News around public lands these days seems to revolve entirely around the Trump administration. In the case of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, many of the steps the administration is taking with the operational efficiencies of the National Park Service and other land ...

Already, the National Park Service has about one employee for every 17,000 visitors, said Timothy Whitehouse, the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “They’re breaking the system,” he said. “They’re traumatizing the workforce.” Many worry ...

Turf is incredibly damaging to the ecosystem due to the harmful chemicals and microplastics it contains. “As it’s exposed to UV light, and abrasion, and slightly acidic rain, even more [perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances] will [leach] off,” said Kyla Bennett of ...

In 2023, NPS official Frank Lands explicitly ordered the mine to cease and desist any activities other than water quality monitoring. Now it has been given full permission by the BLM to resume its operation. “Mining is one of the most destructive land-based activities,” Jeff Ruch, ...

Kyla Bennett, the policy director with the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and a former EPA scientist, said she suspects the agency and the justice department will, in effect, try to lose the case. “The DOJ could stop defending and do a shitty job and make the court ...

“Even though Project 2025 laid it out, it’s even scarier, I think, in person watching it happen,” Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, told Sierra. “I used to work at EPA, and when I talk to people who are still there, they ...

“EPA has one mission: to protect human health and the environment,” says Kyla Bennett, a director of science policy at the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “This flies in the face of their mission and everything they’re supposed to stand for.” Read ...

“Our understanding is that employees on administrative leave are denied access to email (where positions are often advertised internally) and hiring systems such as Talent Hub where open position descriptions are posted and through which candidates may apply,” Laura Dumais, staff ...

Smith stepped down in the fall of 2019 under curious circumstances that led Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility to charge that Smith was given a sweetheart deal to allow Vela to return as acting NPS director. The deal allowed Smith to live in North Carolina and work from ...

There have been some studies quantifying the pollution of launches and the potential impact of burning satellites on the higher portions of the atmosphere and the ozone layer. But it’s preliminary work and more research is needed. This is why the timing of funding cuts is the worst ...

Maybe. A week after the February layoffs, and following a swell of public backlash, the park service announced it would hire up to 7,700 seasonal positions this year, more than the three-year average of 6,350 seasonal workers it normally hires. “There are just a lot of unknowns about ...

With the help of Ames, the couples have been able to test their soil and tissue from some of the deceased animals. They sent samples to Kyla Bennett at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an environmental-protection nonprofit that serves as a resource for whistleblowers. ...

“Obviously there’s political motivation, and Elon Musk’s business interests are tied up in Noaa’s work,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility non-profit, which has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for emails ...

Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is also glad that the EPA is adding positions to the OCSPP, but “that division is so broken that I fear throwing more people in there, particularly people who may not have expertise in ...

“This episode epitomizes the cruelty, ignorance, and gross mismanagement ignited by DOGE in the federal service,” Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said in a statement. Typically, federal employees who aren’t in their ...

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says in documents filed with the department last week that Tyler Hassen, a former member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency who’s now Interior’s acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, lacks ...

“The problem is that some areas of the country have much worse air pollution, and it cannot be treated as a one-size-fits-all,” said Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit that supports public employees who raise ...

The targeted centers are part of a larger network, and the Trump administration based its decision to make cuts on leases near expiration, not scientific reasoning, said Kyla Bennett, director of science policy with the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility non-profit that is ...

Ultimately, Irish, an 18-year veteran of the department, and two other career employees were placed on leave. Irish was notified on April 4 that he would be removed from his job. The case is particularly troubling because it’s a “significant, significant cybersecurity risk with ...

Some environmental advocates worry that dismantling the office will hurt disadvantaged communities, which continue to bear the brunt of pollution. “Every person in this country, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or Zip code, deserves clean water, air and food,” Kyla Bennett, ...