Earlier this week we pointed to a story about the Bush administration going lightly on a practice called “hydraulic fracturing,” a method of getting more oil and gas out of the ground that may or may not pollute groundwater and most definitely represents considerable profits for a lil’ company called Halliburton. An EPA official — Weston Wilson, an environmental engineer — involved into the agency’s analysis of the practice is seeking formal whistle-blower protection, saying the study was flawed and biased. (He is one of an unusual number of whistle-blowers popping up in the Bush administration, as this story makes clear. Wonder why?)
Anyway, it’s unlikely it will go anywhere, but five members of Congress — four Dems and Jim Jeffords (I!) — have petitioned the EPA inspector general to investigate the matter. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) even had the temerity to wonder whether “political considerations improperly influenced” the EPA study. Perish the thought!
Developing. (Maybe.)
