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Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

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Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby vox_mundi » Fri 01 Jul 2016, 16:12:56

Investigators: US lab worker in Colorado faked test results

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.

USGS said it did not believe the tainted data affected any decisions by lawmakers or regulators.

The manipulation occurred between 2008 and 2014 at the USGS Energy Geochemistry Laboratory in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, the inspector general said. The test samples were mostly coal and water.

The laboratory is part of the USGS Energy Resources Program, which studies potential energy sources around the world. The program made headlines two weeks ago when it said western Colorado contained 40 times more natural gas than previously thought, making it the second-largest gas formation in the country. There was no indication that report relied on the falsified data.

USGS managers halted all work at the laboratory when they discovered the manipulation in late 2014, Wade said. In February 2016, the agency permanently closed the section of the lab that was involved.

The inspector general's report raised questions about why the problem went undetected for so long, saying employees were suspicious of the lab's work for years. Wade said a new lab director took over in 2014 and decided to look into the suspicions.

Investigators previously found that mass spectrometer operators in the same lab violated standards between 1996 and 2008. Investigators said the operators were making excessive adjustments in instrument readings to compensate for calibration problems.

The Energy Resources Program said on its website it plans to create the position of quality assurance manager to monitor data.

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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby jjhman » Fri 01 Jul 2016, 16:51:54

This sounds like the kind of stupid things people do when they are poorly supervised, insecure in their careers and afraid of being caught not "producing". In the comments section of today's NY Times editorial by Krugman some right-wing nutcase was using this story as an example of how "climate deniers" falsify data to make left wing political statements.

To me it is just another example of what frail, pitiful creatures most of us are and why we have made such a bollux of technology in general.
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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby GHung » Fri 01 Jul 2016, 17:26:21

Meh,, sometimes we did the same thing in the Navy when we were doing our hourly readings and adjusting equipment. If instruments couldn't be brought into calibration, we figured out what the correction factor was and carried on. I was MERCS lab certified and often various instruments couldn't be properly calibrated so we added a percentage correction, or simply added/subtracted from the readings to get a reasonably accurate report. Technically, it could have been considered "falsified data", but what do you do when you're 600 feet below the surface in the middle of the Pacific?

"Investigators said the operators were making excessive adjustments in instrument readings to compensate for calibration problems."

What are "excessive adjustments"? Forcing equipment into spec? Been there, done that, especially when the boss says shut up and get it done.

I wonder how many times these folks put in for a new mass spec machine or repair order. Likely wasn't in the budget, or was delayed until the next maintenance cycle. Typical for govt work. Meanwhile, mid-level managers freak out if the work schedule falls behind. Generally, when I was told to "fudge it", I made a note and had the super initial it. We also learned when things were too out of whack to trust the readings. Even with complex instruments like a mass spec, readings can be compared to known samples to get very close readings. That was SOP with radiological equipment, even if we were sure it was functioning within specs.

Like the EPA and other federal agencies, budgets have been cut and workloads increased. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a factor. It's almost always easier to do the job right if the resources are available.

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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby Plantagenet » Fri 01 Jul 2016, 18:00:49

jjhman wrote:This sounds like the kind of stupid things people do when they are poorly supervised, insecure in their careers and afraid of being caught not "producing".


This sounds like the kind of lazy behavior overconfident government employees fall into when they know they won't be fired no matter how low quality their work turns out to be.
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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby AdamB » Sat 02 Jul 2016, 07:58:47

Plantagenet wrote:
jjhman wrote:This sounds like the kind of stupid things people do when they are poorly supervised, insecure in their careers and afraid of being caught not "producing".


This sounds like the kind of lazy behavior overconfident government employees fall into when they know they won't be fired no matter how low quality their work turns out to be.


Substitute "union" for "government" and the comment still works.
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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby KaiserJeep » Sat 02 Jul 2016, 10:30:00

Unfortunately, substitute "public school teacher" and the comment still works. Standardized test scores are often faked to hide underperforming schools. The teacher's union will protect the grossly incompetent.
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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Sat 02 Jul 2016, 13:15:01

"The Energy Resources Program said on its website it plans to create the position of quality assurance manager to monitor data." So they are saying that a govt testing department with a budget that ran into the hundreds of $MILLIONS (if not $BILLONS) for the last 10 to 20 years didn't have a position hadfhadfling quality control? This wasn't some pig boat trying to get by as best as they could but a huge onshore facility that could have been routinely checked. This is starting to sound like a case of the cover up being more egregious then the original f*ckup.
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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby efarmer » Wed 06 Jul 2016, 10:27:47

"USGS managers halted all work at the laboratory when they discovered the manipulation in late 2014, Wade said. In February 2016, the agency permanently closed the section of the lab that was involved."

"Okay that is it. Floyd, bust up Tom's cubicle and put it out in the dumpster, we are permanently closing Tom's cubicle, I want his pencils put in the big Tom coffee mug and pour his bottle of Aqua Velva on them and burn them out on the parking lot. Take his "Instrument Calibration for Dummies" book and all the Playboy magazines out of the desk drawer and shred them. Be careful when you remove the desk part of the cubicle, Tom has thousands of boogers stuck under the top and it is sort of hazmat. Gloves people, I want everyone to wear gloves until this sad little chapter is behind us. Don't let this get to you folks, Tom will be a great Congressman from Colorado, and we will get back to quality science as soon as the National Enquirer guy gets bored and quits hanging out at our favorite watering hole."
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Re: Colorado USGS Lab Faked Lab Results; Investigated

Unread postby AdamB » Wed 06 Jul 2016, 23:29:29

ROCKMAN wrote:"The Energy Resources Program said on its website it plans to create the position of quality assurance manager to monitor data." So they are saying that a govt testing department with a budget that ran into the hundreds of $MILLIONS (if not $BILLONS) for the last 10 to 20 years didn't have a position hadfhadfling quality control?


The entire USGS energy research program runs about $25 million/year. So 10 years is 1/4 billion, 20 1/2 billion. And that is the entire budget, the lab was perhaps $5 million/year? So $50-$100 million over 10 to 20 years.

And they are scientists, the quality control is really...them.

Rockman wrote: This wasn't some pig boat trying to get by as best as they could but a huge onshore facility that could have been routinely checked.


The lab is certainly onshore, but it isn't huge. Fits into a relatively small foot print, near the library on the US Federal Center in Denver.
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