News Releases for 2009

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Read PEER news releases for 2009 or choose a previous year:
July 1, 2009  FEDERAL WILDLIFE AGENT WHISTLEBLOWER REINSTATED FOR APPEAL — Judge Finds “Substantial Likelihood” Whistleblower Will Prevail in His Complaint

June 25, 2009  ONE-THIRD OF WILDLIFE REFUGES USE GM CROPS IN SOUTHEAST — Genetically Modified Seeds Okayed by Obama Fish & Wildlife Service Director Pick Hamilton

June 22, 2009  ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT FELL INTO DISUSE UNDER NOMINEE — Only One Jeopardy Opinion in Nearly 6,000 Consultations as Staff Told to Refrain

June 18, 2009  AMERICA'S TEN MOST IMPERILED WILDLIFE REFUGES — Climate Change and Coping with Climate Change Challenge Nature Sanctuaries

June 16, 2009  CHAMBERS WINS APPEAL AGAINST U.S. INTERIOR DEPARTMENT — Privacy Act Violation for Bush Officials Destroying Favorable Personnel Evaluation

June 15, 2009  POLITICAL MANIPULATION OF SCIENCE RIFE DURING NOMINEE’S TENURE — Fish & Wildlife Service Southeast Region Employees Saw Interference and Reprisal

June 15, 2009  GRAND CANYON THREATENED BY OFF-ROAD VEHICLE PLAN — Groups Protest ORV Penetration into Habitat and Across Archaeological Sites

June 11, 2009  CRITICAL NEW TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM HAS GAPING HOLES — Nearly One-Third of Deep Ocean Stations Are “Dead” Including Tsunami Hot Spots

June 10, 2009  FEDERAL AGENT SACKED FOR REPORTING ILLEGAL COUGAR KILLS — Upcoming Whistleblower Hearing to Air Corruption in Nevada U.S. Wildlife Services

June 9, 2009  INTERIOR SUED TO OBTAIN OIL ROYALTY REVENUE DATA — Feds Claim Prices Oil Company Paid for Royalty-In-Kind Oil Are Trade Secrets

June 8, 2009  PENNSYLVANIA HAZMAT RULES ROIL BOTH INDUSTRY AND WORKERS — DEP Employees Files Grievances over Higher Toxic Exposure with No Protection

June 4, 2009  SAFETY OF SHREDDED TIRES IN PLAYGROUNDS UNDER QUESTION — EPA Endorsed Use without Analyzing Toxic Potential but Belated Studies in Limbo

June 3, 2009  CRIST ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT INITIATIVE FIZZLES — Fewer Pollution Fines Assessed While More Uncollected in Across-the-Board Decline

June 2, 2009  WESTPORT WETLANDS WHISTLEBLOWERS WIN — Settlement Affirms Conservation Commissioners’ Right to Act Free from Politics

June 1, 2009  NEW JERSEY SLAPS GAG ORDER ON ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS — Embarrassing Chromium Study Prompts Management Review of Scientific Findings

May 20, 2009  LAWSUIT TO FORCE EPA TO REVEAL ITS RESEARCH PLANS — Bush-Era “Transformation” of EPA Science Arm Rests on New “Business Model”

May 14, 2009  TERESA CHAMBERS FINALLY TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS — Long Ordeal of “Honest Chief” Underscores Need to Reform Whistleblower Laws

May 13, 2009  OLD FAITHFUL VANDALS CAUGHT ON WEBCAM — “Geyser Gazers” Call in Violation in Yellowstone’s First Cyber-Enforcement Case

May 12, 2009  WHITE HOUSE GRAPPLES WITH HOW TO ENSURE SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY — New Whistleblower Protections and Other Rules Slated for President’s Desk by July

May 11, 2009  HIGHWAY AGENCY BREAKING FEDERAL LAWS ON DELAWARE REFUGE — DelDOT Committing Criminal Wildlife Offenses in Refuge Road Construction

May 7, 2009  COMMERCIAL AQUACULTURE IN WILDERNESS PUSHED BY KEY SENATOR — Point Reyes National Seashore Oyster Farm Dispute Opens Legal Can of Worms

