ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Two senior officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including one with oversight of NOAA’s Asheville office, were placed on administrative leave Friday, according to media reports.
Steve Volz, head of NOAA’s satellite division, and Jeff Dillen, the agency’s deputy general counsel, were believed to have been sidelined because of their involvement in an internal investigation into possible violations of NOAA’s scientific integrity policies during the 2019 “Sharpiegate” controversy, CNN reported.
Although federal officials have not confirmed that, the “Sharpiegate scandal appears to be the only significant event that links the two men, though the personnel moves could be coincidental,” the CNN story said.
The controversy centered on then-President Donald Trump’s use of a Sharpie in 2019 to alter an official hurricane forecast to falsely suggest Hurricane Dorian would strike Alabama. The NOAA investigation later concluded that Neil Jacobs, then the acting NOAA administrator, and another official violated agency policy by supporting the inaccurate forecast.
Volz, who is in Washington, oversees the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, which includes NOAA’s data center in Asheville.
Dorian ultimately did not impact Alabama, instead making landfall in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, as it tracked up the East Coast.
Jacobs has since been nominated to lead NOAA permanently and is scheduled to face a confirmation vote by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on July 30.