PEER filed a law suit last week against the Wildlife Services for not honoring a Freedom of Information Act request concerning the circumstances surrounding WS’s own safety inspection. In an age where national security is one of our government’s highest priorities, one would think an agency that holds stockpiles of extremely volatile poisons would be a little more transparent about their security, reassuring the public of their safety. Unless, of course, the public isn’t safe, and these hazardous chemicals aren’t under any more protection than your garden-variety pesticides. And if that’s not the case, then what’s with all the secrecy? Why have they still not revealed even who is assessing the agency’s safety review? Maybe it’s because this agency that continues to not only cost an absurd amount of taxpayer money, but the lives of both animals and humans is so poorly managed, that they would rather risk lawsuit than expose their safety practices. But then again, maybe not. Maybe they are exercising responsible safety. Maybe the majority of Wildlife Services’ $100 million budget is actually spent towards safely securing the poisonous chemicals used to wage their war on wildlife. Maybe despite their history of irresponsible and illegal misplacement of poisoned carcasses that have killed pets and poisoned people, Wildlife Services has made sure to keep public safety in its mind when storing its chemicals. It’s possible…

Mary Rose Diefenderfer, the FAA Principal Inspector, who reported serious safety violations by Alaska Airlines in the years prior to the crash of Alaska Airlines #261, finally was permitted to file her case in federal court today.

Beginning in 1994, Diefenderfer and her team of airline inspectors raised numerous concerns about Alaska Airlines and its disregard of many FAA safety regulations. Their efforts to make Alaska comply were immediately squelched by FAA management who told them their job was to make Alaska “look good,” the 23 page complaint alleges. In a March 1999 article in the Seattle P-I, Diefenderfer was quoted: “I have nightmares of a smoking hole in the ground, containing charred bodies, in the twisted metal that used to be an airplane.” The FAA reacted by issuing her a written reprimand and taking other retaliatory acts that led ultimately to loss of her job. In January 2000, Alaska Flight #261 crashed off the coast of California killing all aboard.

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This March, New Jersey created an industry-dominated task force to recommend revising state anti- pollution permit standards and procedures. [See http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1022 ]

The “Permit Efficiency Review Task Force” meets in secret but the meeting minutes [http://nj.gov/dep/permittf/documents.html ] are posted.  These cryptic minutes offer hints as to why the task Force is off to a less than inspiring start.  From the May 7 Water Quality Committee meeting:

“The Committee noted that while a great deal of background information regarding permits and staffing had been provided there was still no detail with regard to problems, either from DEP’s or the regulated community’s perspective.”

Can’t fix it if it ain’t broke - whatever “it” is.

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Available Soon: Beautiful homes estimated at $1M for military personnel stationed on Fort Wainwright, Alaska. That’s right folks, your nation’s Army is hard at work building 128 housing units as fast as it can for you to kick back, relax and enjoy! But why so pricey, you ask? Well before you call your new house home, the Army just needs to make sure its former weapons dump will be the family-friendly neighborhood you’re looking for. And with a name like Taku Gardens, who’s to object? And don’t worry, your land will be free of any residual toxic PCBs. Did I say toxic PCBs? I meant clouds, in sunny Taku Gardens!
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Side effects may include PCB poisoning.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is one of the most scandal-prone agencies of its kind in the country.  Yet, its managers believe they are doing such a great job their story must be told.

So, here’s a link to a newsletter entitled Learn & Lead - and no it is not about the loss of IQ points caused by lead-based paint.  Instead, in the words of its Human Resources honchos, Learn & Lead “began as a newsletter for DEP Managers and Supervisors, however, we recently decided to expand its focus, thereby providing leadership and professional development guidance and information to all DEP staff.”

In Learn & Lead, we learn that DEP “Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson is a consummate example of a strong leader through challenging times” - but not a word about what challenges those may be.

This issue profiles Assistant Commissioner Irene Kropp, who has the misfortune to be in charge of New Jersey’s laughingstock of a toxic clean-up program.  Here is a typically hard-hitting question to Irene:

“Your diverse management background and leadership accomplishments have earned you high levels of respect throughout DEP, yet you remain true to your natural personality.  How have you achieved the balance between being a well-respected leader and socially approachable by subordinates?”

(Her answer did not include hanging out in the office parking lot.)

Learn & Lead is also chock full of professional advice, such as -

“Who’s Job is it to Lead? [sic]

We all lead.  We all follow.  We can always do more, and it may be needed.”

Perhaps this is a DEP management koan, like “What is the sound of one finger snapping?”

Not all of Learn & Lead is so lofty; it also provides information about the DEP in-service training program called PEP (”Professional Explorer Program”).  Here is an upcoming PEP smear -

On June 18, from 9:00 - 12:00, learn about “File Redaction” of documents requested under the Open Public Records Act.

No scissors required; just bring an open mind.

Few environmental agencies are in more distress right now than the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. One sign of the depth of disarray at DEP is this link to its webpage on accountability:

http://www.nj.gov/dep/srp/accountability/

Visitors get the following message:

“The Office of Accountability page is no longer in use. The policy linked from this page is now out-dated. New information related to enforcement will be posted later this year…”

Those familiar with New Jersey DEP know that its accountability actually has been inoperable for some time now. Now, we are just waiting to discover that its Toxic Site Remediation program has been condemned.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is circulating environmental tips to all of its employees (See http://greening.usda.gov/simple_things.htm), including such common step things as turning off unnecessary lights, reducing printing and avoiding travel for in-person meetings when other forms of communication will do. Even those tips are recycled from another agency.

This message is part of a program, called Greening USDA. Its purpose is laudable but – in a department that funds clear-cuts of forests and industrial agricultural practices leading to growing desertification, not to mention promoting pesticide use, genetically-modified crops and mega-factory farms – the focus on the “small stuff” like re-using your lunch bag obscures employee involvement in the department’s big issues.

Truly Greening USDA requires both its leaders and specialists to rethink how this behemoth agency is fulfilling its mission – and then turn out the lights when they are done.

When Bush took his oath of office in January 2001, he inherited a budget surplus of $127 billion from President Clinton. The Outstanding Public Debt as of 10 Feb 2008 at 04:15:41 AM GMT was $9,245,477,585,004.46 … and growing at $1.48 billion per day.

Our national debt exceeds 9 trillion dollars!

Understanding numbers this large is difficult. Here’s an analogy:

If someone living in the year 1719 (50 years before America declared its independence from England) could foresee the Bush debacle of the early 21st century, they could pay off the $9.2 trillion national debt if they and their heirs saved $1,000 per second (without interest) until today.
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Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Leader Retires in Frustration

After 32 years with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Mike Lockhart is calling it quits – in disgust. For the past eight years, he has headed the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Team, which is charged with bringing one of the rarest mammals in North America back from the brink of extinction.

In a farewell letter to colleagues, Lockhart details how official indifference, crappy leadership and a profound lack of support on the ground have made recovery of the black-footed ferret an even more uphill struggle than it needed to be.

One notable aspect of Mike’s story is how rapidly the conditions for federal wildlife scientists have deteriorated inside the Fish & Wildlife Service — particularly the growing penetration of political pressures into what had formerly been scientific decisions.  Read about how Mike Lockhart is far from being an isolated case and what PEER is doing to protect public agency scientists and science: http://www.peer.org/campaigns/whistleblower/scientific/index.php

Check out Noah Schactman’s coverage of PEER questioning the Forest Service purchase of tasers over at Wired magazine’s Danger Room blog: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/forest-rangers.html