Politico reported Monday: “A whistleblower group is calling on the EPA to fire its civil rights director in response to allegedly sexist and racist remarks he’s made involving ‘pink elephants’ and Rosa Parks.

“The National Whistleblowers Center sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Wednesday demanding the immediate dismissal of Rafael DeLeon, director of the agency’s Office of Civil Rights. …

“EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said Thursday that the agency will look into the allegations,and that Jackson is ‘deeply committed to issues of environmental justice, civil rights and a healthy workplace for all.’”

MARSHA COLEMAN-ADEBAYO, nofearcoalition at aol.com
RICHARD RENNER, rr at whistleblowers.org
Coleman-Adebayo was one of the subjects of the disparaging remarks. She has been described by Time Magazine as “a former EPA employee whose complaints of a ‘racially toxic’ environment there led to the signing of the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2001.” She is currently working on a book No Fear: A Whistleblower’s Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA.

Renner is legal director of the National Whistleblowers Center. He said today: “Dr. Coleman-Adebayo is an environmental whistleblower who raised concerns about the dangers of vanadium mining in South Africa. When her concerns focused on the role of U.S. companies in apartheid South Africa she became the victim of a hostile work environment. Ms. [Susan] Morris [another woman apparently disparaged by Mr. DeLeon] raised concerns about EPA’s compliance with the Civil Rights Act and then suffered a removal from her supervisory position.”

The National Whistleblowers Center recently wrote to EPA head Jackson: “The Office of Civil Rights under your administration has failed. As its name suggests, OCR should be at the forefront of eliminating discrimination and advancing civil rights and liberties within the Agency. Instead of taking positive actions to correct the endemic problems, your newly appointed director, Rafael DeLeon, has exemplified a continuation of the old mode of denying that any problems exist and defending management. The recent Deloitte Consultant Report on the civil rights program described OCR as essentially dysfunctional. Yet, the very man placed in the office to ‘fix it,’ is someone that numerous women have filed complaints against. During a recent MSPB hearing, under oath, Mr. DeLeon stated that he could not ‘remember’ how many complaints had been filed against him. …

“It has come to our attention that during a recent Agency-wide conference call, Mr. DeLeon bragged about actions taken against two senior female civil rights leaders, calling them ‘pink elephants.’ As you are no doubt aware, the term ‘pink elephant’ was popularized during the last presidential election. The pink elephant refers … disrespectfully to women who are characterized as pitbulls with lipstick.”

The NWC also stated: “A recent Deloitte Consultant report found that the EPA’s Office of Civil Rights was essentially dysfunctional. … Mr. DeLeon fired former EPA employee and NWC Board of Director’s Member Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo.”

The Deloitte Consultant report: “Evaluation of the EPA Office of Civil Rights” PDF

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

WILL POTTER, will at willpotter.com
Author of the new book “Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege,” Potter said today: “With Earth Day approaching, everyone is talking about ‘going green.’ But most people are unaware that anti-terrorism resources are being used to target environmentalists and animal rights activists. In Pennsylvania, a counter-terrorism firm was used to spy on people who attended film screenings of the documentary ‘Gasland.’ In California, activists have faced terrorism charges for chalking slogans on the sidewalk. And environmentalist Tim DeChristopher is now facing 10 years in prison for non-violently disrupting an oil and gas auction. Industry groups have created the term ‘eco-terrorism’ to demonize a group of people because of their political beliefs. And their campaigns have successfully turned these groups into the FBI’s ‘number one domestic terrorism threat.’”

Background: “‘Bogus Bidder’ Convicted Of Disrupting Energy Auction”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner speak at the National Press Club this afternoon. At 10 a.m. ET, a group of environmentalists and scientists are holding a conference call to expose what’s behind Pickens’ plans. For more information, contact: Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch

Food & Water Watch reports: “Congress’s upcoming consideration of the NAT GAS Act (H.R. 1380) … would funnel $5 billion in subsidies to the natural gas industry, while making the U.S. dependent on shale gas drilling for a generation to come. … The process of injecting shale rock with water to extract gas for energy, fracking has been shown to contaminate water supplies. To date, there have been more than 1,000 documented cases of water contamination near drilling sites around the country.”

A.R. INGRAFFEA
Ingraffea will participate in the conference call and is one of the Cornell University researchers who co-authored the recently-published study “Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations.” He said today: “We have a preliminary conclusion that it is possible that the life cycle of natural gas produces more greenhouse gases than the life cycle of other fossil fuels. … ‘Natural gas’ basically means methane.” See: “Study: Fracking May Be More Harmful Than Coal Use.” PDF of study

JOSH FOX
Fox made the film “Gaslands,” which has won numerous awards. He and will also be on the 10 a.m. conference call. He said today: “T. Boone Pickens is an just an oil baron turned gas baron trying to game the system into subsidizing his business interests. The Pickens plan does nothing to reduce emissions and would push unregulated toxic gas drilling into overdrive, further contaminating huge areas of the United States. His plan won’t work, not just because it is costly and toxic, but because there are literally millions of Americans living in the drill zones in 34 states who are not willing to have their health, water and air put at risk by drilling. I have seen the strength of the movement against gas drilling all across the United States, it is resilient, smart, democratic, non-violent and adamant in opposing this massive drilling plan.

“Pickens promotes his plan under the guise of clean energy and independence from foreign oil. But his plan is dirty as any fossil fuel and just means more dependence on T. Boone Pickens and his oil and gas buddies. Renewable energy and biofuels are a much better way to go. There are numerous plans that exist today that don’t include risking the permanent contamination of the water supply.”

For a map of all the areas that T. Boone Pickens would like to drill go to the homepage of gaslandthemovie.com

MAURA STEPHENS
Stephens is a co-founder of the Coalition to Protect New York. She just wrote the piece “Meet the Gas Geezers,” which traces the interests of both Pickens and Turner — whose talk together today is billed as a “debate” — regarding gas and water.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167