Ousted scientist slams Salazar - Chico Enterprise Record
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_20068477
Ousted scientist slams Salazar By RYAN SABALOW-Redding Record Searchlight
February 29, 2012
A federal scientific integrity adviser studying dam removal on the Klamath River has filed a whistleblower complaint, saying he was fired from his job after he began questioning top officials "spinning" the benefits of
removing the dams while downplaying the negatives of the project. "The bottom line is they need to be honest about the science and the decision-making," Paul R. Houser, an associate hydrology professor at George
Mason University, told the Record Searchlight Tuesday in his first remarks to the media about his whistleblower complaint.
Houser's complaint, filed last week with
Department of the Interior's
Office of Executive Secretariat and
Regulatory Affairs, is already having a
ripple effect in the
contentious debate over removing the four dams, three
of which are in
Siskiyou County.
Siskiyou County Supervisor Jim Cook, who traveled to
Washington, D.C. this
week to lobby federal officials against dam
removal, said today the
complaint is currently being investigated by staff
members of north state
U.S. Reps. Wally Herger, R-Chico and Tom
McClintock, R-Fair Oaks.
Supervisors and other dam-removal opponents have
complained about the
scientific integrity of the process. The
supervisors already have
threatened to sue, saying Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar isn't being genuine
when he says officials are thoroughly reviewing
the proposal before making a
decision. The supervisors complain dam removal
is a foregone conclusion,
with federal regulators "cherrypicking"
science to support their views.
Department of the Interior spokeswoman
Kate Kelly said in a statement
officials are reviewing Houser's
complaint. The statement didn't address
any of the allegations. Houser
said he was hired last spring to be the
Bureau of Reclamation's scientific
integrity adviser. His duties included
the Klamath dams studies.
He
said in September he began growing concerned about federal officials
issuing reports and press releases that "intentionally distort" the
negatives of the project, something he calls "intentional
falsification."
He says there have been a number of scientific studies
that showed dam
removal comes with some risks or wouldn't be nearly as
beneficial to
threatened coho salmon habitat as Salazar's staff made it
seem.
He said he was told by one of his supervisors that Salazar "wants
to remove
those dams" and he'd violated "unwritten rules" when he
began sending
emails to his superiors questioning what appeared to him
to be a deliberate
spin. "That was my goal as scientific integrity
officer, the kind of
obligations I was hired to do," Houser, 41, said today
in an interview.
He said he was reprimanded, placed on probation and
eventually fired this
month.
Last week, he filed a whistleblower
complaint challenging violations of the
government's scientific code
of conduct. He said he's not that interested
in getting his job back
considering what happened to him. He's since
returned to teaching full time
at George Mason, he said.
"My motivation is to get the scientific integrity
and get the science
honored in the process," he said. "É I really hope
this doesn't happen to
somebody else."
Rep. Herger described
Houser's allegations as "troubling concerns."
"An independent entity at
Interior should thoroughly and objectively vet
these concerns, and the
results should be shared openly with the public,"
Herger said in a
statement. "Interior's promotion of sound science in this
process is
of paramount importance."
Houser's allegations come as Salazar announced
Monday he was putting off
making a decision on dynamiting the Klamath
River dams because Congress has
not yet given him the go-ahead. A
Democrat-backed bill authored this fall
that authorizes the removal
plus $800 million in environmental restorations
hasn't yet made it to
a committee hearing in the Republican-controlled
House.
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_20068477
Ousted scientist slams Salazar By RYAN SABALOW-Redding Record Searchlight
February 29, 2012
A federal scientific integrity adviser studying dam removal on the Klamath River has filed a whistleblower complaint, saying he was fired from his job after he began questioning top officials "spinning" the benefits of
removing the dams while downplaying the negatives of the project. "The bottom line is they need to be honest about the science and the decision-making," Paul R. Houser, an associate hydrology professor at George
Mason University, told the Record Searchlight Tuesday in his first remarks to the media about his whistleblower complaint.
Houser's complaint, filed last week with
Department of the Interior's
Office of Executive Secretariat and
Regulatory Affairs, is already having a
ripple effect in the
contentious debate over removing the four dams, three
of which are in
Siskiyou County.
Siskiyou County Supervisor Jim Cook, who traveled to
Washington, D.C. this
week to lobby federal officials against dam
removal, said today the
complaint is currently being investigated by staff
members of north state
U.S. Reps. Wally Herger, R-Chico and Tom
McClintock, R-Fair Oaks.
Supervisors and other dam-removal opponents have
complained about the
scientific integrity of the process. The
supervisors already have
threatened to sue, saying Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar isn't being genuine
when he says officials are thoroughly reviewing
the proposal before making a
decision. The supervisors complain dam removal
is a foregone conclusion,
with federal regulators "cherrypicking"
science to support their views.
Department of the Interior spokeswoman
Kate Kelly said in a statement
officials are reviewing Houser's
complaint. The statement didn't address
any of the allegations. Houser
said he was hired last spring to be the
Bureau of Reclamation's scientific
integrity adviser. His duties included
the Klamath dams studies.
He
said in September he began growing concerned about federal officials
issuing reports and press releases that "intentionally distort" the
negatives of the project, something he calls "intentional
falsification."
He says there have been a number of scientific studies
that showed dam
removal comes with some risks or wouldn't be nearly as
beneficial to
threatened coho salmon habitat as Salazar's staff made it
seem.
He said he was told by one of his supervisors that Salazar "wants
to remove
those dams" and he'd violated "unwritten rules" when he
began sending
emails to his superiors questioning what appeared to him
to be a deliberate
spin. "That was my goal as scientific integrity
officer, the kind of
obligations I was hired to do," Houser, 41, said today
in an interview.
He said he was reprimanded, placed on probation and
eventually fired this
month.
Last week, he filed a whistleblower
complaint challenging violations of the
government's scientific code
of conduct. He said he's not that interested
in getting his job back
considering what happened to him. He's since
returned to teaching full time
at George Mason, he said.
"My motivation is to get the scientific integrity
and get the science
honored in the process," he said. "É I really hope
this doesn't happen to
somebody else."
Rep. Herger described
Houser's allegations as "troubling concerns."
"An independent entity at
Interior should thoroughly and objectively vet
these concerns, and the
results should be shared openly with the public,"
Herger said in a
statement. "Interior's promotion of sound science in this
process is
of paramount importance."
Houser's allegations come as Salazar announced
Monday he was putting off
making a decision on dynamiting the Klamath
River dams because Congress has
not yet given him the go-ahead. A
Democrat-backed bill authored this fall
that authorizes the removal
plus $800 million in environmental restorations
hasn't yet made it to
a committee hearing in the Republican-controlled
House.
RSS Feed
