FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For further information, contact:
Jack Sheridan, GAP Seattle Office (206) 292-2850,
or D.C. Office (202 )408-0034 Tom Devine (ext. 124) or Martin Edwin Andersen (ext. 143)
The National Ombudsman of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) have filed a motion in Federal Court to prevent EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman from dissolving the post of EPA National Ombudsman. The move came after the Ombudsman identified an ongoing substantial financial relationship between Mrs. Whitman's husband and the polluters at the Shattuck Superfund site in Colorado and the Marjol Battery site in Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Whitman's husband, John, is a managing partner of a capital venture firm controlled by Citigroup and has held several posts at Citicorp, a Citigroup subsidiary. Citigroup owns the Shattuck site and has a billion-dollar partnership arrangement with the contractor at Marjol. Plans for Ombudsman Martin's removal from his post were announced after he expressed concern that clean up at the toxic waste sites were inadequate to deal with the scope of the contamination. Citigroup recently entered into an agreement to pay just one-fifth of at least $35 million needed to clean up Shattuck, with total estimates placed at $100 million.
The EPA National Ombudsman, Robert J. Martin, has been public advocate at EPA since 1991. In that position he investigates complaints from the public about EPA's handling of its clean-up programs around the country. GAP is a non-profit public interest law firm specializing in whistleblower protection and the strengthening of First Amendment protections for federal employees.
The lawsuit asks for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia to stop Mrs.Whitman from dissolving Ombudsman Martin's duties and transferring him to the EPA's Office of the Inspector General (IG).
The plaintiffs are also seeking an order to stop the removal of all Ombudsman Martin's files so that he would be prevented from completing his investigation on the Shattuck and Marjol Battery cases, in which Mrs. Whitman has a conflict of interest.
Ombudsman Martin has won plaudits from citizens, industry and members of Congress for his vigorous investigations and disclosures related to Superfund and dozens of hazardous sites around the country. More than two dozens members of Congress from both major parties have written to Mrs. Whitman requesting her to cease and desist until Congress can hold hearings when it reconvenes later this month.
According to a sworn affidavit from Assistant Inspector General Gary L. Johnson, EPA plans to move Ombudsman Martin's files and dissolve his authority on Monday, January 14.
"This is far worse than a gag order," charged GAP legal director Tom Devine. "It is an effective death sentence for the concept of an independent citizens' watchdog at EPA. The interests of Mrs. Whitman's husband have defeated the public interest, to the extent of condemning Denver, Colorado and Throop, Pennsylvania citizens to centuries of toxic poisons in their city's back yard."
In April 2000, a year before she was chosen as EPA administrator, Mrs. Whitman was criticized in The New York Times, the Washington Post, and in the daily press throughout New Jersey, where she was governor, for her potential conflict of interest involving the business dealings of her husband.
On Wednesday, Ombudsman Martin announced that his office was investigating EPA's handling of the investigation of environmental conditions faced by rescue workers and clean-up crews at ground zero at the World Trade Center. According to a January 8 article in the Washington Post, an epidemic of respiratory illness in area workers and residents has raised significant questions about toxic exposure at the site from contaminants such as asbestos, radiation, mercury and other metals. After EPA performed air pollution testing at ground zero, Mrs. Whitman told rescue workers and people living at the site: "I am glad to reassure the people of New York … that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink. The good news of the residents of New York is that the air, while smoky, is not dangerous."
One of the largest insurance companies handling medical claims from people working or living at the site is Travelers Insurance, which is owned by Citigroup.
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