August 18, 2025 

Initial FOIA Findings Suggest EPA Efforts to Surveil and Discredit Environmental Whistleblower 

WASHINGTON—Recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents released to Government Accountability Project reveal that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) engaged in a systematic ongoing effort to track and discredit independent scientist and Government Accountability Project whistleblower client, Scott Smith. These FOIA documents reveal a chilling pattern of EPA surveillance and retaliation against Smith, who uncovered significant dioxin elevations in East Palestine following the Norfolk Southern train derailment and illegal open burn of five vinyl chloride train cars and whose work has been validated by dozens of other independent scientists. 

Within a week of Smith’s first media interview on dioxin elevations in East Palestine and within 72 hours of Smith’s Fox News March 2023 interviewdiscussing his proven tests of the air, water, soil, and homes in East Palestine that showed contamination far beyond typical baseline levels seen in unaffected communities, EPA officials began collecting his personal information and tracking his movements in East Palestine. The agency monitored his social media posts—even circulating photos of his dog—and distributed his whereabouts to over 50 EPA employees. When Smith offered to share his test results in reciprocity with EPA and provided detailed explanations of his methodology in a July 27, 2023, email titled “Clearing Up Confusion,” the agency never responded. 

A detailed timeline prepared by Smith shows that EPA circulated Smith’s social media posts, conference presentations, and town hall remarks across multiple regions. Just five days after receiving Smith’s comprehensive “Clearing Up Confusion” memo—which defended the validity of his EPA-certified lab’s dioxin testing and criticized EPA’s limited TEQ-only approach—EPA Region 7 characterized his findings as “confusing,” appearing to dismiss the reported 600,000 ppt dioxin result as “not an accurate measure of risk,” and suggesting it could be explained by traffic emissions. 

“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Scott Smith has exceptional expertise in environmental sampling. People, especially EPA, should be listening very carefully to what he has to say,” a retired career EPA Superfund program official and Government Accountability Project anonymous whistleblower said. “I’m disgusted that my former colleagues at EPA could stoop so low as to ridicule and harass someone like Scott Smith, who has done so much to protect so many contaminated communities including East Palestine. It’s shameful that EPA appears to be disrespecting, harassing, and bullying independent experts like Smith who have been selflessly devoting so much of their time and talent to assist disadvantaged communities obtain environmental justice. EPA should be using tax dollars to protect human health and the environment, rather than trying to unfairly smear and discredit people who develop important data that raises important doubts about EPA’s self–serving narrative.” 

Government Accountability Project Senior Environmental Officer Lesley Pacey said, “This was not public engagement—it was a PR firewall. At a time when families in East Palestine were breathing toxic smoke and demanding answers, EPA was seemingly engineering a coordinated narrative and monitoring its critics like dissidents. Scott Smith was uncovering the truth about dioxins and other contaminants in East Palestine, but instead of working with him to protect public health, EPA was concerned with burying the truth and silencing the messenger.” 

Government Accountability Project continues to monitor the situation as more information becomes available. 

Contact: press@whistleblower.org 

Government Accountability Project 

Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is the leading international whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government, corporate, and international organization accountability. Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. 

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