“A federal whistleblower complaint says there are open pits of toxic wastewater, roads bulldozed through protected wildlife habitat, and secret hunting cabins — all on public lands in Nevada.

Is Nevada’s BLM — and its Battle Mountain District, in particular — allowing all this, and more?

That’s what BLM Environmental Protection Specialist Dan Patterson claims, in the complaint filed last October. Patterson says the agency is letting mining and oil and gas companies run amok on federal lands, often at the expense of sensitive species, and that they suspended him for trying to bring the infractions to light.

Patterson described 10 specific incidents that he said either violated federal law or consisted of abuse of authority — and some incidents did both.”

Read the PEER Story…