EPA’s Watchdog Will Offer Cash Rewards to Whistleblowers

The EPA’s internal watchdog is developing a program to financially reward agency whistleblowers who come forward with identifiable cost savings, according to Inspector General Sean O’Donnell.

By statute, inspectors general can pay whistleblowers cash awards of $10,000 or 1% of the agency’s cost savings, whichever is lower. But “very few” agencies actually do it, and the Environmental Protection Agency isn’t believed to have done it on a regular basis, O’Donnell told Bloomberg Law.

The move is consistent with O’Donnell’s campaign to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and to shield whistleblowers from retaliation.

“This is something we’re really starting to ...