A letter addressed to Mayor Bill de Blasio and former commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Emily Lloyd claims that the agency falsified water quality reports pertaining to Newtown Creek, DNAinfo reports. The letter is written on behalf of several former and current DEP employees who are considering filing a lawsuit against the agency.
This letter claims that several former employees were let go when they refused to botch reports, and in one case an employee was saddled with several disciplinary charges when he refused to falsify reports.
As the current process stands, waste water samples are tested in DEP’s labs with federal and local regulations before the city issues its report on the water quality. It’s during the various stages of this process that the head of the NYC DEP Newtown Creek Laboratory to create false reports before the government inspects these records, according to the letter.
This would mean the city is violating the Clean Water Act, and the DEP has had a long history of trying to obfuscate violations of this act, DNAinfo’s reporting reveals. It’s not just federal guidelines that are in question here. These reports are also used as the basis for improvements to the sewage system and how tax payers’ money is spent on cleanup efforts.
A representative for the city’s Law Department told DNAinfo: "The claims in this initial notice have no merit. We will review the complaint if one is actually filed and respond accordingly."