Arizona Daily Sun- -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 3/18/2005
Last Visited: 3/18/2005
"We don't know whether the science was actually compromised," said USGS spokeswoman A.B. Wade.
The documents concerned 6-year-old USGS studies of water movement in the planned Nevada dump.
...
While using a sampling process to review several million e-mails, the contractors came across about 20 suspicious messages between May 1998 and March 2000 from a hydrologist working with a team of 10 or more other scientists on Yucca water studies, Wade said.
The e-mails were from the hydrologist to his supervisor, and co-workers were copied.The e-mails suggested the scientist was falsifying documents related to the study.
It wasn't clear if the supervisor or other co-workers were actively engaged in the exchange, and the author of the e-mails is the focus of suspicion, Wade said.
She said a total of about 10 employees were privy to the e-mails and all but one still work for USGS.She couldn't give details on their job duties but said they remained in their posts.