This protest was written by the Joel A. Mintz, Professor of Law of Nova Southeastern University, and was sent to colleagues across the nation. Eighty seven of his colleagues who have read it thus far have signed it. See letter of protest and the signatures below.
Professor Mintz also co-authored an article for the Seattle Times Intelligencer at this link:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/294795_epalibraries06.html If you have any questions, you may contact Professor Mintz here:
Joel A. Mintz
Professor of Law
Nova Southeastern University Law Center
and Member Scholar,
Center for Progressive Reform
954-262-6160.
********************************
December 13, 2006
Senator Harry Reid
Incoming Senate Majority Leader
528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Barbara Boxer
Incoming Chair
Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Representative Nancy Pelosi
Incoming Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Representative Henry A. Waxman
Incoming Chair
House Committee on Government Reform
2204 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Representative John D. Dingell
Incoming Chair
House Energy and Commerce Committee
2328 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Representative Bart Gordon
Incoming Chair
House Committee on Science
U.S. House of Representatives
2304 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Representative James L. Oberstar
Incoming Chair
House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure
U.S. House of Representatives
2365 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senators and Representatives:
As environmental law professors, we have an ongoing interest in
the effective implementation of our federal environmental laws. We are
thus writing to urge that you undertake a thorough and vigorous
investigation of the Administration's decision to close EPA libraries
around the United States.
We applaud recent Congressional efforts to have the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) investigate this ill-advised decision. We
hope you will follow up GAO's report with public hearings that spotlight
the significant difficulties this action is causing (and will continue
to cause) to both the public at large and EPA's own beleaguered and
underappreciated scientific staff.
As you are undoubtedly aware, on September 20th, EPA published a
Federal Register notice announcing that, as of October 1st, the main
library at the Agency's Washington, D.C. headquarters would be shuttered
to EPA's own staff, as well as to the general public, ostensibly for
budgetary reasons. EPA libraries are already closed down in a number of
the Agency's regional offices, as well as in its headquarters, and the
hours of a number of its other regional libraries have been
significantly curtailed. The vital technical documents that those
libraries contained are now being dispersed. In some cases, reportedly,
they are actually being destroyed.
When it made these steps public, the Administration stated that
EPA's staff and the public may now access the information they require
through EPA websites, rather than in hard copy. That contention is
substantially false. Although the federal government has made
significant strides in providing internet access to its documents, the
vast majority of the documents in the closed EPA libraries are not
digitized, and no funds have been allocated for that process to be
completed. The likelihood that critical documents will now be damaged or
lost is therefore very high.
EPA scientists and technical experts need and depend upon the
materials in the Agency's libraries to do their jobs. Until they were
closed, the EPA libraries fielded no fewer than 134,000 information
requests per year from the Agency's staff. Among other things, the
libraries were used by EPA's experts to gather data urgently needed to
respond to environmental emergencies (such as toxic chemical fires and
spills and chemical plant explosions) and to support important
enforcement cases against major polluters. For precisely those reasons,
representatives of more than 10,000 EPA scientists, engineers,
environmental protection specialists and support staff signed a letter
to the Senate Appropriations Committee vigorously objecting to the
closures before the Administration, and its allies on Capitol Hill,
ignored their pleas.
Ironically, the monetary savings that will result from these
library shutdowns seem paltry, if not entirely illusory. EPA's libraries
were already very efficient. (Conservative estimates put the
benefit-to-cost ratio from them at 4:1.) As a percentage of EPA's
overall budget, any fiscal savings from the closures will be minuscule.
Moreover, EPA's libraries were also a valuable repository of
environmental information for the general public with respect to such
topics as historical trends in the contamination of local areas and
techniques for the mitigation and control of pollution. At a time when
the rest of the world is moving toward recognizing a right of access to
environmental information, this decision takes the United States a very
long way in the opposite direction.
