WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the House Science Committee is demanding that NASA halt efforts to close facilities at the Goddard Space Flight Center, arguing that the moves jeopardize the center’s ability to support agency missions.
In a strongly worded letter to Acting Administrator Sean Duffy on Nov. 10, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Science Committee, said efforts to close offices and labs at the Maryland center have accelerated since the start of the government shutdown and are putting missions at risk.
“In recent days, my staff has received disturbing reports that NASA is directing the imminent closure of laboratories and facilities hosting mission-critical capabilities at the Greenbelt, Maryland, campus of the Goddard Space Flight Center. These actions put essential hardware and capabilities at great risk,” she wrote.
That included, she said, a propulsion lab at Goddard that is “mission-critical” for the Roman Space Telescope being completed there. “The agency’s hastily planned moves and closures — some of which I understand are already well underway — risk causing significant delays for multibillion-dollar missions under development such as Roman and could heighten the risk of mission failure altogether.”
“I am hereby demanding that NASA immediately halt all building, laboratory, facility, and technical capability closure and relocation activities and immediately cease the relocation, disposal, excessing, or repurposing of any specialized equipment or mission-related hardware and systems at Goddard,” Lofgren wrote in the letter (emphasis in original).
Much of that work has been taking place during a government shutdown that began Oct. 1. According to NASA’s continuity of operations plan, nearly 90% of Goddard’s 2,867 civil servants were furloughed for the shutdown, leaving few people on the campus to observe or comment on ongoing activities. Those who have been on-site say they have seen seemingly haphazard packing or disposal of items ranging from books to a spare 1960s-era satellite.
In a Nov. 5 statement, the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association (GESTA) said it was aware that 13 buildings at the center, containing about 100 labs, were being closed. GESTA is a union that had represented many Goddard employees until an Aug. 28 executive order eliminated collective bargaining rights for NASA employes.
“Tens or hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded NASA property and laboratories are at risk of either being discarded, mishandled, or out of commission for significant time periods,” GESTA said in its statement.
The union added that the closure activities during the shutdown may violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, since furloughed employees are not being paid.
Lofgren noted in her letter that, during a Nov. 4 briefing with her staff, NASA officials said the work was part of a 20-year master plan for Goddard running through 2037 that projected reducing the center’s overall footprint by 25%.
“I reject the explanation that abruptly and haphazardly uprooting employees and millions (at least) of dollars of equipment without a destination or technical justification could reasonably be considered in alignment with any existing ‘plan,’” she wrote.
Lofgren added that information her staff obtained after the meeting indicated that NASA was accelerating closures of Goddard facilities, such as the propulsion lab supporting Roman, with that work scheduled to be completed by Nov. 12.
“If buildings, facilities, and laboratories that are essential to Goddard’s work are at risk of being shut down within mere days — without any viable plan to replace them — time is of the essence,” she wrote.
“NASA must halt any and all laboratory, facility, and building closure and relocation activities at Goddard, as well as the relocation, disposal, excessing, or repurposing of any specialized equipment or mission-related capabilities, hardware, and systems — and it must do so now,” Lofgren stated in the letter (emphasis in original). She called on Duffy to report in writing within 24 hours of receiving the letter that the Goddard consolidation work is on hold.
Lofgren said she will also ask NASA’s Office of Inspector General to investigate the consolidation work at Goddard “to determine whether these activities are complying with agency policies and all relevant laws and regulations, whether they are in alignment with the Master Plan for Goddard, and whether they are damaging Goddard’s ability to carry out its scientific and technical responsibilities.”
