['EPA', 'WATCH', 'Page', '2', 'Vol', '1', 'Number', '2', 'left', 'alone.', '--', 'In', '1982,', 'the', 'residents', 'of', 'Times', 'Beach,', 'Missouri,', 'a', 'town', 'of', '2,400', 'people,', 'were', 'forcibly', 'evacuated', 'from', 'their', 'homes', 'because', 'of', 'an', 'EPA', 'risk', 'assessment', 'that', 'concluded', 'the', 'community', 'was', 'contaminated', 'by', 'dioxin.', 'Years', 'later,', 'after', 'the', 'town’s', '800', 'families', 'had', 'endured', 'the', 'trauma', 'of', 'being', 'dispossessed', 'of', 'their', 'homes,', 'the', 'EPA', 'admitted', 'that', 'the', 'concentration', 'levels', 'of', 'dioxin', 'at', 'Times', 'Beach', 'were', 'not', 'harmful.', '--', 'In', '1990,', 'the', 'EPA’s', 'Science', 'Advisory', 'Board', 'issued', 'a', 'draft', 'report', 'claiming', 'that', 'environmental', 'tobacco', 'smoke', '(ETS),', 'or', 'passive', 'smoking,', 'was', 'a', '“Group', 'A', 'carcinogen.”', 'But', 'within', 'months;', 'the', 'board’s', 'own', 'chairman,', 'Dr.', 'Morton', 'Lippmaan,', 'told', 'reporters', 'that', 'the', 'risk', 'from', 'ETS', 'is', '“probably', 'much', 'less', 'than', 'you', 'took', 'to', 'get', 'here', 'through', 'Washington', 'traffic."', 'So', 'embarrassing', 'is', 'the', 'EPA’s', 'list', 'of', 'costly', 'blunders', 'that', 'Administrator', 'Reilly', 'found', 'it', 'necessary', 'to', 'order', 'an', 'internal', 'review', 'of', 'the', 'problems', 'associated', 'with', 'scientific', 'analysis', 'as', 'carried', 'out', 'by', 'his', 'agency.', 'The', 'report,', 'issued', 'in', 'January,', 'found', 'that', 'the', 'EPA', 'lacks', 'adequate', 'safeguards', 'to', 'prevent', 'policy', 'considerations', 'from', 'influencing', 'scientific', 'findings.', 'It', 'added', 'that', 'the', '"EPA', 'has', 'not', 'always', 'ensured', 'that', 'contrasting,', 'reputable', 'scientific', 'views', 'are', 'well', 'explored.', '.', '.', 'from', 'the', 'beginning', 'to', 'the', 'end', 'of', 'the', 'regulatory', 'process.”', 'Yet', 'within', 'one', 'month', 'of', 'admitting', 'that', 'its', 'science', 'reflects', 'regulatory', 'bias', 'and', 'lacks', 'credibility', 'in', 'the.', 'greater', 'scientific', 'community,', 'the', 'EPA', 'decided', 'to', 'investigate', 'the', 'health', 'risks', 'of', 'taking', 'showers.', 'As', 'the', 'nation', 'faces', 'a', 'projected', '$400', 'billion', 'budget', 'deficit', 'this', 'year,', 'the', 'Bush', 'administration', 'might', 'ask', 'itself', 'whether', 'the', 'EPA,', 'which', 'already', 'consumes', '36', 'percent', 'of', 'the', 'U:S.', 'regulatory', 'budget,', 'shouldn’t', 'be', 'held', 'accountable', 'for', 'the', 'uses', 'to', 'which', 'it', 'puts', 'taxpayers’', 'money.', 'EPA', 'REELING', 'FROM', 'CHARGES', 'OF', 'CONTRACT', 'MISMANAGEMENT', '_', 'In', 'a', 'development', 'that', 'could', 'jeopardize', 'its', 'proposed', 'elevation', 'to', 'cabinet-level', 'status,', 'the', 'Environmental', 'Protection', 'Agency', '(EPA)', 'has', 'been', 'accused', 'by', 'its', 'own', 'Inspector', 'General', 'of', 'contract', 'mismanagement', 'that', 'has', 'cost', 'U.S.', 'taxpayers', 'of', 'millions', 'of', 'dollars.', 'The', 'allegations', 'are', 'contained', 'in', 'a', 'draft', 'report', 'released', 'on', 'February', '28', 'by', 'John', 'C.', 'Martin,', 'the', 'EPA’s', 'Inspector', 'General..', 'Mr.', 'Martin’s', 'report', 'focuses', 'on', 'the', 'EPA’s', 'long-', 'standing', 'relationship', 'with', 'Computer', 'Sciences', 'Corporation', '(CSC)', 'of', 'El', 'Segundo,', 'California.', '"EPA’s', 'vulnerability', 'to', 'fraudulent,', 'wasteful,', 