As we start the new year, all of us at PEER want to thank you for your generosity during our end-of-year fundraising campaign. We are thrilled to report that we surpassed our goal of raising $75,000 from individual donors. Your generosity will help support PEER’s important work in the coming year!
We also have a few important December victories to share with you:
- In response to a PEER lawsuit, the Office of Personnel Management finalized a regulation detailing mandatory administrative and investigative leave procedures for all federal agencies. These regulations provide civil servants with important protections from having arbitrary leave imposed on them, which was a real fear given the anti-worker statements of the incoming Trump administration.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted in part a petition by PEER and the Energy Justice Network to require waste incinerators to report their toxic output to the federal Toxic Release Inventory. This will give people greater knowledge of the toxic pollutants released into their communities and counter the narrative that burning waste is a clean energy source.
And finally, we would like to invite you to attend our webinar this afternoon, Whistleblowing and Anonymous Activism in the Age of Trump. We will delve into the challenges that government employees working on environmental issues will face during the incoming administration and how government employees can best report and correct wrongdoing without losing their jobs.
Here is to an active and happy New Year!
Regards,
Tim Whitehouse
Executive Director, PEER
Life span of North Atlantic right whales is low
A new research paper finds that the lifespan of the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale is dramatically lower than its close relative in the southern hemisphere, the southern right whale. According to PEER, this means that conventional measures for assessing the species’ recovery have missed deeper problems. Read more>>
What to Expect from Trump II – A Preview Based on Trump’s First Term
PEER’s Senior Counsel Peter Jenkins offers his list of a “dirty dozen” of the worst abuses from the first Trump administration, each of which PEER worked at the time. He provides insights into how PEER will address these old and new threats during the second Trump administration. Read more>>
Biden’s missed chance to safeguard America’s oceans
PEER’s Board President Rick Steiner criticizes President Biden for failing to protect America’s oceans, despite his goal of protecting 30% of America’s oceans by 2030. Steiner notes the U.S. is the only Arctic coastal nation with no permanently protected Arctic Ocean waters and discusses a proposal to change that. Learn more>>
