Commerce to seek restitution for contractor's $400M satellite mishap

Officials will seek legal remedies for a $400 million accident that severely damaged a weather satellite when it fell off a table, Commerce Secretary Don Evans told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday.

"We're close to a final report" on the investigation, Evans told Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

An aide later said the report on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-N Prime satellite due for launch in 2008 could come within a few months.

Investigators want to determine liability for the accident at a Lockheed Martin plant in Sunnyvale, Calif., last Sept. 6 when the satellite slipped off a "turn over cart" onto the floor because bolts to secure it had been removed. Evans said he was certain legal remedies would be pursued to recover what Gregg said was $400 million in damages that concerned him because of the impact on funding for NOAA.

During most of his testimony to defend the department's proposed $5.8 billion fiscal 2005 budget, Democrats accused Evans and the administration of not doing enough to preserve manufacturing jobs. Democratic Sens. Ernest (Fritz) Hollings of South Carolina, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Patrick Leahy of Vermont peppered Evans over cutbacks in two popular business assistance programs -- the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Advanced Technology Program.

Evans said he had to make hard choices in a wartime setting in deciding priorities to keep MEP funding at $39 million -- the same as in fiscal 2004 -- but a reduction from $106 million two years ago. Hollings called it an "easy choice" to keep MEP to help manufacturing and said proposed termination of ATP would eliminate a "success story."

Evans conceded the programs performed "important services ... but we're at war -- tough choices and priorities have to be set." Kohl, citing MAP programs in his state, urged the subcommittee to restore funds and received indications it might. Gregg said while Evans had his priorities, "We'll adjust and tweak those priorities a bit."