A government watchdog is requesting an investigation into a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official who may have violated a lifetime ethics ban with his involvement at the Diamond Alkali Superfund site in New Jersey.
David Batson previously worked as a senior alternative dispute resolution (ADR) specialist and ADR counsel at the EPA. He left the EPA in 2015 but then entered the private sector and continued to be involved in the Superfund site. According to the ethics complained filed this month by Protect the Public's Trust, "as a former federal employee, Mr. Batson is permanently restricted from participating in particular matters involving specific parties that he substantially and personally worked on while he was a federal official."
The ethics complaint alleges that Batson is working with AlterEcho, which lists Batson in its staffing matrix as a senior allocation specialist.
“It appears as though they were part of the contract and that Mr. Batson, as part of his job, was in charge of or participated in the negotiations over the settlement for each of the 85 different polluters to pay $150 million worth of cleanup costs,” Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, told Federal Newswire. “We don't know how much they stand to gain by this contract but they're essentially a subcontractor on this project.”
“The actions of the former employee and the EPA may also be perceived as part of a broader effort by the agency to revamp the manner in which it administers the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and manages the cleanup of other Superfund sites despite unclear legal authority to do so,” wrote Chamberlain in the ethics complaint.
Superfund sites are toxic cleanup areas.
“Superfund sites are determined by the federal government,” Chamberlain said. “David Batson’s work right now is for a contractor who was essentially hired by the EPA to do work related to this Superfund site.”
The Diamond Alkali Superfund Site, near New Jersey's Passaic River, is one of the longest-existing extensively contaminated sites on the EPA National Priorities List of polluted locations in need of remediation.
As previously reported in Federal Newswire, the EPA estimated that cleaning up the site will cost $1.8 billion, raising concerns that New Jersey taxpayers will end up paying for what the $150 million settlement doesn’t cover.
“The American public has to trust that its government is an impartial and neutral participant in matters that affect their lives and their pocketbooks,” Chamberlain said in a statement. “As the government grows by the trillions, it becomes even more vital that its decisions are not influenced by revolving doors, conflicts of interest, and switching sides." he added. "Only a thorough investigation into our complaint would demonstrate a commitment to stopping the steady decline in public trust.”
Protect the Public's Trust stated in a news release that it is further concerned that Batson's role could undermine public confidence in how the government is managing one of the most expensive Superfund sites in the nation.
"The way that the EPA created the process for this particular settlement seems to be very similar to the process that Mr. Batson attempted to have codified into law by Congress back in the 1990s on two different occasions and Congress refused to do that," Chamberlain said. "The process he created, and took credit for, involved using a third party to negotiate the terms that the companies deemed responsible would contribute to."
