Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

YUCCA MOUNTAIN E-MAILS: No scientists, no hearing

Subpoena remains option, Porter says

WASHINGTON -- Unable to secure key witnesses, Rep. Jon Porter called off today's House subcommittee hearing on Yucca Mountain Project e-mail messages that discuss falsifying documents.

Porter, R-Nev., the subcommittee chairman, did not set a new date Tuesday for the hearing.

He said he would continue to seek information from three scientists who have been identified as connected with the messages.

"The subpoena remains an option, and I will not hesitate to use it, but our counsel continues to reach out to the individuals and the agencies right now," Porter said.

While investigating the proposed nuclear waste repository, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Porter said he plans to expand the subcommittee's investigation of Energy Department management practices.

"We are into looking at other projects," Porter said. He declined to be specific.

On the Yucca e-mails, Porter had invited research hydrologists Joe A. Hevesi, Alan L. Flint and Lorraine E. Flint to appear before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency Organization.

The scientists are employees of the U.S. Geological Survey, now assigned to Sacramento, Calif., who worked at the Yucca Mountain site in the 1990s.

Porter has identified them as principal authors of the e-mails, written between May 1998 and March 2000, which mention making up dates and names and keeping multiple sets of documents to shield shortcomings in documenting research to meet quality assurance rules.

The hearing, which was scheduled for today, hit a snag when the Interior Department declined to compel the workers to testify. The department said that would be inappropriate because of an investigation by the inspectors general at the Interior and Energy departments. That investigation could bring criminal charges.

One of the invited witnesses sent an e-mail to the subcommittee Monday and declined to appear voluntarily, citing the investigation. The other two did not respond to the invitation, Porter said.

Porter said the scientist who responded indicated he was on vacation.

The USGS has not taken any job actions against workers tied to the e-mails, spokeswoman A.B. Wade said.

She said she did not think workers were being told that now might be a good time to take some time off. "To my knowledge no suggestions of that nature have taken place," she said.

Also, the USGS told the House subcommittee Monday that the agency would not meet a deadline to produce personnel records and other documents regarding workers assigned to Yucca Mountain who have been linked to the e-mails.

Agency officials have said that two or three workers were the principal authors of the e-mails and that copies of the messages were sent to about 10 other people.

Wade said the agency hopes to complete the task by early next month.

Alan Flint is an 18-year USGS employee, and Lorraine Flint has worked at the agency for 10 years, according to USGS records. Hevesi began at USGS in 1992.

Wade said the agency was gathering documents that would clarify what years the employees worked at Yucca Mountain.

Porter said he was reluctant to subpoena witnesses to appear before the subcommittee and said such a move could limit the value of fact-finding.

"There is still a lot out there that we can put together before we move forward with subpoenas," he said.