“Dr. Etzel made important disclosures about EPA’s failure to address children’s lead poisoning, and in retaliation was removed from her position as EPA’s Director of the Office of Children’s Health Protection,” her attorney, Paula Dinerstein of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, wrote in an email. “We look forward to her vindication in this appeal.”
Under the Biden administration, EPA has reversed course on many decisions it now says were politically motivated, including chemical risk assessments. But the agency has only doubled down on its position that Etzel created a hostile work environment at OCHP.