The Oconee Enterprise, May 19, 2016:

Dr. David Lewis

Inspectors General are charged with preventing waste, fraud, and abuse by the federal government. John C. Martin, who President Reagan appointed as EPA’s IG in 1983, did just the opposite. In 1991, under pressure from Congressman John Dingell to turn up prosecutions for congressional hearings, Martin investigated EPA’s Office of Research & Development (ORD), including at its lab in Athens, Georgia. Martin resigned in 1997 when EPA learned Reader’s Digest and the Atlanta Constitution were publishing damning evidence I gathered concerning his dismantling of scientific integrity at EPA. This is the second in my series of articles about failures in EPA leadership.

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  EPA’s disturbing leadership – Dr. David Lewis

  Click to read Dr. Lewis’ first article on on EPA Leadership | EPA ignored warnings from its own scientists in the late 1970s when it approved a . . .

ORD was originally comprised of twelve independent field labs that answered directly to an Assistant Administrator appointed by the President. They constituted EPA’s first line of defense against political and corporate influence, which undermine the integrity of the body of science upon which public health and the environment rest. Until President Clinton took office in 1993, EPA was not allowed to pass any regulation without ORD’s concurrence. Whenever regulations developed by EPA’s program offices lacked a solid foundation in science, ORD labs pushed back.

Martin laid the groundwork for the Clinton administration to reorganize ORD’s field research under politically controlled mega-labs. In 1996, Nature published my commentary, “EPA Science: Casualty of Election Politics,” in which I described how Martin laid waste to EPA’s scientific integrity. I wrote:

“Allegations of mismanagement abounded as the director of the EPA’s research laboratory in Duluth, Minnesota, the first of several laboratories to be investigated, was fired and other managers and scientists were either dismissed or sent on leave without pay. They were, however, reinstated by federal judges, who ruled that the agency’s allegations were without merit and that investigations had been carried out in bad faith.”

In Athens, Dr. J. MacArthur (Mac) Long and his wife were awakened one night as Martin’s agents and a U.S. Attorney banged on their front door. They informed Mac he would be criminally prosecuted unless he agreed to wear a hidden microphone to gather information on his laboratory director. Martin promised his agents monetary awards for cases involving high-ranking EPA officials and media attention, which helped Dingell’s chances for re-election.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which assisted EPA’s Office of Inspector General, wanted Mac to question his director outside the building. It promised to have agents hiding in the shrubbery, ready to spring into action if she smelled a rat and tried to physically harm him. None of EPA’s scientists cooperated in Martin’s sting operations. For refusing to cooperate, the Justice Department charged Mac with “benefiting from the wrongdoing of an unnamed third party.” To curtail mounting legal expenses, and avoid fines that could financially cripple him for life, he borrowed $24,000 to settle with the Department of Justice.

Dr. Lewis’ article posted in The Oconee Enterprise – Click to enlarge

David Lewis, Ph.D.

Former U.S. EPA Research Microbiologist

David Lewis is an internationally recognized research microbiologist whose work on public health and environmental issues, as a senior-level Research Microbiologist in EPA’s Office of Research & Development and member of the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia, has been reported in numerous news articles and documentaries from TIME magazine and Reader’s Digest to National Geographic.

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The Oconee Enterprise, January 12, 2017:

Dr. David Lewis

In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals that the admissibility of expert witness testimony rests upon the scientific literature. Whichever side carries the greatest weight in terms of peer-reviewed scientific articles wins. While scientists are required to acknowledge financial conflicts of interest with commercial entities that may profit from their research, no comparable requirements exist for government-funded scientists who publish data supporting government policies, guidelines and regulations.

As a case in point, Michael Cook at EPA headquarters in Washington, DC, amended a cooperative agreement with an industry trade association in 1996 so EPA could give grants to land grant universities to publish research supporting EPA’s 503 rule. The rule allows municipalities to spread tons of treated sewage sludges, a.k.a. biosolids, on school playgrounds, farms and other public and private lands—without limiting levels of toxic chemicals and most heavy metals in industrial wastes contained in the material.

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The Oconee Enterprise, May 12, 2016:

Dr. David Lewis

EPA ignored warnings from its own scientists in the late 1970s when it approved a gasoline additive called MTBE. Removing it from contaminated soil and groundwater has since cost America untold billions of dollars. Similarly, in the 1990s, EPA approved land application of treated sewage sludges, a.k.a. biosolids, over the objections of its own scientists, including myself. Now, all of the pollutants EPA strictly regulates in air and water are present in soils at millions of times higher concentrations.

To understand why EPA often mishandles science, one must appreciate how disturbingly misguided some of its leadership, past and present, has been. In my book, Science for Sale, I discuss some notable examples, beginning with my own top career EPA boss, former Acting Assistant Administrator Henry L. Longest, II.

Dr. Lewis’ article posted in The Oconee Enterprise – Click to enlarge

In 2003, Longest began screening the next generation of mid-level EPA managers who would oversee its Office of Research & Development (ORD). To guide applicants, he distributed Margaret Wheatley’s book, Turning to One Another, emblazoned with ORD’s official seal. Wheatley urged environmentalists to abandon Western science in favor of “New Science.” This experience leaves people in a state of confusion, which she called the “space of not knowing” and the “abyss.” While passing through the abyss, new scientists shed their religious beliefs and sexual inhibitions, then turn to one another.

To institute Wheatley’s philosophy, Longest issued a questionnaire for all future ORD managers to complete. He assured them that a confidential code would be substituted for their names, but asked them to sign a consent form giving permission to decode their names in order to enhance the value of the “research data.”

Longest’s questionnaire, which was leaked to the Washington Post, appeared to be aimed at discovering employees’ feelings about promiscuity. They were asked, for example, to agree or disagree with the following statements: I am a very flirtatious person; When I’m attracted to someone, I am overwhelmed by desire; Almost everybody has something sexy about them; I have dated a lot of people; I have difficulty talking to attractive persons of the opposite sex; I become self-conscious when using public toilets.

He also included religious statements, e.g.: I think about God; I regularly attend religious services; I put my trust in God; I seek God’s help. Apparently, he was interested in knowing whether they had any moral reservations about becoming “new scientists.” Other statements appeared to plumb their willingness to keep quiet: If a story in the media criticized ORD, I would feel embarrassed; and I’m always respectful of people of higher status than myself.

Longest was known throughout EPA for demeaning women. Although formal complaints were filed, this behavior never stopped. Over his long career, he received EPA’s highest honors, including two Presidential awards in Rose Garden ceremonies at the White House.