ENVIRONMENT LAWS MAY NOT BLUNT HIGH COURT WHISTLEBLOWER RULING

The recent Supreme Court opinion rejecting First Amendment claims for public employees who act as whistleblowers combined with ongoing Bush administration efforts to eliminate special whistleblower protections contained in environmental statutes may discourage EPA staff from discussing misconduct with supervisors, observers say. They note that although many environmental statutes are designed to shield EPA employees from retaliation, those protections may be inadequate in light of the ongoing assaults. One source points out that statutes such as the Clean Air Act...