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Mary Mosley is among others who say an independent advocate was the only way to get the agency's attention.
By ROBERT FARLEY
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 4, 2000
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Ombudsman Bob Martin came through for Mary Mosley when she appealed for help in exposing flaws in the cleanup plan for the Stauffer Superfund site, so Mosley flew to Washington, D.C., at her own expense this week to help Martin.
Testifying before a joint congressional subcommittee on Tuesday, Mosley urged Congress to support the ombudsman's office with more funds and to carve out a more independent role for the watchdog agency.
She was one of three residents representing citizen groups with interests in three Superfund sites around the country who testified that Martin's involvement has been critical in getting the EPA's attention.
Mosley said she has been stonewalled, lied to and ignored by the EPA. So it was with utter frustration that she appealed to Martin to intervene. Martin agreed, she said, and the debate has never been the same since. Last month, the EPA agreed to withdraw its controversial mound-and-cap cleanup plan at Stauffer, pending further testing.
"The ombudsman's office must be well-funded and independent of any attempts to silence the truth," Mosley said.
The hearings were held at the behest of U.S. Rep. Mike Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, who credits Martin and his lead investigator, Hugh Kaufman, with uncovering shortcomings in the EPA's plans. Most important, he said, the ombudsman found weaknesses in EPA's assumptions about whether a mound might trigger a sinkhole and dump contaminants in the drinking water supply below.
Bilirakis said he became alarmed when the EPA nearly derailed the ombudsman's efforts in the Stauffer case, at one point threatening to withhold funding necessary to hold a public hearing.
Bilirakis now says he plans to introduce legislation to nearly quadruple the ombudsman's $500,000 budget and create a more independent role for the two-man office.
Tim Fields, the national program manager for Superfund, said the EPA fully supports the ombudsman's function. He contended the EPA already properly funds the office.
As for independence, Fields told members of Congress that "the ombudsman has a wide latitude as far as selecting and investigating cases."
After the hearing, Kaufman said the EPA's public and private postures differ. Kaufman said his office's success in exposing errors in EPA cleanup plans around the country, including at Stauffer, has ruffled some feathers among the top managers of the EPA.
"On good days, it's an armed truce," Kaufman said. "On bad days, it's obstruction of justice on their part."
As a result, he said, the EPA has proposed new guidelines for the ombudsman's office to limit the agency's role. For example, he said, the new guidelines would prohibit the ombudsman's office from taking on EPA cases involved in litigation, or which have a potential to end up in litigation.
That's pretty much every case the ombudsman gets involved in, Kaufman said.
Kaufman further argued the office is drastically underfunded.
"Just for the work load we have now, we need 12 employees," Kaufman said. "That's why it takes so long to do stuff."
Martin said he has learned a few things in his eight years as ombudsman.
"It is critically important we listen to people more," Martin said. "I don't know that we have listened enough."
Christy Stefadouros, Bilirakis' press secretary, said with the congressional session quickly coming to a close, Bilirakis may not be able to propose legislation until the next legislative session.
- Staff writer Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or at farley@sptimes.