PEEReview

A Publication of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

The Browning of Green Power
T
Winter he challenge of climate change is sinking in
and with it comes demands for new low-carbon
2009 energy sources. Some states, and soon the fed-
eral government, will mandate renewable portfolios
– quotas for what percentage of power must be derived
from “green” sources.
Rather than planning for decentralized power produc-
tion, investors are pushing traditional utility-scale mo-
nopoly-model power-plants – called Big Solar. Today
there is a land rush in the California-Nevada desert,
almost all of which is in the hands of the U.S. Bureau
of Land Management. BLM now has some 200 ap-
plications to build solar plants on “free” federal land.
In California alone, there are 80 proposals for using Industrial Solar. This solar technology is both land and
water intensive.
700,000 acres (about the size of Rhode Island) with
another 40 applications Water demands may pose a bigger difficulty as the cur-
waiting in the wings. rent technology requires an estimated five acre feet for
each megawatt generated. Large scale power genera-
Land and Water
tion could suck desert rivers and aquifers dry, wiping
Two big eco-concerns
out all life that depends on them.
about Big Solar plans are
the amount of land and National Sacrifice Zones
water required. Many There would be a huge public outcry if coal or
solar power-plants will oil expansion entailed such large environmental
require several thou- consequences. But the reaction to Big Solar is muted.
sand acres of desert continued on page 12
habitat to be cleared and
essentially sterilized,
eliminating all wildlife Stimulus for Sprawl?
habitat, carbon capture By Tennessee PEER Director Barry Sulkin:
capacity, open space and
recreational values. In I have been following the news with mixed feel-
ings about plans to stimulate the economy with
addition, these remote
funding for construction projects. Having worked
plants will require con-
for the state environmental agency and EPA, as
struction of transmis-
well as in the private sector, I am concerned that
sion corridors for large
such efforts might get used - or misused - to sub-
vulnerable powerlines sidize and encourage sprawl and adverse environ-
through more sensitive mental consequences. It is one thing to repair in-
areas in order to bring ner city schools, bridges/roads and do brownfield
the power to market.
Pending Applications with More to Come. California continued on page 12
and Nevada are on the forefront of Big Solar.

X Guam Roots out Rare Wildlife, page 3

INSIDE X
X
Obama Transition News, page 6
Corps Activist Paddles Off into Sunset, page 11
 From the Executive Director

Does Obama Have an Environmental Policy?

A
visitor to the Obama/Biden transition website (www.
change.gov) looking for information about eco-policies
will not find an “agenda” for the environment. Instead,
the category is “Energy & Environment” and that ordering appears
intentional. Under the tab, there are repeated references to ending
our “addiction to foreign oil” and action items, such as –
• “Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology;” and
• “Prioritize the Construction of the Alaska Natural Gas
Pipeline.”
Other than climate change and reducing greenhouse gases, there is
no mention of any environmental priorities, such as safeguarding
clean water, reducing pollution threats to public health, conserving
wildlife and protecting vital habitat, averting collapse of marine
fisheries or ending abuse of public lands through practices ranging
from mountain top removal to overgrazing. Nothing...
The clear conclusion is that the agenda is “drill, baby, drill” com-
bined with even more coal mining but leavened with a drive for
renewables, fuel-efficient vehicles and millions of “Green Jobs”
– a sort of high-tech Dick Cheney approach in which underlying
ecological values exist only to fuel our economy and the fading
but fabled American lifestyle.
This unease is heightened by initial Obama appointees (see page
6) who focus on energy concerns and are mostly silent about any-
thing else. Nor is there a context from which progressive eco-
policies can be deduced. Both the primary and general elections
were devoid of environmental issues (with the exception of the
Yucca Mountain debate in Nevada). So, what the Obama adminis-
tration will actually do on a host of pressing environmental issues
remains an utter mystery.
To be clear, I am not denying that climate change is a central, and
perhaps top, environmental concern – but it is not the sole one.
My fear is that all other issues will serve as political trading chips
to win enactment of this single priority – a cap & trade system of
greenhouse gas controls. That is not the only change we need.
As momentous as the Obama victory is, there is no cause to sus-
pend scrutiny. Thousands of small but telling decisions on key
enforcement, regulation and assessment questions await the new
administration. PEER and the hopeful but anxious environmental
specialists we represent will, with your support, be there to weigh
each one.
— Jeff Ruch

Mission Statement
PEER protects public employees who protect our environment. We are a service organization for local, state, federal
and tribal law enforcement officers, scientists, land managers and other professionals dedicated to upholding
environmental laws and values. Through PEER, public servants can choose to work as “anonymous activists” so
that public agencies must confront the message, rather than the messenger.

