30 years of Protecting Public Employees and the Environment
For 30 years, we’ve worked to protect government whistleblowers and earn environmental victories across the nation. Our effectiveness is due to the passion and deep knowledge of our team and supporters, and to the unique role that PEER plays in the environmental and good governance movement.
- Initiated litigation that resulted in a national order to remove toxic PFAS chemicals from the lining of hundreds of millions of shipping containers, which leach into barrel contents across a spectrum of industrial, agricultural and consumer products.
- Shut the pathway for lead poisoning for 1.4 million children under age 7 living in 5 million older residential units with lead paint. A PEER lawsuit forced long-overdue rules requiring that all repairs and renovations on these older houses and apartments be conducted in a lead-safe manner.
- Strengthened protections for federal whistleblowers through litigation, such as restoring U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers and negotiating the biggest federal whistleblower settlement. These victories not only created groundbreaking case law but also forced a measure of that most elusive element – accountability.
- Created safeguards for government scientists and the integrity of their research. This work includes not only new legal protections for scientists but our efforts validating their technical work and exposing official acts of scientific fraud and censorship.
- Won important government reforms, such as preventing losses of billions by insulating federal land appraisals from political influence and exposing how the Army Corps of Engineers cooks its books on cost-benefit analyses to falsely justify multi-billion dollar projects. This latter case caused the removal of two generals and a colonel, blocked Congressional authorization of any new navigation projects for six years and framed an issue carrying the shorthand name “Corps Reform.”
2024 Annual Report
- Shielded public lands from abuse by uprooting all genetically modified crops from wildlife refuges, and halting off-road vehicles from destroying national forests, parks, and fragile desert lands.
- Defended wildlife by winning steps to prevent ship-strikes on the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale and harassment of manatees by “swim-with” tourists. PEER is a leader is fighting against the militarization of wildlife management.
- Forced adoption of safeguards for human exposure testing of pesticides and other toxins. This follows our expose of EPA endorsing testing insecticides on toddlers in an infamous experiment it was forced to cancel.
Read More About PEER’s Recent Accomplishments
