“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, ...

In response, Hassen sought to remove Irish from his job, accusing him of “subverting, obstructing and delaying” the granting of access. Irish remains on leave as of Monday, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which is representing Irish in challenging his ...

Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which advocates on behalf of federal workers, said he heard from “dozens” of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) staffers who received such notices. “At a time when the ...

“To me, it just points to a deliberate lack of planning,” Whitehouse said. “That’s the strategy. They don’t care. It’s creating all these problems for employees.” PEER outlined its concerns in a Tuesday letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, claiming that “sloppy ...

Tim Whitehouse, PEER’s executive director, said Interior is attempting to punish Irish “for doing his job” and that government attorneys should “ask questions to ensure the legitimacy of actions before proceeding.” Whitehouse added in a statement: “The consequences of a ...

A worker advocacy group is seeking outside federal help to force the reinstatement of as many as 168 idled EPA employees to active job duties. In a complaint filed Friday, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility alleged EPA’s decision to keep those staffers on administrative ...

Nevertheless, the policy directed about $100 million in subsidies to incinerators in Maryland and Virginia between 2012 and 2022, according to a report from environmental group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The group projected that a further $200 million in subsidies ...

Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which is providing advice and legal counsel to an undisclosed number of NOAA employees, said he believes Friday’s email rescinding the Schedule F notifications “reflects a significant power ...

But out of nowhere, sandwiched in the ruling, came another set of opinions written by one of the three judges, Arthur Randolph. He declared that CEQ had never been given rulemaking authority. “What is quite remarkable is that this issue has remained largely undetected and undecided for ...

Based on those results, Ames and Kyla Bennett, an ecologist with the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer) who served as a consultant for the investigation, suggested that the fertiliser was contaminated with PFAS that leached onto the neighbouring farms ...

While giving individual park leaders some discretion makes sense to Frank Buono, he thinks more guardrails are needed to protect sensitive areas. “I would like to see a final rule really strengthened to protect the special places in the parks that could be harmed from inappropriate uses ...

Carolyn McConnell, a Seattle-based attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), filed a lawsuit on March 12 against the federal government, alleging that it unfairly punished her for First Amendment-protected activity she conducted during her free time. The suit was filed ...

A new emergency Freedom of Information Act request for communications among Noaa offices and Doge in part seeks to shine some light on those questions. The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer) request noted that privatization of the agency has long been a goal of the ...

“Some people are saying, [PFAS contamination] are isolated incidents. No, they’re not. I guarantee that this is a problem in every single state that uses biosolids,” said Kyla Bennett, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employee who is now a science policy director for the ...

Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the research office’s work is supposed to be uniquely protected from politics. It provides essential science, such as risk assessments for chemicals that pose health threats. The office, ...