May 5, 2009  NAVY SEEKS TO CONTINUE ILLEGAL MARINE DETONATIONS — Shifting Much of Underwater Explosives Operations from Puget Sound to San Diego

May 4, 2009  HIGH CHROMIUM DANGER KNOWN BY NEW JERSEY LEADERS SINCE 2007 — Lisa Jackson and DEP Brass Decided to Proceed As If New Data Did Not Exist

May 1, 2009  NATIONAL PARKS SHOULD STICK TO THEIR GUNS ON LEAD AMMO BAN — Diverse Coalition Urges Secretary Salazar to Meet Goal of Going Lead-Free by 2010

April 29, 2009  EPA RELEASES LIBBY CLEAN-UP REPORT — PEER Lawsuit Prompts Belated Disclosure of Major Unresolved Public Health Issues

April 27, 2009  BOCA RATON WATER CONTAMINATION TRIGGERS HEALTH SANCTIONS — One Whistleblower Restored as Extensive Probe of City Utility Operations Expands

April 24, 2009  REGIONAL WATER BOARD ORDERS CLEAN-UP OF RUBICON TRAIL — Iconic off-road trail has lost its way

April 23, 2009  KOFA COUGARS GET VERY SHORT STAY OF EXECUTION — Arizona Game Agency to Shoot GPS-Collared Mountain Lions on National Refuge

April 23, 2009  OBAMA TAPS BUSH APPOINTEE TO RUN SURFACE MINING AGENCY — Choice May Signal Administration Cave-In on Opposition to Mountain Top Removal

April 22, 2009  CHROMIUM FAR DEADLIER THAN EARLIER ASSESSMENTS INDICATE — Scores of Capped New Jersey Contaminated Sites Will Have to Be Re-Evaluated

April 21, 2009  SECRET EPA REPORT ON LIBBY CLEAN-UP SPARKS LAWSUIT — Early Test of Obama/Holder Doctrine on Freedom of Information Act Openness

April 20, 2009  PARK SERVICE PROTESTS BIG SOLAR EXPANSION IN NEVADA DESERT — National Parks Will Suffer from Water Withdrawals, Pollution and Habitat Loss

April 16, 2009   STATES STRENGTHEN WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION LAWS — States Moving Past Federal Government in Safeguarding Civil Servant Disclosures

April 15, 2009  DEADLY DOMESTIC SHEEP DISEASE THREATENS ENDANGERED SIERRA NEVADA BIGHORN — Feds Threatened With Legal Action to Close Grazing Allotments, Remedy Endangered Species Act Violations

April 14, 2009  PLIGHT OF WHISTLEBLOWERS SHOWS NO IMPROVEMENT — Federal Employees Face Blackballing and Career Derailment for Reporting Problems

April 8, 2009  CONSTITUTIONAL CLASH OVER DEFUNCT LAND EXCHANGE — Major Religious Establishment Case Rooted in Mojave Cross Deal

April 7, 2009  DEMOCRATS PRESSURE EPA TO GREEN-LIGHT PORK — Rep. Frank Says EPA Will Bar Anyone with a “Record of Hostility” to Pet Project

April 3, 2009  MICHIGAN GIVE FEDS NOTICE OF SURRENDERING WETLANDS PROGRAM — U.S. EPA and Army Corps to Begin Take-Over of State Permits and Enforcement

April 1, 2009  MAINE’S SEARS ISLAND PORT PLAN SLAMMED — Wetland Mitigation Bank Falls Flat as Gambit for Cargo Container Port

March 31, 2009  OIL & GAS DRILLING LABELED MAJOR THREAT TO EASTERN FORESTS — U.S. Forest Service Flying Blind on Drilling Impacts Yet Still Issues More Permits

March 26, 2009  NATIONAL PARK LEAD AMMO BAN IN DOUBT — NRA Goes Ballistic on Gun-Shy Obama Administration

March 25, 2009  LAKE OKEECHOBEE FLOW CUTOFF LOOMS — Lee County Decries Drinking Water Woes and Caloosahatchee Salinity

March 24, 2009  LAWSUIT ENDS GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS ON WILDLIFE REFUGE — Ruling on Delaware’s Prime Hook May Affect Farming on Scores of Other Refuges

