Feds See No ‘Loss Of Confidence’ In Closing Lab That Manipulated Data For Decades

by  Ethan Barton

An order closing a government lab that manipulated energy data for nearly two decades didn’t represent a “loss of confidence” in federal scientists, according to the issuing official, even though a subsequent memo by another agency executive described in gruesome detail an irretrievably mismanaged and dysfunctional operation. The stop-work order and a subsequent review was issued after a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) chemist was caught manipulating energy-related data at an agency lab from 2008 to 2014. Another chemist manipulated data at the Colorado facility from 1996 to 2008. (RELATED: Federal Lab’s ‘Extremely Troubling’ Data Manipulation Spurs Hill Probe) “Lastly, the [program office] would like to convey to the [lab] analysts that these actions are not [emphasis theirs] a reflection of a loss of confidence in them or in their abilities,” the March 2015 stop-work order said. A copy of the order was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group through a Freedom of Information Act request. (RELATED: Feds Give Congress Blank Documents To ‘Explain’ Lab Data Manipulation) It’s unclear why the order’s author – acting coordinator Vito Nuccio – was so confident in the scientists’ abilities, given that the lab’s data was manipulated for nearly its entire existence and that a subsequent memo obtained by TheDCNF revealed deep dysfunction, distrust and dubious work performance across the facility...more