The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) reported $660,912.85 in losses of missing property to state auditors in June. According to a departmental spokesperson, the majority of the losses were old property that had been improperly disposed.
According to DEEP’s loss reports, the agency reported several hundred items from across its bureaus as missing. Purchase dates for the lost property range from 1976 to 2024 and lost items ranged from kayaks to radiation detectors. While DEEP reported roughly $660,000 in losses, based on estimated current values for many missing items, the original value of the property totaled just over $1.3 million.
The agency submitted loss reports for five bureaus, plus the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) and for losses at its Windsor facility. DEEP’s Bureau of Materials Management and Compliance Assurance reported the largest losses, totaling roughly $298,000. Purchase dates of lost item September 1991 to December 2023. Lost items included a mobile trailer lab valued at roughly $24,000, a number of breathing apparatus, chromatographs valued between roughly $22,000 and $13,000 apiece, gas detectors, radiocoms, marine radios, and trailer storage.
The Bureau of Air Management reported the loss several types of meters, radiation detectors valued between $4,300 and $5,000 apiece, a generator, and three air catalysts.
The Bureau of Natural Resources reported losing a dozen fiberglass tank hatcheries, valued at just over $3,000 apiece; portable pumps; acoustic receivers; a radar antenna valued at roughly $8,400 dollars; and several boats and outboard motors.
PURA reported losing an automatic letter opener, water leak sensors originally purchased for just over $10,000, a digital sender, and a refrigerator.
The loss reports do not offer any description of how the losses occurred and state state DEEP “has instituted new annual physical inventory and surplus procedures, increased Agency asset staff, and has provided appropriate training to program staff.”
According to Will Healey, DEEP’s communications director, the losses are not new and reflect updates the agency has made to its asset management practices, including new procedures for “surplussing equipment that has exceeded its useful life.”
“During our recent physical inventory, we identified a number of assets, most of which were many decades old and beyond their useful life. In many cases the disposal of these items took place and was not recorded properly prior to the implementation of our revised asset management procedures. These missing assets do not represent a recent or ongoing loss and are a product of the updating of our asset data.” Healey told Inside Investigator.
Healey said that the agency has improved staff training and oversight to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
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