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NASA boss investigated for possible conflict of interest on biofuel project.  Project aims to revolutionize clean-energy prodution at sea and treat wastewater.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden wants to quash a $10 million biofuels venture after vetting the project with Marathon Oil, a Texas-based company where he served on the board of directors and which has competing technology under development.

Government ethics watchdogs say Bolden should have steered clear of involvement with the project because of his ties to the industry and financial holdings, which includes $1 million worth of Marathon stock.

NASA is working on an ocean-based biofuels venture that could revolutionize clean-energy production at sea and treat wastewater at the same time.  Called Project OMEGA, the $10 million experiment has been called ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘exciting‘ by scientists working on the project.

Despite the buzz around the OMEGA, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden doesn’t seem to share in the enthusiasm, seeking instead to slow it down.

The reason: He was advised against it by Marathon Oil, on whose board Bolden sat until he was named NASA administrator last year.

Bolden says he did nothing wrong, and his lawyers at NASA agree.  Others see red flags:

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, who called Bolden’s conversation “wholly inappropriate.”  She says:

It definitely does not pass the smell test.

Bolden’s action has infuriated the director of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, where the project is based.  In an e-mail obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Pete Worden, a former astronomy professor and retired Air Force general, angrily demanded an explanation:

I think my folks are entitled to know who talked to Charlie and the basis of their criticism so we can respond.  This is frankly the worst of NASA, and I don’t like it.  It is ‘good ole boy’ networks at its worst and not worthy of NASA and this administration.

The controversy comes amid a time of unprecedented turmoil surrounding the agency, with the space shuttle retiring soon and the future of the human-spaceflight program caught in a tug of war between Congress and the administration.  Privately, White House and congressional officials have expressed growing doubts about Bolden’s judgment.

So far, the project is proceeding without any signs of obvious interference, according to scientists and officials.  But Bolden’s decision to vet OMEGA with a company in which he has a significant financial interest — and that also has invested in a competing biofuels proposal — has prompted an investigation by the NASA inspector general.

More on the NASA biofuel controversy.

Image: Flickr/Matthew Simantov