EPA Imposes Gag Rule on its Employees

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BushGreenwatch

 

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Read the Memo

Read the gag order from an EPA administrator.

 

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September 27, 2004 | Back Issues

 

EPA Imposes Gag Rule on its Employees

 

The Bush administration is noted for its strict control of " leaks " to

the press and its discipline regarding perceived acts of dissent.

 

Now, President Bush's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has

ordered its staff to " refrain from answering " questions from the news

media, according to an agency memo obtained by Public Employees for

Environmental Responsibility (PEER). [1]

 

The gag order was issued by Bharat Marthur, the top EPA official for

the Midwestern region. In a memo to all regional staff, Marthur

forbids EPA staff from initiating contact with the press or responding

to any press queries. Even EPA's designated spokespeople must now

" report their conversations " with reporters to the Office of Public

Affairs.

 

Likewise, EPA staff in the Rocky Mountain region have been ordered not

to answer any " potentially political inquiry " from the media.

 

The ban seems to violate not only a longstanding EPA practice of

allowing its experts to talk with reporters about matters within their

areas of expertise. It also appears to violate Congressionally-enacted

bans on agencies trying to impose any " nondisclosure policy, form, or

agreement " on their employees without informing employees of their

rights under the Whistleblower Protection Act.

 

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SOURCES:

[1] PEER press release, Sept. 22, 2004.