US climate official at NOAA shredded documents

• It's not known if the perpetrator has been fired. As a criminal, he's now in a protected class.
  

New Bedford: "The chief of law enforcement for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been removed from his job after allegations of document shredding during an investigation by the Commerce Department’s inspector general, according to an aide to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

• The NOAA official, Dale Jones, has been under fire since the shredding revelations surfaced in mid-winter during sworn testimony in Gloucester over the handling of law enforcement cases in the Northeast regional fishery.

According to the aide, Jones is being replaced for now by Alan Risenhoover, director of the NOAA Office of Sustainable Fisheries.

• “While this not a cause for celebration, it is clearly an improvement,” said Frank in a prepared statement. “I express my gratitude to Dr. Lubchenco for this positive step, and I expect NOAA to undertake a careful and thorough selection process as they select a new director of law enforcement.”

It is not known whether Jones has been dismissed, demoted or transferred, because of the federal Privacy Act. Lubchenco has been reluctant to discuss the case for the same reason.

• NOAA came under severe criticism in the inspector general’s report for uneven, harsh and occasionally vindictive manner of enforcing fishery management regulations. Northeast fishermen were fined far heavier than in other parts of the country, and the enforcement office had a poor reputation for good reason, the report concluded.

Jones’ fate has been awaiting an addendum to that report specifically looking at the shredding of documents during an official investigation. The Frank aide said the report cannot be released by NOAA but can be made public upon congressional request, which is pending."

• from South Coast Today by Steve Urbon, 4/8/10, "NOAA Enforcement Chief accused of shredding documents removed from post" via Climate Realists via Tom Nelson