Employees are the eyes and ears of environmental protection. They bury waste, operate incinerators, and witness the discharge of pollutants into the environment. However, employees who "blow the whistle" and report environmental wrongdoing are often subject to harassment, dismissal, and blacklisting.

In 1972 as part of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Congress recognized the critical role workers play in ensuring the enforcement of environmental laws and enacted the first environmental whistleblower law. Retaliating against environmental whistleblowers was made illegal and the victims of such misconduct finally benefitted from a government remedy at the federal level. By 1980 Congress passed six other environmental whistleblowers laws, protecting employees who blow the whistle on violations of the Toxic Substances, Safe Drinking Water, Solid Waste Disposal, Clean Air, Atomic Energy, and Comprehensive Environmental Response (Superfund) Acts.

Nearly every American worker is protected under these laws. The types of employees who have successfully filed...