A senior Environmental Protection Agency official told staff members last month not to talk to congressional investigators, the agency’s inspector general or the media.
In an e-mail, Robbi Farrell, chief of staff of the Enforcement and Compliance Office, instructed employees to forward inquiries to one of three designated people in the EPA.
Agency officials said they wanted to make sure responses would be coordinated and more efficient. The EPA was stung last year over its failure to respond to a critical report by Congress’ watchdog, the Government Accountability Office.
But the reality is that this is yet another attempt by the Bush administration to control information and cloak its dealings in secrecy. In trying to shut out two major government watchdogs, the inspector general and the GAO, the EPA hopes it can stop the continuing stream of bad news.
Farrell’s e-mail comes as the EPA is facing criticism for allowing politics to play a large role in its decisions. Some Democratic members of Congress this week called for Administrator Stephen Johnson’s resignation because they believe he lied to them. Johnson told Congress he alone made the decision to deny California the right to set emission standards for vehicles, adding that politics never played a role.
A former EPA official has since contradicted Johnson’s story, saying the decision was political and came from the White House. Johnson has declined requests to appear before Congress to revisit the subject.
That is pathetic, but par for the course in this administration. Government secrecy and gag rules pave the way for waste and corruption, which have been evident throughout Bush’s tenure.
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