Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability Project<i>Commentary: Let's Hear It All</i>
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9 Jun 2003 18:45:00 -0000
<h1><i>Commentary: Let's Hear It All</i></h1><br><br><b>Tom Devine and Martin Edwin Andersen</b><br><br><i><i>Commentary posted June 9 on <b>Insight on the News</b> website (http://www.insightmag.com/news/438632.html):</i><br><br>
<b>Attempts to silence Yucca Mountain whistleblowers points to crying need to protect Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees who "dare to commit the truth."</b></i><br><br><br><br><p>
WASHINGTON, D.C.--To those concerned with whistle-blower rights, the outrage expressed by Nevada's senators following an alleged attempt by the Department of Energy (DOE) to silence and intimidate two witnesses scheduled to appear at a congressional hearing concerning the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste dump is all too familiar.<p>
Republican Sen. John Ensign declared at a hearing held May 28 in Las Vegas: "It is disturbing that responsible workers who uncover problems with Yucca Mountain procedures are being retaliated against by the Department of Energy and its contractors. Their attempts to silence critics of the project have amplified our concerns about their commitment to quality assurances at Yucca Mountain." Democratic Sen. Harry Reid fumed: "It is a disappointment to me and a disservice to the American public that workers within the Yucca Mountain Project have been silenced" by DOE. "Make no mistake, we will ultimately hear their stories and what they know will be made public."<p>
Maybe.<p>
It is clear that the whistle-blowers ought to be heard. Their voices might have added even greater credibility to the parade of expert witnesses at the hearing who testified about rampant mismanagement, politicized "scientific" reports and serious defects in the quality-assurance program that is supposed to govern DOE's plans for entombing 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in the unexpectedly leaky mountain.<p>
The whistle-blowers' voices were needed to allay concern that DOE fails to act responsibly. The lead auditor for a Yucca Mountain program contractor testified that for the last two years, despite allegations of corruption and other abuses of authority, the department's inspector general has yet to open an investigation. The mixture of questionable science by DOE's Yucca Mountain "amen corner" and alleged fabricated witness interviews on key quality-assurance programs has left experts scratching their heads about where the truth lies about water that could accumulate inside the facility, the rate at which it could accumulate and the risk of corrosion for hundreds of waste cannisters storing lethal waste.<p>
Yet, instead of dealing with these problems, insiders say, DOE has been paying what Reid himself called "millions of dollars in hush money" so that the public - particularly Yucca Mountain's Nevada neighbors - doesn't know what's threatening them. Naturally, DOE doesn't see it that way.<p>
The Yucca Mountain experience serves as a microcosm of how DOE deals with whistle-blowers, say critics, in that those who can't be bought by the department end up being bullied by it. Absent congressional champions and the bright glare of unfavorable publicity, most whistle-blowers find that they are treated like criminals. The intimidation tends to be successful because the consequences - including security-clearance revocation, job loss and blacklisting - can be severe. Even bipartisan senatorial huffing and puffing doesn't necessarily forestall reprisal. Witness DOE's willingness to turn a deaf ear to Reid - the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate - and Ensign, who belongs to the same party as President George W. Bush.<p>
There is a possible solution, however, and it is something Reid and Ensign very plausibly could do. The Energy Reorganization Act (ERA) remains the only Department of Labor environmental statute that excludes government whistle-blowers from being harassed for challenging violations of laws and regulations. Those affected by this free-speech orphanhood are primarily Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and DOE whistle-blowers.<p>
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the need to protect government employees blowing the whistle on national-security violations appears to critics to be increasing dramatically, as does the number of modern-day "Paul Revere" whistle-blowers challenging bureaucratic negligence over vulnerabilities to terrorist attack. Not surprisingly, claims of reprisals against whistle-blowers also are on the rise.<p>
A recent report by the NRC inspector general's office reveals that fear of reprisal is undercutting the commission staff's public-service goals, with only 53 percent saying they are satisfied that their agency adequately is serving public-interest goals.<p>
If Congress really is serious about protecting Yucca Mountain and other DOE whistle-blowers, say Capitol Hill staff, there is an easy way to fix the problem. An energy bill now is before the Senate, with action on it expected in the next few weeks. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) included precisely the kind of legislative "fix" critics say the current law needs so that the free-speech rights of DOE whistle-blowers may effectively be protected.<p>
Yet, in the Senate, there have been no takers to date for the Tauzin amendment. History is replete with examples of great ideas being adopted by one house of Congress, only to die without an appropriate echo in the other.<p>
DOE has served Nevada's senators with what advocates call a tailor-made example of a whistle-blower reprisal that begs the question about whether such protections ought to be extended to NRC and DOE employees. Nothing can be quite as compelling an argument on Capitol Hill as a recent horror story about how the Washington bureaucracy tramples on a constituent's rights. That same bureaucracy has given Reid and Ensign a chance for leadership.<p>
For those concerned with problems at Yucca Mountain, an appropriate redress for their worries might come by empowering those with the expertise and experience to address environmental worries with genuine and enforceable rights <br><p>
<i><b>Tom Devine is legal counsel for the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington-based whistle-blower protection organization. Martin Edwin Andersen, an Insight contributing writer, in 2001 won the federal service's highest award as a national security whistle-blower.</i></b>