PEER DC Headquarters Staff

PEER Refuge Keeper • P.O. Box 359 Aurora, NY 13026
tel: 315-364-7495 fax: 315-364-7810 email: refugekeeper@peer.org
California PEER • PO Box 4057, Georgetown, CA 95634
tel: 530-333-2545 fax: 530-333-1113 email: capeer@peer.org
Florida PEER • P.O. Box 14463 Tallahassee, FL 32317-4463
tel: 850-877-8097 fax: 850-942-5264 email: flpeer@peer.org
New England PEER • P.O. Box 574 North Easton, MA 02356
tel: 508-230-9933 fax: 508-230-2110 email: nepeer@peer.org
Rocky Mountain PEER • P.O. Box 461273, Denver, CO 80246
tel: 303-316-0809 fax: 303-322-4689 email: rmpeer@peer.org
Southwest PEER •738 N. 5th Ave., #210, Tucson AZ 85705
tel: 520-906-2159 email: swpeer@peer.org
Tennessee PEER • 4443 Pecan Valley Road Nashville, TN 37218
tel: 615-313-7066 email: tnpeer@peer.org
Alaska Forum for Environmental Responsibility
P.O. Box 188 Valdez, AK 99686 tel: 907-835-5460 fax: 907-835-5410
Executive Director • Jeff Ruch
Associate Director • Carol Goldberg
Legal • Paula Dinerstein & Adam Draper
Development • Angela Welsh
Membership • Debbie Davidson
Communications • Luke Eshleman
PEEReview Layout • Dana Serovy
PEER Board
Chair • Howard Wilshire (USGS, retired)
Vice-Chair • Magi Shapiro (Army Corps, retired)
Member • Frank Buono (National Park Service, retired)
Member • Louis Clark (G.A.P. President)
Member • Dr. Adam Finkel (former OSHA Executive)
PEEReview is the quarterly newslettter of
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
2000 P Street, NW • Suite 240 • Washington, D.C. 20036
tel: 202-265-7337 • fax: 202-265-4192
email: info@peer.org • website: http://www.peer.org

2 PEEReview

Guam – Trashing Paradise
T
he U.S. Air Force base on Guam is
contributing to the loss of the highly
endangered wildlife it is supposed to
protect, according to a whistleblower dis-
closure filed by PEER on behalf of Defense
Department environmental specialists.
Air Force officials are turning a blind eye
to poaching by base “volunteers” and are
pushing construction harmful to rare bats,
birds and sea turtles, among other native
species.
The formal disclosure requests that the
Department of Defense Inspector General
undertake an immediate review of wide-
spread environmental violations at the
base and the complicity of base command.
Among the problems cited are –
• Rampant poaching by base Volun-
teer Conservation Officers, including
illegal trapping of coconut crabs;
• Half of the endangered fruit bats (a
local delicacy) have recently disap-
peared. A flock of extremely rare
Mariana crows has been virtually
wiped out by hunters. Yet, in both
cases, base command refused to take
recommended protective steps; and
• Paving beaches and stripping vege-
tation used by nesting endangered
hawksbill turtles and threatened
green sea turtles. Among the ques-
tionable shoreline projects pushed
by base officers are dog trails to
Photo Credit Cary Wien
Marianna Fruit Bat. Colonies of bats are
disappearing from the base.
Winter 2009
Department of Defense
Habitat Haircut. Andersen AFB determined
that this clean-up of WWII munitions would
have no impacts on natural resources without
surveying for endangered wildlife or engaging
in required consultation with the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service. Nor was there any plan for
re-vegetation or other mitigation.
allow their pets to run unleashed on
sensitive wildlife tracts.
“The Air Force program for protecting
Guam’s natural resources has utterly broken
down” stated PEER Staff Counsel Adam
Draper. “Officers are treating sensitive
wildlife habitat like their personal beach
resort.”
Andersen AFB occupies the northern end of
the island of Guam. Many of the problems
involve unrestricted hunting by local volun-
teers who are allowed to enter and leave the
base without their vehicles being searched,
in violation of security rules.
“Andersen is so remote that there is a sense
that rules do not apply on the island,” Drap-
er added. “Unless Defense agencies hold
officers to account for environmental viola-
tions, the vast trove of natural resources in
military custody can never be secure.”
Hawksbill Turtle. Beach nesting areas are
being paved over by base officials without prior
ecological reviews.
Puget Sound
Detonations Muffled
Faced with a PEER lawsuit, the U.S.
Navy has finally agreed to dramati-
cally scale back its use of explosives
in the ecologically-sensitive waters of
Puget Sound. As detailed in the last
issue, PEER and Wild Fish Conser-
vancy sued the Navy to stop needless
damage to protected marine life from
the Navy’s underwater demolitions
training program.
A key part of the suit demands that the
Navy follow the guidance of the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service for minimizing
harm to federally protected species
such as bull trout and marbled mur-
relets. The Navy has resisted that
guidance for nearly eight years but
now the Navy agreed to significantly
reduce impacts of its operations,
including –
• Cutting detonation locations
down from four locations to only
one;
• Charges will be limited to 2.5
pound packets of C-4 explosives
and there will be only six under-
water and four surface blasts a
year, down from as many as 60
detonations a year using up to
20-pound charges; and
• The Navy will maintain a 500-
meter zone free from any marine
mammals and implement a proto-
col for monitoring.
These restrictions are in place only
through December 31, 2009, how-
ever. Long-term safeguards will likely
be settled in the pending PEER suit.
“We are happy that the Navy has de-
cided to begin down the path toward
legal compliance and we will escort
them into full compliance,” stated
PEER Staff Counsel Adam Draper,
whose organization responded to
frustrated civilian agency scientists
who had been unable to persuade the
Navy to adopt even minimal biological
safeguards. “This agreement dem-
onstrates that any supposed conflict
between protecting Puget Sound and
protecting national security is utterly
specious.”
3
 National Park Service
Opening Park Backcountry to Mountain Bikes
I
n yet another last-minute lame duck
move, the Bush administration has
moved to jettison a two-decade-old
regulation that protects parks in favor of
opening thousands of miles of backcoun-
try trails to mountain bicycles. The current
rule says backcountry trails may be opened
to bikes only by adopting a park-specific
regulation following public review and
comment. The Bush administration wants
to limit special regulation only for yet-to-
be-constructed trails. As a consequence of
this change –
• Nearly 8 million acres of recom-
mended or proposed wilderness
lands in approximately 30 parks
would be opened up to mountain
bikes, which would be prohibited
only in officially designated wilder-
ness (the Wilderness Act of 1964
prohibits bicycles). Heavy bike
Well Deserved Award
Profile in Courage. Following his
whistleblower settlement, McCarthy
became the Managing Attorney for the
Oklahoma City Legal Aid Services.
Former PEER client Robert McCar-
thy has received the Fern Holland
Courageous Lawyer Award from the
Oklahoma State Bar Association for
courageous performance “in a man-
ner befitting the highest ideals of our
profession” for his role in testifying
against his own agency, the Interior
Department, in a major Indian trust
fund case, an act of whistleblowing
detailed in PEEReview Fall ’07.
4 PEEReview
traffic may impede these lands from
ever reaching permanent wilderness
status; and
• Parks will be pressured to build
high-speed singletrack trails de-
signed for racers.
“The pending bicycle proposal is an ex-
ample of special interest intrusion into
national park management,” said PEER
Board member Frank Buono, a former
NPS manager, noting the plan also reverses
a commitment made by former Park Ser-
vice Director Mainella to PEER in an Oc-
tober 2005 letter that parks will not open
recommended or proposed wilderness to
bikes. “While we support mountain biking
or other activities that get park visitors out
of their cars, it is important that one park
use does not preclude other uses.” More-
over, biking erodes narrow backcountry Mountain Biker-in-Chief. Assistant Interior
Secretary Lyle Laverty ordered the National
trails, adding to the current NPS $8 billion
Park Service (NPS) to ease its existing
maintenance backlog – one of the reasons
mountain biking rules before President Bush
why the Park Service adopted the current
Reagan-era rule.
(above), an avid mountain biker, leaves office,
according to an internal document obtained by
PEER.
In addition to PEER, national park, hiker
and other outdoor recreation groups are tion, as the public comment period closes
mobilizing to oppose this change whose on February 17th, after Bush has pedaled
fate will be up to the Obama administra- out of office.
Musical Chiefs at U.S. Park Police
In 2004, the Bush administration removed U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers,
whom it selected two years earlier following a nationwide search, in response to an
interview she gave to The Washington Post on staff shortages. Earlier this year, Cham-
bers, now a police chief in suburban Maryland, won a federal appeals court decision
challenging her ouster as illegal and unwarranted. Represented by PEER, Chief Cham-
bers’ case was remanded for further litigation which is still pending.
Ironically, in March 2008 her successor, Dwight Pettiford was stripped of his duties fol-
lowing remarks he made to the Post in an article about security deficits on the National
Mall (saying “They’re still standing” when asked about monument security). Pettiford
was reassigned to write a response to the Inspector General evaluation which prompted
the Post article but promptly went on personal leave and never reported for his new
duties. In late October, Interior quietly advertized a vacancy for the Chief position, ac-
cepting applications until November 5th, the day after the election. When asked what
happened to the current chief, a spokesperson said Pettiford had accepted a hereto-
fore non-existent job to be in charge of “icon security” – a most curious choice given
that concern about icon security was why he was removed. Then, on Christmas Eve,
the Park Service announced that it had named Salvatore Lauro, the acting chief who
stepped in for Pettiford, as permanent. Meanwhile, Pettiford retired.
PEER will ask the Obama administration to end the litigation, and the game of musical
chairs, by restoring Teresa Chambers as Chief of the U.S. Park Police.

