Nextgov: Hanford Waste Contractors Refuse to Cooperate with IG

More coverage of Hanford contractors’ refusal to hand over thousands of documents requested by the Department of Energy (DOE), impeding the agency’s investigation into the termination of Hanford whistleblower and GAP client Donna Busche. She was fired in February after raising safety concerns at Hanford’s waste treatment plant.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight, sent a letter to the DOE requesting a briefing on the agency’s plans to address the contractors’ lack of cooperation. She also wants to know what options are available to hold the contractors accountable, including withholding of fees.

Related Article: Nuclear Power Industry News

Washington Post: Rick S. Piltz, Whistleblower on Federal Climate Policy, Dies at 71

Prominent coverage in the Washington Post of the late Rick Piltz and his whistleblowing story. In 2005, he left his senior post at the U.S. Global Change Research Program and provided documents to the New York Times that revealed the Bush administration’s editing of government research to downplay the threat of climate change. The day after the story broke, Philip Cooney, the White House official who made many of the edits, resigned to return to his former job as an oil industry lobbyist. Piltz went on to launch GAP’s Climate Science Watch and continued to monitor the government’s handling of climate change issues.

Key Quote: Mr. Piltz was a firebrand who often would speak out at public forums about the suppression of federal scientists and the U.S. government’s unwillingness to move swiftly enough to cut carbon emissions linked to climate change…

Even during his final days, while hooked up to an oxygen tank and on morphine, he insisted on discussing future policy priorities when friends dropped by for a farewell visit.

Related Article: Democracy Now (at 14:00 mark)

Associated Press: Jury Rules Against Texas Company in Guardrail Case

A federal jury ruled this week that a Texas manufacturer made false claims to regulators when it changed the design of highway guardrail end caps in a way that rendered them unsafe. The case was brought by a guardrail installer from Virginia.