Commentary

Director of Science Policy; Northeast & Mid-Atlantic Director

Kyla first became involved with PEER in the mid-1990s when she became a whistleblower herself. She previously worked at the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 for 10 years as a wetland permit reviewer and as the Region’s Wetlands Enforcement Coordinator. Kyla’s familiarity with science, the law, and the inner workings of state and federal governmental agencies enable her to assist public environmental employees throughout New England. She has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Connecticut and a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

COMMENTARY | Overlooking the Obvious: Red King Crab Collapse Due to Overfishing

by Guest Contributor | March 26, 2025
NOAA claimed that the primary cause of the Bering Sea red king crab's collapse was warming seas caused by climate change rather than overfishing. A new NOAA study puts the lie to that alibi ...

COMMENTARY | Trump and the IGs – From Watchdogs to Lapdogs

by Jeff Ruch | March 25, 2025
The role of the Inspector General requires political independence to function properly. That independence is now irretrievably lost ...

COMMENTARY | May Federal Employees Be Activists?

by Colleen Zimmerman | March 4, 2025
PEER is engaged in precedent-setting work to secure the rights of federal employees to publish and be active in civic organizations on their own time ...

COMMENTARY | Trump’s Actions Are Undermining Our Response to Bird Flu – That is a Big Cause for Concern

by Tim Whitehouse | February 19, 2025
As scientists warn about the unprecedented nature of bird flu, the Trump administration’s actions are hobbling our ability to respond to it ...

COMMENTARY | Administration of “Alternative Facts” – No Fact Checkers Welcome

by Jeff Ruch | February 13, 2025
It is often said that everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not to their own set of facts. That cannot be said of Donald Trump ...

COMMENTARY | GOP Takes Aim at Scientific Integrity

by Kyla Bennett | January 27, 2025
The bipartisan support of federal scientific integrity policies is imploding, as evidenced by fiery letters from House Oversight Chair James Comer ...
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