Idaho

Whistleblower to force EPA chief to testify
EPA officials appeal order to reinstate Hugh Kaufman

Benjamin Shors
Staff writer

Coeur d'Alene _ An Environmental Protection Agency investigator says he will depose Administrator Christie Whitman as part of an ongoing labor dispute.

On Monday, EPA officials in Washington, D.C., appealed the Department of Labor's order to reinstate Hugh Kaufman, an outspoken EPA whistleblower.

As part of the discovery process, Kaufman said he will question Whitman under oath about her husband's financial ties to a cleanup in Colorado, as well as her decision to transfer the office of the national ombudsman.

"She'll be forced to testify," Kaufman said Monday night.

"There will be a lot of fireworks," he said. "There's always fireworks when the head of an agency has to be interviewed about violating the law."

Last week, a federal investigation said there was no basis to Kaufman's claims, and that Whitman excused herself from decisions involving her husband's financial investments.

Kaufman and former ombudsman Bob Martin won the support of citizens living near Superfund sites across the country, but annoyed EPA officials with their unabashed criticism of the agency's work. Earlier this year, they released a letter accusing regional EPA officials of fraud, harassment and endangering the public health at the Bunker Hill Superfund site near Kellogg.

Phone calls to Whitman's spokesman were not returned Monday. An EPA spokeswoman confirmed that the agency had requested a hearing on the order to reinstate Kaufman.

An EPA counsel, speaking on background, said it was unlikely that Kaufman would be able to question Whitman under oath, unless the case proceeded to federal court.

In 2000, Kaufman was barred from working on cases for the EPA's ombudsman office, which investigates citizen complaints against the agency. Earlier this month, a Department of Labor report concluded that EPA heads removed Kaufman from his job for being "too effective" and reinstated his duties in the ombudsman's office.

No hearing date has been set.

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