Thursday, April 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Author of e-mails reassigned to DOE

Move took place despite investigation

A principal author of e-mails that discuss falsifying Yucca Mountain documents was reassigned to the Department of Energy last month to help with troubleshooting missing work, federal officials said Wednesday.

An Energy Department spokeswoman said the U.S. Geological Survey scientist was reassigned to the nuclear waste project March 15 to find a missing electronic file needed to run computer models of water flow through the proposed repository site.

The reassignment came at a time when Yucca Mountain officials were becoming aware of e-mail messages written between 1998 and 2000 in which workers said they had made up dates and names and used "fudge factors" to satisfy quality assurance requirements for their research on climate and water infiltration at the repository site.

Some officials at the Energy Department and the U.S. Geological Survey knew the employee was under investigation, but managers decided the computer file was needed, and the assignment would be for no more than 40 hours, sources said.

They have changed their mind about the arrangement.

Energy Department officials realized the reassignment "was not a good idea," said Barbara Wainman, a USGS spokeswoman.

"It was sort of a contracting arrangement. This person would be able to charge up to 40 hours on the account," Wainman said. The worker had left the Yucca Mountain program several years ago and was working elsewhere in USGS.

Energy Department spokeswoman Anne Womack Kolton said the department sought the scientist's help to find the computer file after searches in Las Vegas and at USGS offices in Denver failed to turn it up.

The department ended the assignment Wednesday without any work being performed, she said.

"As of today, the individual has not billed any work related to this task or any other work, and as of today, the DOE has asked the USGS not to bill any work to the Yucca Mountain Project related to this going forward," Womack Kolton said.

The file remains missing, Kolton said. "The DOE will find a way to accommodate for the lost file," she said.

USGS spokeswoman A.B. Wade told the Associated Press that the reassigned worker was the one identified as "USGS Employee 1" in a summary of the e-mails made public Friday by a House subcommittee led by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev.

According to the subcommittee, "USGS Employee 1" authored provocative messages, including one on March 23, 1999, stating, "Dealing with this QA bullshit is really starting to make me sick."

Wainman declined to identify the authors of the e-mails.

"We have to protect their privacy at this point still," Wainman said.

The e-mails are at the center of an investigation by inspectors general at the Energy Department and the Department of Interior that could lead to criminal charges.

A 23-page quality assurance audit report from 2000 lists a half dozen USGS scientists, including hydrologists, climate experts and field testing specialists. Phone calls to two of the scientists at their offices in Sacramento, Calif., were not returned Wednesday.

But in a phone call late Wednesday to his home in Sacramento, one of the USGS scientists, Joe A. Hevesi, said his work was among the subjects of the e-mail controversy.

Hevesi, whose title is listed as "hydrology and climate" in the audit report, said he worked on Analysis Model Report U0010, "Simulation of Net Infiltration for Modern and Potential Future Climates."

Because of the investigations, Hevesi said he has been told to direct calls on the matter to the USGS public affairs office.

Asked whether he is returning to Las Vegas, where the Energy Department's Office of Repository Development is, Hevesi said, "I can't answer that right now. I'm waiting to hear word as to what's going to happen."

The scope of the audit report covered 11 items, including Analysis Model Report U0010, one the Energy Department has identified as being at issue in the e-mails.

The model uses borehole data, precipitation records and data from stream gauges to estimate how surface water infiltrates the mountain under current climate conditions.

The model report flunked the inspection, which was conducted Jan. 24 through Jan. 28, 2000. Auditors cited several software and technical deficiencies.

The deficiencies would have required corrective actions, but what was done was unclear.

Porter's subcommittee has made public 130 pages of redacted e-mails and memos that include workers discussing shortcomings in documenting their work.

According to the subcommittee, "USGS Employee One" was the author of a Jan. 6, 2000, e-mail that said auditors had selected the water infiltration report for examination.

"Yes this is really happening," the message said. "There is, of course, no scientific notebook for this work. Work is in the form of electronic files. I can show auditors input, output and program files, but it is not clear to me how to show documentation of work in progress.

"I can start making something up but then the (redacted) project will need to go on hold," the author wrote, adding later, "I will be ill-prepared for the audit and will likely get hammered."

The U.S. Geological Survey notified Congress on Wednesday that the Energy Department had sought the scientist for reassignment.

Porter said his subcommittee staff was told the Energy Department sought the reassignment on March 9.

"Either (the Energy Department) is extremely incompetent or extremely devious in their effort to make this project work," Porter said. "This is a reflection of a culture of mismanagement that permeates the DOE and the USGS."

USGS director Charles Groat testified at a hearing this week that the e-mail authors no longer were with the Yucca Mountain program although they remained employed elsewhere in the agency. Officials said Wednesday that Groat misspoke.

"I am angry but not surprised," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "This is especially troubling in light of the answers provided under oath during Tuesday's hearing, in which the Nevada delegation was given assurances that none of those accused in the e-mail flap are still on the payroll."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is urging that the information emerging about Yucca Mountain be handled carefully so as not to interfere with criminal investigations, spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.