Lip Service: Polluted Agency

ON June 10, 1998, an unprecedented public revolt broke out at the nation’s most powerful regulatory agency. In a letter to the Washington Times, more than a dozen career employees of the Environmental Protection Agency decried “egregious misconduct” at the agency, explaining that the situation had become “so reprehensible that we submit this letter, risking our careers rather than choosing to remain silent.”

According to the signatories, EPA employees “are harassed, even fired, for protesting illegal or irresponsible behavior by managers who jeopardize the proper enforcement of the law.” At the EPA, “retaliation against whistleblowers occurs at every management level. At times, it involves the highest levels of administration—including the offices of regional administrators and the office of Administrator Carol Browner.”

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Bonner R. Cohen

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ON June 10, 1998, an unprecedented public revolt broke out at the nation’s most powerful regulatory agency. In a letter to the Washington Times, more than a dozen career employees of the Environmental Protection Agency decried “egregious misconduct” at the agency, explaining that the situation had become “so reprehensible that we submit this letter, risking our careers rather than choosing to remain silent.”

According to the signatories, EPA employees “are harassed, even fired, for protesting illegal or irresponsible behavior by managers who jeopardize the proper enforcement of the law.” At the EPA, “retaliation against whistleblowers occurs at every management level. At times, it involves the highest levels of administration—including the offices of regional administrators and the office of Administrator Carol Browner.”