EPA Ombudsman Submits Resignation

Date: April 25, 2002

Source: News Room

Robert Martin, the embattled ombudsman at the Environmental Protection Agency, has submitted his resignation, complaining the agency was transferring him into a job where he would "merely answer a telephone" and have no power. Martin has been embroiled in lengthy feud with senior EPA officials going back to the Clinton administration. A federal court on Feb. 12 rejected a lawsuit challenging his transfer to the EPA inspector general's office. At the time, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said the transfer would give Martin "more independence and the impartiality necessary to conduct credible inquiries." But Martin said the transfer was designed to get him out of the way because he had taken unpopular stands as ombudsman for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

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