BP’s Slap on the Wrist
T
he criminal prosecution of the larg-
est oil spill in the history of Alaska’s
North Slope was improperly blunt-
ed, according to the lead criminal investi-
gator for the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. As a result of prematurely ending
the investigation, British Petroleum settled
the case for modest fines and its executives
escaped personal criminal liability. PEER
is representing Scott West, EPA Special
Agent-in-Charge for the case, in forcing a
review by the U.S. Justice Department and
the incoming Congress.
In March 2006, a major pipeline leak went
undetected for days, spewing oil on the
Alaskan tundra. The spill sparked both
congressional hearings and a federal-state
investigation. Despite the outcry, in a set-
tlement announced in late October 2007,
BP agreed to one misdemeanor charge car-
rying three years probation and a total of
only $20 million in penalties (a $12 million
fine with $8 million in restitution and com-
pensatory payments).
The settlement sprang from a sudden move
in August 2007 by Justice to wrap up the
case, over West’s objections. That precipi-
tous shutdown meant –
• Felony charges would not be pursued
and the agreement foreclosed any fu-
ture prosecutions. No BP executive
faced any criminal culpability for a
spill second in size only to the Exxon
Valdez;
More Than Oops. The largest oil spill in
the history of Alaska’s North Slope occurred
because British Petroleum ignored its own
workers’ warnings by neglecting critical
maintenance to cut costs.
Winter 2009
U.S. Department of Justice
House influence inducing a quick resolu-
tion on terms favorable to BP. “Workplace
fatalities and pollution blowouts cannot
be sanctioned so lightly that they are an
acceptable cost of doing business,” stated
PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “This
case merits a full autopsy.”
Wacky Wind-Up
at OSC
After the White House asked to meet
with him, U.S. Special Counsel Scott
Bloch sensed trouble. Already the
subject of a federal grand jury probe
for obstructing justice involving a
Portrait of Frustration. Scott West has served PEER-generated investigation {see
as an EPA criminal investigator for the past 18 “The Special-est Counsel Ever” Sum-
years, mostly as Special Agent-in-Charge of mer ‘08}, Bloch was (as they say)
agency offices in Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco “embattled.”
and Washington, DC. He retired in November.
Although appointed by Bush, twice
• The fines were only a fraction of what before the White House had asked
was legally required under the Alterna- Bloch to resign but he refused. The
position of Special Counsel is invest-
tive Fines Act. EPA had calculated the
ed by Congress with independence
appropriate fines as several times what such that the only other path for re-
Justice offered BP, up to $672 million; moval before the end of the five-year
and term was by the President for good
cause. Worried that President Bush
• The BP Alaska settlement is part of
would remove him for cause, Bloch
a pattern of “lowball” corporate pub- decided to preemptively resign as
lic safety and pollution settlements of January 5, 2009, the day his term
engineered by the Bush Justice De- ends.
partment. In an October 2007 settle-
On Wednesday, October 22, two
ment package, Justice asked for only
days after Bloch sent his resignation
$50 million in fines for the BP Texas
letter, the White House gave him the
refinery explosion in which 15 people option of resigning immediately or
died – penalties not carrying strong being fired. The White House then
deterrent value for a big multi-national dispatched armed guards to the OSC
corporation. to bar Bloch from returning and is-
sued orders that OSC staff not return
West said: “Never have I had a significant Bloch’s phone calls or communicate
environmental criminal case shut down by with him. Confronted with this de-
the political arm of the Department of Jus- mand, Bloch re-resigned, thus end-
tice, nor have I had a case declined by the ing with fitting oddity the crazy ten-
Department of Justice before I had been ure of one of the all-time worst Bush
fully able to investigate the case. This is appointees.
unprecedented in my experience.”
The Special Counsel is supposed to
protect federal whistleblowers and
By pressing for an investigation, PEER is
hoping to generate tougher Justice Depart- PEER is asking President Obama
to pick an experienced (and sane)
ment policies for prosecutions of corporate
advocate.
criminals, as well as to determine the White
5
 Obama Transition
Initial Obama Eco-Appointees Disappoint
America’s dangerous depen-
dence on foreign oil.” He
characterized his envisioned
role, somewhat oddly, “as
an integral part of his team
as we take the moon shot on
energy independence”.
Salazar made only passing
reference to protecting natu-
ral resources and did not
mention the need for con-
serving lands and habitats or
You Shall Know Him by His Props. Interior Secretary
any of the myriad of other
duties at Interior, an agency
Kempthorne has warmly praised the selection of Secretary-
designate Salazar (in cowboy hat). which controls one of every
five acres of U.S. soil. He
several Superfund sites.
In one of her first acts, Jackson appointed
the lobbyist for the New Jersey Builders
Association as her Assistant Commissioner
to oversee critical water quality and land
use permits. Jackson later relaxed pollu-
tion enforcement through policies more
business-friendly than those under Gov.
Christie Whitman. Relying on closed-door
deal-making with regulated industry ex-
ecutives and lobbyists, Jackson produced
decisions, such as –
• Invoking “executive privilege” to
block a request filed by PEER for a
copy of her schedule and meeting

