Controversial Wolf Researcher Agrees to Leave WSU; Will Be Paid $300,000
From: The Lewiston Tribune “Rob published in very prestigious journals. You would think they would be proud of him and have his back,” Ruch said of WSU administrators. “Instead, they had a knife in his back.” Read more . . . Read the PEER story ...
Controversial Wolf Researcher Agrees to Leave WSU
From: The Bellingham Herald “Wielgus angered ranchers with his research of wolf behavior. He concluded the state’s policy of killing wolves that preyed on cattle was likely to increase cattle predation because it destabilized the structure of wolf packs.” Read more . . . ...
Wolf Researcher Resigns in Settlement With WSU
From: The Daily Evergreen “Wielgus, who served as Director of the Large Carnivore Conservation Laboratory, faced scrutiny from the university over research he carried out regarding the killing of wolves to protect livestock. WSU officials were reportedly worried that Wielgus’ ...
Supervisors To Question Executives Re Allegedly Falsified Hunters Point Cleanup
From: SF Gate “The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will grill executives from Tetra Tech, the firm accused of falsifying results from the $1 billion radiation cleanup at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, at a hearing Monday.” Read more . . . Read the PEER story ...
National Wildlife Refuges Contaminated with Thousands of Pounds of Toxic Pesticides
From: Beyond Pesticides “According to a new report from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), hundreds of thousands of pounds of pesticides are sprayed on lands that are designated as refuges for wildlife and protected under U.S. law. Approximately 490,000 pounds of pesticides ...
Wolf Researcher Who Accused WSU of Silencing Him Gets $300K to Settle Lawsuit and Go Away
From: The Seattle Times “Jeff Ruch, executive director of PEER, said the Wielgus incident showed that Washington has politicized its wolf policy and allowed politics into the halls of its land-grant university. “Most people believe academic freedom exists, particularly for tenured ...
Trump vs. “The Deep State”
From: The New Yorker “This seems to be either monkey-wrenching or just incredible incompetence. You have a civil-service system without the means to adjudicate disputes. The Trump philosophy is they just don’t want the agency to function at all.” Read more . . . Read the PEER ...
Can an Uneasy Truce Hold Off Another Water Rebellion on California’s Northern Border?
From: Sacramento Bee “The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation oversees water deliveries but said it would defer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if farmers violate the judge’s order. However, a spokeswoman for Fish and Wildlife said her agency’s officers wouldn’t stop ...
Petersburg Assembly Split on Timber Sale Letter
From: KFSK “Petersburg’s assembly on a split vote Monday decided not to send a letter to U.S. Forest Service officials with questions about Tongass timber sales. The letter was drafted to forest supervisor Earl Stewart and asked for specific changes that have been made to the ...
Gensel appoints special prosecutor to review Pavilion project allegations
From: Chesterton Tribune “A special prosecutor will investigate allegations that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Pavilion Partners LLC dodged state law in advance of renovations to the 90-year-old Pavilion at Indiana Dunes State Park.” Read more . . . Read the ...
Scott Pruitt’s Embattled Science “Transparency” Rule Does Not Apply to Pesticides
From: Truth Out “The rule would not apply to pesticide companies seeking to register new chemicals, extend federal registrations for pesticides already on the market, change a warning label, or establish a product’s effectiveness, according to joint analysis by Public Employees ...
Yellowstone Superintendent Not Leaving Position For Now
From: Yellowstone Insider “Representatives from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility lamented the possible shift, saying that losing Wenk would be losing an invaluable advocate for wildlife and environmental issues in the park.” ...
Pesticide Safety Data Transparency a Blind Spot Under EPA Policy
From: Beyond Pesticides “Pruitt’s plan does not enable the public to have any meaningful information about ‘environmental health risk or safety risk’ as he claims,” stated PEER General Counsel Paula Dinerstein. “Under a false flag of scientific transparency, Pruitt’s ...
Firm accused of falsifying Hunters Point Naval Shipyard cleanup data says $27 billion suit is ‘without merit’
From: Napa Valley Register “A firm accused in a lawsuit filed Tuesday of putting the lives of residents in San Francisco’s Bayview and Hunters Points neighborhoods at risk by allegedly falsifying radiation cleanup data says the suit is baseless.” Read more . . . Read the PEER ...
Former Tetra Tech Workers Sentenced for Falsifying Records in Hunters Point Radiation Cleanup
From: NBC Bay Area “Two former radiation control technician supervisors for Tetra Tech, the company hired to clean up radiation at the Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco, have been sentenced to eight months in prison for falsifying records.” Read more . . . Read the PEER ...
Tetra Tech issues contradictory statements in response to Shipyard false cleanup suit
From: Fox KTVU “We believe the lawsuit is factually incorrect and without merit. Tetra Tech stands by this work at Hunters Point. Our work was done properly and to the standard required by the U.S. Navy,” Tetra Tech said in a statement.” Read more . . . Read the PEER ...
Fed plan could send Wenk off
From: Jackson Hole News & Guide “The watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility contends there’s reason to believe parts of the “stealth makeover” are political. One of the executives being reassigned, Alaska Regional Director Bert Frost, is the ...
Dunes Action applauds naming special prosecutor in pavilion complaint
From: Chicago Tribune “special prosecutor has been appointed to review whether unauthorized construction activities have taken place at the pavilion at Indiana Dunes State Park, as suggested by Dunes Action, a local grassroots group that has raised concerns about plans there.” ...
White House Produces No Evidence It Considered Public Input on Reorganizing Government
From: Government Executive “How could they not locate 100,000 comments?” Ruch said. “The White House call for public involvement in reforming government seems to have been merely a cynical stunt.” An OMB official did not comment on why the agency could not produce documents. &# ...
Bayview Residents Seek a Whopping $27 Billion For Navy’s Mess
From: SF Weekly “Last month, a watchdog group in Washington D.C., Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, revealed that the EPA suspected the fraud was further-reaching than initially thought. The document dump unleashed a torrent of fury and desperate questions regarding ...
