Final Birdsall exec pleads guilty to play-to-pay violations

Ex-Birdsall executive pleads guilty in scheme to evade pay-to-play laws with illegal political contributions

All nine individuals charged in the case – and the engineering firm itself – have now pleaded guilty


The following is a news release issued by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office on July 7:


Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that a former executive and shareholder of Birdsall Services Group (“BSG”) pleaded guilty today to participating in a criminal scheme in which more than $1 million in corporate political contributions were illegally made through firm employees to evade New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws. Nine former executives, shareholders and managers of BSG have pleaded guilty in the scheme, along with the engineering firm itself, which is no longer in business.

Alan Hilla, 77, of Jupiter, Fla., pleaded guilty today to a charge of second-degree misconduct by a corporate official before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in Ocean County. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that he be sentenced to five years in state prison. Hilla indicated he plans to apply for a suspended sentence, citing health issues. Hilla is the final defendant in the case against BSG and nine of its top executives, shareholders and employees. Judge Daniels scheduled sentencing for September 1, 2017 at 10 AM.

Deputy Attorney General Anthony A. Picione, Chief of the Corruption Bureau, and Deputy Attorneys General Mallory Shanahan, Brian Faulk and Charles Wright are prosecuting the case and took the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal Justice. The charge was contained in a March 26, 2013 indictment, which also charged BSG and six other executives and shareholders. Two other defendants pleaded guilty pre-indictment. The charges stemmed from an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau, which found that the defendants conspired to avoid the restrictions of New Jersey’s Pay-to-Play laws by disguising illegal corporate political contributions as personal contributions of employees.

“The many guilty pleas we have secured in this case hammer home an important message that criminal schemes aimed at evading New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws will be met with stern punishment,” said Attorney General Porrino. “Our laws prevent politically connected firms from garnering public contracts based on campaign contributions, but Birdsall’s executives gamed the system and secured millions of dollars in contracts for which they should have been disqualified.”

“My office recently announced two anti-corruption programs – a reward program offering up to $25,000 for tips about public corruption, as well as a whistleblower program that allows lower-level participants in a corruption scheme to potentially avoid prosecution by self-reporting,” Attorney General Porrino added. “I urge people to help us and help themselves by taking advantage of these programs, which expire on August 1.”

“New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws seek to ensure fair and open public contracting, free of the sway of political interests,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “By criminally prosecuting this firm and sending many of its top executives to prison, we have given those laws real teeth.”


Individuals may report information and apply for the Anti-Corruption Reward Program or Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Program by August 1 by one of the following methods:

  • Call the DCJ hotline 866-TIPS-4CJ to speak with detectives 24 hours/7 days a week; or



BSG pleaded guilty on June 13, 2013 to charges of first-degree money laundering and second-degree making false representations for government contracts. As a result of its plea, BSG paid two major criminal penalties: a $500,000 public corruption profiteering penalty and a $500,000 anti-money laundering profiteering penalty. In each instance, the penalty was the maximum amount authorized by law. BSG also paid the state $2.6 million to settle a civil forfeiture action filed by the Attorney General’s Office in connection with the criminal case.


Eight other executives, shareholders and managers of the Birdsall firm previously pleaded guilty:

  1. On April 22, 2016, Howard Birdsall, formerly CEO and largest shareholder of BSG, was sentenced to four years in prison on a charge of second-degree misconduct by a corporate official. He paid $49,808 to the state in forfeiture of his illegal political contributions.
  1. On June 10, 2016, Thomas Rospos, formerly executive vice president of BSG and its second largest shareholder, was sentenced to three years in prison on a charge of third-degree tampering with public records or information. He paid $150,000 in forfeiture of his illegal contributions.
  1. On July 11, 2016, William Birdsall, formerly senior vice president and a large shareholder of BSG, was sentenced to 270 days in the county jail and two years of probation on a charge of third-degree misconduct by a corporate official. He paid $129,115 in forfeiture of his illegal contributions, as well as a $75,000 public corruption profiteering penalty.
  1. On June 2, Robert Gerard, 56, of Wall, N.J., former Chief Marketing Officer for BSG, was sentenced to 270 days in the county jail and two years of probation on a fourth-degree charge of making prohibited corporate political contributions through employees. He forfeited $86,200.
  1. James Johnston, 55, of New Brunswick, N.J., former President of the Environmental Services Group within BSG, was sentenced to 270 days in the county jail and two years of probation on a fourth-degree charge of making prohibited corporate political contributions through employees. He forfeited $93,720.
  1. On Jan. 6, 2016, Scott MacFadden, former chief administrative officer of BSG, pleaded guilty to third-degree misconduct by a corporate official. He faces a recommended sentence of up to 364 days in jail and a term of probation. He must pay $30,000 in forfeiture of his contributions.
  1. On Nov. 30, 2012, Philip Angarone, the former marketing director for BSG, pleaded guilty to third-degree tampering with public records or information and fourth-degree making prohibited corporate political contributions through employees. He is awaiting sentencing and faces a sentence of up to 364 days in jail and a term of probation. He must forfeit $26,775.
  1. On Feb. 12, 2013, Eileen Kufahl, a former marketing manager for Birdsall, pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree charge of making prohibited corporate contributions through employees. She forfeited $17,119 and was admitted into the Pre-Trial Intervention Program.