P
resident-elect Obama’s first two big also did not raise the parade of recent scan- sign-in logs;
environmental appointees dashed dals plaguing Interior. • Pushing to privatize pollution con-
some expectations that his adminis- trol through outsourcing of toxic
tration would bring needed changes. Both EPA clean-ups to industry;
the picks for Interior Secretary and Admin- The pick for EPA was even more distress-
istrator of the Environmental Protection ing. The track record compiled by Lisa P. • Abolishing the DEP Division of
Agency have compelling life histories but Jackson as Commissioner of the New Jer- Science & Research after it pro-
questionable records of public service. sey Department of Environmental Protec- duced damning reports on continu-
tion gives great cause for concern. DEP ing contamination following state-
Interior employees describe Jackson as employing supervised clean-ups.
At Interior, the naming of Senator Ken a highly politicized approach to decision-
“In our experience, Lisa Jackson is cut out
Salazar (D-CO) as Secretary-designate making that resulted in suppression of sci-
of the same professional cloth as the cur-
was greeted with a huge sigh of relief from entific information, issuance of gag orders
rent administrator, Stephen Johnson – a
drilling, mining and agri-business interests. and threats against professional staff mem-
pliant technocrat who will follow orders,”
Salazar has a long history as an advocate bers who dared to voice concerns. These
stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.
for livestock and water interests – known reports include –
“If past is prologue, one cannot reasonably
as someone who never met a water project
• Cases in which public health was expect meaningful change if she heads
that he did not like.
endangered due to DEP malfeasance, EPA.”
As state Attorney General, he was asso- including one case involving
ciated with disastrous sweetheart deals a day-care center in a former
Photo credit: Bill Wolfe

involving the infamous gold mining op- thermometer factory in which

eration at Summitville which dumped mas-
sive amounts of cyanide into the Alamosa
River, poisoning it for miles downstream.
As a U.S. Senator, his chief green creden-
tial has been his opposition to oil and gas
leasing by BLM on the Roan Plateau. But
Salazar was late to join the cause, moved
finally by the vehement local opposition of
his constituents.
DEP failed to warn parents
or workers for months about
mercury contamination;
• Rising levels of water pol-
lution, contamination of
drinking water supplies and
poisoning of wildlife with no
cogent state response; and

His anti-drilling stances may be very lim-
ited. In his short statement at the Decem-
ber 17th press conference, Salazar stressed
“As the Nominee to be Secretary of the
Interior, I will do all I can to help reduce
• The state hazardous waste
clean-up program under Ms.
Jackson was so mismanaged Spreading the New Jersey Experience. Lisa Jackson has
been sharply criticized by her former staff in the state DEP
that the Bush EPA had to for a pattern of politically-induced relaxations of public health
step in and assume control of and environmental standards.

