Bush Administration Says Whistle-Blower Protection Laws Don’t Apply to The

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/09/17/bush-administration-says-whistle-blower-protection-laws-don%e2%80%99t-apply-to-them/

Legislation & Politics

Sep 17

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Bush Administration Says Whistle-Blower Protection Laws Don’t Apply to Them

The Bush administration has declared itself exempt from nearly two decades of federal legal precedent that protects whistle-blowers under the Clean Water Act. Now, federal employees who complain about unhealthful conditions at the workplace, environmental problems, public safety hazards and other situations, could face retaliation.

According to legal documents released by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Secretary of Labor’s Administrative Review Board last month used an unpublished opinion issued by a Justice Department office to take away the rights of federal workers to pursue whistle-blower claims under the Clean Water Act. PEER obtained a copy of the opinion under the Freedom of Information Act.

The opinion invoked the ancient doctrine of sovereign immunity, which is based on the old English legal maxim that “The King Can Do No Wrong.” It is an absolute defense to any legal action unless the sovereign, or in this case, the federal government agrees to be sued.

As if that were not bad enough, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken the even more extreme position that absolutely no laws protect its employees from reprisal.

Some 170,000 employees working in federal environmental agencies will be affected by the loss of whistle-blower rights. (See the AFL-CIO BushWatch for a rundown of Bush attacks on workers’ rights since 2001.)

Says PEER General Counsel Richard Condit:

The Bush administration is engineering the stealth repeal of whistleblower protections. The use of an unpublished opinion to change official interpretations is a giant step backward to the days of the secret Star Chamber.

PEER Senior Counsel Paula Dinerstein adds:

It is astonishing for the Bush administration to now suddenly claim that it is above the law. Congress could end this debate by simply declaring that it intends that the whistleblower protections of these anti-pollution laws apply to the federal government.

The Labor Department ruling comes just weeks after Cate Jenkins, a senior scientist at the EPA, accused the agency of relying on misleading data about the health hazards of World Trade Center dust. Five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, thousands of rescue and recovery workers have developed serious respiratory illnesses, even though then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman assured the public the site was safe.

The New York Daily News reports the Bush administration gave Whitman the right to bury embarrassing EPA documents about the chemicals and other hazards by classifying them as secret.

A study by doctors at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City finds nearly 70 percent of firefighters, police officers, emergency medical crews, construction workers, utility workers and volunteers have suffered lung and other health problems.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), whose district includes Lower Manhattan, says he intends to look into Jenkins’ claims:

When a scientist who works for the EPA makes serious allegations about the aftermath of 9/11, they must be examined carefully.



by James Parks | Other posts by James Parks | Digg this |

tags: whistle-blower, Ground Zero, first responders, Sept. 11, Environmental Protection Agency, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Clean Water Act, Jerrold Nadler

[bluerum]

1. What a bunch of goose stepping bureaucrats! nt

[Kagemusha]

2. If I hadn't read the atrocious legal reasoning myself...

I would've thought there must be some exaggeration or mistake here.

No, they really did claim sovereign immunity, a concept that's been dead in the United States for an uh, long time.

[iamjoy]

3. Sovereign Immunity Didn't Work For Clinton

it shouldn't work for Dubya.

It seems this adnministration wants to go backwards.

[Kagemusha]

9. Pre-American Revolution you mean?

If sovereign immunity was absolute, why revolt in the first place?

[iamjoy]

11. Pre Magna Carta

more like

[w4rma]

4. He does anything and everything to protect corruption and lawbreaking.(nt)

[napi21]

5. So file an appeal with the SCOTUS. Just because some

kissass in the Labor Dept. says a former law doesn't apply doesn't make it so!

I guess we really are getting to the last 1/4 of Shrub's rule, and the last things on their agenda are rapidly surfacing. We need to catch them all, and fight against them.

[sarcasmo]

6. Do any Laws apply to this Bunch?

[jimshoes]

7. Only the ones

they like. The rest, no.

[OwnedByFerrets]

8. Dictators make laws, they dont obey them

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[MasonJar]

10. The Secretary of Labor! Isn't that the goose-stepping Elaine, wife

of my illustrious (NOT) senator, Mitch (never have campaign finance reform) McConnell?