Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared a "national alert to all EPA facilities" due to "demonstrations directed toward EPA offices by an activist group known as Mountain Justice Summer" protesting the agency's anemic posture on mountain top removal coal mining. The all-employee alert warns that these activists "should be considered a potential threat".
Actress Daryl Hannah was among the protestors, so the concern was understandable.
Unfortunately, a pattern of defensiveness may have already sunk in with the new leaders at EPA. Instead of inviting the protesters in to talk, the agency simply retreats to the bunker. Meanwhile, to tout its supposed transparency, EPA posts the most opaque calendars designed not to reveal what is going on. Here's a sample:
Senior Managers Schedules
* Senior Manager Schedules
* 06/29/2009: Lisa P. Jackson
Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency
Working Schedule for: 06/29/2009
TIME EVENT
12:15-12:25 PM Meeting with Administration Officials
EPA Headquarters
Closed Press
5:15-6:00 PM Meeting with Administration Officials
EPA Headquarters
Closed Press
Help PEER press for the change we need - but have yet to see.
Sincerely,
Jeff Ruch
Executive Director
P.S. Read a critique of the Waxman-Markey bill by EPA specialists who will be charged with enforcing it.
P.P.S. Big victory in the Chambers case: In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the claim of former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers that records exonerating her may have been illegally destroyed by Bush administration officials. The ruling also sets a precedent for using the Privacy Act to redress improper shredding of personnel files and other record. Take a look at the decision.
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