Saturday, April 09, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

YUCCA MOUNTAIN: E-mail investigation hits snag

Porter says House panel working to question three research hydrologists

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jon Porter hit a wall on Friday in trying to question government scientists tied to controversial e-mails that mention falsifying Yucca Mountain documents.

The Interior Department said it would not supply three figures in a document investigation to testify at a House subcommittee hearing next Wednesday.

Porter, a Nevada Republican who is subcommittee chairman, said he was hoping the witnesses would appear voluntarily, but his staff also "has been working hand in hand with the Department of Justice" to explore other options that could include offers of immunity.

Congressional sources said other possible outcomes include interviewing the individuals privately in person or over the telephone.

The potential witnesses were identified for the first time as Joe A. Hevesi, Alan L. Flint and Lorraine E. Flint, according to a subcommittee letter released by the USGS.

The three are research hydrologists for the U.S. Geological Survey who worked at the Nevada nuclear waste site during the 1990s. The Flints, who are married, and Hevesi presently work for the USGS in Sacramento, Calif.

Hevesi has been identified by federal sources as the scientist Energy Department officials asked to return to the Yucca program last month to locate an electronic file related to work he previously conducted.

The assignment was scrapped on Wednesday when it became known the invitation was issued even as DOE officials linked the worker to the e-mail investigation.

Alan Flint was a supervisor and a senior hydrologist on the Yucca program who contributed research on water infiltration, modeling how fast rainwater might flow through cracks in the mountain to the repository level 1,000 feet below the surface.

The speed at which water travels through Yucca Mountain is an important factor in safety calculations of how long it might take radioactive waste casks to corrode and leach deadly particles into groundwater.

Phone calls to the scientists at their offices were not returned Friday. An attempt to contact Alan Flint and Lorraine Flint at their home in Davis, Calif., also was not successful.

Porter has identified the targeted witnesses as the principal composers of e-mails written between May 1998 and March 2000. In the messages, authors express frustration with stringent quality assurance requirements and discuss using "fudge factors" and making up dates and names in research documentation to satisfy the rules.

"If they need more proof, I will be happy to make up more stuff," said an e-mail message dated March 30, 2000.

Critics of Yucca Mountain charge the e-mails signify deep problems in the program and call into question the science the Energy Department relied upon to recommend the site and begin writing a license application to build a repository there.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said Tuesday he planned to seek a meeting with President Bush to press for the project to be scrapped.

John Arthur, head of DOE's Office of Repository Development in Las Vegas, said managers are checking work that e-mail authors performed to determine if any was fudged and what impact that might have on the project.

Hevesi was an author of an analysis model report on infiltration and climate flow that failed a January 2000 audit, with reviewers noting software and technical deficiencies.

Names and other identifying information had been redacted from a cache of e-mails that Porter made public on April 1. The names were made public Friday in a letter released by the USGS in response to a query.

The Interior Department said it would not compel the scientists to appear before Congress because of an ongoing investigation being conducted by Interior and Energy department inspectors general and the FBI that could result in criminal charges.

"Given the potentially serious implications for the employees involved, the department believes it is inappropriate to require the individuals identified by the subcommittee to testify in a public hearing about the matters under active investigation," the department said in a letter signed by Congressional Affairs Director Matt Eames.

Porter said he wanted to ask the witnesses whether higher-ups in the Yucca program were aware of possible document fraud.

"We want to give them every opportunity to speak," Porter said. "We want them to talk to us. I believe this is a far bigger problem than just a couple of e-mails. We want to be sure we can get to the top."

Subcommittee counsel Chad Bumgard told The Associated Press that subpoenas were a last resort.

Porter said he was not prepared to cancel the hearing.

"There is not a question of whether we have a hearing. We will have a hearing," Porter said. "It's just a matter of having all the information together at the right time and that we do it properly with the proper timing and the proper information."

Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report.