We’ve noted the comments of Hugh Kaufman, a senior EPA policy analyst, and it helps to know just how much he’s been involved in the biggest environmental issues of our time. A former Air Force officer, he’s been a thorn in the side of various government agencies for decades.
The website “SourceWatch,” which tracks the background of people in the news, offers a good overview of the man now saying the EPA and BP are working together to damage our health.
SourceWatch: Hugh Kaufman has been at EPA since the agency was created in the early 1970s, as an engineer, investigator and policy analyst. Prior to joining the EPA in the beginning of 1971, he was a Captain in the US Air Force. He helped write all the Federal laws regulating the treatment, storage, disposal, and remediation of solid and hazardous waste. He has been the Chief Investigator on numerous contamination cases, including Love Canal and Times Beach.
In 1976, when he was Chief Investigator on Hazardous Sites, he came up with the idea for a major Government Clean-up Program called Superfund, that was enacted in 1980. Beginning in 1997, he served as Chief Investigator for EPA’s National Ombudsman. In that role, he investigated and conducted several public hearings around the country on EPA’s clean-up and remediation at hazardous sites. In this role, he led the investigation that uncovered EPA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cover-up of the environmental effects of the collapse of the World Trade Center after al Qaeda’s terrorist acts in September 11, 2001.
He has testified numerous times before Congress. Mr. Kaufman is currently the Senior Policy Analyst at EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and has held this position since the Bush Administration abolished the EPA Ombudsman Office in 2002.
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