October, 08 2009, 11:20am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bill Wolfe (609) 397-4861; Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337
New Jersey Environmental Agency Wrestles With Transparency
Proposed PEER Openness Rules Being Studied for "Feasibility and Practicality"
TRENTON, N.J.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is now
considering adoption of a package of transparency rules proposed this
July by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The
agency says that it is taking additional time to "explore the
feasibility and practicality" of maintaining open calendars, improving
public notice and ending gag orders on its staff, according to a
September 25, 2009 Notice of Action by the agency.
Under the
state Administrative Procedures Act, DEP had 60 days to grant the PEER
petition, deny it, or seek an additional 30-day extension to render a
decision on the petition. The new deadline for a DEP decision is
October 27th with that decision slated for publication in the New
Jersey Register on November 2nd, one day before the gubernatorial
election. PEER first proposed these rules in 2007 but then-DEP
Commissioner Lisa Jackson rejected the rules on the very day they were
published.
"At least we are making progress - DEP has not
rejected our rules out of hand on the very first day. This year they
will be alive for 90 days before the ultimate action," stated New
Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, a former DEP analyst. "These are
simple, common-sense steps to shed light on the back channels that
lobbyists, lawyers and consultants use to penetrate DEP."
The
PEER rules would require public disclosure of meetings and
communications between DEP policy makers and representatives for
regulated industries and developers. DEP routinely conducts these
meetings to negotiate permits, enforcement actions and health standards
behind closed doors. The PEER plan would also require that calendars of
top officials be posted on the web. Current Acting DEP Commissioner
Mark Mauriello has put his calendar off limits even to agency staff
after PEER revealed that he was meeting with industry lobbyists last
week about picks to the new Science Advisory Board.
Meanwhile,
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has started posting her calendars on the
agency's web site, although she had claimed executive privilege to
shield her calendar from public view when she was at DEP. Jackson's
posted calendars do not give the subject of meetings, however.
In
addition, PEER proposes that DEP ban gag orders so that scientists,
inspectors and other professional staff can speak honestly to the
public and the media without fear of retaliation. A recent gag rule at
DEP, for example, allows political staff to vet all scientific and
technical reports prior to release.
"Kermit the Frog said 'It's
not easy being green' but in New Jersey it is harder being
transparent," Wolfe added. "DEP employees work at the agency but they
work for the public and should be allowed to communicate with their
true employers."
New Jersey's leading environmental groups have
also backed the PEER rulemaking petition, urging Gov. Corzine to
support it and additional DEP ethics reforms in an August 13, 2009
letter:
"Transparency and public disclosure can
serve as checks on corrupt practices. A petition for rulemaking to
force DEP to disclose all meetings and contact with third parties...
would go a long way towards restoring public confidence in DEP." Gov.
Corzine has yet to respond to the letter.
Read the DEP Notice of (In)Action
See the notice of publication for the PEER proposal
View the CleanGreen Coalition letter to Gov. Corzine urging openness reforms
Look at Lisa Jackson's on-line calendar at EPA
Examine the roots of recent corruption scandals at DEP
Review political manipulation of DEP public health science
New
Jersey PEER is a state chapter of a national alliance of state and
federal agency resource professionals working to ensure environmental
ethics and government accountability
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER's environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.
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"We the people means all the people," said the ACLU. "There is no 'transgender' exception to the U.S. Constitution."
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Attorneys who argued against Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming healthcare at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed hope that the court's nine justices will take "the opportunity to affirm the essential freedom and equality of all people before the law," while reports indicated that the right-wing majority is inclined to uphold the ban.
"Every day this law inflicts further pain, injustice, and discrimination on families in Tennessee and prevents them from receiving the medical care they need," said Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, staff attorney at the ACLU of Tennessee, which represented three families and a physician. "We ask the Supreme Court to commit to upholding the promises of the U.S. Constitution for all people by putting an end to Tennessee's state-sanctioned discrimination against trans youth and their families."
The law, S.B. 1, which was passed in March 2023, bars medical providers from prescribing puberty-delaying medications, other hormonal treatment, and surgical procedures to transgender minors and youths with gender dysphoria.
The Supreme Court case, United States v. Skrmetti, applies only to the ban on puberty blockers and hormonal therapy for minors; a lower court found the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to challenge the surgery ban.
The ACLU, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and a law firm were joined by the Biden administration in arguing that Tennessee allows doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and other hormonal treatments for youths with congenital defects, early puberty, diseases, or physical injuries.
As such, said the plaintiffs, Tennessee's ban for transgender and nonbinary youths violates the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal treatment under the law.
"My heart—and the heart of every transgender advocate fighting this fight—is heavy with the weight of what these laws mean for people's everyday lives."