By closing and limiting the hours of EPA's libraries, the largest
source of environmental information in the world, the Adminnistration
has struck a damaging blow against EPA and its crucial mission of
protecting human health and the environment. We hope you will exercise
your influence and leadership to reverse these misguided steps.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan H. Adler
Professor of Law
Co-Director, Center for Business Law and Regulation
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Robert W. Adler
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and
James I. Farr Chair and Professor of Law
University of Utah
S. J. Quinney College
of Law
William L. Andreen
Edgar L. Clarkson Professor of Law
University of Alabama School of Law
Don Anton
Visiting Professor
University of Alabama School of Law
Timothy Arcaro
Assistant Professor
Nova Southeastern University Law Center
Michael Barron
Professor
Boston University
Law School
Brion Blackwelder
Associate Professor
Nova Southeastern University Law Center
John E. Bonine
Professor of Law
University of Oregon and Co-Founder,
Environmental Law
Alliance Worldwide
Barry Boyer
Professor of Law
State University of New York at Buffalo
Rebecca Bratspies
Associate Professor
CUNY School of Law
Maxine Burkett
Associate Professor
of Law
University of Colorado
School of Law
William W. Buzbee
Professor of Law and
Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program
Emory Law School
Alejandro E. Camacho
Associate Professor
of Law
University of Notre Dame Law School
Ann E. Carlson
Professor of Law and Associate Dean
University of California at Los Angeles
School of Law
David W. Case
Assistant Professor
of Law
University of Memphis
Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law
David N. Cassuto
Associate Professor
of Law
Pace University
School of Law
Fred Cheever
Professor of Law
University of Denver College of Law
Jamison E. Colburn
Professor of Law
Western New England
College of Law
Daniel H. Cole
R. Bruce Townsend Professor of Law
Indiana University School of Law (Indianapolis)
Liz Ryan Cole
Professor and Director
Semester in Practice/ Environmental Semester in Washington
Vermont Law School
Kim Diana Connolly
Associate Professor
University of South Carolina School of Law
Eric A. De Groff
Professor of Law
Regent University School of Law
Joseph Dellapenna
Professor of Law
Villanova University School of Law
Debra L. Donahue
Professor of Law
University of Wyoming College of Law
Holly A. Doremus
Professor of Law
University of California at Davis and
Member Scholar
Center for Progressive Reform
David M. Driesen
Angela S. Cooney Professor
Syracuse University College of Law
Myrl L. Duncan
Professor of Law
Washburn University
Gabriel Eckstein
George W. McCloskey Professor of Water Law
and Director, Center for Water Law and Policy
Texas Tech University School of Law
David Favre
Professor of Law and
Editor-in-Chief,
Animal Legal and Historical Web Center
Michigan State
University
College of Law
Richard Finkmoore
Professor of Law
California Western School of Law
Victor B. Flatt
A.L. O'Quinn Chair in Environmental Law
University of Houston
Law Center and Member Scholar, Center for Progressive Reform
Alyson Flournoy
UF Research Foundation
Professor and Director,
Environmental and Land Use Law Program
University of Florida
Levin College of Law and
Board Member,
Center for Progressive Reform
Sanford E. Gaines
Law Foundation Professor of Law
University of Houston
Robert L. Glickman
Robert Wagstaff Professor
of Law
University of Kansas School of Law
Dale D. Goble
Margaret Wilson Schimke
Distinguished Professor
of Law
University of Idaho
College of Law
Carmen G. Gonzalez
Associate Professor
Seattle University School of Law
Andrew Robert Greene
Visiting Professor
of Law
Cumberland School
of Law
Samford University
Richard J. Grosso
Associate Professor
Nova Southeastern University Law Center and
Director, Environmental
and Land Use Clinic
Louise Halper
Law Alumni Fellow and Professor of Law
Washington and Lee University
School of Law
Gwen T. Handelman
Professor Emeritus
Washington and Lee University
Law School
Linda F. Harrison
Associate Dean
Nova Southeastern University Law Center
Lisa Heinzerling
Professor of Law
Georgetown University Law Center
David R. Hodas
Professor
Widener University School of Law
Oliver Houck
Professor of Law
Tulane University School of Law
David Hunter