6 PEEReview

Lame Duck Soup
I
n its final days, the Bush administration
is pushing through an array of “mid-
night regulations” in attempt to dictate
policies past its term. Despite a directive
from White House Chief of Staff Joshua
Bolten stating that “Except in extraordinary
circumstances…final regulations should be
issued no later than November 1, 2008,”
on topics ranging from mountain bikes to
birth control, federal agencies are rewriting
rules with no such finding of extraordinary
circumstances.
Many of the last-minute proposed regula-
tions concentrate on weakening environ-
mental protections, including, most notably,
pending regulations that would –
• Legitimize destructive coal mining
practices called mountain-top remov-
al in which vast heaps of debris are
dumped in rivers;
• Hinder any new standards for pro-
tecting workers from harmful occupa-
tional exposures; and
• Eliminate reviews to protect endan-
gered species from ill-considered fed-
eral actions.
Beyond the environment, other pending
changes would broaden the ability of FBI
agents to conduct domestic surveillance on
citizens; allow medical providers to refuse
contraceptive and other reproductive-relat-
ed services on religious grounds; and limit
advice that AIDS prevention organizations
could give women on preventing infection.
In addition to formal regulations, Bush ap-
pointees are rewriting rule interpretations
and other internal protocols which guide
Midnight Regulations
finalize anti-environmental rules and aban-
doned efforts that would have 1) under-
mined air pollution standards for cleaning
up older, dirty power-plants; 2) relaxed rules
against smog-producing plants obscuring
national park vistas; and 3) weakened safe-
guards against overfishing already depleted
ocean stocks by ceding more control to the
fishing industry over harvest limits.
What Now?
The remaining proposed rules are proceed-
ing largely because the outgoing 110th
Congress did not complete its normal bud-
get process, thus forfeiting the means to
check lame duck Bush initiatives. Instead
of producing detailed appropriations bills,
Congress passed a continuing resolution
which allows the Bush administration to
reshape programs without constraint.
With the Obama inauguration and the con-
vening of the 11th Session of Congress,
these rules may be stopped by –
• President Obama imposing a freeze
on the Federal Register, thus stopping
any new regulation that was not final-
ized on January 20th. An example of
a not-final regulation is the proposed
rule to allow mountain biking on na-
tional park backcountry trails. A simi-
lar freeze was ordered by President
G.W. Bush immediately after his inau-
guration in 2001;
• Under the Congressional Review
Act, the new Congress can veto any of
the midnight regulations with a simple
majority floor vote in both houses, a
vote that is not subject to filibuster or
Running Out the Clock. The outgoing
administration is pushing through a raft of last
minute rule changes to weaken environmental
and public health protections.
amendment. Congress has used this
option only once before, at the advent
of the first Bush term, in vetoing work-
place ergonomic standards promulgat-
ed by the Labor Department at the tail
end of the Clinton administration; and
• Several of the new regulations will be
the subject of lawsuits brought by con-
servation and other groups on grounds
ranging from conflict with underlying
statutes to failure to do proper reviews
as required by the National Environ-
mental Policy Act. Defending these
lawsuits will be the Obama Justice
Department which may be inclined to
agree to invalidate challenged rules.
One key will be how much time Congress
is willing to spend to free the new president
from a welter of unwanted rules. Another
is the extent to which the new Obama ad-
ministration will exert itself to rollback the
lame duck Bush legacy. However this epi-
sode concludes, it will be a relief to finally
close the books on the Bush-Cheney era.

agency actions. In one instance exposed
by PEER, top Bush officials forbade wild-
life agencies from analyzing the effects of
greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired
power-plants or any other project on spe-
cies and habitat. These directives are de-
signed to block the Endangered Species
Act (ESA) from being used as a legal tool
for addressing global warming.
One welcome development is that in some
instances Bush officials ran out of time to
Thank You!
Special thanks this quarter to the Airlie Foundation, the Atlan-
tic Philanthropies, The Robert J. and Helen H. Glaser Family
Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, New-Land Foundation,
Norcross Wildlife Foundation, Normandie Foundation, Park
Foundation, Patagonia, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, The
Seattle Foundation and The Winky Foundation. Special thanks
are in order to Marlow and Barbara Baar, Roger & Ann Hauck,
Ralph Nader and all of our supporters for their generosity.

Winter 2009 7
 Off-Road Vehicles
Red Rock Roller Derby
C
alifornia’s seemingly endless budget crisis may claim a
crown jewel. Red Rock Canyon State Park was deeded
over to California by an act of Congress in 1994 to pre-
vent it from being ripped up by off-road vehicles, as the surround-
ing Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands have been. Now
a cash-strapped state Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)
is facing financial pressure to open the park to ORVs in order to
qualify for Off Highway Vehicle funding, a revenue source flush
with cash thanks to generous transfers from the state’s fuel tax.
Red Rock Canyon, and its rare desert riparian areas, is sandwiched
between Jawbone Canyon and Dove Springs Canyon, two areas
designated by BLM for ORV use years ago that are both now large-
ly denuded moonscapes, the result of thousands of ORVs racing up
and down hill slopes and across desert vegetation. Off-roaders now
want access to Red Rock, which was transferred to the state “to
provide maximum protection for the area’s scenic and scientific
values”, in the language of the Desert Protection Act.
Red Rock Canyon. This spectacularly beautiful state park in the Mohave
Unfortunately, some in DPR seem willing to sacrifice this beau- Desert’s El Paso Mountains hosts wildlife and plants sustained by its des-
ert springs. In addition to being California’s richest fossil trove, Red Rock
tiful area to ORV destruction. In the General Plan Amendment Canyon has numerous cultural sites, both historic and prehistoric.
process initiated this fall, PEER is heading up an effort to ensure
Red Rock does not meet the same fate as Dove Springs and Jaw- sides by ORV areas and more than 800 miles of roads. There is no
bone Canyon. California PEER Coordinator Karen Schambach good reason why this natural treasure should be squandered as yet
commented, “Red Rock Canyon is already surrounded on three another ORV play area.”

