Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
EPA Library GAO report
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Rep Bart Gordon, chairman Committee on Science and Technology said in his opening statement, “EPA executed a failed process for modernizing their library network.”
Rep Brad Miller, “The most generous interpretation is incompetence – that EPA managers grossly mismanaged their library system.” Miller also said it may take years and a lot of money to set things right again.
When the EPA closed its largest regional library in Chicago it sold all of its fixtures, valued at more than $40,000.00 for less than $350.00. I’m not sure anyone can that is surprising information.
The Office of Enforcement and Compliance (OECA), will be left holding perhaps nothing more than thin and polluted air when it’s time to prosecute Eco-felons. 1. Information access; especially to original documents. 2. Worry that the centralized system EPA is espousing may not meet tight court-imposed deadlines. 3. Cost. And, how it will be funded?
One of the more interesting notes of irony is that apparently the agency did not anticipate copyright restrictions as they apply to making digitized copies of some material.
In February a federal arbitrator found the EPA guilty of unfair labor practices and acting in bad faith in its national series of library closures. The EPA was ordered to bargain with affected public employee unions before making any further changes in its library network. On more slice of irony, the EPA acted without benefit of any employee input regarding the actions it has taken.
The GAO, Government Accountability Office found the decision to close the libraries wasn’t justified and it deprived the public, EPA staff, state and local agencies and academics of valuable environmental data.
Labels: Brad Miller, EPA, EPA libraries, GAO
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
EPA Library GAO report
