CBS NEWS & EPA WHISTLEBLOWER

Insider: EPA Lied About WTC Air

A scientist for the Environmental Protection Agency is charging that the agency lied when it claimed the air at ground zero was safe to breathe in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. In an exclusive interview, Cate Jenkins. Ph.D., tells The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith that wasn't so, and EPA officials knew it, but covered up the truth. Many workers who sifted through the wreckage have since come down with serious respiratory illnesses. On Sept. 13, 2001, then-EPA head Christine Todd Whitman told reporters at ground zero, "We have not seen any reason — any readings that have indicated any health hazard." Asked by Smith if EPA officials lied, Dr. Jenkins responded, "Yes, they did." Though Dr. Jenkins didn't personally conduct the research at ground zero, it's her opinion that the EPA knew the dust there had asbestos and PH levels that were dangerously high. "This dust was highly caustic," Dr. Jenkins told Smith, "in some cases, as caustic and alkaline as Drano." Dr. Jenkins added that the agency said "nothing whatsoever" about the alkalinity of the dust. She wrote memos accusing the EPA of lying...In an interview to air on 60 Minutes Sunday night, Whitman, the former EPA head, tells Katie Couric that, when EPA officials said the air was safe, they were talking about the air around lower Manhattan, not the air directly at ground zero. Whitman added that the agency warned ground zero workers to wear protection. She said her agency didn't have the authority to order them to wear masks, but New York City officials did....

Looks like CBS News has once again, failed to check the credibility of their source, and Stephen Spruiell over at Media Blog has caught them at it. Dr. Jenkins sued EPA for failure to grant a salary increase, because of her whistleblowing acting activities, according to her. Dr. Jenkins lost the complaint, and here are some quotes from the decision of the administrative law judge who handled her case:

Getting right to the point, Cate Jenkins is the most disingenuous, evasive, and self- serving witness I have ever observed. She is an intense woman who believes that any means are acceptable if, in her view, the ends are desirable, including lying (even under oath), searching through co-workers' personal effects, and leaking confidential information. She further believes that any person, rule, or law which stands in her way can be ignored. She has acted and continues to act as if she believes she is the only person at EPA who is concerned with the public interest and everyone else is selling out to the industries regulated by EPA...Complainant's utter lack of credibility could only truly be appreciated through personally observing her six days of testimony. I do not often rely solely on demeanor in determining a witness's credibility, but the complainant's demeanor was so disquieting that it is dispositive here by itself. Complainant often appeared to be in her own world, divorced from reality. She frequently answered questions with long discourses that quickly became unfocused. During her period on the witness stand complainant lied with impunity and did not appear the least embarrassed when she was caught in these lies (e.g., TR 968-82, 1014-17).

You can read all of Spruiell's post here.

Looks like Dan Rather's departure hasn't taught CBS News a damn thing.