Former BLM staffer Earle Dixon, who was in charge of cleanup at the abandoned Yerington copper mine in Nevada, says he was fired in October 2004 after one year of work for informing local residents and the media of radioactive contamination at the mine. He accused the BLM, the State of Nevada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of endangering the community by not notifying residents of the contamination. At the end of August, Department of Labor Judge Richard K. Malamphy ordered the BLM to pay Dixon back wages through October 2005, as well as $10,000 in damages — and to give him a favorable, or at least neutral, job reference.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline BLM busted for booting whistleblower.
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