PEER

10/16/2026

🖥️ Mon, Oct 26 | 1pm ET

With the midterm elections quickly approaching, what comes next for PEER's work?

On Monday, October 26 at 1:00 pm ET, join Executive Director Tim Whitehouse and General Counsel Joanna Citron Day for a short, candid online discussion on how PEER is preparing.

You’ll hear about our unique approach to protecting public employees and addressing important issues such as toxic chemicals, public lands, and climate change. We’ll also talk about why government accountability, employee protection, and environmental and public health outcomes are one interconnected problem, not three separate ones.

Register today 👇
https://ow.ly/LUhf50ZY8JR

10/15/2026

EPA enforcement records that have been difficult to obtain are now searchable in one place.

Launched today by PEER, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, and ToxicDocs.org, a new online search portal brings together inspection reports, notices of violation, and related documents obtained by PEER from EPA through the Freedom of Information Act.

An early analysis of just one part of the records, EPA’s landfill inspections, has already turned up striking findings. Large landfills must control methane once levels exceed 500 parts per million (ppm). Yet EPA inspectors measured methane above that limit at 677 locations at just twelve landfills. At eight of those twelve, the largest leaks exceeded 50,000 ppm, methane’s lower explosive limit.

Visit www.eyesonenforcement.org to look up environmental enforcement records for polluting facilities in your state.

10/09/2026

The most dangerous thing we can do in the AI boom is give away our public lands and waive environmental laws for data center projects.

The Trump administration is reportedly considering transferring more than 17,000 acres of federal land for at least 12 proposed data centers. And the AI race isn't staying on the ground. Companies want to put data centers into orbit, which means a lot of rocket launches. A proposed FAA rule would waive major environmental requirements for commercial space launches, undermining 13 environmental laws.

From fighting to keep public lands out of the data center business to challenging efforts to waive environmental reviews for orbital data centers, PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse shares how we're fighting back.

https://ow.ly/Mqc750ZVxue

10/08/2026

PEER has obtained documents that raise serious questions about Freedom 250 and the questionable practices of its financial sponsor, the National Park Foundation (NPF). Congress should step in with oversight.

The documents reveal that:
• A French foundry associated with far-right figures and causes made new Revolutionary War statues for Freedom Plaza.
• The National Park Service (NPS) directed $26,911,193 in taxpayer money to Event Strategies, Inc., the Trump-favored firm that helped stage the rally on the Ellipse on January 6, 2021.
• NPF provided a budget estimate for key Freedom 250 events with a total estimated cost of $128.5 million and anticipated federal funding of $114.2 million.

"Public servants and the American people deserve transparency and accountability for how their tax dollars were spent. We urge Congress to hold hearings on these grotesque abuses, and we will continue to work to expose the truth through every avenue possible," said Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director of PEER.

Read more in our latest press release. Link in comments.

10/07/2026

The Trump administration is reportedly considering transferring more than 17,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land for at least 12 proposed data centers. We're urging Congress to stop it.

In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee, we asked Congress to include clear language in the upcoming government funding bill. It would prohibit the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, and other federal agencies from using appropriated funds to sell, transfer, lease, or otherwise make federal public lands available for private hyperscale data centers and their associated infrastructure.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act clearly states that public lands should generally remain in federal ownership unless disposal of a particular parcel, through the required planning process, serves the national interest. It also directs that public lands be managed to protect environmental, water, ecological, scenic, historic, and recreational values.

“It’s hard to imagine a move more out of step with the public than building data centers on public lands,” said PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse. “Americans love their public lands and have legitimate concerns about data centers. Congress has the power to stop this, and we urge them to do so without delay.”

Read more in our latest press release. Link in comments.

10/06/2026

Today is your last chance to tell the Trump administration to keep protections in place for America's roadless national forests!

The public comment period closes today at 11:59 pm ET, so visit https://peer.org/public-comment-keep-protections-in-place-for-americas-roadless-national-forests/ to submit your comment now.

