Editorial: Yucca scandal getting worse

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

Details are still emerging about the e-mail scandal involving the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain project, but information so far reveals that up to 10 scientists were involved in either sending or receiving the electronic messages between 1998 and 2000. The e-mails -- more than 50 have been uncovered -- contain admissions that some of the scientific work undertaken to prove the safety of Yucca Mountain was falsified.

The scandal began when Nevada challenged documents that the Energy Department filed last summer with the licensing board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The state claimed that the filing was incomplete because it omitted a variety of documents, including e-mails. The state's challenge was upheld, forcing the Energy Department to review internal e-mails to determine which could be released publicly. During that review, in December, the Energy Department discovered the e-mails now at the center of the scandal. The e-mails referenced a critical study on water movement within the mountain by the U.S. Geological Survey, a branch of the Interior Department.

Even though the lives and health of thousands of people depend on Yucca's safety, not to mention the whole economy of Nevada, the Energy Department waited until March 16 to disclose the existence of the e-mails. It used the three-month interim to develop talking points and fact sheets, so that when the information became known it could be spun and diffused.

Now the news has come out that some of the authors of the e-mails are still working for the government. Obviously, the authors and recipients of the e-mails should have been fired. Even more outrageous is the news that one of the e-mail authors, a scientist attached to the U.S. Geological Survey, was let back into the Yucca program last month on a temporary contract -- even though Energy Department managers knew what he had previously written. That action was bizarre. It shows the Energy Department reacting indifferently to the e-mails' content. In a sane world, the e-mails would be enough to shut the whole project down.

After the e-mails were disclosed, this newspaper called for an independent investigation either by the General Accountability Office or a special prosecutor. It's critical that the public receive unbiased information about the science being used to justify Yucca Mountain. Nevada's congressional delegation believes similarly, as it is calling for an independent commission to investigate Yucca Mountain. Clearly, a lengthy and in-depth investigation should be undertaken. And just as clearly, it should be independent of the Energy and Interior departments.