We originally brought you the story yesterday of Mary Gade, an EPA Official who has been asked to resign and has done so, allegedly because of her efforts to have Dow Chemical clean up dioxin.  The story we excerpted with commentary was from the Friday Chicago Tribune: EPA Official Ousted While Fighting Dow.

This story is of great interest to EnviroHumanImpact, because on the surface of this firing, Gade’s ouster was due to her pursuing her duties to enforce the laws breached by Dow (regarding the environment).  Who knows what kind of leverage Dow has used to influence the EPA or Bush Administration (or both) to have Gade removed from their corporate back?  Have there been similar firings during the Bush Administration?

Where is the Mainstream Media on this? The point here is that there are a lot of unanswered questions about a situation that is very reminiscent of the U.S. Attorney Firing Scandal.  What’s sad is that the Chicago Tribune covered the story on Friday but EHI has not yet been able to find a follow-up article in print or online Tribune stories.

The New York Times does not appear to have any story on the matter as of yet.  Same goes for USA Today.  CNN, too.  Fox News picked it up, but really just repackaged the Tribune story — but at least they carried the story.  Let’s hope that these news organizations are working on the story and surprise us this week.  It will be better late than never.

The Wall Street Journal presented a story on the Gade matter on May 3.  It does not include a lot of new information but is worth a read.

Mary Gade believes she was fired for her work against Dow.  It looks that way, but to see that this doesn’t keep happening, and that Dow is forced to clean up its mess (according to laws), the details of Gade’s removal are needed.

The blogosphere is alive on this issue, and that matters a lot if we want answers.  Why does that matter?  It appears someone who was doing her important job of defending the environment has become a victim of politics, money, and corruption.  If that’s the case, we should have that aired in public for all to see.  For if nothing corrupt happened in this case, there should be no issue in releasing the facts.  If this is an instance of corruption, let’s get it out in the open and hold those responsible for it to the law.

It starts with blogs and people forwarding the information.  Share it on your social networks, get the news out, let people know what’s going on.  Newspapers are increasingly being held to the standard the online community gives them.  On such an important issue as toxic pollution, we need our newspapers to investigate and show the world what is going on, and to put pressure on our political leaders to make positive change.

Otherwise, well-informed voters will make positive changes for them at the polls.

What do you think?  Corruption?  Some underlying issue not yet mentioned?  Is the mainstream media shying away from controversy?

Related posts:

1. Commentary: Why Gade’s Resignation Matters If you have been following the controversy over why Mary...
2. More Mary Gade Coverage (Or is it Less?) Readers are contacting EnviroHumanImpact, curious about what has happened in...
3. EPA Ousts Mary Gade Seemingly underreported, but what made front-page news on Friday’s (May...