Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility
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Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
,
environmental protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...
organization of local, state, and national
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...
and environmental professionals. PEER serves as a resource to potential government
whistleblowers Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...
, allowing them to anonymously expose environmental wrongdoings and assisting them in redressing agency retaliation. Founded in 1996, PEER operates primarily by investigating claims from public employees about government environmental misconduct. Because whistleblowers often face direct retaliation from the offending agencies, PEER encourages employees to act through the organization to reveal government environmental misdeeds. Once a claim is made, PEER investigates it, often using Freedom of Information Act requests. The organization then can choose to take a number of actions, including press releases or lawsuits. PEER also serves to provide legal services to whistleblowers who find themselves the target of agency retaliation. PEER was formerly affiliated with the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, a not-for-profit organization established in 2011 to protect scientific research and researchers of climate science from think tanks and legal foundations that have taken legal action against scientific institutions and individual scientists.


Campaigns

PEER maintains campaigns in leading environmental and public health issues. Some of their work includes:


Protecting Public Lands

PEER is pushing back against efforts to undermine our public lands for the benefit of special interests by: challenging government agencies to protect and restore
wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...
and ecosystems from the effects of
overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...
; working to minimize the impacts of the fossil fuel industry on public lands; and supporting increased staff levels in land management agencies.


North Atlantic Right Whale

PEER is pressing the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
(NOAA) to adopt safeguards to prevent needless deaths of highly endangered North Atlantic right whales by underlining true mortality caused by entanglements with fishing lines while continuing to push for adoption of our comprehensive strategy for averting whale ship strikes.


PFAS

PEER works with current and former local, state and federal employees who want government agencies to do more to protect people and wildlife from toxic
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (also PFAS, PFASs, and informally referred to as "forever chemicals") are a group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain; there are 7 milli ...
(PFAS), or "forever chemicals". PEER advocates for the regulation of PFAS as a family of chemicals, banning all non-essential uses of PFAS, and setting comprehensive standards for PFAS.


Teresa Chambers

Former chief of the
United States Park Police The United States Park Police (USPP) is the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agency in the United States. It functions as a full-service law enforcement agency with responsibilities and jurisdiction in those National Park Service areas ...
Teresa Chambers served for nearly two years before she was fired after revealing in an interview the potential dangers of their low staffing levels. PEER has provided Teresa legal defense and publicity for her appeal for reinstatement and for her wrongful firing lawsuit.


Suppression of Wolf Research

PEER has been involved in challenging the suppression of research by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and
Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...
concerning the ineffectiveness of lethal control in preventing future depredation of livestock. They have also been critical of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' lax regulation of recreational hunting and its impact on the federally endangered
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...
.


Faith-based parks

PEER has worked to keep religious promotions out of public parks.


Grand Canyon National Park

The National Park Service in 2003 approved for sale in the
Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in northwestern Arizona, the 15th site to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyo ...
bookstore '' Grand Canyon: A Different View'': a book that presents the formation of the Grand Canyon as a result of Biblical events. PEER exposed the selling of this book as preferential treatment of a religion that toes the line of constitutional legality. On January 4, 2007, the National Park Service Chief of Public Affairs, David Barna released a response stating that the National Park Service neither uses the text in their teaching nor do they endorse its content. The release further states that the book is sold in the inspirational section of the bookstore which includes anthropological works on Native American culture. As PEER contests, the inspirational section was only created after PEER had exposed the book's sale as a natural history. The controversial book remains on sale. The National Park Service has continued to delay the issuing of a pamphlet "Geologic Interpretive Programs: Distinguishing Science from Religion" which is meant to instruct park officials on how to respond to questions like those concerning biblical interpretations of the Grand Canyon.


Mojave National Preserve

PEER board member, Frank Buono, along with the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
of
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
, filed a lawsuit to remove an white cross displayed in the Mojave National Preserve. The cross, which was originally erected in 1934 as a war memorial has since undergone many changes in appearance, including the loss of its plaque. It now stands as an white cross serving occasionally as the site for
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
sunrise services. Most recently, the order to remove the cross has been upheld by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...
, despite four appeals by the
U.S. Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
. The cross now awaits removal, unless there is a fifth appeal by the Justice Department that could potentially bring the case to the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
.


Leadership

*Executive Director: Tim Whitehouse


References


External links


Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility home page.
Accessed June 6, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility Environmental organizations based in the United States Whistleblower support organizations Public employment