The Man from the EPA

  by Charissa Nasrallah

I received a phone call from the newspaper reporter who told me someone from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Atlanta wanted to speak to me.  The reporter gave me the man’s phone number, and wished me the best of luck with my case.  I dialed up the EPA’s toll free number and spoke with a man who had caught word of my news story on the public radio in Atlanta. 

The man informed me the park had broken the law when they terminated me, since after I signed any statement in an environmental investigation I was protected by a series of “whistle-blower” laws.  He then confided in me that he had at one point been a whistle-blower himself and knew a great deal about these laws.  He then offered to help me pursue my case against the park.

We began by writing a complaint to the US Department of Labor.  I wrote a rough draft about what had happened, and the man from the EPA modified my letter by helping cite the specific laws that had been broken during the park’s process of terminating my employment.  Weeks later, a man from the US Department of Labor contacted me and requested that I write him a statement explaining everything that had happened.  I wrote down everything that had gone on in the park, and sent a copy of it to the man from the EPA.  He informed me that although my letter was a good first draft, we were going to have to do some work on it. 

In the weeks that followed, the man from the EPA and I continuously worked on the statement I was planning to send to the US Department of Labor.  At one point, I even traveled about 250 miles to meet with him.  He was a very motivated and conscientious individual who had achieved a lot in his lifetime and hoped to teach others from his experiences in environmental law.  Passionately and unconditionally, he put forth his best efforts to help me with my case.

We put in over thirty hours each of researching the laws and reviewing the facts of my case.  When it was finally completed, we had written over seven pages of material, complete with a list of fifteen witnesses to my allegations.  Working with the man from the EPA drove me crazy at points, since he was so particular about the wording we used to describe the events that took place.  Many times I grew tired and cranky trying to produce a statement he felt completely satisfied with, but he knew more much than I did.  Being patient and working with him had positive results.  The man from the EPA knew the law and he knew exactly how to state my claim so there was no confusion to what had happened.

From the best of my understanding, everything I had written in the statement was true, and the truth was all I expected from anyone who was ever questioned.

I had no idea how toxic the disinfectant had been to the water, and I personally doubted it was responsible for killing the alligator, especially since most of the common workers in the Animal Forest had displayed enough common sense not to use it everyday.  Still, the people familiar with my situation agreed upper management had treated me unfairly, and my legal advisors had pointed out these people had also treated me unlawfully.  I realize I might have only been a common worker, but at least I was a hard working and honest one.  I realize I have never been unaware of the pressers on the heads of those in upper management, but I did not believe that anything could justify the actions of those who lied to the public or to the government officials. 

Luckily there were several others who valued truth and environmental safety as much as I did.  All the people who aided in my efforts to expose the injustices of the South Carolina State Park System came to be my friends.  The majority of these people risked much more than I ever had to risk so they could notify the proper authorities about what had happened at the park.  It was these people I came to regard as the real heroes in this saga.

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