The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration won't investigate allegations that a scientist falsified numbers about the amount of oil spilled during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to internal documents released yesterday by a watchdog group.

In January 2012, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a scientific integrity complaint against the federal agency. In the complaint, the group alleged that NOAA senior scientist William Lehr intentionally misrepresented the reports of the team he headed during the agency's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and spill (Greenwire, Jan. 23, 2012).

The group also alleged that Lehr had failed to objectively consider conflicting results and didn't prevent conflicting results from being reported.

A three-member panel reviewed PEER's complaint with a majority concluding that three of the four charges from the group didn't warrant further investigation. On a fourth charge, the panel agreed that it didn't need to be investigated.

PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said the agency's decision not to investigate showed a gap between the Obama administration's rhetoric and the actions it has taken.

"We're becoming convinced that the Obama administration is unwilling to find scientific misconduct under any policy," he said.

While the complaint was the first filed under NOAA's scientific integrity policy that was finalized in December 2011, the panel examined it based on the old rules -- which defined misconduct as "fabrication of results, plagiarism or clear misstatement of facts" -- since Lehr's actions preceded the policy.

The panel's decision was supported by Robert Detrick, assistant administrator of NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office. Detrick dismissed the complaint.

In a confidential report written Dec. 20, 2012, and released by PEER yesterday, Detrick noted that Lehr could have produced a "better documented and more clearly written report." But this did not mean Lehr's actions had resulted in scientific misconduct, he wrote.

"In defense of [Lehr], this report was produced in the middle of a national emergency, under intense pressure and with very short deadlines," Detrick wrote.

NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen didn't discuss the allegations, noting that agency employees have a right to privacy unless misconduct is found.

"It is unfortunate that the organization that filed the complaint chose not to adhere to the important confidentiality protection, causing embarrassment to the individual against whom the allegations were made and ultimately dismissed," Smullen said in an email.