A longtime government range specialist who claimed he was fired in retaliation for repeatedly reporting illegal livestock grazing on federal land in eastern Nevada has been reinstated as part of a settlement of his whistleblower complaint against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
An administrative judge for the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board had scheduled a hearing to begin Monday on the complaint filed in May by Craig Hoover. He worked for the bureau for 21 years before he was terminated from his job in Ely.
A lawyer for the watchdog group who represented Hoover told The Associated Press the hearing won't take place because Hoover has been reinstated to a new bureau position in Elko.
Peter Jenkins of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says it's important to defend public servants who follow laws intended to protect the environment.