'abusive,', 'and', 'illegal', 'practices', 'from', 'CSC', 'contract', 'operations', 'has', 'increased', 'to', 'unacceptable', 'levels', 'due.', 'to', 'poor', 'contract', 'practices', 'by', 'EPA', 'officials,"', 'Mr.', 'Martin', 'noted.', '"EPA’s', 'managers', 'established', 'a', 'climate', 'of', 'disregard', 'for', 'sound', 'contract', 'management', 'principles', 'that', 'encouraged', 'prohibited', 'contract', 'activities,', 'ineffective', 'and', 'inefficient', 'use', 'of', 'Agency', 'resources,', 'and', 'diminished', 'EPA', 'control', 'over', 'critical', 'program', 'support', 'activities."', 'w', 'NE', 'diy', 't', 'CSC', '“assigned', 'itself', 'work', 'and', 'managed', 'its', 'own', 'contract', 'for', 'EPA,”', 'the', 'report', 'said.', 'So', 'cozy', 'were', 'the', 'ties', 'between', 'the', 'agency', 'and', 'the', 'contractor', 'that', 'spouses', 'worked', 'together', 'at', 'the', 'same', 'locations', '--', 'one', 'for', 'CSC,', 'the', 'other', 'for', 'the', 'EPA', '--', 'as', 'did', 'parents', 'and', 'their', 'children.', 'Dingell', 'Blasts', 'EPA', '"This', 'is', 'the', 'most', 'absurd', 'situation', 'I', 'have', 'ever', 'seen', 'in', 'government', 'contracting,"', 'commented', 'Congressman', 'John', 'Dingell,', 'Democrat', 'of', 'Michigan,', 'whose', 'House', 'Energy', 'and', 'Commerce', 'investigations', 'subcommittee', 'has', 'been', 'looking', 'into', 'the', 'matter.', 'At', 'a', 'hearing', 'before', 'his', 'subcommittee.on', 'March', '4,', 'Mr.', 'Dingell', 'said', 'the', 'EPA', 'had', '“raised', 'questionable', 'government', 'contracting', 'to', 'a', 'new', 'art', 'form."', '“Under', 'their', 'golden', 'handshake', 'with', 'CSC,"', 'Mr.', 'Dingell', 'went', 'on,', '“the', 'EPA', 'allows', 'CSC', 'to', 'set', 'its', 'own', 'work', 'requirements,', 'draft', 'its', 'own', 'contracts,', 'execute', 'those', 'contracts,', 'and', 'review', 'its', 'own', 'bills.', 'In', 'effect,', 'CSC', 'is', 'contracting', 'with', 'itself,', 'merely', 'using', 'the', 'taxpayers’', 'money.”', 'In', 'testimony', 'before', 'the', 'subcommittee,', 'Inspector', 'General', 'Martin', 'said', 'that', '"Contract', 'mismanagement', 'at', 'EPA', 'has', 'reached', 'crisis', 'proportion.”', 'To', 'underscore', 'his', 'point,', 'Mr.', 'Martin', 'outlined', 'the', 'results', 'of', 'his', 'recent', 'audit', 'of', 'the', 'EPA’s', 'relationship', 'with', 'CSC:', '--', 'The', 'EPA', 'awarded', 'a', '$357', 'million', 'contract', 'to', 'CSC', 'in', 'September', '1990,', 'even', 'though', 'the', 'California-', 'based', 'company’s', 'bid', 'was', '$56', 'million', 'higher', 'than', 'the', 'lowest', 'technically', 'qualified', 'bidder.', 'The', 'EPA', 'justified', 'the', 'awarding', 'of', 'the', 'contract', 'to', 'CSC', 'by', 'citing', 'the', 'firm’s', '"extraordinary', 'technical', 'expertise."', 'But', 'shortly', 'thereafter,', 'the', 'EPA', 'granted', 'a', 'waiver', 'for', '16', 'percent', 'of', 'total', 'contract', 'staff', 'peawho,', 'it', 'turns', 'out,', 'were', 'unqualified', 'to', 'p’work', 'on', 'the', 'contract.', 'The', 'waiver', 'rN', 'allowed', 'them', 'to', 'do', 'the', 'work.', '|', 'I', '1', '|', '--', 'The', 'EPA', 'has', 'relied', 'heavily', 'on', 'CSC', 'for', 'development,', 'operation,', 'and', 'maintenance', 'for', 'a', 'majority', 'of', 'its', 'information', 'and', 'financial', 'systems,', 'leading', 'to', 'an', 'over-dependence', 'on', 'contractor', 'support', 'and', 'a', 'loss', 'of', 'technical', 'expertise', 'within', 'the', 'EPA.', '"It', 'is', 'disturbing', 'that', 'EPA', 'is', 'in', 'effect']