SENATOR OFFERS SUPPORT TO WTP WHISTLEBLOWER

Walt Tamosaitis, the former Hanford Waste Treatment Plant employee-turned alleged whistleblower, appears to have found at least one high-profile supporter in Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), chair of the Senate Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight. During a subcommittee hearing yesterday, McCaskill offered words of support to Tamosaitis, an employee of WTP subcontractor URS who has alleged he was removed from working on the project last summer for raising safety issues. Both WTP project contractor Bechtel National and URS have strenuously denied Tamosaitis’ allegations, though, saying his departure had been planned for months before it occurred. Following his removal from the WTP, where he held the position of research and technology manager, Tamosaitis has said he now works in a basement office with little meaningful work—a point picked up on by McCaskill. “So every day you are an example to all of the workers there, whether they’re federal employees or Bechtel employees, don’t say anything or you too will be banished to the basement,” she told Tamosaitis, adding, “It’s just unbelievable to me that we would allow this to occur. “I’m speechless about the reality of you still going there every day and being a walking billboard to everyone to keep your mouth shut. That’s essentially what you are.”