2d Big Dig expert raises safety issue

An internationally renowned specialist hired to solve the Big Dig's leak problems has left the project, saying he was denied information about the situation and can no longer say that the tunnels are safe.

The remarks by George J. Tamaro, a leading slurry-wall specialist, were made just days after another independent engineer, Jack K. Lemley, said he, too, was blocked from obtaining crucial data and could no longer vouch for the safety of the tunnels.

In his resignation letter, dated March 16 and obtained by the Globe, Tamaro wrote that he is ''totally uninformed on the current status of work" to repair the leaks and ''has received nothing from the project team for about two months." Tamaro also wrote that he fears that his affiliation with the mega project and lack of access to information may ''jeopardize my credibility and the credibility of my firm."

A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which hired Tamaro last fall, disputed Tamaro's account and said Tamaro had been dismissed by the authority, after the engineer disclosed that he was in talks with one of the two companies that manage the Big Dig, Parsons Brinckerhoff, to jointly bid on a project in New York.

''We have to be aboveboard on everything, and we can't have an appearance of a conflict," said Turnpike Authority spokeswoman Mariellen Burns.

Burns also said Tamaro had never complained of difficulty obtaining information until now.

Tamaro's departure set off another controversy for the authority, which has been under intense criticism for its handling of the leaks in the $14.6 billion project. Last fall, after a major leak erupted in a section of wall in September, Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello hired Tamaro, and hailed him as an independent specialist with the credibility and experience to make sure the leaks were properly fixed.

But tensions have been mounting between Tamaro and turnpike officials in recent weeks because Tamaro opposes a plan to repair the tunnel walls that is favored by project contractor Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and involves essentially plugging weak spots in the wall with concrete and patching the wall sections with steel plates.

Tamaro, who built the slurry walls that withstood the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in New York's World Trade Center, prefers a more extensive and probably more costly repair. His plan would involve digging away the dirt alongside the walls of the tunnels and replacing large sections of the wall with new concrete.

State Transportation Secretary Daniel A. Grabauskas, one of the Authority's five board members, called Tamaro's departure yesterday ''deeply troubling." He also demanded that Amorello hold a public board meeting to discuss the departures of Lemley and Tamaro.

''With much fanfare, we brought [in] the world's two best experts to help on this problem, and now we find out that they were stonewalled and let go," Grabauskas said. ''They were brought in to ensure the safety of the tunnel, fix it, and blame the appropriate parties, and now, those two people brought on to challenge [Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff] and the Central Artery were let go."

Turnpike Authority vice chairman Jordan Levy sent a letter to Amorello expressing outrage over Tamaro's departure. ''That action has seriously raised credibility questions," he wrote.

Despite the Turnpike Authority's assertions that Tamaro was terminated because of a potential conflict of interest, several documents reviewed by the Globe yesterday appear to support Tamaro's version of events.

On Jan. 6, the documents show, Turnpike Authority officials ordered Tamaro to stop working on his investigation of the hundreds of leaks that permeate the roof of the Interstate 93 tunnels.

Also, an e-mail sent to Tamaro yesterday by Rodolfo Perez, the engineering adviser to the inspector general of the US Department of Transportation, states that Tamaro told him in a conversation on Feb. 2 that the Turnpike Authority ''had not provided any new materials" about the tunnel roof leaks for his review.

Tamaro said he suspects that after he told Authority officials he planned to resign, they first stalled him and then preempted his resignation by firing him.

Tamaro said he wrote his resignation letter , March 16, and called Turnpike Authority general counsel Michael Powers that day to tell him that he was about to send it. Powers, he said, asked him not to do so. On Thursday evening, the Turnpike Authority issued a press release saying Tamaro had been terminated. The Turnpike Authority faxed a letter to Tamaro yesterday, firing him.

Burns disputed Tamaro's account, saying that the conversations between Tamaro and Powers centered on Tamaro's talks with Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Raphael Lewis's e-mail is rlewis@globe.com.