In light of the inadequacy of the Inspector General’s investigation and a myriad of obvious conflicts of interest at the State level, Senator Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) had this to say about the botched EnCap landfill reclamation project:
“We need a federal investigation into the EnCap fiasco. At today’s hearing of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee and Senate Environment Committee, it became clear that the Inspector General’s investigation and call for a State criminal investigation are woefully inadequate.
“The Inspector General’s report hones in on representatives of the developer, but treats State officials with kid gloves. Now, more than ever, the people of this State need the United States Attorney to do what the State is unable to do for itself – vigorously investigate every reasonable allegation of corruption and malfeasance.
“There are plenty of signs that the State isn’t serious about getting to the truth in the EnCap matter. Shockingly, the Inspector General indicated that she chose not to find out what the appropriate standards should be for remediations and closure of landfills. Nor did she try to identify the individuals responsible at the Department of Environmental Protection for lax oversight of the project. How could she write a report about what went wrong at EnCap without this information?
“The Inspector General also indicated that she believes her referral to the State Attorney General, and not federal authorities, was appropriate even though the Attorney General’s Office reviewed and signed off on contracts, loans, and other documents with respect to the EnCap deal.
“The only way we will hold people responsible for the EnCap debacle is if the office doing the investigating is truly independent and free of conflicts. That means the people investigating can’t be working for an office that was created by a former Governor whose administration oversaw the EnCap deal as it unfolded, and they can’t be working for an office that approved EnCap’s contracts and hundreds of millions of dollars of financial assistance.”
The U.S. Attorney is the only government agency in a position to conduct a full and fair investigation, Cardinale added.
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Link to Post:
http://www.senatenj.com/index.php/cardinale/cardinale-calls-for-federal-encap-investigation-2/297
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