Porter: DOE should explain why workers allowed to return

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. wants detailed records from the Energy and Interior Departments that should indicate who allowed employees under investigation for falsifying Yucca Mountain project documents to continue to work on the project.

Two of the 10 employees involved with e-mails sent between May 18, 1998, and March 20, 2000, are still working on the project while a third, who is believed to have authored some the of e-mails talking about altering scientific data, was allowed back on the project briefly.

The Energy Department announced last month that it discovered e-mails written by U.S. Geological Survey employees that may have lead to falsified data at the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The House Federal Workforce and Agency Organization Subcommittee, of which Porter is chairman, released redacted copies of the e-mails and other documents a week ago which show employees discussing how to "fudge" information, make things up and get around a Quality Assurance program in place to back up and document scientific work.

In a letter sent to both departments Thursday, Porter told them he wants all records related to the employees' "hiring, reassignment or transfer." He also requested an organizational chart of the project during the time the e-mails were sent showing the employees and their superiors.

"The (Energy) Department should also explain why it chose to bring a certain employee back on the project after discovering (the) alleged misconduct and why Deputy Director Garrish was unaware that the aforementioned employees were working on the project when he testified at the April 5th Subcommittee hearing," Porter wrote.

Ted Garrish, the Yucca Mountain project top official deferred a question on the employees' current status to U.S. Geological Survey Director Charles Groat at a House hearing Tuesday. Groat said none of the employees in question were still working on the Yucca Mountain project but some were still working for the government.

In the letter to Groat sent Thursday, Porter wrote: "Please also explain why, as the Director of the U.S.G.S., you were unaware that said employees were working on the project when you testified at the April 5th Subcommittee hearing and why any official at U.S.G.S. chose to bring a certain employee back on the project after discovering (the) alleged misconduct."

Porter plans to conduct another hearing on April 13 on the alleged falsification and is working with the Interior Department to get the employees in question to testify. The employees have yet to be identified due to several ongoing investigations.

Meanwhile, the department's detailed plans to investigate the effect of the work referenced in the e-mails appears to be in flux. W. John Arthur, deputy director of the department's Office of Repository Development wrote a "work plan" dated April 5 on its Web site outlining its plans to review the scientific work affected by the alleged falsifications and evaluate the Quality Assurance program.

The plan described a panel of three to five members "who will have independence and autonomy from DOE" but who were familiar with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing process, had a credible and impartial voice and "experience in dealing with the public regarding sensitive/controversial issues."

But a message now appears on the Yucca Mountain Project Web site, www.ymp.gov, that says the plan was not finished.

"This posting was premature since final decisions on our plans for this important issue are still being made. We regret any confusion this posting may have caused," according to the Web site.

Energy Department spokeswoman Anne Womack Kolton said the plan was an internal document.

Nevada officials and Yucca critics do not want the Energy Department to be in charge of the review its own work, even with an outside panel created by the department.

During Tuesday's hearing, Garrish asked Porter how an independent investigation would be different from the department's plans to get independent experts to review the quality assurance program and the NRC's ultimate review of the license application.

"The problem is it was under your watch this happened before, that's the problem with bringing in another individual under your watch," Porter said.

Nevada's delegation is working to inform other elected officials and high-ranking federal employees about the project's latest setback.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., sent a letter to all the members of the House on Thursday explaining the latest setback for the project, including lines from some of the e-mails and again calling for work on the project to stop.

"There can be no doubt after reading these emails, and the hundreds more that have been compiled, that the integrity of the project and years of scientific research into the repository have both been fatally compromised," Berkley wrote. "The Yucca Mountain Project continues to be plagued with problems and has repeatedly failed to meet the necessary standard of 'sound science' the Bush Administration promised not only Nevadans, but all Americans."

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., sent a letter to President Bush and Energy Secretary Bodman on March 24 calling for a stop to the project based on the problems raised in the e-mails and "the already existing scientific questions that have failed to be answered."

Bob Loux, executive director for Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, said Gov. Kenny Guinn is seeking a meeting with the president to talk about the project and its latest problem.