Whistleblowing Florida Biologist Could Still Lose His Job Despite Favorable Court Ruling

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> Thu, 09 Sep 2004 13:11:39 GMT

> " BushGreenwatch " <info

 

> Whistleblowing Florida Biologist Could

> Still Lose His Job Despite Favorable Court Ruling

>

> ***************************************

> BUSHGREENWATCH

> Tracking the Bush Administration's Environmental

> Misdeeds

> http://www.bushgreenwatch.org

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>

> September 9, 2004

>

> WHISTLEBLOWING FLORIDA BIOLOGIST COULD STILL LOSE

> HIS JOB

> DESPITE FAVORABLE COURT RULING

>

> Biologist Andrew Eller is still facing dismissal

> from his job at

> the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, even though a

> federal judge

> has upheld his scientific findings on protecting the

> endangered

> Florida panther. [1]

>

> Late last month U.S. District Judge James Robertson

> threw out a

> permit for a rock mining operation near Fort Myers,

> Florida,

> ruling in favor of a coalition comprised of the

> National

> Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation and

> Florida

> Panther Society, which filed the case against the

> Fish and

> Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers.

>

> Judge Robertson found that the Service had erred in

> its finding

> that the mine was no risk to the Florida panther,

> saying the

> agency should have considered the cumulative impact

> of varied

> developments in panther habitat, rather than the

> mine as an

> isolated project.

>

> " The environmental groups who challenged this permit

> had to show

> that the agency action was 'arbitrary and

> capricious' -- one of

> the heaviest burdens in jurisprudence, " said Jeff

> Ruch,

> executive director of Public Employees for

> Environmental

> Responsibility (PEER), which has been assisting

> Eller legally.

>

> When Eller, a 17-year veteran of the Service, and

> fellow

> biologists were ordered to give the mine a pass --

> along with

> several other projects sited in vital panther

> habitat -- Eller

> publicly charged the Fish and Wildlife Service with

> knowingly

> using bad science on panther demographics, habits

> and habitat

> needs to support policy decisions.

>

> Eller filed formal charges in May. In July, he

> received a letter

> from his supervisor notifying him that his

> employment with the

> Service might be terminated for unacceptable

> performance. [3]

>

> While Eller continues to work, and has filed a

> 53-page response

> to the termination notice, " we anticipate that he'll

> be fired, "

> Jeff Ruch told BushGreenwatch. " We think the

> decisions [to fire

> Eller] are being made by political appointees in

> Interior, not

> the Fish and Wildlife Service. "

>

> Ruch says that other Fish and Wildlife Service

> biologists, after

> being forced to sign off on development projects

> harmful to the

> Florida panther, have largely transferred out of the

> agency.

> " Some of the saddest people I've met are employees

> of the Fish

> and Wildlife Service. They feel like they're

> Sisyphus, pushing

> the boulder up the mountain. "

>

> " There are only 78 Florida panthers left in

> existence, 19 of

> them females of breeding age, " Ruch tells

> BushGreenwatch, " and

> they're sitting foursquare in the middle of

> Florida's

> development boom.

>

> " The Bush administration has indicated it doesn't

> want to do

> anything to get in the way of development in

> southwest Florida, "

> adds Ruch, " and the endangered Florida panther is

> not likely to

> survive it. "

>

> ###

>

> TAKE ACTION

> Go to PEER's website for action alerts and campaigns

> on the

> integrity of science and the Florida panther:

> http://ga3.org/ct/F7zkGk91EQJO/.

>

> ###

>

> SOURCES:

> [1] PEER press release, Aug. 24, 2004,

> http://ga3.org/ct/FpzkGk91EQJW/.

> [2] " Judge refuses mining permit near Fort Myers;

> ruling seeks

> to protect wildlife habitat, " Florida Sentinel, Aug.

> 21, 2004.

> [3] BushGreenwatch, Aug. 5, 2004,

> http://ga3.org/ct/FdzkGk91EQJ6/.

>

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