Washington, DC, February 7, 2023 — The White House’s new Model Scientific Integrity Plan touts the “free flow of scientific information,” including speaking with the media and filing “differing scientific opinions,” but provides no enforceable legal safeguards for scientists who face reprisal for doing so. That gap means scientists working on controversial topics will continue […]
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Posted inEnviro
Call for NOAA to End Research Bottom Trawling in Gulf of Mexico
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should stop scraping live sea bottoms in the Gulf of Mexico for fishery studies, urges Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The group contends that the NOAA trawls needlessly damage coral and other marine habitats seeking data that can obtained less obtrusively. Every year, NOAA conducts two bottom […]
Posted inCalifornia
California May Have Second Most PFAS Sites of Any State
Oakland, October 18, 2021 — The PFAS footprint across California and the U.S. may be several times larger than previously reported, according to data released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that some 120,000 facilities “may be handling” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including around 13,000 in […]
Posted inEnviro
U.S. Park Service Shuns Planning Law Despite Obvious Need
As many national parks face crippling overcrowding, the National Park Service is eschewing longstanding statutory planning mandates, according to documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). NPS contends that laws requiring general management plans, establishment of carrying capacities, and annual reports to Congress no longer apply due to a January 2021 order […]
Posted inUS
Parks Lack Plans Despite Explicit Mandate to Develop Carrying Capacities
Overcrowding at our national parks is bad this summer but will likely get worse, as visitors from foreign countries are able to return in coming months. Yet, the National Park Service has no coherent plan to address overcrowding despite clear, longstanding statutory mandates that it do so, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). […]
Posted inUS
How Interior Sabotaged Its Scientific Integrity Policy
Perhaps no federal agency is a bigger hypocrite when it comes to scientific integrity than the Department of Interior, according to a new analysis by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). When the first complaints by whistleblowing scientists were upheld under its Scientific Integrity Policy, the agency completely rewrote that policy – with no public […]
Posted inEnviro
Flea-Control Products Found to Be Infested With Forever Chemicals
Popular pet flea collars and treatments contain high levels of toxic PFAS chemicals, according to laboratory test results posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are associated with a variety of ailments, including suppressed immune function, thyroid disease, testicular and kidney cancers and liver damage. Popular flea and tick products were sent […]
Posted inEnviro
Federal Wildlife Disease Labs in Dangerous Shape
Washington, DC, February 4, 2021 — As the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of scientific research on disease transmission from animals to humans, key federal laboratories are not up to the task due to frequent equipment failures and lack of independent oversight, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). These breakdowns at high-level federal […]
Posted inEnviro
Tongass Timber Sales Mismanaged – Official Audit
Washington, D.C. Feb. 1, 2021 — Two large timber sales in the Tongass National Forest were badly bungled, costing taxpayers millions of dollars, according to a U.S. Forest Service audit obtained via a lawsuit filed by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Southeast Alaska Conservation […]
Posted inUS
Justice Department Argues Trump Lost the Election
Washington, DC, January 5, 2012 — While President Trump and his die-hard allies are still seeking to dispute the election results, his Justice Department is contending in court that Trump will vacate the White House on Inauguration Day, January 20th. In the Justice Department’s legal brief in a lawsuit brought by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility […]
Posted inEnviro
NRC Drops Plan to Deregulate Rad-waste Disposal and Allow Disposal in Local Garbage Dumps
Washington, DC, December 18, 2020 — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission jettisoned a far-reaching plan to allow disposal of radioactive waste in local garbage dumps not licensed or designed for such material. The reversal reflects not only overwhelming opposition but failure of the NRC staff to gauge the proposal’s real-world impacts, according to Public Employees for […]
Posted inEnviro
Park Service & NOAA Shrink Sea Turtle Recovery Capacity as Need Spikes
Washington, DC December 10, 2020 – A record large air evacuation of seriously ill endangered sea turtles from Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico points to a gaping hole in the federal conservation safety net, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Hundreds of cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the planet’s most critically endangered, […]
Posted inEnviro
Forest Service Tongass Timber Audit Remains Hidden
Washington, DC, October 8, 2020 — After failing to produce a long-promised audit of losses from past timber sales in the Tongass National Forest, U.S. Forest Service now faces a federal lawsuit from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to force its release. The missing audit addresses a gaping hole in Forest Service ambitions to […]
Posted inUS
New Temporary Park Service Appointment Is Illegal
Washington, DC August 27, 2020 – The latest maneuver to evade Senate confirmation for the National Park Service’s (NPS) top official violates the law according to a newly-amended federal suit filed yesterday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Western Watersheds Project (WWP). The new complaint was approved by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya […]
Posted inEnviro
Park Service Slashes Sea Turtle Rescue Program
Washington, DC July 16, 2020 – The internationally recognized Sea Turtle Science and Recovery Program at Padre Island National Seashore is being sharply curtailed with a significant portion of its funding redirected, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Among cutbacks are limits on rescuing stranded sea turtles and reducing the number of highly popular […]
Posted inUS
Plan for National Cormorant Slaughter Nears Takeoff
Washington, DC, July 15, 2020 — A year-round open season for shooting double-crested cormorants is the antithesis of science-based wildlife management, according to comments filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The new plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) would allow state game agencies to kill approximately one in seven […]
Posted inUS
Park Police Lafayette Attacks Draw Lawsuit
Washington, DC, July 13, 2020 — U.S. Park Police stonewalling efforts to uncover the truth about its actions against protesters gathered in Lafayette Park on June 1st has triggered a federal lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The suit seeks critical documents detailing how this controversial exercise was planned and executed. On that date, the Park Police forcibly […]
Posted inEnviro
Massachusetts Concedes Aerial Spraying to Combat Mosquitos Largely Ineffective
Boston, July 8, 2020 — State records document the ineffectiveness of aerial spraying as a tactic to combat mosquito-borne diseases, according to a complaint filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) with the Commonwealth Office of Inspector General. This new evidence emerges as Massachusetts considers legislation to enshrine aerial spraying into statute as […]
Posted inUS
Pendley BLM Nomination Means He Must Step Down
Washington, DC, July 6, 2020 — The Trump administration’s continued contortions to bypass the Senate confirmation process have once again backfired. This past week, the White House formally nominated William Pendley, who for the past 11 months has been the de facto Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to be confirmed as […]
Posted inEnviro
Arctic Climate Research Imperiled
Washington, DC, June 23, 2020 — Significant scientific data collection on atmospheric conditions in the Arctic and around the globe is ending because the University of Colorado abruptly removed the researchers doing the work, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, years of continuous readings on climate gases, including methane and […]