About a month ago I noted that the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory might be forced to close its doors. It's now official.
The future of SREL is uncertain no longer. In a 15 June 2007 letter from UGA President Adams to DOE Secretary Bodman, Adams has committed to closing SREL within about one year. Approximately 40 SREL employees will be terminated effective 30 June. Six UGA-tenured faculty will have their appointments transferred to the Athens campus. The few employees who remain at SREL will work toward completing outstanding commitments on the Lab's 40+ active external grants, and then will close the facility.
Adams' letter states that SREL employees have been notified about the terminations, but in fact NO SREL personnel have received any information about whether they are included on the list of those to be terminated. It's hard to understand how an organization can treat dedicated employees in such a manner--to have them learn that they may be losing their jobs by reading it in the newspaper. As of today, many SREL personnel STILL do not know if they are to be terminated or whether their jobs will be saved for the time being. (source; emphasis in the original)
The letter from University of Georgia President Adams includes a few particularly important facts.
The budget of the Environmental Management Division of the Department of Energy has been cut from $400 million to under $20 million in recent years.
The University of Georgia received verbal assurances from DOE officials that SREL would receive $4 million in funding for fiscal year 2007. Only later did they learn that the officials involved did not have the authority to issue such commitments.
Approximately half of the staff will be terminated on 30 June 2007.
Dr. Paul M. Bertsch has resigned as Director of SREL, effective 15 June 2007, but the President writes: “Dr. Bertsch, a distinguished research scientist himself, should [not] be faulted for taking positions he believed to be in the best interests and in support of his staff and laboratory.”
If you want more information, visit www.SaveSREL.org
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