States Step into ORV Vacuum Utah Cultural Toll

Utah is one of our richest states in an archaeological sense –
and this heritage is most at risk from off-road vehicle abuses on
public land. The U.S. Forest Service has erected signs directing
off-roaders to petroglyphs and other rock art, only to see price-
less artifacts removed or vandalized. Its sister agency, the BLM,
is proposing new ORV trails without conducting archaeological
surveys.

PEER will petition Obama appointees to take steps to protect

both cultural and natural resources in setting ORV policies.

It Took a Village. Gov. Janet Napolitano at the signing ceremony

for SB1167 witnessed by, among others, Southwest PEER Director
Daniel Patterson, to the left of the American Flag in the back row.
With federal inaction at the growing toll wreaked on
public lands by off-road vehicle abuse, a number of
states have stepped up to pass their own protections.
Arizona, where ORV traffic has more than tripled, has
enacted new user fees to fund off-road law enforcement
and restoration of damaged trails and lands. Southwest
PEER Director Daniel Patterson will oversee implemen-
tation of the new law as both an activist and as a newly-
elected state representative for the Tucson area.
Life’s a Beach
Throughout the country, public meetings on off-road vehicle
routing have become ordeals, often punctuated with threats and
other unpleasantness from ORV-user groups. Meetings over
bans on dune driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore are
unfortunately typical. The sessions have grown so contentious
that the National Park Service has had to cancel some and move
others out of town. “Some of the members of the [negotiated
rule-making] committee have received threats…I have seen it
with my own eyes,” said an agency spokesperson. The local
beach buggy group president dismissed concerns, “Let’s face
it, you’re all big girls and boys. Stiffen up your shoulders and
go to work.” Beach driving advocates have even made a video
featuring protesters with signs bearing this endearing slogan:
“Save a Bird, Kill an Island”.

8 PEEReview
 Tennessee
Sub-Prime Wetlands
T
he housing crisis was fueled by investors bundling together
lots of questionable loans and selling the whole package to
other investors. Well, something similar has been going on
with wetland mitigations. Tennessee PEER found an excellent ex-
ample in the Chattanooga area on a cove of Chickamauga Lake.
In 2002 a developer won permits from the Corps of Engineers and
the state to build a boat dock for a proposed subdivision. The work
included dredging wetlands at the head of the cove. The impact
was to be mitigated by creating new wetlands elsewhere on the
site, with an additional acre of wetlands on another property a few
miles away.
All work was to be completed in 2007, but a site visit revealed that
while the wetland had been bulldozed, no boat dock or subdivi- Hurry, Hurry, Hurry. Auction billboard promotes lakefront property that
sion were ever built. As for the off-site mitigation, no wetland had remains in limbo.
been created and the area was used as a dirt mine. The lakefront
original developer and the new owner of the lakefront property
property had been sold to some investors, who in turn were about
who had called off the auction after we contacted them about the
to auction it off.
violations. PEER is now in litigation to enforce the permits and
It appeared that neither the Corps nor state had ever followed up to see that mitigation and compensation for the destruction and vio-
enforce the permit requirements. So, following a notice of intent lations takes place. Our “Yes, Net Loss” campaign is proceeding
to sue and an on-site meeting, we filed a citizen suit against the one bundle at a time.

Desecration by Neglect
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agen-
cy is needlessly destroying irreplaceable
artifacts at hundreds of toxic clean-up sites
across the country, according to a com-
plaint filed by PEER with the EPA Office
of Inspector General. The complaint de-
tails how EPA and its contractors routinely
shrug off required site surveys before they
begin to blast or excavate, destroying sig-
nificant historic and prehistoric cultural re-
sources in the process.
The PEER complaint focuses on one recent
Superfund clean-up of an old mine on the
Elem Indian Colony reservation in north-
ern California’s Lake County. In that 2006
operation, EPA –
Comings & Goings
PEER is delighted to welcome
Luke Eshleman to our DC office
to coordinate our work with media
and foundations. Luke comes to
us from AmeriCorps Vista where
he was posted at the Boston Res-
cue Mission, which we think may
have been good prep for PEER.
• Began work without any site sur-
vey to determine whether it had
historic or cultural significance;
• Ignored a complaint from tribal
officials; and
• Destroyed more than $50 million
in archaeological treasures
“These are not emergency operations
that preclude consultation and study
before opening up a trench,” stated
PEER Counsel Adam Draper, who Heedless Heritage Havoc. Tribal monitor recovers
drafted the complaint. “There is no human bone unearthed by the EPA excavators at Elem
reason why EPA, of all agencies, can- Indian Colony reservation.
not obey basic resource protection
laws.” In addition to the Elem site,
the PEER complaint points to similar viola- ask questions later.” PEER is asking the
tions ranging from Oklahoma to the island Inspector General to review what happened
of Saipan. In some instances, EPA has dis- on the Elem Indian Colony, identify the re-
turbed human remains as well as historic sponsible agency officials and determine
and prehistoric resources. whether compensation should be paid;
survey other EPA Superfund operations to
“We believe that what EPA did in Califor- develop an authoritative estimate as to how
nia is not an isolated incident but is part of widespread agency noncompliance is with
a pattern that is taking place in hundreds of historic preservation laws and its own Su-
locations across the country,” Draper added. perfund regulations; and recommend steps
“EPA digs first and does not even bother to that would minimize EPA violations.

