You have to wonder a bit about the Environmental Protection Agency’s often-stated promise of transparency and openness to its employee’s opinions.

It appears that the rigidness that marked much of the Bush administration’s control of the EPA has returned, as the agency has threatened “disciplinary action” against two of its lawyers for comments they made in a video they posted on YouTube.

The video, entitled “The Huge Mistake,” was made by EPA enforcement lawyers Laurie Williams and her husband, Allan Zabel. The pair stressed their views were personal and did not represent the EPA.

Their video explains why the agency’s “cap & trade” will not accomplish its goals, let alone effectively curb climate change.

The proposed controversial “cap and trade” plan is part of the effort to reduce carbon emissions which are believed to be the leading cause of global warming.

The plan would set a limit, or cap, on nationwide carbon emissions, but companies could buy “pollution credits” if they wanted to exceed the cap.

You’ve got to wonder when the American Petroleum Institute and Greenpeace are both against the plan. However, I don’t want to debate the merits of the plan, but rather EPA’s efforts to stifle its experts from talking publically.

Last week, EPA ethics officials gave the two veteran employees 24 hours to make specific changes to the video. Mostly the agency demanded that all references to the lawyer’s work be deleted. Here are some of the edits that were to be made:

◦                                 Removing the language starting at 1:06 min – ‘Our opinions are based on more than 20 years each working as attorneys at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the San Francisco Regional Office.’

◦                                 (ii) Removing the images of EPA’s building starting at 1:06 min…

◦                                 (v) Remove [sic] the language starting at 6:30 min – ‘In my work at EPA, I’ve been overseeing California’s cap-and-trade and offset programs for more than 20 years.’”

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an organization representing the interest of government environmental professionals, has reposted the original video onto YouTube.

“How is government supposed to be transparent when public servants are forbidden from discussing the nature of their work?” asked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.

““EPA is abusing ethics rules to gag two conscientious employees who have every right to speak out as citizens,” Ruch said in a statement today.

It was just in August that EPA Administrator Jackson issued a statement to employees saying the agency will operate as if in a “fishbowl,” a new openness.

I spoke to an EPA Congressional liaison today who said that the agency requires that all public statements be approved before they’re released.

PEER’s Ruch says that some federal agencies such as the Fish & Wildlife Service have dispensed with any pre-approval of employees’ unofficial expressions, as long as they are accompanied by a short disclaimer.

Here is a link to EPA’s list of changes it wanted made to the video.