Under the alleged scheme, instead of Birdsall Services Group making corporate political contributions to campaigns and political organizations that would disqualify it from public contracts awarded by certain government agencies, shareholders and employees of the firm made personal political contributions of $300 or less, which are deemed unreportable. Multiple personal checks were bundled together at Birdsall Services Group and sent to the appropriate campaign or political organization. The shareholders and employees were then illegally reimbursed by Birdsall Services Group, directly or indirectly, through added bonus payments, and the firm falsely omitted the illegally reimbursed contributions in documents filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) and with government agencies that awarded the firm engineering services contracts. The scheme continued for more than six years and involved more than $1 million in contributions.


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Legislation in NJ aims to phase out solar credits


Another attempt to smooth out industry’s boom-and-bust cycles, this one by ultimately phasing out solar subsidies paid to array owners

solar

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

The state’s solar program could be in for a major makeover.

In amending a bill (S-2276), the Legislature last week adopted significant changes to how the state promotes installation of solar systems, eventually phasing out existing financial incentives given to owners of the arrays.
The legislation is viewed as crucial to the state’s thriving solar sector, a market that has experienced boom-and-bust cycles in the past. It could be heading for the latter again unless the states ramps up mandates to rely on the technology to power homes and businesses, according to some solar developers.
The bill does that, and much more. The legislation proposes to phase out SRECs (solar renewable energy credits) and replace them with a new or modified way of encouraging increased reliance on the technology. What that system will be, however, remains to be determined.


Solar surcharge

The solar credits — payments for the electricity generated by the panels — have helped drive the market in New Jersey, which at one time was the second largest in the nation. As prices for solar panels dropped and the systems became more efficient, however, critics questioned why subsidies continued. Utility customers pay for the solar credits by a surcharge on their bill.
Even some solar advocates concede New Jersey is far more expensive than other states, but they have made little headway convincing policymakers to change the model here. This bill may give them a new opportunity, though some of its backers say the state may retain SRECs in one way or another.

Read the full story here


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Pa. state budget to become law without full funding


Republicans who control both legislative chambers have rejected the idea of a new natural gas drilling tax and have steadfastly refused to increase either the sales or personal income tax.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today reports:
For the second consecutive year, Gov. Tom Wolf will allow the spending bill the Legislature has sent to him to become law, even though there is no plan for how to pay for it.
Monday’s move once again plunged the state into uncertainty, with questions swirling around whether it is constitutional and whether it will provide more fodder for a crushing credit downgrade for the state.
For his part, the Democratic governor said he believes that, just like last year, the Republican-controlled Legislature will swiftly act to deliver a revenue package to his desk.
“In the coming days, it is my hope that the General Assembly will come together to pass a responsible solution to balance our books,” Mr. Wolf said in a statement. “There are many options available to balance the budget in the long-term, like those I presented earlier this year. Our creditors and the people of Pennsylvania understand a responsible resolution must take real and necessary steps to improve Pennsylvania’s fiscal future.”
What became clear late Monday was that the Legislature would not pass a revenue package to accompany the nearly $32 billion spending bill by the midnight deadline.
“We’re just trying to keep hope alive here and get things done,” Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, said Monday afternoon of trying to reach a deal, even if it can’t be done by the deadline. “… It’s sort of a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour development.”
Both the House and Senate are expected to convene at 11 a.m. Tuesday. But after that session ends, House GOP leaders said they could send members home, possibly for several weeks. In Mr. Wolf’s first year in office, the budget stalemate dragged on for nine months.
Pennsylvania’s constitution requires a balanced budget, but without legislation describing precisely what revenues will prop it up, the spending plan is incomplete.
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As Trump’s EPA backs away, camera zeroes in on emissions

Anya Litvak reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Jim Rosenberg was at a Fayette County planning commission meeting when “one of the commissioners looked me in the eye and said, ‘Compressor stations don’t cause air pollution.’”
“And I looked him back in the eye and said, ‘Yes, they do.’”
That was the end of that discussion. And it frustrated Mr. Rosenberg, a Fayette County resident who had been fighting against oil and gas development for years.
Then he took an infrared video of a compressor station to the Fayette County zoning hearing board. The experience left him feeling the opposite of that earlier meeting: vindicated, perhaps, and delighted.
The video had been shot by a $100,000 optical gas imaging camera that a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group named Earthworks has been hauling around the country to oil and gas sites to “see the invisible.”
“With this camera, we are able see what industry is trying to hide, and show that fracking isn’t clean or safe,” the organization says on its website. “Our most powerful takeaway: Seeing is believing.”
When Mr. Rosenberg hit play on his computer at the zoning board meeting, a black-and-white video of the Springhill natural gas compressor station started to play on a large screen behind the board members, who were hearing testimony about the facility.
Something that looked like fire was burning in two stacks, and then the footage switched to high-sensitivity mode. The whole picture began pulsating, like a strobe light. Instead of a fire, now there was thick smoke billowing in the direction of nearby trees.
When Shawn Gallagher, an attorney for Laurel Mountain Midstream, a joint venture between Oklahoma-based Williams Partners LP. and California-based Chevron Corp., which owns the compressor station, sprung to his feet to object that the zoning board had no authority to regulate emissions, he did so against this menacing backdrop. 
It should be noted that the video doesn’t reveal the contents of the billowing smoke. It was shot with a FLIR, or forward-looking infrared, camera calibrated to show emissions of hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, pentane and others.
But the technology would also show water vapor, which is what Mr. Gallagher said was on the screen behind him.
Image captured with a forward-looking infrared camera (FLIR) by environmental group Earthworks. (Earthworks)

