EPA's integrity scrutinized

May 15, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

The American Resources Policy Network (ARPN) delivered a letter last week to U.S. Congressmen charged with overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging them to investigate the EPA's relationship with Stratus Consulting.

In the course of a lawsuit brought by Chevron, in which the company sued Stratus Consulting for fraud and racketeering, Stratus published a 28-page affidavit accompanied by 16 pages of individual declarations disavowing environmental assessments it had produced that were used to win a $19 billion judgment against the Chevron in an Ecuadorian court. Stratus Consulting has admitted in a U.S. Federal court to filing a falsified research report.

"We were concerned by the news of this admission, as public records show that EPA has multiple active contracts with Stratus Consulting collectively worth up to tens of millions of taxpayer dollars," said ARPN President Daniel McGroarty. "We also discovered that several research reports authored by Ann Maest, Managing Scientist for Stratus Consulting, who played a key role in producing and personally disavowed the falsified research in Ecuador, are currently being used to support a major environmental assessment by EPA."

EPA was apparently aware of the questionable nature of the reports, as it conducted its own "peer-review" to ensure the reports were "of sufficient scientific quality and credibility."

The issue here, according to the letter, is that the lead peer reviewer is the former Managing Scientist for Stratus Consulting. He also referenced a publication co-authored by current Managing Scientist Ann Maest in his review.

"We're concerned that EPA could stop the development of what may be the largest-ever domestic copper resource before the permitting process has begun -- and based on research presented by authors who have admitted falsifying their findings in other environmental studies," McGroarty said. "Given the recent admissions made by Stratus Consulting and its researchers, we hope that the agency will conduct a thorough review of its relationship with Stratus Consulting, including work contracted directly to the firm and its employees, as well as scientific studies published by the firm and its employees that the EPA has referenced to make any policy or support any regulatory actions."

For more:
- see the letter

http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/epas-integrity-scrutinized/2013-05-15