PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY (PEER)
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: September 4, 2006
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337
BUSH DECLARES ECO-WHISTLEBLOWER LAW VOID FOR EPA EMPLOYEES — Stealth Repeal of Clean Water Act
Protections by Invoking “Sovereign Immunity”
Washington, DC — The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower protections for federal
workers under the Clean Water Act, according to legal documents released today by Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result of an opinion issued by a unit within the Office of the Attorney General,
federal workers will have little protection from official retaliation for reporting water pollution enforcement breakdowns,
manipulations of science or cleanup failures.
These documents are linked on the website
Read the unpublished opinion of the Attorney General’s Office of Legal Counsel
View the EPA’s brief advocating sovereign immunity from all environmental statutes
Look at the PEER brief against the Bush sovereign immunity claim
See how Labor Secretary Elaine Chao invited the reopening of the sovereign immunity issue