Climate Whistleblowers

In 1999, James Bobreski, a process control technician contracted at the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater treatment plant, raised concerns about faulty chlorine gas alarms and the unlawful storage of over 100 tons of liquid chlorine. After attempting to notify supervisors and urging them to make the necessary repairs, he was retaliated against and fired for his whistleblowing.

As reported in the Washington Post, the court ruled that he had ...

Joseph Carson made disclosures to the Department of Energy regarding specific dangers to public health and safety. In many years of trying, including three appeals to the US Supreme Court, Carson’s whistleblower disclosures involving US Office of Special Counsel and US Merit Systems Protection Board remain unresolved, with no determination as to whether he had “reasonable belief” in them.

Read: The Whistleblower Who Won’t Go Away.

Dr. Coleman-Adebayo sacrificed her career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to speak out against vanadium poisoning in South Africa. She is the author of, NO FEAR: A Whistleblower’s Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at EPA. NO FEAR tells the story of vanadium miners in South Africa and Dr. Coleman-Adebayo’s efforts to protect them. Although she won a historic jury verdict, the EPA continued its retaliation.

Dr. Coleman-Adebayo led the charge against racial discrimination and whistleblower retaliation ...

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee, Paul Jayko, discovered that public schools in Marion, Ohio were being built on a former Army toxic waste dump site. After investigating the high occurrence of cancer in the area, Jayko concluded there was a “strong potential for human health risk” and recommended that the Ohio EPA immediately conduct further environmental tests. After making this recommendation, Jayko found that his responsibilities were gradually removed, culminating in a notice ...

Will Kramer was an occupational health and safety consultant when he documented deeply disturbing conditions and improper handling of hazardous waste at several plants that recondition industrial plastic containers and steel drums. The plants are owned by a publicly traded multinational corporation, Greif Inc.

Kramer reported potential health, safety, environmental and securities violations to government regulators, members of Congress and the news media after the plants failed to address these issues. Workers inside ...

Dr. David Lewis, an internationally renowned microbiologist and former senior research microbiologist with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Research & Development, found that the agricultural use of processed sewage sludge promoted by EPA programs was linked to illnesses and deaths, prompting the EPA officials who developed the Agency’s sewage sludge regulations to shut down his research. Nevertheless, he campaigned to force the EPA to apply appropriate health and safety standards to sewage ...

In 1988, a journeyman electrician working for Halliburton Brown & Root (HB&R), Joe Macktal, reported serious safety defects at the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant. Lawyers at HB&R coerced Macktal into signing “hush money” settlement non-disclosure agreements barring him from reporting his concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

In September 1988, Macktal willfully violated the terms of his settlement, exposing it to the corporate world and challenging its legality. In order to raise ...

Dr. William Marcus, a Senior Science Advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), lost his position after he documented that the Office of Drinking Water-approved and EPA-backed practice of adding fluoride to the nation’s drinking water supplies could lead to an increase in cancer rates in 1990.

Attorneys working with NWC conducted extensive discovery into the case and learned of improper communications between chemical company attorneys and the EPA managers, including direct documentation that ...

Michael McCray blew the whistle on $40 million of waste, fraud and abuse during the Clinton Administration at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He subsequently engaged in judicial reform efforts by filing a judicial complaint that contributed to the early of retirement of disgraced Federal District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson (U.S. vs. Microsoft); and he was the National Spokesman for the ACORN 8, which reported a multi-million embezzlement at the Association of Community Organizations for ...

William Sanjour, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee, was one of the lead whistleblowers in the Reagan Administration EPA scandals and advocated for public access to environmental information. Supported by whistleblower lawyers at the National Whistleblower Center in addition to his attorneys in Sanjour v. EPA, he challenged the rules restricting EPA workers’ right to speak to environmental community groups. In its decision, the court ordered a nationwide injunction upholding the First Amendment ...