March 24, 2009  BOCA RATON TAP WATER VIOLATIONS TRIGGER HEALTH PROBE — Chronic Low Pressure Problems Risk Microbial Contamination and Boil Orders

March 23, 2009  $100 MILLION STILL OWED FROM EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL — U.S. and Alaska Fail to Collect $92 Million Damage Claim Filed Back in 2006

March 16, 2009  FORMER GOVERNOR MILLIKEN SPEAKS UP TO SAVE WETLANDS PROGRAM — Iconic Republican Says Repeal of Wetlands Law “Not in the Interests of Michigan”

March 11, 2009  GAS DRILLING DIVIDES ANOTHER NATIONAL FOREST — Damage to Endangered Bat Caves and Toxic Pits Plague Monongahela NF

March 10, 2009  MICHIGAN TORPEDOES ITS OWN GREAT LAKES RESTORATION PLAN — Small Savings from Wetlands Repeal Would Be Swamped by Higher Flood Damages

March 5, 2009  AIR FORCE WIPING OUT RARE WILDLIFE OF GUAM — Rampant Poaching, Beach Paving and Human Intrusion Ruins Island Habitat

March 3, 2009  MICHIGAN THREATENS TO FUMBLE OBAMA GREAT LAKES INITIATIVE — State Plan to Abandon Wetlands Protection Undercuts New Great Lakes Effort

February 23, 2009  WHY THE OBAMA CLIMATE CHANGE PLAN WON’T WORK — Political Support for Cap & Trade Will Not Overcome Its Practical Shortcomings

February 19, 2009  FOREST SERVICE AT SEA ON STATUS OF VAST MINERAL RIGHTS — Wilderness and Experimental Forests in 34 Eastern States Open to Drilling

February 19, 2009  RIDERSHIP FOR STOUGHTON LINE FALLS AS COSTS RISE — Worst Eco-Alternative Rail Line Will Cost Massachusetts $800,000 per Commuter

February 17, 2009  HIKING AND PARK GROUPS URGE WITHDRAWAL OF MOUNTAIN BIKE PLAN — New Mountain Bicycle Trails Will Drive Out Other Users and Aggravate Backlog

February 12, 2009  HAWAII SEISMIC NETWORK STUCK BEHIND SCHEDULE — Promised Tsunami and Earthquake Monitoring System Less than Half Complete

February 10, 2009  NOAA SEA GRANT SEEKS TO DE-FUND SCIENTIST FOR ADVOCACY — Protest on Oil Industry Bias in Sea Grant Seen to “Cause Problems Nationally”

February 4, 2009  CALIFORNIA DESERT WINS NEW PROTECTION VIA FEINSTEIN AMENDMENT — Lion’s Share of CDCA Included in Landscape Conservation System by Omnibus Bill

January 29, 2009  DOW DIOXIN DEAL FLYING UNDER EPA RADAR — Contamination Case in Closed-Door Negotiations for “Non-Regulatory” Resolution

January 28, 2009  GRAND CANYON FLOW FIGHT BURSTS INTO THE OPEN — Early Test for Interior Secretary Salazar Pledges of Ethics and Scientific Integrity

January 26, 2009  LISA JACKSON SHOULD FULFILL EPA CONFIRMATION PROMISES NOW — Concrete, Enforceable Policies Needed to Back Scientific and Legal Reform Pledges

January 21, 2009  RADIATION EXPOSURE LIMITS WEAKENED IN DEPARTING BUSH MOVE — Huge Hikes in Allowable Radioactivity in Drinking Water, Air and Soil

January 19, 2009  FEDS INTERVENE TO SET FLORIDA WATER QUALITY STANDARDS — Rising Percentage of State Rivers, Lakes and Estuaries Impaired by Excess Nutrients

January 9, 2009  REPUBLICAN APPOINTEES REJECT CHAMBERS APPEAL — More Litigation in U.S. Park Police Case Unless Obama Administration Intervenes

January 7, 2009  CLIMATE SCIENTISTS FREED FROM AGENCY GAG ORDER — Commerce Prior Review Policy Does Not Apply to National Weather Service Workers

January 6, 2009  TEN QUESTIONS THE SENATE SHOULD ASK LISA JACKSON — Committee Urged to Scrutinize Jackson’s Actions and Decisions in New Jersey