[CPEO-MEF] ombudsman resigns

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

[THIS WAS POSTED BY Justin Scheck (jscheck@mv-voice.com)]

Just saw this on the San Jose Mercury News Web site. Anyone have 
further info, and/or a contact number for Martin other than his EPA 
office?


Posted on Mon, Apr. 22, 2002 {PRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=story:PUB_DESC"}
EPA ombudsman resigns over job shift

WASHINGTON (AP) - An embattled ombudsman at the Environmental Protection 
Agency submitted his resignation Monday, complaining the agency was 
transferring him into a job where he would ``merely answer a telephone'' 
and have no power.

 Robert Martin, who for nearly a decade has held the $118,000-a-year job 
as ombudsman for EPA's hazardous waste office, has been embroiled in 
lengthy feud with senior EPA officials going back to the Clinton 
administration.

A federal court on Feb. 12 rejected a lawsuit challenging his 
transfer to the EPA inspector general's office.

At the time, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said the 
transfer would give Martin ``more independence and the 
impartiality necessary to conduct credible inquiries.''

But Martin called the transfer a maneuver to get him out of the 
way because he had become an irritant in the congressionally 
established post of ombudsman for the Office of Solid Waste 
and Emergency Response. His job includes complaints about the 
handling the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program.

[THIS ARTICLE CAN BE VIEWED IN ITS ENTIRETY AT:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/3117546.htm ]

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