Suspecting that the move was retaliation for his attempts to
report legal violations and environmental mismanagement to
Congress, Fitzgerald filed a complaint with the Merit Systems
Protection Board, a civil service court.

On September 1, the Board agreed with Fitzgerald, ruling that
his disclosures were protected under the Whistleblower
Protection Act, and that making them contributed to the
elimination of his job. He is now entitled to a full hearing to
determine if he is to be reinstated, along with possible
financial compensation.

Fitzgerald named several federal officials in his complaint,
including Bush administration appointees Andrew Natsios,
Administrator for USAID, and John Taylor, the U.S. Treasury
Department Undersecretary for International Affairs.

Fitzgerald charged that USAID gave in to pressure from the
Treasury Department, which was seeking approval to finance
energy projects in South America, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Fitzgerald had been preparing reports detailing a pervasive lack
of environmental reviews, poor planning for likely environmental
problems, and a failure to consider alternatives to highly
environmentally destructive proposals. [1]

In an analysis of a proposed Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project,
Fitzgerald wrote that the pipeline developers themselves had
done the environmental assessment, rather than the governments
involved, as required by the World Bank (which was helping to
finance the project).

He noted that issues such as financial and legal responsibility
for oil spills, creation of parks and wildlife habitat to
compensate for the areas lost to the project, and the impacts on
indigenous and poor peoples were not being addressed.

Treasury officials removed this information from Fitzgerald's
report before it was delivered to Congress. [2]

"This case is about the Bush administration censoring the
information available to Congress and the American people, who
are paying for these loans," said Jeff Ruch, executive director
of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER,
which is assisting Fitzgerald in his appeals.

A U.S. law--the "Pelosi Amendment" to the International
Development and Finance Act of 1989-- requires U.S.
representatives to international development banks, such as the
World Bank, to deny U.S. support to projects that have not had
environmental reviews.

The Pelosi Amendment requires biannual reports to Congress.
Since Fitzgerald's departure two years ago, no reports have been
made. [3]

###

SOURCES:
[1] PEER press release, Sept. 7, 2004.
[2] Draft findings on the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline edited out
by U.S. Department of Treasury.
[3] PEER press release, op. cit.