EPA, Interior Continue to Tighten Public Information

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Fri, 15 Oct 2004 13:16:12 GMT

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EPA, Interior Continue to Tighten Public Information

 

 

 

Bush Greenwatch

 

October 15, 2004 | Back Issues

 

EPA, Interior Continue to Tighten Public Information

 

Last week, when the House Committee on Government Reform approved new

whistle-blower protection legislation, the Bush administration quickly

objected, saying such protections would open the door to gratuitous

complaints against its officials.

 

But the House committee held fast, citing more than a dozen situations

like that of Teresa Chambers as evidence that too many federal

employees are being muzzled. Chambers was ousted from her post as

chief of the U.S. Park Police after she told the press that her agency

didn't have adequate funding or personnel to keep parks and monuments

in Washington, D.C., safe.

 

In the past four years, the Department of Interior and the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have both been widely criticized

by insiders and the media for preventing their employees from talking

to the press.

 

The latest developments -- coming just weeks before Election Day --

find the EPA muzzling agency staffers in both the Midwest and Rocky

Mountain regions, directing them to refer all media requests to senior

public relations officials.

 

In early September, Bharat Mathur, head of EPA Region 5 (which

includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin

-- more than a few key swing states), sent a memo to all regional

staff entitled " Working With the Press. " " I want to ensure that the

Region puts its best face forward [and] that we speak with a

consistent voice, " wrote Mathur. He ordered employees to " refrain from

answering [press] inquiries directly, " explaining that this " will

prevent EPA management from being surprised by news coverage. "

 

As it so happens, EPA top brass had been unpleasantly " surprised " a

few weeks earlier, when the press got wind of EPA scientist Peter

Howe's objections to a plan for a new $2.1 billion coal-fired power

plant in Wisconsin and his call for the EPA to intervene. Howe was

reprimanded and suspended for two weeks for allowing his opinions to

get out into the public sphere.

 

Soon thereafter, Washington trade publication Inside EPA got ahold of

an email from an official in EPA Region 8, which encompasses a number

of Rocky Mountain states, issuing a similar directive. " ince it is

two months before election day there are likely to be plenty more

[press inquiries on environmental matters], " wrote the official.

" [H]ere is how to handle inquiries for information that seem partisan:

'NO COMMENT.' Refer the caller to [press representatives].

Inside EPA reported that the Region 8 edict was directly connected to

the Senate race in Colorado between Democrat Ken Salazar and

Republican Peter Coors -- a tight contest featuring controversial

figures with strong and opposing views on the environment. The Region

8 email also warned employees to steer clear of commenting on the

" Lowry landfill, " a Superfund site with groundwater contamination that

has been held up as a bad example by those who accuse the Bush

administration of dropping the ball on toxic-site cleanups.

Former EPA employee Sylvia Lowrance, who worked at the agency for more

than two decades, called the EPA media policy unprecedented. Even more

peculiar, she said, is the timing. " These are the sorts of protocol

memos that are supposed to be released at the beginning of an

administration, not at the tail end of the term. "

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This story was jointly produced by BushGreenwatch and Grist Magazine.

For more on this story, visit Grist Magazine.

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