“There’s no question that they were showing steam coming off,” he said recently. “They were off site and had some kind of camera. I don’t know if it was even from the same compressor station.”
It was, in fact, the same Fayette County compressor station — one of 700 “investigations” that Earthworks has done since it launched its Community Empowerment Project in 2014.
Called to (further) action by the presidency of Donald Trump and the efforts of his Environmental Protection Agency to undo rules limiting emissions from oil and gas sites, Earthworks is stepping up its campaign.
Pennsylvania is among six states receiving more attention these days, said Nadia Steinzor, a program coordinator with the group.
That means the advocacy group’s two certified thermographers will be visiting more wells, pipelines and processing plants, shooting more video and sending the footage to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The crux of the effort is using the visual evidence to file complaints with regulators, and to urge investigations and enforcement.
The DEP, which has six of its own FLIR cameras that inspectors use to identify leaks, is at least aware of Earthworks’ initiative, Ms. Steinzor said.
“We’ve shared our PA playlist with them on YouTube,” she said.

Read the full story here


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Toxic Algae Found in Some New York City Ponds

A sign warned of an algae bloom in the Lake in Central Park, advising to keep animals away and not to drink from, wade in or fish in the water. Credit, Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Lisa W. Foderaro reports for the New York Times:

Summer is here, and the lakes and ponds that dot New York City’s parks are awash in algae. Much of it is just unsightly. But some types, like the blue-green algae in the Lake in the southern half of Central Park, can be harmful, causing rashes on people and posing a lethal risk to dogs.


Blue-green algae can be hard to see. Its hallmark is a uniform green hue, sometimes with large swirls — as if someone spilled pale green paint on the darker green surface.

There is no simple fix for blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, which is caused by an excess of nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen in the water. In most parts of the country, those nutrients result from storm water and agricultural runoff, fertilizers, dog waste and nearby septic tanks.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has tracked the presence of so-called harmful algal blooms since 2012, and this year, the season is off to a robust start. Each week, the department’s website  updates a list of sites statewide with suspicious or confirmed blooms. It now includes 30 lakes and ponds.

“By August, we usually have 70 to 80 ponds and lakes on the list,” said Rebecca Gorney, a research scientist for the department, which has no oversight of New York City parks.Read the full story here
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A real climate scientist on fighting the Trump darkness

Photo: The Insider Story 

 


Ben Santer is a climate scientist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His essay was published on July 5 in the Washington Post

I’ve been a mountaineer for most of my life. Mountains are in my blood. In my early 20s, while climbing in France, I fell into a crevasse on the Milieu Glacier, at the start of the normal route on the Aiguille d’Argentiere. Remarkably, I was unhurt. From the grip of the banded ice, I saw a thin slit of blue sky 120 feet above me. The math was simple: Climb 120 feet. If I reached that slit of blue sky, I would live. If I didn’t, I’d freeze to death in the cold and dark.
Now, more than 40 years later, it feels like I’m in a different kind of darkness — the darkness of the Trump administration’s scientific ignorance. This is just as real as the darkness of the Milieu Glacier’s interior and just as life-threatening. This time, I’m not alone. The consequences of this ignorance affect every person on the planet.
Imagine, if you will, that you spend your entire professional life trying to do one thing to the best of your ability. In my case, that one thing is to study the nature and causes of climate change. You put in a long apprenticeship. You spend years learning about the climate system, computer models of climate and climate observations. You start filling a tool kit with the statistical and mathematical methods you’ll need for analyzing complex data sets. You are taught how electrical engineers detect signals embedded in noisy data. You apply those engineering insights to the detection of a human-caused warming signal buried in the natural “noise” of Earth’s climate. Eventually, you learn that human activities are warming Earth’s surface, and you publish this finding in peer-reviewed literature.
You participate in rigorous national and international assessments of climate science. You try to put aside all personal filters, to be objective, to accommodate a diversity of scientific opinions held by your peers, by industry stakeholders and by governments. These assessments are like nothing you’ve ever done before: They are peer review on steroids, eating up years of your life.
The bottom-line finding of the assessments is cautious at first. In 1995, the conclusion is this: “The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” These 12 words are part of a chapter on which you are first author. The 12 words change your life. You spend years defending the “discernible human influence” conclusion. You encounter valid scientific criticism. You also encounter nonscientific criticism from powerful forces of unreason, who harbor no personal animus toward you but don’t like what you’ve learned and published — it’s bad for their business.
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