Yellowstone whistleblower alleges more lead in employee housing

Housing for Yellowstone National Park employees and their families is contaminated with lead paint, according to a whistleblower disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel on April 27. The filing marks the second time in the past year a park employee has brought forth concerns about the safety of lead in employee housing; this time, information included with the disclosure paints a more sweeping picture of potential lead exposure. 

“Thousands of Yellowstone employees and their families have been and/or are currently being exposed to harmful levels of lead through the paint in their housing,” the disclosure states. “Many remain exposed today without a form of abatement. There are current and former residents that have not been warned of this risk.”  

The filing by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, a nonprofit that provides free legal services for government employees, is on behalf of an unnamed current federal employee.  

The recent whistleblower disclosure provides new details about Yellowstone’s monitoring of lead and, allegedly, a lack of action to correct alarming finds. According to PEER, Yellowstone is the “target of an ongoing investigation by EPA on the issue.” 

The filing includes a previously unreported 2025 review of lead hazard in the park, which found that 79% of park housing did not fully comply with federal guidelines for lead management in family housing. The 2025 lead report concluded, “Evaluating and mitigating exposure risks, especially for vulnerable populations, is a regulatory imperative unmet” in Yellowstone. 

The filing also includes a 2021 report that found that lead paint in levels higher than Environmental Protection Agency standards was found in “most” of the housing units a third party reviewed; but only a few buildings have been rehabilitated in the years since, according to PEER. 

“Yellowstone management has long known about these dangerous conditions but has yet to make them a priority,” stated PEER Western lands and Rocky Mountain advocate Chandra Rosenthal in a news release. “The condition of this housing is both unsafe and completely illegal.”

Yellowstone National Park spokesperson Linda Veress said in an email to SFGATE that over $100 million has been invested in improving or replacing employee housing, including “tens of millions” on dealing with lead paint and asbestos. 

“These efforts have replaced outdated trailers with new housing units and rehabilitated more than 200 additional units,” she wrote. “Over $40 million will be invested in the next three years on new housing.”

Much of Yellowstone’s employee housing was built well before lead-based paint was banned in 1978; park officials have said in the past they are aware of roughly 290 residences with lead-based paint. “The park continues to actively test for and mitigate lead paint risks, working with the EPA and certified lead professionals to identify and address areas of concern. Ongoing annual inspections are conducted to monitor paint conditions and initiate corrective actions as needed,” Veress said. She also noted, “The Trump Administration was the first to begin addressing this issue at scale and to provide significant funding to improve employee housing conditions across the park.”

Lead exposure is especially harmful for pregnant people, babies and children under 6 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lead can damage children’s brains and nervous systems, slow their growth and development, and cause learning, behavior, hearing and speech problems. No amount of lead is safe for children; lead can build up in the body through repeated exposure. The PEER filing notes that lead paint remains on or around children’s playground equipment in the park. 

The new disclosure adds to increasing claims of unsafe employee housing. SFGATE reported in June on a federal lawsuit from a Yellowstone employee whose children are facing long-term effects of lead poisoning. The case is still pending and focuses on the struggles of one family. 

“The biggest regret of our lives was living in that house,” said Emily Aiuppa, the wife of a Yellowstone utilities systems operator and mother to three children, one of whom is having severe health issues they believe are connected to the lead exposure. 

SFGATE requested any and all test results for exterior and interior lead in the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District and Fort Yellowstone employee housing in a June 2025 Freedom of Information Request. As of April 2026, that request remains unanswered. 

The judicial process is moving slowly for the Aiuppa family. In the meantime, the separate complaint may prompt action from the National Park Service. PEER filed the complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency that investigates whistleblower complaints and legal violations by federal agencies. In theory, the Office of Special Counsel could order the secretary of the interior, who oversees the National Park Service, to remedy any violations it finds Yellowstone guilty of. 

“A private landlord offering housing under these conditions risks jailtime; if anything, federal landlords should be held to a higher standard,” Rosenthal said in the news release. “We seek outside intervention because business as usual at Yellowstone will leave families in jeopardy for the foreseeable future.”