Document 3Jrwrg8e2z8GdQgkVXE0R5QKJ

PAGE 1 itation /20/91 HSTNCHRON 10 V20/91 Hous. Chron. 10 991 WL 3925166 Publication page references Rank(R) R 8 OF 12 are not available for Houston Chronicle Copyright 1991 Database ALLNEWS this document.) Mode Page Thursday, June 20, 1991 B NEWS Dallas woman's 'whistle-blowing' JIM MORRIS Staff to draw honor A Dallas-area woman who disclosed a giant utility's improper disposal and sales of toxic coatings was to receive the Cavallo Prize for Moral Courage today. Linda Porter of Argyle will receive $10,000 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., for revealing unsafe practices by Dallas-based TU Electric, owner of the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant southwest of Fort Worth. The award, given since 1988 by the Cavallo Foundation of Cambridge, Mass., recognizes "whistle-blowers'1 who jeopardize their careers or lives to inform the public about health or social justice issues. Porter is the first award recipient from Texas; five other winners will share $23,000 this year. In a telephone interview Wednesday from Washington, Porter said .e award is "like a gift from heaven. It tells me that ... the work I'm doing is not in vain and that somebody is listening." Porter, 42, was working for Houston-based Brown & Root Inc., general contractor at Comanche Peak, in the mid-1980s when she learned she and her co-workers were being exposed to asbestos through protective coatings they were applying to plant surfaces. She later learned - and reported - that the utility was selling or giving away thousands of gallons of the same coatings to the public, without warning people about the potential health risks. In a settlement with the Texas Attorney General's Office, the utility agreed to run newspaper advertisements and to buy back the coatings. Porter and other ex-workers at the plant are suing Brown & Root, TU Electric and the coating manufacturers. Porter also claimed that TU Electric was unsafely disposing of Copr. (C) West 1999 No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT B&R-126 i/20/91- HSTNCHRON 10 ^Publication page references are not hazardous materials in landfills on groundwater and a nearby reservoir. available the plant for this grounds, document.) threatening PAGE 2 TU Electric denied there was a threat, but was fined $10,000 by ~ne Texas Water Commission in 1989 for operating a hazardous waste landfill without a permit. Porter blames her firing in 1988 on her disclosures, an allegation denied by both Brown & Root and TU Electric. -------- INDEX REFERENCES -------- EDITION: 2 STAR Word Count: 322 6/20/91 HSTNCHRON 10 ND OF DOCUMENT Copr. (C) West 1999 No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works