Assistant Professor of Law
American University
Washington College of Law
Steve Johnson
Associate Dean
Mercer University
Law School
William S. Jordan III
C. Blake McDowell Professor of Law
University of Akron
School of Law
Kirk W. Junker
Assistant Professor of Law and Director of International Programs
Duquesne University School of Law
Madeline June Kass
Assistant Professor
of Law
Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Alice Kaswan
Professor of Law
University of
San Francisco
School of Law
Sarah Krakoff
Associate Professor
University of Colorado Law School
Howard A. Latin
Professor of Law and Justice Francis Scholar
Rutgers University School of Law
Amanda Leiter
Visiting Associate
Professor
Georgetown University Law Center
Bradford Mank
James Helmer, Jr. Professor of Law
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Marla E. Mansfield
Professor of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
James R. May
Professor of Law
Widener University
Law School
Patricia Ross McCubbin
Associate Professor
Southern Illinois University
School of Law
Patrick C. McGinley
Professor of Law
West Virginia University College of Law
Thomas O. McGarity
W. James Kronzer Chair in Trial and Appellate Advocacy, University
of Texas
School of Law, and
President, Center for Progressive Reform
Joel A. Mintz
Professor of Law
Nova Southeastern University Law Center
and Member Scholar,
Center for Progressive Reform
Kenneth M. Murchison
James E. and Betty M. Phillips Professor of Law
Paul M. Hebert
Law Center
Louisiana State University
Janet Neuman
Professor of Law and
Associate Dean of Faculty
Lewis and Clark Law School
RamÃn Ojeda-Mestre
International Court of Environmental
Arbitration and Conciliation
Hari M. Osofsky
Assistant Professor
University of Oregon School of Law
Zygmunt J. B. Plater
Professor of Law
Boston College
Law School
Ann Powers
Associate Professor
of Law, Center for Environmental Legal Studies
Pace University
School of Law
Clifford Rechtschaffen
Professor of Law
Golden Gate University School of Law and
Member Scholar, Center for Progressive Reform
Heidi Garovitz Robertson
Associate Professor of Law
Cleveland State University
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Nicholas A. Robinson
Gilbert and Saran Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law
Pace University School of Law
Armin Rosencranz
Visiting Professor
Maryland School of Public Policy
Judith Royster
Professor of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
Irma S. Russell
NELPI Professor and Director of the National Energy-Environmental Law
and Policy Institute
University of Tulsa College of Law
Erin Ryan
Assistant Professor
College of William and Mary
Marshall-Wythe School of Law
Rachael E. Salcido
Associate Professor
of Law, University of
the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
James E. Salzman
Professor of Law and Professor of Environmental Policy
Duke Law School and
Nicholas School of Environment and
Earth Sciences
Duke University
Christopher H. Schroeder
Charles Murphy Professor
of Law and Public Policy Studies
and Director of the Program in Public Law
Duke Law School and
Board Member, Center for Progressive Reform
Greg Sergienko
Visiting Professor
Albany Law Center
Professor, Western State University College of Law
Joseph F. Smith
Professor of Law
Nova Southeastern University Law Center
Mark S. Squillace
Professor of Law and Director,
Natural Resources Law Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
Rena Steinzor
Jacob A. France
Research Professor
University of Maryland School of Law and
Co-Founder and Board Member, Center for Progressive Reform
John-Mark Stensvaag
Frederick and Charlotte Hubbell Professor of Law
University of Iowa
College of Law
Kurt A. Strasser
Interim Dean and
Philip I. Blumberg Professor
University of Connecticut
School of Law
William Want
Professor of Law
Charleston School of Law
Annecoos Wiersema
Assistant Professor
Ohio State University
Michael E. Moritz
College of Law
Durwood Zaelke
Co-Director
Program on Governance
for Sustainable Development
Bren School of
Environmental Science
and Management
University of California at Santa Barbara
Note: This letter reflects the personal opinions of the signatories
listed above. It does not necessarily state the positions of the
institutions of higher learning with which we are affiliated.
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