At least one Energy Department rule, which would strengthen protections for whistleblowers at agency contractors, was delayed by the regulatory freeze President Donald Trump put in place last month, a DOE spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.
The new rule, published by now-former President Barack Obama’s administration, clarified that DOE may assess civil penalties against contractors that retaliate against whistleblowers within their ranks.
The rule was set to go into effect Jan. 26 until “the Administration, like its predecessors, issued a memorandum directing all Executive Departments and Agencies to temporarily postpone the effective date of regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but not yet taken effect,” DOE spokeswoman Lindsey Geisler said by email. “As directed by the January 20 memorandum, the Department temporarily postponed the effective date of the rule until March 21 to provide for review by the new administration.”
The Trump administration, upon taking office, directed agency heads to delay the phase-in date of rules that were published in the Federal Register before Inauguration Day but had not yet taken effect. This was “for the purpose of reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy they raise,” according to the presidential memo announcing the freeze.
The DOE rule, published Dec. 27 in the Federal Register, states that the agency’s “prohibition against whistleblower retaliation is a DOE Nuclear Safety Requirement to the extent that it concerns nuclear safety.”
Last summer, Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced a bill aimed at simplifying what they said are convoluted, overly bureaucratic whistleblower protocols at DOE. The bill — rendered null and void after the 115th Congress gaveled in on Jan. 3 — would also have created new whistleblower protections and new consequences for contractors who subvert them.
In 2012, DOE halted construction on significant portions of the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) Bechtel National is building to treat liquid waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state after an employee at a WTP subcontractor blew the whistle over safety concerns — a move the employee, nuclear engineer Walter Tamosaitis, said cost him his job.
Geisler said DOE still has strong whistleblower protections in place, including a recently extended pilot program administered by the agency’s inspector general, and supported by Markey, McCaskill, and Wyden. The program provides what advocates such as the senators say is a more confidential, less convoluted back room channel for whistleblowers to air their concerns.
“The Department of Energy is strongly committed to a workplace where all workers — both federal and contractor — are free to speak out, voice concerns, or lodge complaints, without fear of retaliation,” Geisler said.
