Porter says full documents not received

Suzanne Struglinski

Monday, July 25, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- His staff may have 1,652 pages of Yucca Mountain project documents to begin to review today, but Rep. Jon Porter is still concerned about the pages that are not there.

The Energy Department did not include the project's draft license application in the documents it sent to Porter's office Friday. The draft was among the 10 sets of documents required by a subpoena delivered to the department last week.

Porter, R-Nev., chairman of a House subcommittee investigating potential scientific fraud at the project, said he will be consulting with the subcommittee's lawyers on what to do next. Failure to comply with a subpoena can result in a contempt of Congress charge.

"They are not in compliance, although that is not unusual when dealing with the Department of Energy," Porter said. "The bottom line is that they have not complied, that is a document that should be available."

But the department has not refused to turn over the draft application, it just did not do it by Friday's deadline.

"Congressman Porter's request potentially involves thousands and thousands of pages within a universe of millions and goes far beyond his original request," department spokesman Craig Stevens said.

"(Friday) the Department has produced all documents that were available within the two-day time period that was allotted, and it is only natural that it would take more time to assemble additional documents in light of the scope of his request.

"Any additional existing documents that would be responsive will be produced," Stevens said.

House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., sent the department the subpoena Wednesday with instructions for 10 different sets of documents to be delivered by 4 p.m. Friday.

Porter had requested the documents in writing and during an April hearing on the potential falsified scientific information. The department announced in March that it had discovered e-mails written by several U.S. Geological Survey employees that suggest they falsified work on water flow research, a critical safety component to the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Energy Department told Porter the documents could be viewed at the department headquarters, but Porter wanted his own copies.

"It's not like showing up at DOE for a cup of coffee and going through five documents," Porter said. "They have yet to explain to us why they failed to turn the documents over to us. It is obvious they were not ready."

Eric Fygi, the department's acting general counsel, said the additional documents will be given to the committee as "we identify and collect them."

Fygi emphasized that the subcommittee keep records of concerns raised by project employees confidential and requested that the staff members consult the department before disclosing any of the documents included in the collection.