee.”
--30--
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USDA's Linda Lewis returns to work
Martin Edwin Andersen
USDA whistleblower on terrorist risk
against U.S. food supply returned to job
For Immediate Release For further information, please contact:
Tom Devine or Martin Edwin Andersen
(202) 408-0034, or
Don Soeken (301) 776-2223
A U.S. Department of Agriculture emergency planning specialist who blew the whistle on the USDA's failure to protect Americans from terrorist attack on our nation’s food supply returned to work today, January 27. Linda Lewis was placed on home leave for two years and lost her security clearance in reprisal for her disclosures about vulnerabilities of the U.S. food supply in the advent of a terrorist strike. “I have not been given an official explanation for the sudden decision to request my return to work,” Lewis declared. “I am happy to know that the proposal to remove me has been withdrawn after two years. However, I cannot be certain they will not try again to remove me.” Whistleblower advocates say they will be carefully monitoring Lewis’ work conditions, including her job assignments, to ensure that the return to work order will not serve as a pretext for her eventual back-door dismissal.
“The jury is out whether USDA will let this public servant start defending the taxpayers again,” said Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington, D.C. based whistleblower support organization. GAP recently voted to join Lewis' counsel team headed by attorney David Nolan. Added Devine: "Under the circumstances I think we should be cautiously optimistic but also wary—because the jury's out whether USDA is going to stop wasting one of nation's premier emergency planning experts and let her help defend safety of nation's food supply, or whether this is just the latest tactic in over three years of Kafkaesque harassment.”
“Linda's return is fraught with danger since the Department of Agriculture ignored their own physician's evaluation and forced Linda to take a psychiatric fitness for duty exam from a ‘hired gun’ psychologist, added Don Soeken, president of Integrity International, another public interest group. “Linda is one of a few federal employees trained as an emergency management specialist. During these times of national emergency it is a monumental blunder for the Department of Agriculture to ignore her warnings about the food supply related to attacks on nuclear facilities.”
Lewis’s new job will be working as one of a team of four in a new USDA office of scientific and technical support in the Office of External Relations and Emergency Planning. However, the activities and structure of the new office reportedly are "still being worked out” and both Lewis’s new supervisor and her new timekeeper work in a building different from hers. Lewis said that even before returning to her new job, she learned that several of the people who had abused her in the past were working nearby or even in her new office. Her treatment by these individuals, Lewis recalled, which ranged from extreme verbal abuse and being forced, without cause, to seek psychiatric evaluation, “left me feeling frustrated, depressed, humiliated and victimized.”
The decision to put Lewis back to work represented an about-face by USDA senior management. On Wednesday, June 19, USDA held secret hearing for Lewis where she was required to defend herself from unspecified charges. Although no classified information was involved, USDA would not allow observers and would not allow Lewis to present or cross-examine witnesses, nor was she allowed to appear before the judges who made a decision on her top secret security clearance. A single USDA official decided how much of her defense was allowed into the official record for review by the unidentified judges. Lewis was also required to be present her defense in writing before she learned of the details of the charges against her.
“Now, I'm about to go walk back into that place, with no more protection that I had the first time,” Lewis said. “If anything, USDA officials will be more hostile as a result of my public activism over the last three years. But, I know I must go back, to send the message that leaving Americans vulnerable to harm and attacking their protectors is not acceptable, and will not be easy. I must go back, because there is a tiny chance that I might be able to make a difference, as I hoped to do when I became a federal employee.”
--30--
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Tue Jan 28 18:00:02 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 28 Jan 2003 18:00:02 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectLabor Dept. Shifts Whistle-Blower View
Message-ID: <20030128180002.3134.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
Labor Dept. Shifts Whistle-Blower View
The Labor Department has changed its interpretation of a new corporate whistle-blower law, a move that will afford workers who report wrongdoing to Congress greater protection against retaliation, two senators said yesterday.
The Washington Post
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 28, 2003; Page A19
In a letter Friday to Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Acting Solicitor Howard M. Radzely reversed the department's contention that only whistle-blower contacts with a "duly authorized" investigative committee of Congress were protected, not those with just any lawmaker. That initial department reading of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a corporate accountability law enacted last summer, conflicted with what the two senators said they intended when they wrote the whistle-blower protections into the bill.
Read the article at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51975-2003Jan27.html
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From gap-general-list@whistleblower.org Tue Jan 28 20:30:01 2003
From: gap-general-list@whistleblower.org (gap-general-list@whistleblower.org)
Date: 28 Jan 2003 20:30:01 -0000
Subject: Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectImportant Press Event on Nuclear Safety and Whistleblower Rights
Message-ID: <20030128203001.26724.qmail@waitak.pair.com>
Important Press Event on Nuclear Safety and Whistleblower Rights
Martin Edwin Andersen
Press conference at Lawrence Livermore laboratory will address important new developments in the case of security police whistleblowers fired after revealing lab's vulnerabilities to terrorism
WHAT: Press Conference on Nuclear Security Whistleblowers and Public Safety at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
WHEN: Friday, January 31, 2003, 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Visitor's Center Auditorium, 7000 East Avenue in Livermore, CA. (See: http://www.llnl.gov/ for directions).
WHO: Security Officials from the Lawrence Livermore lab and their counsel from the Government Accountability Project, a national non-profit organization
CONTACT: Tom Carpenter, Government Accountability Project, (206) 292-2850; or (206) 419-5829 (cell); e-mail: tomc@whistleblower.org
BACKGROUND:
The Government Accountability Project is holding a press conference at Lawrence Livermore Lab in Livermore, California, to discuss the recent developments in the case of security police officer whistleblowers, two of whom were fired after revealing serious, systemic security deficiencies at the government-owned nuclear weapons laboratory.
Lawrence Livermore stores 880-pounds of plutonium and thousands of pounds of other radioactive materials and hazardous substances whose release to the environment through an act of terror or sabotage would jeopardize the health and safety of the 8 million people who live within 50 miles of the Lab.
--30--
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Important Press Event on Nuclear Safety and Whistleblower Rights
Martin Edwin Andersen
Press conference at Lawrence Livermore laboratory will address important new developments in the case of security police whistleblowers fired after revealing lab's vulnerabilities to terrorism
WHAT: Press Conference on Nuclear Security Whistleblowers and Public Safety at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
WHEN: Friday, January 31, 2003, 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Visitor's Center Auditorium, 7000 East Avenue in Livermore, CA. (See: http://www.llnl.gov/ for directions).
WHO: Security Officials from the Lawrence Livermore lab and their counsel from the Government Accountability Project, a national non-profit organization
CONTACT: Tom Carpenter, Government Accountability Project, (206) 292-2850; or (206) 419-5829 (cell); e-mail: tomc@whistleblower.org
BACKGROUND:
The Government Accountability Project is holding a press conference at Lawrence Livermore Lab in Livermore, California, to discuss the recent developments in the case of security police officer whistleblowers, two of whom were fired after revealing serious, systemic security deficiencies at the government-owned nuclear weapons laboratory.
Lawrence Livermore stores 880-pounds of plutonium and thousands of pounds of other radioactive materials and hazardous substances whose release to the environment through an act of terror or sabotage would jeopardize the health and safety of the 8 million people who live within 50 miles of the Lab.
--30--
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