FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For further information, please contact:
Tom Devine (202)408-0034 ext. 124;
Mick Andersen (202) 408-0034, x.143/136;
or Dana Gold (206) 292-2850
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman has been barred from abolishing her agency’s post of National Ombudsman Monday (January 14), as she had planned, due to a temporary restraining order issued by a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C. late Friday.
Judge Richard W. Roberts granted a reprieve for EPA National Ombudsman Robert Martin, after finding a substantial likelihood that Ombudsman Martin’s challenge of the reassignment will prevail in a lawsuit in which he charges that the action is in retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights. Judge Roberts further ruled that EPA would not be harmed by delaying Ombudsman Martin’s reassignment to new, unspecified duties.
The dispute began when Ombudsman Martin challenged an alleged conflict of interest by Mrs. Whitman, whose husband, John, is a top investment manager for Citigroup, which owns or controls toxic waste sites in Denver, Colorado and Throop, Pennsylvania. The Monday reassignment was delayed until at least February 26, when the court will hold a hearing on Ombudsman Martin’s request for a preliminary injunction. The order blocks Mrs. Whitman from killing his ongoing investigation and citizen hearings before the proposed deals become final. On Thursday, January 10, the agency announced that Ombudsman Martin no longer had any defined duties and would be stripped of his title “The fait accompli is thwarted,” explained Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblower support group which represents Martin and joined the lawsuit out of concern over a possible chilling effect on other EPA experts.
The judge issued the restraining order after grilling government attorneys on EPA’s contention that Ombudsman Martin was reassigned to strengthen his office’s independence, as recommended last year by the congressional General Accounting Office (GAO). The move would have placed Ombudsman Martin at the orders of the agency’s Office of Inspector General (IG), itself wracked by conflict of interest controversies, and an office whose leadership the agency good government representative has repeatedly charged has obstructed his probes. His removal from his post would have stripped the Ombudsman of the power to act without the IG’s advance permission, as well as to lose control over his budget, information, hiring and selection of cases to investigate.
“The only thing Mr. Martin would have kept is his salary,” commented GAP’s Devine, who added, “This dispute goes well beyond typical bureaucratic corruption, doubletalk and repression. It could have life and death consequences.”
The toxic waste sites hold dioxin, PCB’s, lead, acid and radioactive materials just blocks from residential areas, schools and city recreation facilities, and within range of local water supplies.
The order also permits Ombudsman Martin to keep investigating possible health hazards faced by New York City firefighters cleaning up the World Trade Center and by neighboring residents. Despite EPA’s reassurances, evidence is mounting of systematic respiratory and other medical threats from asbestos and related pollution released in the September 11 attacks.
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