Socially and Ecologically Responsible Agriculture Network

[Socially and Ecologically Responsible Agriculture Network <seranet AT lists.ibiblio.org>]

Dear Friends and Colleagues

Designed to Fail: Why Regulatory Agencies Don’t Work by William  
Sanjour (1) is published today by Independent Science News
http://independentsciencenews.org/health/designed-to-fail-why- 
regulatory-agencies-dont-work/

Synopsis: Deepwater Horizon, the Financial System Meltdown, the Big  
Branch Mine explosion, BPA, Vioxx, as well as many others, were all  
preventable disasters characterised by the failure of government  
regulatory agencies. Across the board, agencies such as the FDA, EPA,  
SEC, OSHA, and others, are failing to fulfill their Congressional  
mandates of protecting the public and the environment. Repeated and  
systemic failures across widely varying jurisdictions suggest that  
the problems with effective regulation run much deeper than  
leadership, competence or corruption. Based on a personal 30 year  
struggle to protect public health from within the EPA, William  
Sanjour examines what typically goes wrong at regulatory agencies,  
and proposes some novel solutions: chief among these solutions is  
that the administrative powers of rule-making should be separated  
from those of enforcement. Separation into independent organisations  
of legislative and judicial functions would align regulatory activity  
with the intention of the US constitution and the rest of government.  
It would also remove a chronic and debilitating internal conflict  
that prevents regulation from being an effective tool of government.

Extract: "When I was writing regulations, I was told on more than one  
occasion to make sure I put in enough loopholes."

We hope you will circulate this important article. Please  
communicate, tweet, and share it with your colleagues, listserves and  
networks.
Apologies for any cross-posting.
Yours sincerely

Jonathan Latham

1) Mr. William Sanjour is a native of New York where he attended  
college at CCNY and earned a master's degree in physics at Columbia  
University. His career started as an operations research analyst with  
the Navy's "think tank," the Center for Naval Analysis. He later  
worked as an operations research analyst with the American Cyanamid  
Company and then as a management consultant for Ernst & Ernst.
In the late sixties he became involved in environmental issues as a  
consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Several  
years later he accepted a position with EPA as Branch Chief in the  
newly established Hazardous Waste Management Division. In this  
capacity he supervised studies of hazardous waste damages and  
treatment technologies. These efforts culminated in the passage of  
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, after  
which, Mr. Sanjour was in charge of drafting regulations for the  
treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste.
In 1978 the Carter administration, concerned about inflation, took  
steps to protect industry by removing the teeth of the hazardous  
waste regulatory effort. At first, Sanjour fought from within the EPA  
to make RCRA work in the true spirit of the legislation. The agency  
responded by transferring him in 1979 to a position with no duties.  
He then became an outspoken EPA whistleblower. He alerted Congress,  
environmental groups, and the press to this attack on RCRA.
He fought his transfer and after a year long legal bout, he won. In  
1980 he was made head of the Hazardous Waste implementation Branch  
where he set up hazardous waste data management systems and wrote  
regulations for the transportation of hazardous waste. However, he  
continued to expose Agency waste, fraud and abuse. He testified in  
Congressional hearings several times and was active in helping  
grassroots environmental groups on his own time.
When Rita Lavelle (later jailed) was Assistant Administrator in the  
Reagan Administration, the agency retaliated by fabricating an  
unsatisfactory performance evaluation, the only one Mr. Sanjour ever  
received. This too was fought and won by Mr. Sanjour under the Agency  
grievance procedures.
In 1984, Mr. Sanjour took a break from Agency harassment to go on  
loan to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) where  
he wrote a critique of EPA hazardous waste regulations which appeared  
in the 1985 OTA study entitled Superfund Strategy.
When he returned to EPA, the Agency had retaliated by removing him  
from his Branch Chief position. Assigned as a Policy Analyst, Mr.  
Sanjour issued regulations for procurement of recycled paper, re- 
refined lubricating oil, retread tires and insulation products in a  
period of only four years. Mr. Sanjour received an outstanding  
performance award for this unprecedented achievement.
Meanwhile, EPA, with the collusion of the Office of Government  
Ethics, issued regulations to prevent Mr. Sanjour and one other  
whistleblower from receiving travel expenses when addressing citizens  
groups on their own time. Over a four year period, this law was  
fought and defeated in the federal courts by the National  
Whistleblower Center and Sanjour v EPA now stands as a landmark  
decision preventing the government from silencing government  
employees who criticize the government.
In 1995 Mr. Sanjour was detailed, at his request, to assist the  
Superfund Ombudsman. Here he investigated citizen complaints against  
the Agency's regional offices in their implementation of the  
Superfund program. Although this was a position which well suited  
him, the failure of the Agency to cooperate in the investigations  
made the position pointless. After a year, he was permanently  
transferred to the Technology Information Office where he functioned  
briefly as a policy analyst in an obscure and relatively unimportant  
post.
Mr. Sanjour had to fight several legal battles in the Labor  
Department to halt the Agency's continuous harassment, all of which  
the Agency settled out of court. Despite his reduction in status and  
having to continually fight for his legal rights. Mr. Sanjour  
stubbornly continued his government service while assisting  
grassroots environmentalists and fellow whistleblowers.
Upon retirement he continues to write and speak about regulatory  
reform, environmental and whistleblower protection issues when he is  
not traveling or sailing. He presently sits on the Board of Directors  
of the National Whistleblowers Center.


Jonathan Latham (PhD)
Executive Director
The Bioscience Resource Project
jrlatham AT bioscienceresource.org
001-607-319-0279
Skype: jonathanlatham2

http://independentsciencenews.org/
and
http://www.bioscienceresource.org/

Mail: PO Box 6869
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