have big cup of silence....

[Guest guest]

http://www.ems.org/nws/2004/09/22/epa_issues_pre_e

Press Release

 

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September

22, 2004

Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337

 

 

EPA ISSUES PRE-ELECTION GAG ORDER TO STAFF

EPA Directs Employees to " Refrain From

Answering " Media Inquiries

 

Washington, DC The U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency has directed

to its staff to “refrain from answering”

inquiries from the news media

in order to “prevent EPA management from

being surprised by news

coverage,” according to an agency memo

released today by Public

Employees for Environmental Responsibility

(PEER).

 

Earlier this month, Bharat Mathur, the top

EPA official for the

six-state Mid-western region (covering the

states of Illinois,

Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and

Wisconsin), issued a memo to

the entire staff within the region entitled

" Working with the Press. "

The memo, however, orders EPA not to

communicate with, let alone work

with, the press. Instead, all inquiries from

reporters are to be

routed to the EPA Office of Public Affairs.

 

Mathur's memo forbids employees from

initiating any contact with a

reporter or from responding to inquiries made

by the members of the

press. Even EPA employees who are designated

public spokespersons on

particular matters must “report their

conversations” with reporters to

the Office of Public Affairs.

 

" The ultimate sin in the Bush Administration

is going off message,

especially when that discordant note is

authoritatively accurate, "

stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch,

whose organization is

challenging Bush Administration

non-disclosure policies for federal

workers. " This policy shows the EPA political

leadership's profound

fear of the expertise of its own professional

staff. "

 

This new EPA non-disclosure policy:

 

· Overrules previous practice of allowing

agency scientists or other

specialists to answer questions that fall

within their recognized

expertise;

 

· Appears to violate Congressionally-enacted

bans on agencies imposing

any “nondisclosure policy, form, or

agreements on its employees

without explicitly informing employees about

their rights to reveal

matters covered by statutes such as the

Whistleblower Protection Act;

and

 

· Seems designed to hide information by

directing reporters away from

experts and toward relatively uninformed

public affairs staff.

 

" This non-disclosure policy is so broad that

EPA employees cannot

reveal where the bathrooms are located or

what the time of day is to a

reporter, " added Ruch. " Significantly, under

this policy, EPA staff

can still talk to environmental groups or

members of the public; just

not reporters. "

 

Similarly, in EPA's Rocky Mountain region

(covering Colorado, Montana,

North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and

Wyoming), Inside EPA reports that

employees have been directed not to answer

any " potentially political

inquiry " from the media.