More on Reich investigation of Pennycook

Further to the investigation of Pennycook by Eugenie Reich, note the published denial of an expedited FOIA request by Reich (decision of March 5, 2007).

The decision begins:

On January 22, 2007, Eugenie S. Reich (Reich) filed an Appeal from a determination issued to her by the FOIA/Privacy Act Group of the Department of Energy (DOE/HQ) on December 18, 2006, in response to a request for documents that Reich submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. ' 552, as implemented by the DOE in 10 C.F.R. Part 1004. This Appeal, if granted, would require that DOE expedite the processing of Reich’s FOIA request.

The decision states:

Neither the recent newspaper articles nor the upcoming public address at the APS meeting demonstrate the requisite urgency to endow this request for information with a compelling need for expedited processing. The scientists whom Reich suggests will be the victims of Dr. Pennycook’s allegedly fraudulent research are also the citizens most likely to be already familiar with the controversy surrounding his work. Thus we find that Reich has not established any urgency for the release ofthe material she requested. Accordingly, her Appeal should be denied.

Hmmm, scientists as victims.... One tends to think of the taxpayers who fund fraudulent research as the primary victims. Or, in the case of Bell Labs and Jan-Hendrik Schon, the poor shareholders. LBE thinks back to the take NHK-TV had on the Schon matter, so distinct from how Americans viewed it.

Look here.