Sludge Watch ==> Bush Declares Eco-Whistleblower Law Void for EPA Employees

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:




"At the same time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
taking a more extreme position that absolutely no environmental laws
protect its employees from reprisal. EPA's stance would place the
provisions of all major federal environmental laws, such as the Clean
Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, beyond the reach of federal
employees seeking legal protection for good faith efforts to enforce
or implement the anti-pollution provisions contained within those
laws."


Hmmmm....I wonder if this is why the EPA isn't responding to complaints?
Bless this Planet....and all who love and protect her.

(Thanks for sending this, Helane)
......................................................
http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_41616.shtml

Bush Declares Eco-Whistleblower Law Void for EPA Employees
Stealth Repeal of Clean Water Act Protections by Invoking "Sovereign 
Immunity"

By: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Published: Sep 4, 2006 at 08:40

The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower
protections for federal workers under the Clean Water Act, according
to legal documents released today by Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result of an opinion issued
by a unit within the Office of the Attorney General, federal workers
will have little protection from official retaliation for reporting
water pollution enforcement breakdowns, manipulations of science or
cleanup failures.

Citing an "unpublished opinion of the [Attorney General's] Office of
Legal Counsel," the Secretary of Labor's Administrative Review Board
has ruled federal employees may no longer pursue whistleblower claims
under the Clean Water Act. The opinion invoked the ancient doctrine
of sovereign immunity which is based on the old English legal maxim
that "The King Can Do No Wrong." It is an absolute defense to any
legal action unless the "sovereign" consents to be sued.

The opinion and the ruling reverse nearly two decades of precedent.
Approximately 170,000 federal employees working within environmental
agencies are affected by the loss of whistleblower rights.

"The Bush administration is engineering the stealth repeal of
whistleblower protections," stated PEER General Counsel Richard
Condit, who had won several of the earlier cases applying
environmental whistleblower protections to federal specialists. "The
use of an unpublished opinion to change official interpretations is a
giant step backward to the days of the secret Star Chamber." PEER
ultimately obtained a copy of the opinion under the Freedom of
Information Act.

At the same time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
taking a more extreme position that absolutely no environmental laws
protect its employees from reprisal. EPA's stance would place the
provisions of all major federal environmental laws, such as the Clean
Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, beyond the reach of federal
employees seeking legal protection for good faith efforts to enforce
or implement the anti-pollution provisions contained within those
laws.

These actions arose in the case of Sharyn Erickson, an EPA employee
who had reported problems with agency contracts for toxic clean-ups.
After conducting a hearing, an administrative law judge called EPA's
conduct "reprehensible" and awarded Erickson $225,000 in punitive
damages but the Labor Secretary overturned that ruling.

"It is astonishing for the Bush administration to now suddenly claim
that it is above the law," said PEER Senior Counsel Paula Dinerstein,
who is handling Erickson's appeal of the Labor Secretary's ruling to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit based in Atlanta.
"Congress could end this debate by simply declaring that it intends
that the whistleblower protections of these anti-pollution laws apply
to the federal government."

Congress is now debating Clean Water Act clarifications in the wake
of a confusing U.S. Supreme Court decision (Rapanos et ux., et al. v.
United States) handed down this June that muddies the extent of
federal jurisdiction over wetlands. Unless Congress also resolves the
Clean Water Act sovereign immunity question, scores of federal
employee whistleblower cases may be dismissed or languish in limbo
while the issue is litigated.

Read the unpublished opinion of the Attorney General's Office of Legal 
Counsel.

View the EPA's brief advocating sovereign immunity from all
environmental statutes.

Look at the PEER brief against the Bush sovereign immunity claim.

See how Labor Secretary Elaine Chao invited the reopening of the
sovereign immunity issue.