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View Full Version : Investigators:US lab worker in CO faked test results on mining, toxic waste for years



Little-Acorn
07-02-2016, 01:27 PM
Funniest thing about this article is where the spokesman says they don't know why the guy manipulated the data, and then almost in the same breath states flatly that it wasn't for personal gain of for any bad reason.

Why does this bring to mind, Barack Obama and his cohorts announcing that there is no evidence some mass murder was terrorism, while the bodies are still warm, the crime scene is locked down, and no one has had a chance to examine anything?

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/investigators-us-lab-worker-colorado-faked-test-results-063259435.html

Investigators: US lab worker in Colorado faked test results

DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press
July 1, 2016
19 hours ago

DENVER (AP) — A worker at a federal laboratory in Colorado intentionally manipulated test results for years, possibly tainting research on toxic metals in the Everglades, uranium near the Grand Canyon and coal in Afghanistan, investigators say.

The falsified data from a U.S. Geological Survey lab may have affected 24 coal, water and environmental research projects costing a total of $108 million, according to a report released recently by the Interior Department's inspector general.

The agency isn't sure why the employee falsified the results of chemical analyses, but it wasn't for personal gain or "any nefarious reason," USGS spokeswoman Anne-Berry Wade said Thursday.

A notice on the agency's website said the manipulation was done in part to correct calibration failures in the instrument being used, a mass spectrometer.

The agency took action against the employee, but Wade declined to say what it was, citing privacy rules. She also would not say whether the employee was still working for USGS or release his name.

Researchers around the world rely on USGS data, and it often shapes laws, regulations and policy. The inspector general's report said the bad data from the Colorado lab could erode confidence in the entire agency.

"We can only hope that this incident won't have a long-lasting effect on the agency's reputation," Wade said.

Elessar
07-02-2016, 01:45 PM
That is rather strange.

What was the objective in doing that, I wonder?

Little-Acorn
07-02-2016, 01:46 PM
That is rather strange.

What was the objective in doing that, I wonder?

My guess: Persuading voters that we need tons more regulations, restrictions, and govt oversight than we do.

Elessar
07-02-2016, 01:49 PM
My guess: Persuading voters that we need tons more regulations, restrictions, and govt oversight than we do.

A pretty underhanded way to do that. USGS does have a measure of checks
and balances, and are respected world-wide for their research.

Anyone there is usually fairly apolitical, just like NOAA.

sundaydriver
07-12-2016, 06:04 AM
It seems the Technician and possibly his Supervisors were not following SOP's (standard Operating Procedures) in calibrating the instrument before use. Standards are run and KF's
(correction factors) are calculated for use in the equation to measure the mass of each. Either the Tech was doing this incorrectly or the KF's did not match the historical norms and a "fudge factor" number was used to try to close the gap. Either way this is totally bad technique and should not have taken years to address. I can agree with the USGS that this was not malicious by intent, but still is anyway by way of incompetence.