Environment, Energy & Climate Change
The Environment, Energy & Climate Change program is designed to protect whistleblowers and support accountability in the environmental realm, emphasizing the deeply intertwined nature of environmental protection, energy production, and global climate change. While we focus considerable attention on environmental impacts related to the production, transportation, and consumption of fossil fuels – particularly as it relates to climate impacts – discreet topics like chemical pollution and nuclear safety are also well within our purview. We pay close attention to the interconnectivity among energy, climate, and the environment.
We provide effective, results-oriented legal representation to those with the courage to stand up to unlawful and unethical behavior in the public or private sector. Our clients have included government employees, corporate whistleblowers, and private citizens empowered to expose threats to environment and public health. The current patchwork of whistleblower laws offers varying degrees of protection and requires expertise to navigate.
The EE&CC team often works in collaboration with other Government Accountability Project programs, such as National Security, Education, Public Health, our International program, and our Food Integrity Campaign (FIC). We bring expertise in environmental law and policy to cross-cutting topics, from chemical pollution to climate impacts. Climate Science & Policy Watch (CSPW) – our flagship initiative founded in 2005 by federal whistleblower Rick Piltz – holds public officials accountable for responsibly using climate science research in policymaking with integrity. Through this variety of partners, allies, and colleagues, we are able to address a broad spectrum of issues where environment and accountability intersect.
Focus Areas
We are built to be flexible, timely, and capable of handling whistleblower cases relating to a broad spectrum of topics and issue areas. Our cases deal with whistleblower disclosures revealing waste, fraud, or abuse of power or resources, or wrongdoing resulting in threats to human health or the environment. We also explore topics where accountability and transparency issues intersect with environmental impacts where whistleblower disclosures may serve to provide effective oversight that is otherwise lacking.
Our areas of focus include:
- Nuclear Safety
- Offshore Oil Drilling
- Major Oil Spills and Oil Spill Response
- Oil and Gas Pipelines and Fracking
- Breaches of Scientific Integrity
- Rejection of Scientific Findings in Policymaking
- Retaliatory Actions Against Climate Scientists
Whistleblower Profiles
Whistleblowers play an essential role in the environmental movement and in shaping public policy and corporate practices.
Our Work
Resources
Speaking Up for Science: A Guide to Whistleblowing for Federal Employees and Contractors (2018)
Science whistleblowers have historically functioned as one of the most powerful vehicles for exposing environmental, health, and safety risks, research censorship, gross mismanagement, and other abuses that undermine the missions of federal agencies to protect the public interest. This free guide seeks to empower and protect federal employees of conscience by offering guidance about their legal rights to blow the whistle and practical advice for making disclosures about wrongdoing in the safest and most effective ways possible.
Protecting Science at Federal Agencies: How Congress Can Help (2018)
This report was developed by a coalition of prominent watchdog and advocacy groups – including Government Accountability Project – and chronicles a litany of recent attacks on federal science and scientists by Trump administration officials intent on undermining the critical regulatory role government plays in safeguarding public health and safety.
Promoting and Sustaining the National Climate Assessment After a Period of Suppression and Political Influence (2016)
This report analyzes the suppression of the first National Climate Assessment during the George W. Bush administration. By detailing how officials systematically censored sensitive climate change information, it presents a strong case for supporting and defending the USGCRP and the climate change impacts assessment process.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster was the largest U.S. oil spill in history. Evidence, including accounts from dozens of impacted residents and volunteer cleanup workers, suggests that cleanup efforts were more destructive to human health and the environment than the spill itself.
Our initial report from 2013 has led to two follow-up reports, through which it can be seen that the human and environmental health impacts associated with oil and chemical dispersants from the disaster are ongoing:
Media
Press Release: EPA Obliged to Update Oil-Spill Contingency Plan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 5, 2020 EPA Obliged to Update Oil-Spill Contingency Plan On June 2, San Francisco Federal District Court ordered an end to federal inaction on dangerous dispersants used to “clean up” offshore oil spills. The court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a legal obligation to update its National Contingency Plan (NCP) for oil-spill cleanup. Environmentalists and whistleblowers have won the first major legal battle in the effort to protect citizens and the environment from chemical reactions from dispersants that are far worse than the original oil spills. The lawsuit, Earth Island Institute, [...]
Notes from Underground Series: The Deregulation Crusade: A Pattern of Ignoring Warnings
Part 2: Coal, Fracking, Pruitt, and NEPA "We know that it is impossible for humans to flourish without clean air, land, and water. We also know that a strong, market-driven economy is essential to protecting these resources." President Donald Trump, April 22, 2018 For Earth Day 2018, President Trump declared in effect that environmental regulation is unnecessary, because the market will protect the environment. In fact, environmental regulations are put in place precisely because extractive [...]
Notes from Underground (& Underwater): The Deregulation Crusade: A Pattern of Ignoring Warnings
Part 1: Leaks, Spills, & Explosions, On Land & Offshore The agenda of the current administration puts fossil fuel revenue above health, safety, and science. Tax breaks and public-land giveaways are just parts of this administration’s efforts to increase production of and dependence on coal, oil, and natural gas. Indiscriminate deregulation threatens the safety of consumers, industry workers, and the general public, but perhaps even more disconcerting is the war being waged on the very [...]
Notes from Underground: Fracking: The Source of the Problem
Fights over pipeline construction are not new, but they have become central of late to the debate between safe, sustainable energy and extractive, polluting, fossil-fuel reliance. While many factors contribute to the increased focus on pipelines, chief among them is the boom in natural gas production in the US, brought about via developments in fracking techniques, technology, and deregulation, which has led to a demand for new pipeline construction. Along with the boom has come [...]