All Things Whistleblower: A GAP Blog

Unsafe Nuclear Plants to be Included in Climate Bill?

The Obama administration and leading Democrats are trying to convince other lawmakers (prominent Republicans) to support the wide-ranging climate bill by offering incentives for nuclear power plant construction. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said that America should "not stop at three or four, but should get tens of [new] reactors.”

This frightens environmentalists, and for good reason. In the United States, construction of a nuclear plant has not begun for more than 30 years. Nuclear firms say their technology is better and safer than ever, recent examples worldwide show constant delays and overboard extra costs.

More important, however, is the effect on the environment. The Hanford facility in Washington state, which GAP focuses on for years, was turned into an environmental remediation project in the 1980s, but that area still has untold amounts of problems, including widespread contamination in nearby rivers and the environment. Sickened citizens from nearby have won court cases in recent years from the operators of the plants. Long-term effects from a multitude of other Hanford issues remain unknown.

Also, a plan floated by the Bush administration for several years which involved building new nuclear plants and importing/recycling other countries’ spent fuel – GNEP, or the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership – has been repeatedly dismissed in several reports, including two by GAP (click here and here to read).

Nuclear technology is even close to being, and maybe will never be, completely safe. Congress should turn its attention to clean and safe alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar.

Nuclear Whistleblower Successful

In a rare victory for whistleblower rights, a painter won his whistleblower lawsuit five years after being fired by his contractor bosses for reporting a possible safety concern at a nuclear power plant in Alabama. The Department of Labor Administrative Review Board ordered that the case be returned to the administrative law judge, who will determine how much compensation the whistleblower should receive. GAP Senior Counsel Richard Condit put the decision in perspective:  

“An attorney with the Washington-based Government Accountability Project, which promotes whistleblowing to reveal government and corporate wrongdoing, said it was "somewhat unusual" for the Labor Department board to order compensation after ruling for a whistleblower.

‘With respect to this particular board, we have noticed over the last seven to eight years it has not been kind to employees," said Richard Condit, senior counsel with the organization.’”

The company could appeal the decision to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., or try to settle with Speegle, Condit said.

Obama and Nukes

President Obama will preside over a meeting of the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council today, where he is expected to call for a vote on a draft resolution that would halt production of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium and would strengthen the global Non-Proliferation Treaty. The President has secured support from China and Russia, important allies who had both hesitated to back the resolution.

With the resolution, the President will clearly contrast his policies with those of former President George W. Bush, who generally did not have confidence in arms treaties. However, it became clear during President Obama’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly yesterday that some Bush era policies will remain: particularly those regarding Iran’s nuclear aspirations and the Middle East peace process. Obama called for accountability on the behalf of Iran and North Korea if they continued to pursue nuclear weapons, but did say he would remain committed to pursuing diplomatic solutions first. The President also claimed to have re-engaged the United Nations, after many in the U.N. believed the former administration isolated itself from the rest of the assembly.

Critics of the nuclear resolution believe it will likely not be ratified quickly, nor will it be enforceable. Supporters believe that if the resolution, along with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which was defeated in the Senate in 1999, can be ratified now by the United States, other nations will quickly follow suit.

WWYW Episode 12 - The Future of American Energy; Blowing the Whistle on "Club Fed"

This is the page to leave comments about Episode 12 of Whistle Where You Work, GAP’s television program. To view the show online, visit www.whistleblowertv.org. Here’s a description of the program:

First, we lead off with a panel discussion on the future of American energy. President Obama has laid out three priorities for his stimulus plans - health care, education and energy. His focus on alternative energy as a way of combating climate change, ending our reliance on oil, and creating a tremendous amount of renewable energy jobs represents a clear break from the past eight years. But how sharp a break is it really? And what role does the Obama administration see nuclear power and clean coal playing in our energy mix? Guests include Robert Alvarez of the Institute for Policy Studies, and Joseph Romm or the Center for American Progress and ClimateProgress.org.

Then, we sit down with Randy Taylor, who gained prominence as a whistleblower in 1991, when his disclosure sparked the closing of a Bermuda Naval Air Station - a “Club Fed” for naval brass and a few prominent politicians. This segment was filmed during the annual National Whistleblower Assembly, held in Washington D.C. in March 2009.

This episode was filmed in early March 2009

Another Nut Contaminated with Salmonella; Worker Compensation; Stimulus Fraud Hotline

In the latest national food safety concern, a California processor has recalled one million pounds of pistachio nuts over salmonella contamination. Hopefully this won’t turn into a wide-ranging, long-lasting problem like peanuts did, but these things do tend to start small…

Other than that, a few good stories today detailing the state of worker compensation claims (and struggles) in America. First, this NYT piece details problems with the process of that state’s Workers’ Compensation Board. An 18-month examination by the paper found that the system “struggles to treat workers with due speed, protect employers from fraud or mute tensions in the workplace.” The Times found that, “after reviewing cases and interviewing participants, virtually none of whom defended the system as efficient.”

Also, ProPublica details the story of a recently deceased man who fought for years to receive compensation under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation program for his brain cancer (stemming from work at a nuclear site), but failed in his six-year quest before succumbing. Colorado Senator Mark Udall is trying to improve the dysfunctional system.

Lastly, the GAO has created a hotline for citizens to report “waste, fraud and mismanagement of government stimulus funds.” This is very, very good.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Good Decision

Eleven Hanford “pipefitters,” who have been in legal proceedings against a federal contractor for being fired after refusing to test known unsafe equipment at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, have had their multi-million dollar victory from 2005 upheld by the Washington State Supreme Court. This ruling effectively ends an 11-year legal struggle for justice. From the Tri-City Herald:

In 2005, a Benton County jury found that the pipefitters had been wrongfully dismissed from their jobs at the Hanford nuclear reservation. The pipefitters said they were targeted as whistleblowers.

Hanford contractor Fluor Federal Services appealed the decision on several grounds, including what it believed were procedural errors in the case and a state Supreme Court ruling made since the jury verdict.

Eight state Supreme Court justices agreed in the appeal decision that the jury award was proper and that any errors in evidence presented at trial, including testimony of other witnesses who claimed they were retaliated against by Fluor, were harmless.

The ninth justice considering the case, Richard Sanders, said the decision should have gone further. In an opinion that dissented in part, he said the pipefitters also should have been awarded out-of-pocket costs, such as attorney travel costs, which amounted to 3 percent of the total award.

"The decision is an important vindication for the right of workers to raise important safety and health concerns at a federal nuclear site," attorney Tom Carpenter said in a statement. He helped pipefitters through the Government Accountability Project in the early years of the dispute.

"It vindicates their interests and the interest of the public, and will resonate throughout the Hanford site for decades to come," Carpenter said.

This is a wonderful and just decision. Click here to read the entire case background.

-- Dylan Blaylock  

Hanford Cleanup Needs Funding

An editorial in today’s Washington Post by the governor and junior senator of Washington state implores Congress to grant additional funding for cleaning up the Hanford site – the nation’s most contaminated federal nuclear reservation.

A new nonprofit, Hanford Challenge, recently spun off from GAP and is dedicated to improving the cleanup at Hanford.

The editorial outlines the subpar state of nuclear cleanup in this country while the Bush administration is advocating for an expansion of nuclear power. GAP teamed up with other groups last year to release a very critical report on GNEP, or the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. That program proposes to expand nuclear energy usage worldwide, and allows for other countries to ship nuclear waste to America.

-- Dylan Blaylock