Attorneys for the state and Jayko have been discussing a settlement. But the U.S. Department of Labor contends that the EPA broke seven employment laws when it pulled Jayko from the investigation in 1998. With no agreement in sight, the EPA decided to appeal the latest decision favoring Jayko to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. We still hope to reach a settlement in this case that's acceptable to all the parties,'' EPA spokeswoman Carol Hester said. Jayko wrote several internal memos that sharply criticized the agency's response to an unusually high number of leukemia cases detected among graduates in 1997.
River Valley is on the site of a former military depot where chemical waste was dumped for years.
After Jayko began expressing his frustration in memos, many of which were reported by The Dispatch and other media outlets, the EPA suspended him for 10 days and moved him to the Bowling Green office. EPA officials said they punished Jayko for drinking two beers before a public meeting. But a federal administrative law judge ruled last year that the action was groundless and amounted to retaliation for the memos. Gov. Bob Taft and Christopher Jones, the EPA director, have made the River Valley investigation a priority. Most of the tests and recommendations Jayko urged his bosses to conduct have been done, Jones said.