🚨 ACTION ALERT 🚨
Tell the Trump administration to keep protections in place for America's roadless national forests!

For 25 years, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has protected national forests from commercial logging and road construction. The Rule protects about a quarter of our 193 million acres of national forest.

Now, the federal government wants to take even that protection away. If that happens, 45 million acres of protected forest will be vulnerable to logging, drilling, mining, and other destructive industries.

Rescinding the Rule undermines Forest Service employee expertise and the scientific research it was built on. Combined with other recent rollbacks of environmental protections, it would put already-vulnerable wildlife at even greater risk.

Now is your chance to stand up for your national forests. The government has extended the deadline for public comments until October 6. Visit https://peer.org/public-comment-keep-protections-in-place-for-americas-roadless-national-forests/ to learn how you can submit your comments today.

Thank you for using your voice to fight for your public lands!

10/04/2026

🚨 LAST CHANCE 🚨
Tell EPA to set limits on PFAS in sewage sludge fertilizer! The public comment period closes tomorrow, so visit peer.org/pfaslimits to submit your comment today.

Throughout the country, people are unwittingly using sewage sludge contaminated with PFAS to fertilize their farms, gardens, and lawns. PFAS are particularly dangerous when found in sewage sludge because they can contaminate food and water supplies and devastate farming families.

EPA’s own 2025 draft risk assessment found that sewage sludge containing just 1 part per billion of two types of PFAS — PFOA or PFOS — may pose health risks. Yet the agency's draft guidance for reducing risks from certain PFAS in sewage sludge offers only voluntary recommendations that suppliers and users are free to ignore.

This is your chance to tell EPA that voluntary guidance isn’t enough. Only enforceable limits can protect farming families, our environment, and our food and water supplies from PFAS contamination.

EPA is accepting public comments on this issue through tomorrow. Learn how you can submit your comment today at peer.org/pfaslimits

Thank you for using your voice to protect our health and the environment from toxic PFAS!

10/02/2026

The Department of the Interior appears to be preparing for another major reorganization, and it has provided little public information about what will change or why.

Reorganizations are not inherently bad. Federal agencies should periodically examine whether their structures still serve their missions.

But major organizational change should begin with a clearly identified problem, evidence that the proposed solution will address it, and meaningful input from the people who understand the agency’s work.

Before Secretary Burgum reshuffles Interior again, he should explain why.

Read more in the latest commentary from PEER Senior Counsel Tony Irish.
🔗 https://ow.ly/Iy6Q50ZTJbT

10/01/2026

PEER’s latest investigation uncovered a troubling gap in federal transparency. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has the authority to investigate and pursue discipline against federal employees who wrongfully withhold public records. But PEER found that OSC has never used this authority since it was created in 1979.

That means officials who knowingly claim records don’t exist or misrepresent their contents can withhold information sought through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from the public without facing discipline under this provision.

“Without a functioning FOIA process, properly policed under OSC’s authorities, corruption in the federal government will likely grow and continue to rot away the system of checks and balances our federal system was meant to have in place,” said PEER General Counsel Joanna Citron Day.

https://ow.ly/GyJS50ZTuF0

10/01/2026

PEER has filed a FOIA lawsuit against the USFS over the agency's use of NDAs for public employees. This NDA policy fails to include legally required whistle blower protection provisions, a violation of federal law. In our lawsuit, we argue that public access to these NDAs is essential for understanding the scope of the confidentiality requirements, and whether those agreements comply with whistleblower protections.

“Exposing how the Forest Service is using NDAs—and whether the agreements comply with federal law—is precisely the kind of transparency the public needs as the administration seeks to expand such restrictions across the government,” says Colleen Zimmerman, PEER’s staff counsel who filed the suit. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the Forest Service to immediately produce all responsive records.

“Public employees are not corporate employees who are required to protect their company's business secrets,” says Joanna Citron Day, PEER’s general counsel. “They are public servants whose work belongs to the people who pay for it.”

Read more in our latest press release. Link in comments.