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The Roanoke Times reports that "for five years, top managers at the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) withheld data and misled other agencies and scientists about the availability and status of that data. Many people were told that the data had been destroyed, was too old, or in an inaccessible format. The database, which cost millions in taxpayer dollars, sat unused in a safe at the agency. An EPA official summed up the importance of the database in a 1998 memo: Without this data, we will not be able to characterize toxic conditions in Virginia waters, which would limit our ability to effectively target monitoring and management actions."