PEERMail | Energy in the Air

We hope you are having a wonderful summer. I am pleased to share with you a few of the projects that have been keeping us busy in what has been an active and exciting month.

• This Thursday, July 25th, at 4pm EST, we are holding a webinar, Hidden Hazards: Whistleblowers, Industry Influence, and the Fight Against Toxics with the Government Accountability Project. In celebration of Whistleblower Appreciation Day at the end of the month, we hope you will join us to learn more about some of our current work and help us recognize the importance of supporting those who stand up and reveal wrongdoing within government agencies. Register here>>
• We are happy to report that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responded to our concerns over the presence of PFAS in plastic containers by granting a petition that aims to get these toxic chemicals out of plastics. We are not resting on our laurels, however, as EPA’s response gives it plenty of wiggle room to do nothing for many years. We will have more updates on this issue very soon.
• Johnson County, Texas, and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners Association have joined our lawsuit against the EPA for failing to set standards for toxic chemicals in biosolids, a form of sewage that is widely used as fertilizers in the United States. In our lawsuit, we are representing farmers and ranchers in Texas whose land, water and animals have been contaminated by toxic biosolids.

We also have been busy working to protect the health of western lands and some of the more iconic landscapes in the west. I look forward to sharing more details on this work in the coming weeks.

Take care,
Tim Whitehouse
Executive Director

PS—Our Double Trouble campaign is in full swing. Remember, all new and increased gifts will be matched 2:1! If you care about whistleblowers and empowering our democracy, now is a great time to make a gift!

Dr. C. Braxton Dew is a fisheries biologist with more than 40 years of experience, 25 of which were with NOAA Fisheries, shares an important story and lesson about the “science” associated with the distribution of federal disaster funds to Alaska’s crab-fishing industry. Read more>

We have been hearing a lot about Project 2025 lately. Jeff Ruch, PEER’s Pacific Director, reviews some of the proposals in the document and the characters behind them. Read more>>

Tim Whitehouse and Jeff Ruch discuss why EPA’s slow and piecemeal response to the PFAS crisis is not working and how it often hinders progress. Read more>>