January 19, 2016 To: Suzette Kimball, Director, USGS William Werkheiser, Deputy Director, USGS Ne THhL 7 OF From: Max Ethridge, Regional Director, USGS Southwest Region Subject: Update Report Concerning the Inorganic Section of the Energy Geochemistry Laboratory Ihave received two reports concerning the Inorganic Section of the Energy Geochemistry Laboratory, which is housed within the Central Energy Resources Science Center, in Denver, CO. ‘The first report, dated October 27, 2015, Subject: Concerns regarding the Inorganic Section of the Energy Geochemistry Laboratory (termed the Memo to Management). The second report, dated November 30, 2015, Report of Inquiry, ESO-S0000422 (termed the ROI). Since receiving these reports, | have worked with Paul Young, Deputy Associate Director, Energy, and Minerals, and Environmental Health, Charles Blome, Center Director, Central Energy Resources Science Center, and Jon Kolak, Acting Program Coordinator for the Energy Resources Program to address the concerns identified in these two reports. As of January 15, 2016, the following actions have been taken or are underway. 1, The decision has been made to close the Inorganic Section of the Energy Geochemistry Laboratory. A memo announcing the closure of this lab has been drafted and is being vetted with the Office of Communications, Human Resources, Office of Science Quality and Integrity, and the Director's Office. The closure will be announced in Denver on January 26, 2016, and the closure will be effective 30 days later. 2. The end users of the data analysis produced by the Inorganic Section of the Energy Geochemistry Laboratory during the period of 2008 -2014 are being notified that the data analysis is suspect, and therefore any published papers which are based on the suspect data should be carefully evaluated and possibly retracted. Note: The great majority of the end users are USGS scientists. 3. The Energy Resources Program has met with the Office of Communications and is developing an announcement that will be placed on their web site indicating that the data analysis from the Inorganic Section of the Energy Geochemistry Laboratory is suspect for the period of 2008 - 2014, and that the laboratory facility is being closed. 4, The Center Director of the Central Energy Resources Science Center is working with the Human Resources Office (Employee Relations) and is developing proposed disciplinary actions to address the loss of scientific integrity, scientific misconduct (falsification ofdata), and other misconduct issues associated with the operation of the Inorganic Section of the Energy Geochemistry Laboratory by the employees of the lab. The Southwest Regional Director and SWR staff are working with GSA and USGS Management Services staff to address the poor environmental conditions in Building 20, i.e. undesirable and periodic cycles of extreme temperature (up to mid 90 degrees F) and high humidity fluctuations, that adversely affect the operation of the laboratory ‘equipment, as noted in the ROI. GSA has obtained $2.4M of emergency funds to fix the roof and mitigate the mold in the building. In addition, GSA has proposed to build a new laboratory building for USGS and FDA use in 2018.