A top Salton Sea official is suing a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, saying the Warren Buffett-controlled company illegally fired him from his job running geothermal power plants in the Imperial Valley.

Graeme Donaldson claims he was fired last year after telling managers at Berkshire Hathaway Energy — which, through other subsidiaries, owns 10 of the 11 geothermal plants by the southern shore of the Salton Sea — that proposed budget cuts could lead to safety and environmental hazards, putting employees at risk and potentially causing toxic chemical leaks.