Senator Gerald Cardinale, R-Bergen, today called on the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to hold hearings on the financial and environmentally troubled Encap project. Cardinale wants to know why New Jersey officials provided a politically connected developer with $300 million in public money to build a golf course and condominiums on sealed landfills despite warnings that the developer lacked the financial, managerial and technical resources to complete the project.
Cardinale’s request for hearings comes on the heels of The Record reporting that taxpayers may be stuck with a $51 million debt because New Jersey loaned Cherokee Investment Partners $212 million without sufficient collateral or financial guarantees.
“This project has been mismanaged from the start and the result is a financial and environmental nightmare,” Cardinale said. “From the beginning, serious questions have been repeatedly raised about the state making such a large financial commitment to this project at the expense of other worthy projects. Those questions have never been answered.”
“The Corzine administration has been unwilling to explain the actions that may leave the public on the hook for $51 million while contaminated runoff continues to seep into Bergen County’s groundwater. The public has been swindled and no one is being held accountable. It’s time the Legislature stepped in and got to the bottom of this debacle.”
Link to Post:
http://www.senatenj.com/index.php/cardinale/cardinale-calls-for-hearings-into-the-encap-fiasco/127
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May 13, 2008 - Cardinale: Governor Corzine Passes the Bill onto Future Generations
July 9, 2008 - O’Toole: Investigating the Encap Fiasco is The Right Move
March 12, 2008
