Common Dreams

Senior Counsel

Jeff serves as Senior Counsel to PEER, where he specializes in civil service, scientific integrity, and whistleblower protection issues. Jeff was PEER’s Executive Director from 1997 to 2019 and its Pacific Director from 2019 to 2025. Previously, he was the Policy Director and a staff attorney at the Government Accountability Project, representing whistleblowers from both the public and private sectors. Before coming to DC, Jeff worked in California state government for 17 years, mostly in the State Legislature as counsel to various committees where he drafted hundreds of laws on topics ranging from energy conservation to the rights of employed inventors. Jeff served stints as a deputy district attorney and an appellate court clerk. He is a graduate of the California Correctional Officers Academy.

COMMENTARY | Is Congress Too Dysfunctional to Fund the National Parks?

by Jeff Ruch | August 10, 2023
In past decades, America’s best idea was one of the few domestic programs enjoying bipartisan support ...

COMMENTARY | EPA’s Whack-a-Mole “Forever Chemicals” Posture Is an Intolerable Failure

by Kyla Bennett | May 3, 2023
The agency must treat PFAS as a class of chemicals regulated in the same manner as the European Union and other countries ...

Groups Sue to Stop Company’s ‘Forever Chemical’ Contamination of Plastic Containers

by PEER | December 28, 2022
A pair of nonprofit advocacy groups on Tuesday sued a Texas company in a bid to stop it from generating so-called “forever chemicals” while manufacturing plastic containers. The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) ...

Biden EPA Unveils ‘First-Ever’ Blueprint to Protect Endangered Species From Pesticides

by PEER | April 12, 2022
Kyla Bennett, who directs science policy for the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said she appreciated EPA’s honesty around not having the resources to meet its demands in a reasonable time frame. But she pointed to a number of concerns, namely the workplan&# ...

War on Science Persists Within Biden EPA as Staffers Allege Chemical Reports Altered

by Elizabeth Duan | July 7, 2021
“Four scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency are alleging that the “war on science” is continuing under the Biden administration, with managers at the agency altering reports about the risks posed by chemicals and retaliating against employees who report the ...