Winter 2009 9
 PEER Perspective
The End of an Error
' The Bush Domestic Cabinet
In the run-up to the 2006 election, the Bush cabinet
was dispatched on campaign-related trips to boost
embattled Republicans. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman,
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and even EPA Admin-
istrator Stephen (“Mr. Excitement”) Johnson made a total
of 326 appearances for 99 GOP candidates. But an analysis
of election results found that the VIP visits, often with pork
in hand, did little good. In fact, the most frequent cabinet
drop-ins correlated with the largest margins of defeat for the
intended beneficiary.
&
Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.
After touring damage inflicted by off-road vehicle
abuse in Moab, the Republican governor proclaimed,
“It’s an abomination; it’s an embarrassment.” Huntsman then
ordered a state crackdown on ORV violations: “You penalize
them…give them tickets, you charge them, you fine them
which is what we’re going to be doing…” He also recruited
a top motocross racer to record a public service message to
convey “a plea to stay on the trail and don’t screw up our
beautiful state.”
'
Utah BLM Director Selma Sierra
Sierra acts like she is striving to be the first Bureau
of Land Management state director sacked after the
Inauguration. She has been aggressively pushing huge oil &
gas lease sales even on the doorsteps of Arches National Park,
Dinosaur National Monument and other park units (some of
which she was forced to withdraw). After an enviro-activist
monkey-wrenched the lease sales by submitting phony bids,
she pushed to have him criminally prosecuted. Blowing off
congressional requests for delay, Sierra dismissed critics for
“sowing confusion and misunderstanding” about her efforts to
build an “essential bridge to that future energy independence”
though, at the moment, those efforts more resemble a tunnel
to a future as an oil lobbyist.
&
Air Force Colonel David Belote
Sprawl outside of Las Vegas may doom Nellis Air
Force Base and that has Col. Belote worried: “If
there would be too much development to fly over, the reason
for Nellis would be almost gone” he wrote, referring to the
40,000 training sorties flown annually over the Upper Las
Vegas Wash, also known as the Conservation Transfer Area.
Col. Belote is asking the BLM to keep the lands closed for
development “to ensure the sustainment of both critical habitat
10
and military air space, creating a win-win compatible future”
– a refreshing (albeit stilted) change from the usual military
attitude that natural habitat is an encroachment upon, and thus
a threat to, national security.
'
Paul Souza, Vero Beach Office
Supervisor, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Last year we gave Souza a downward digit for
removing 900,000 acres from the designated critical habitat
for the Florida panther. Now his office has issued a report
that there is not enough habitat left to recover the critically
endangered cat in South Florida, although his agency has not
objected to a single new development in panther country since
1993. The few intrepid panthers venturing to establish colo-
nies in outlying areas have ended up as road-kill while USFW
Service plans to relocate cats to North or Central Florida or
even Georgia and Arkansas are still pipe dreams. Souza calls
it “the greatest species conservation challenge in the country”
– made even more so by wildlife managers like him.
&
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)
After Halliburton alum Dick Cheney inserted an
exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act for
hydraulic fracturing fluids in the 2005 Energy Act (over the
objections of EPA staff), Rep. DeGette has led a charge to
reverse that action. The “frac” fluids are a chemical cocktail
injected deep into rock formations to free pockets of natural
gas. The exemption means that aquifers and groundwater may
receive unlimited amounts of frac fluids – the exact chemical
make-up of which is a trade secret. DeGette’s 55-word bill
is picking up support and will be heard in 2009.
'
U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
One of the few bright spots in the George W. Bush
environmental legacy is his creation of new marine
sanctuaries in the Pacific. A plan to establish a similar sanc-
tuary in the Gulf of Mexico in an area known as the “islands
in the Stream” has been scotched due to Vitter’s opposition:
“Given our nation’s growing energy concerns and the gulf’s
important contribution to our nation’s oil and gas industry, it
would have been irresponsible of us to further compound those
issues by closing off areas that may hold oil or natural gas
reserves.” So, although no one has found oil or gas reserves
in the area, the Vitter Doctrine holds that sanctuaries should
be established only in areas utterly devoid of petrochemical
value. No wonder his state is sinking into the ungrateful
Gulf.
PEEReview