The court's three liberal justices—Justices Sonya Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—all indicated they believed Tennessee has tried to classify people according to sex or gender with the law.
"One of the articulated purposes of this law is essentially to encourage gender conformity and to discourage anything other than gender conformity," said Kagan. "Sounds to me like, 'We want boys to be boys and we want girls to be girls,' and that's an important purpose behind the law."
Matthew Rice, the lawyer representing Tennessee in the case, claimed the state simply wants to prevent "regret" among minors, and the court's six conservative justices signaled they were inclined to allow Tennessee to ban the treatments—which are endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other top medical associations.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the nine justices should not overrule the decision made by lawmakers representing Tennessee residents, considering there is debate over the issue, and pointed to changes some European countries have made to their gender-affirming care protocols for minors.
Representing the Biden administration, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar acknowledged that there has been debate about gender-affirming care in the U.S. and abroad, but pointed out that countries including the U.K. and Sweden have not outright banned treatment.
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Following the arguments, plaintiff Brian Williams, who has a 16-year-old daughter in need of gender-affirming care, addressed supporters who had assembled outside the Supreme Court.
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Sotomayor said there is "very clear" evidence "that there are some children who actually need this treatment."
A 2022 study led by researchers at the University of Washington found that transgender and nonbinary youths aged 13-20 were 60% less likely to experience moderate or severe depression and 73% less likely to be suicidal after receiving gender-affirming care.
Prelogar asked the justices to "think about the real-world consequences of laws like S.B. 1," highlighting the case of a plaintiff identified as Ryan Roe.
Roe had such severe gender dysphoria that "he was throwing up before school every day," said Prelogar. "He thought about going mute because his voice caused him so much distress. And Ryan has told the courts that getting these medications after a careful consultation process with his doctors and his parents, has saved his life."
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Tennessee is home to about 3,100 transgender teenagers, and about 110,000 transgender youths between the ages of 13-17 live in the 24 states where gender-affirming care is restricted.
More than 20 states have laws that could be impacted by the court's ruling in United States v. Skrmetti.
"My heart—and the heart of every transgender advocate fighting this fight—is heavy with the weight of what these laws mean for people's everyday lives," said Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project. "But I also know that every out trans person has embraced the unknown in the name of living free from shame or the limits of other people's expectations."
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The municipality—which is near Chapel Hill and is after compensation for damages it has suffered or will suffer as a result of the alleged deception campaign—is the first town in the United States to challenge an electric utility for public deception about the dangers of fossil fuels and seek damages for the harms those emissions have created, according to the town's mayor, Barbara Foushee.
The case was filed in North Carolina Superior Court and argues that Duke Energy has engaged in a "greenwashing" campaign to convince the public it sought to address the climate emergency.
"In reliance upon these misrepresentations, the public has continued to conduct business with Duke under the mistaken belief that the company is committed to renewable energy," according to the filing.
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According to the lawsuit, Carrboro will be forced to spend millions of dollars either repairing or shoring up public infrastructure as a result of more frequent and devastating storms, which scientists agree are caused by climate change.
The complaint comes not long after the release of a report, Duke Energy Knew: Documenting the Utility’s Early Knowledge and Ongoing Deception About Climate Change, from the Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog group. According to the report, Duke Energy well understood the risks posed by burning fossil fuels as far back as the 1960s, but chose to take part in promoting disinformation about climate science. In more recent years, the utility continued to pursue fossil fuels while blocking renewable energy development, according to the report's authors. Much of this research is referenced in the lawsuit.
As one example of its "deception," the lawsuit points to Duke Energy's participation in the the Global Climate Coalition, an entity created with the intent of opposing action to curb the climate crisis.
Duke Energy was the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in 2021, according to a breakdown from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, which ranked U.S. companies in terms of their CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
More than 20 states, tribes, cities, and counties have brought similar climate deception lawsuits. Maine, for example, recently became the ninth state to sue a major oil and gas company for deceiving the public about its products' role in the climate crisis.
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The 70 groups—including People For the American Way, Public Citizen, the Constitutional Accountability Center, and the NAACP—sent a letter to U.S. senators arguing that Senate confirmation procedures provide "crucial data" that helps lawmakers and the public "evaluate nominees' fitness for the important positions to which they are nominated."
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Since his victory in last month's election, Trump has publicly expressed his desire to bypass the often time-consuming Senate confirmation process via recess appointments, which are allowed under the Constitution and have been used in the past by presidents of both parties. The need for Senate confirmation is already proving to be a significant obstacle for the incoming administration: Trump's first attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz, withdrew amid seemingly insurmountable Senate opposition, and Pentagon nominee Pete Hegseth appears to be on the ropes.
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