An administrative judge has ruled against an environmental specialist who claims he was fired for raising worries about impacts to migratory raptors.
A federal administrative judge has rejected an appeal by a whistleblower who claims he was fired from his federal job after advocating for migrating birds at a huge Wyoming gas- and oilfield, the whistleblower’s attorney said Monday.
Samantha Black, who adjudicates for the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, made the ruling in March after hearing the appeal by former U.S. Bureau of Land Management employee Walter Loewen in February, according to Peter Jenkins, an attorney who represented Loewen through the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Loewen testified about how he raised worries about migrating and nesting raptors while reviewing the 5,000-well Converse County Oil and Gas Project. PEER said he was fired for doing his job. Loewen’s supervisor said the former BLM employee failed to perform a variety of duties, leaving her no option but to terminate him.
At issue are some 1,500 non-eagle raptor nests sites for ferruginous hawks, kestrels, owls and other birds. Development is supposed to be held at bay when birds mate and fledge their chicks, PEER stated.
Instead, BLM waived protection for 98 raptor nesting sites for a year, with more waivers possible. Critics panned BLM for its plan, including the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, which said the federal agency had chosen a...
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