<br><br>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.<br><br>If you are recieving these emails from <a href=mailto:gap-general-list-request@whistleblower.org>gap-general-list@whistleblower.org</a><br><br>If you are recieving these emails from <a href=mailto:gap-media-request@whistleblower.org>gap-media-list@whistleblower.org</a><br><h1><i>Commentary: Let's Hear It All</i></h1><br><br><b>Tom Devine and Martin Edwin Andersen</b><br><br><i><i>Commentary posted June 9 on <b>Insight on the News</b> website (http://www.insightmag.com/news/438632.html):</i><br><br>
<b>Attempts to silence Yucca Mountain whistleblowers points to crying need to protect Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees who "dare to commit the truth."</b></i><br><br><br><br><p>
WASHINGTON, D.C.--To those concerned with whistle-blower rights, the outrage expressed by Nevada's senators following an alleged attempt by the Department of Energy (DOE) to silence and intimidate two witnesses scheduled to appear at a congressional hearing concerning the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste dump is all too familiar.<p>
Republican Sen. John Ensign declared at a hearing held May 28 in Las Vegas: "It is disturbing that responsible workers who uncover problems with Yucca Mountain procedures are being retaliated against by the Department of Energy and its contractors. Their attempts to silence critics of the project have amplified our concerns about their commitment to quality assurances at Yucca Mountain." Democratic Sen. Harry Reid fumed: "It is a disappointment to me and a disservice to the American public that workers within the Yucca Mountain Project have been silenced" by DOE. "Make no mistake, we will ultimately hear their stories and what they know will be made public."<p>
Maybe.<p>
It is clear that the whistle-blowers ought to be heard. Their voices might have added even greater credibility to the parade of expert witnesses at the hearing who testified about rampant mismanagement, politicized "scientific" reports and serious defects in the quality-assurance program that is supposed to govern DOE's plans for entombing 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in the unexpectedly leaky mountain.<p>
The whistle-blowers' voices were needed to allay concern that DOE fails to act responsibly. The lead auditor for a Yucca Mountain program contractor testified that for the last two years, despite allegations of corruption and other abuses of authority, the department's inspector general has yet to open an investigation. The mixture of questionable science by DOE's Yucca Mountain "amen corner" and alleged fabricated witness interviews on key quality-assurance programs has left experts scratching their heads about where the truth lies about water that could accumulate inside the facility, the rate at which it could accumulate and the risk of corrosion for hundreds of waste cannisters storing lethal waste.<p>
Yet, instead of dealing with these problems, insiders say, DOE has been paying what Reid himself called "millions of dollars in hush money" so that the public - particularly Yucca Mountain's Nevada neighbors - doesn't know what's threatening them. Naturally, DOE doesn't see it that way.<p>
The Yucca Mountain experience serves as a microcosm of how DOE deals with whistle-blowers, say critics, in that those who can't be bought by the department end up being bullied by it. Absent congressional champions and the bright glare of unfavorable publicity, most whistle-blowers find that they are treated like criminals. The intimidation tends to be successful because the consequences - including security-clearance revocation, job loss and blacklisting - can be severe. Even bipartisan senatorial huffing and puffing doesn't necessarily forestall reprisal. Witness DOE's willingness to turn a deaf ear to Reid - the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate - and Ensign, who belongs to the same party as President George W. Bush.<p>
There is a possible solution, however, and it is something Reid and Ensign very plausibly could do. The Energy Reorganization Act (ERA) remains the only Department of Labor environmental statute that excludes government whistle-blowers from being harassed for challenging violations of laws and regulations. Those affected by this free-speech orphanhood are primarily Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and DOE whistle-blowers.<p>
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the need to protect government employees blowing the whistle on national-security violations appears to critics to be increasing dramatically, as does the number of modern-day "Paul Revere" whistle-blowers challenging bureaucratic negligence over vulnerabilities to terrorist attack. Not surprisingly, claims of reprisals against whistle-blowers also are on the rise.<p>
A recent report by the NRC inspector general's office reveals that fear of reprisal is undercutting the commission staff's public-service goals, with only 53 percent saying they are satisfied that their agency adequately is serving public-interest goals.<p>
If Congress really is serious about protecting Yucca Mountain and other DOE whistle-blowers, say Capitol Hill staff, there is an easy way to fix the problem. An energy bill now is before the Senate, with action on it expected in the next few weeks. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) included precisely the kind of legislative "fix" critics say the current law needs so that the free-speech rights of DOE whistle-blowers may effectively be protected.<p>
Yet, in the Senate, there have been no takers to date for the Tauzin amendment. History is replete with examples of great ideas being adopted by one house of Congress, only to die without an appropriate echo in the other.<p>
DOE has served Nevada's senators with what advocates call a tailor-made example of a whistle-blower reprisal that begs the question about whether such protections ought to be extended to NRC and DOE employees. Nothing can be quite as compelling an argument on Capitol Hill as a recent horror story about how the Washington bureaucracy tramples on a constituent's rights. That same bureaucracy has given Reid and Ensign a chance for leadership.<p>
For those concerned with problems at Yucca Mountain, an appropriate redress for their worries might come by empowering those with the expertise and experience to address environmental worries with genuine and enforceable rights <br><p>
<i><b>Tom Devine is legal counsel for the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington-based whistle-blower protection organization. Martin Edwin Andersen, an Insight contributing writer, in 2001 won the federal service's highest award as a national security whistle-blower.</i></b>
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