FederalDaily - September 6, 2006
Senator Calls for Air Controller Hearings
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has called for the Senate to examine the staffing shortage among the
nation’s air traffic controllers following the crash of Comair Flight 5191 in Lexington, Ky.,
which left 49 dead. Lautenberg said on Sept. 1 that he sent a letter to Senate leaders seeking a hearing
to look into how many air traffic controllers currently are manning the control towers at airports
throughout the country. Last week, another senator, Patty Murray, D-Wash., urged the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) to move aggressively to hire more air traffic controllers. FAA has acknowledged
it violated its own policies by having only one controller assigned to the airport the morning of the
Kentucky crash. Lautenberg noted about 70 percent of the current air traffic controller workforce will
be eligible for retirement by 2011, and that there are already 1,081 fewer controllers throughout the
United States now than there were three years ago. To see the
Lautenberg press release, go to http://lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=262340&&.
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Ex-BLM Manager Wins Whistleblower Case
A federal administrative law judge ruled the Bureau of Land Management illegally fired a toxic-waste
cleanup manager after he disclosed pollution dangers at the closed Anaconda Mine at Yerington, Nev.
The employee, Earle Dixon, was fired from his position in October 2004, the day before the end of his
probationary period. According to an opinion released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility,
the federal judge ordered the agency to pay Dixon two years worth of back pay and benefits, saying
it was clear that “Dixon was fired for his whistleblowing activities.” The judge denied
Dixon's request for up to $1 million in exemplary damages and stopped short of ordering the BLM to
reinstate Dixon, but instructed the agency to give him a “favorable or at least neutral job reference.” The
BLM can appeal. Agency officials did not return calls seeking comment. Dixon said he was fired because
he brought to light the increasing health and safety hazards being unearthed at the abandoned mine
owned by Atlantic Richfield Co., including unsafe levels of uranium that he claims state regulators
allegedly knew about but covered up since 1984. To see more, www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=742.
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ICE Agent Faces Charges
Federal officials charged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in the agency’s
Detroit office with allegedly lying to investigators and accepting a bribe in a scheme aimed at finding
work for his wife in exchange for leniency in a deportation matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Eastern District of Michigan said Aug. 30 that ICE Agent Ramon Williams, while assigned as
temporary deportation officer from August 2003 to February 2004, contacted the girlfriend of a deportable
alien and requested employment assistance for his wife. According to the charges, in exchange Williams
arranged for the unnamed alien to remain free pending deportation, although the alien was not eligible
for non-custodial status. When confronted, Williams denied the scheme, but later recanted in a second
interview with investigators, according to the charges. If convicted, Williams faces seven years in
prison, a fine of up to $500,000, or both. Although Williams was charged, further proceedings are pending
a review, and possible indictment, by the federal grand jury. To see more: www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/OIGpr_williams_083006.pdf.
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