Global Warming Urgent Say Unions for 10,000 EPA Workers

Union representatives for more than 10,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists are calling on Congress to take immediate action against global warming, according to a petition released November 29 by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER.

The petition calls for an end to censorship of agency scientists and other specialists on topics of climate change and the effects of air pollution.

Addressed to the members of the Senate and House committees overseeing the EPA, the petition stresses that time is running out to prevent environmental changes induced by human-caused pollution and urges Congress to undertake prompt actions.

“If we wait,” the petition states, “we will be committing the next generation of Americans to approximately double the current global warming concentrations, with the associated adverse impacts on human health and the environment.”
PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch says the petition originated among agency staff.

The letter is signed by presidents of 22 locals of five unions: the American Federation of Government Employees, the Engineers and Scientists of California, the National Association of Government Employees, the National Association of Independent Labor, and the National Treasury Employees Union.

These unions represent more than 10,000 EPA scientists, engineers and other technical specialists.

The filing of this petition coincides with oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on a case, Massachusetts v. EPA, brought by states, cities and environmental groups seeking to force the Bush administration to regulate greenhouse gases that fuel global warming under the Clean Air Act.

“Professionals working for the Environmental Protection Agency are protesting being ordered to sit on the sidelines while we face the greatest environmental challenge of our generation,” said Ruch. “Under a new Congress, perhaps the scientists at EPA can begin to directly communicate with their true employers—the American public.”