Kayaking for Clean Water
T
he case of a U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers biologist whose activism
has helped shape national policy has
drawn to a close. Heather Wylie had faced
a proposed 30-day suspension for kayak-
ing the Los Angeles River on her own time
as part of a public protest demonstration
against Corps policies declaring the river
non-navigable and thereby weakening
Clean Water Act protections.
Pursuant to a settlement negotiated with
PEER attorneys who represented Ms. Wy-
lie, the Corps has authorized the release of
the following statement:
“Ms. Wylie has reached an agreement
with the Army Corps of Engineers that
resolves all outstanding issues between
them. The agreement does not admit
any liability or wrongdoing on the part
of either party.”
Ms. Wylie is now preparing to go to law
school to become an environmental attor-
Suit to Block Outsourcing of Whole Refuges and Parks
A Bush administration deal giving op-
erational control over the National Bison
Range to a Montana tribe for the next three
years is illegal, according to a federal law-
suit filed by PEER. This precedent-setting
arrangement has national repercussions, as
another 18 refuges, constituting 80% of the
entire National Wildlife Refuge System, are
eligible for similar tribal agreements. So
are 57 National Parks, including parks such
as Redwood, Glacier, Voyageurs, Olympic
and the Cape Cod Seashore.
Plaintiffs bringing the suit with PEER fea-
ture four former Bison Range refuge man-
agers whose tenures span 40 years, a for-
mer Chief of the Refuge System and Nat
Reed, former Assistant Interior Secretary
during the Nixon and Ford administrations,
as well as a current Bison Range employee
whose job is being displaced. The suit cites
violations of federal laws which –
• Bar outsourcing “inherently federal
functions” as well as require that op-
erational control of all refuges remain
Winter 2009
Army Corps of Engineers
ney and may soon find herself on the other
side of the table facing the Corps. She
said:
“I am delighted with this resolution
and am looking forward to the next
adventure in my life. I had a great
time kayaking the LA River and we
were successful at stopping the Corps
from rolling back Clean Water Act Paddling for Change. Heather Wylie, seen
safeguards on the LA and Santa Cruz kayaking the L.A. River in protest of her own
Rivers systems. I urge every public agency’s policies, sparked a free speech
controversy about the ability of government
servant that knows of betrayal of the workers to demonstrate on their own time.
public trust to contact PEER and ac-
tively bring attention to these issues issue is how much development and diver-
– we must hold our public agencies sion can take place on rivers throughout the
accountable in order to bring about arid West.
change.”
“The problems that Heather Wylie risked
At the urging of Wylie and others, the U.S. her career to address point to the need for
Environmental Protection Agency inter- the new Congress to act expeditiously to
vened this summer to, in effect, overturn strengthen the Clean Water Act,” stated
Army Corps determinations severely weak- PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, refer-
ening legal protections for both the L.A. ring to legislation by Rep. Henry Waxman
and the Santa Cruz River (in Arizona). At (D-CA) and James Oberstar (D-MN).
with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; well as reported mistreatment of FWS em-
ployees by the CSKT {See PEEReview,
• Ensure public access to financial re-
Winter ‘07}.
cords maintained by federal contrac-
tors and mandate a full review of en- “Ceding control over a national refuge re-
vironmental impacts of major federal quires an act of Congress and cannot legally
actions; and be given away in a closed-door deal,” Din-
erstein added. “This arrangement seems
• Shield federal employees from job
designed to settle a political debt rather
loss at the direction of outside groups
than enhance the refuge mission. In fact,
and guarantee return rights once the
the agreement itself concedes that wildlife-
agreement ends.
related services will likely suffer.”
“The National Bison Range agreement im-
properly contracts out operation of a major
federal facility without adequate oversight
to protect taxpayers,” stated PEER Senior
Counsel Paula Dinerstein. Negotiated
with top Interior Department officials, the
deal transfers all jobs, except for a Refuge
Manager and deputy, to the Confederated
Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). It fol-
lows a more limited 2005 agreement which
the Fish & Wildlife Service summarily re- National Bison Range. Called the crown jewel
scinded in 2006 for a host of performance- of the National Wildlife Refuge System, it is one
of the nation’s oldest refuges and celebrated its
related issues on the part of the Tribe, as centennial this past May.
11
 Bureau of Land Management
Green Power
continued from page 1
In fact, several prominent environmental-
ists and green groups welcome converting
desert public lands for solar production,
with some going so far as to favor suspend-
ing environmental reviews for solar plants,
precluding the exploration of alternatives
and mitigation. After all, the popular im-
pression is that solar power is necessarily
green, thus marginalizing those who voice
concerns as impolitic obstructionists.
One area where the split is playing out is
in legislative attempts to codify BLM’s
National Landscape Conservation System
(NLCS) while excluding most of what
some call its crown jewel, the California
Desert Conservation Area. This proposed
exclusion of more than six millions acres
– an area bigger than New Jersey – would
help clear the path for large-scale industrial
and energy developments (with Big Solar at
the head of the line) in the California des-
ert. PEER is leading the effort to keep the
California Desert Conservation Area, which
includes three major American deserts: the
Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin, within
the the network of monuments that would
be the NLCS.
Alternatives Exist
One by-product of Western sprawl is vast
acreage of vacant rooftops absorbing solar
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
2000 P Street, NW, Suite 240
Washington, DC 20036
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radiation. If a significant portion of these
billions of square feet could be harnessed,
it would push solar from the least to the
most significant U.S. power source. Alone
among the utilities, Southern California
Edison is pursuing a major rooftop solar in-
stallation designed to generate 250 million
megawatts. San Diego Gas & Electric and
Duke Energy Corp. in North Carolina are
also both considering rooftop plans.
PEER is also urging utilities to look to pri-
vate lands, such as degraded cotton and al-
falfa farms, and that BLM limit Big Solar
power-plants to desert areas that have al-
ready been despoiled, such as toxic waste
sites and abandoned mines. Co-locating so-
lar plants with already-compromised lands
not only minimizes consumption of prime,
pristine habitat but also reduces the main-
tenance burden on BLM of keeping these
damaged lands in exclusion.
Falling oil prices may have given a brief
respite to BLM which is under pressure to
process permits even though the agency
lacks a plan. Southwest PEER Director
Daniel Patterson, who formerly worked
for BLM, will be working with concerned
BLM staff in leading our efforts to craft a
national policy that keeps solar power as
green as possible.
Sprawl
continued from page 1
re-development, but quite another to extend
sewers and roads into the countryside to be
used for new construction. All development
is not good.
One bright side is that sprawl and runaway
development are no longer seen as viable to
many decision makers. Nothing has worked
to contain this like the current market, and
let’s not accidently re-start the destruction
in the name of helping the country. If there
is going to be such a federal program, is
there also going to be a way to prevent sub-
sidizing sprawl, bad projects, and rural land
conversion? We don’t want a repeat of the
construction grants and loans programs of
EPA and the states in the 1980’s – and to
some extent continuing today – that, in the
name of providing sewage treatment, also
opened up untold acres to new development
and associated impacts, and basically fed
the development frenzy that is now a part
of the problem.
I have heard almost nothing from the news
or political officials, including the incom-
ing administration, and fear that the one
bright side to the slowing economy – stop-
ping sprawl and overdevelopment – may get
reversed. I hope the new administration,
well-meaning politicians, and watch-dog
groups don’t overlook this issue before it is
too late.
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