Sludge Watch ==> Read the court documents - DID Georgia get grants for falsifying sludge reports?

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Wow.  This court case brings to court some Georgia university profs and some 
US EPA officials for fibbing, fudging and falsifying about sludge.  This is 
the court case of the year for Sludge Watchers.


The well known and wonderful Dr David Lewis and the famous Augusta Georgia 
dairy farmers (with dead cows) as the plaintiffs.
John Walker, Bob Brobst, Jane Gaskin et al to name of few of the better 
known defendents.
Ed Hallman is the lawyer for the prosecution.
We certainly need to pull up front row seats for this one.

You can start by reading the documents filed with the court.
First one:

http://lamp.redandblack.com/forms/pdf/lewis1.pdf

There are more available from links at the bottom of this story.
Read it on line..so the links are live.
I think you may have to print a few of these out...they are long.


http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2008/04/18/News/University.Faces.Lawsuit.For.Research.with.Documents-3333969.shtml
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University faces lawsuit for research (with documents)
Case could affect Univ.'s NBAF candidacy
JOANN ANDERSON
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News

LEWIS


A federal lawsuit filed against University researchers, professors and the 
Board of Regents alleges that fabricated data from published research 
resulted in more than $1 million in federal grants for the University.

Two farming families and David L. Lewis, a former microbiologist for the 
Environmental Protection Agency and an adjunct senior research scientist in 
the School of Ecology, filed a lawsuit against several University-affiliated 
parties, including John Walker, Julia W. Gaskin, William P. Miller, E. 
William Tollner, L. Mark Risse, the Board of Regents and the University's 
Research Foundation, according to court documents obtained by The Red & 
Black.

The case, filed in 2006, was initially sealed.

Walker was an employee of the EPA and was the Biosolids Program team leader 
in the Office of Wastewater Management. Gaskin is a land application 
specialist in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering.

In 1998, Walker assembled a team including Gaskin, Miller, Tollner and Risse 
to investigate sewage sludge processed by a wastewater treatment plant in 
Augusta, according to court documents.

The city of Augusta was fighting lawsuits filed by two farming families, 
R.A. McElmurray III and G. William Boyce, who claimed that the sludge 
processed by the plant and later was distributed as fertilizer for the farms 
contained "hazardous chemical wastes" that killed their cattle, according to 
the court documents.

Sewage sludge is the semi-solid material left over from water treatment 
processes. It has been approved by the EPA to treat soil.


Who's involved

Miller is a professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sources. Tollner is 
a professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. 
Risse is an associate professor of engineering in the Department of 
Biological and Agricultural Engineering.


The Risse Project

The documents show from 1998 to 2003, the researchers carried out the 
investigation, known as the "Risse project." The scientists were directed to 
analyze historical data of Augusta's sewage sludge, measure selected heavy 
metals and analyze heavy metal concentrations in soil samples from land 
treated with Augusta's sewage sludge.

Documents claim the Risse project researchers fabricated soil results by 
collecting samples during a drought, when levels of toxins were 
"misleadingly low."


The Gaskin Paper

A paper principally written by Gaskin was published in the January/February 
2003 issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality. The paper stated 
Augusta's sewage sludge program complied with environmental laws and did not 
pose a significant risk to cattle, documents show.

Files show researchers revealed results from 20 soil samples but failed to 
include samples from the McElmurray and Boyce farms.

"It was gross scientific misconduct on their part not to inform readers of 
the Gaskin paper that UGA had analyzed soil samples collected from farms 
where cattle deaths were attributed to hazardous wastes taken up by forages 
from Augusta's sewage sludge," files state.

Documents show that as a result of the Gaskin paper, the defendants obtained 
national attention and $1.6 million in federal grants.

The plantiffs say that the "defendants, fully supported by UGA 
administrators at the highest levels, knowingly refuse to acknowledge and/or 
correct any of the false scientific data and continue to use the false 
information to obtain federal assistance," according to the documents.

Lewis, the principal plantiff in the case, was hired by the EPA in 1998 to 
investigate sludge in Augusta, the court documents state.

The Risse researchers became "vocal opponents" to Lewis' work, and made 
allegations of scientific misconduct against Lewis beginning in Sept. 2000, 
according to documents. The allegations were investigated by the EPA's 
Office of Inspector General, which found the charges "had no basis in any 
facts," documents show.


False Claims Act

Two letters sent to University President Michael Adams in 2008 from Lewis' 
lawyer, Edwin Hallman, stated the case involved many levels of supervision, 
including the president's office, the Baltimore Examiner reported Thursday.

"The False Claims Act lawsuit will prove, in great detail, how every level 
of supervision at the University of Georgia, including the office of the 
president, was directly involved in publishing the fake scientific data and 
preventing faculty members and a visiting scientist, Dr. David Lewis, from 
blowing the whistle on the scientific fraud occurring at EPA and the 
University of Georgia," Hallman wrote in a Feb. 29 letter to Adams, obtained 
by the Examiner.

The False Claims Act imposes liability on anyone who "knowingly presents, or 
causes to be presented [to the U.S.] a false ... claim for payment or 
approval," according to the documents.


Deeper Implications?

Hallman wrote in a March 20 letter to Adams that the case may affect the 
University's candidacy for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, the 
Examiner reported.

"I can fully appreciate the ramifications it would have on the University of 
Georgia's bid to become a national center for agro-bioterrorism research if 
President Adams were to truthfully acknowledge the role his office has 
played in the fabrication of scientific data," Hallman wrote.

The Office of Research cannot comment on pending litigation, Terry Hastings, 
director of public relations for research, said in a phone interview 
Thursday.

Mayor Heidi Davison said in a phone interview Thursday she was unable to 
comment, because she is not involved with the case and that it is a 
University matter.

Efforts to reach Lewis and his attorney were unsuccessful Thursday 
afternoon.

Efforts to reach Gaskin, Risse, Walker and Miller were also unsuccessful 
Thursday afternoon.

The administration cannot comment on pending litigation, Tom Jackson, vice 
president for public affairs, said in a phone interview Thursday. But, 
Jackson said Lewis' case is unrelated to the University's status as a 
candidate for the NBAF.

"We haven't studied the lawsuit, but this heightens our concerns about the 
University's assurances of safety regarding the NBAF," Grady Thrasher, 
co-founder of Foundation for Athens Quality of Life, an anti-NBAF group, 
said Thursday in a phone interview.

Read the court documents here"
First Amendment to False Claims Act, Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial
First Amendment to False Claims Act, Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial, 
continued
Second Amendment to Complaint
Motion to dismiss by Defendants
Memorandum of Law in Response to Motion to Dismiss