First,
the court filings include an email from Bonnie Morgan who works in permitting
for MDEQ. In the email, Ms. Morgan states:
However,
I am actively
working on the PSD construction permit to keep the project moving forward. On a
side note, I do plan on at some point testing the temperature of the waters with
Nucor to get their feelings on this project. Why this is important is because of the history of these
people and Nucor. It's possible that Nucor will make comments at the last
minute to extend the final
permit such that we may need to hold a public hearing during the public notice period so that we can
resolve all comments as quickly as possible so that the facility can have a final permit in place for
financing as soon as possible.
This is interesting for a couple of
reasons. The suit alleges that MDEQ
closed the comment period early, denying environmental experts an opportunity
to comment on the impact of this plant on the surrounding communities and waterways. According to this email, Ms. Morgan clearly was
aware that Nucor,
a competitor to Rima Industrial with two facilities
in Mississippi, was expected to provide comments in
the final days of the comment period and that Ms. Morgan wanted to keep that
from happening.
This opens up two interesting questions.
First, why is Ms. Morgan, whose job it
is to ensure new projects fully comply with environmental law, actively working
to exclude comments from an existing
Mississippi employer with extensive
subject matter expertise? Shouldn’t Ms. Morgan be welcoming
all experts that have information that would provide insight to help Ms. Morgan
do her job? After all, as it is noted noted
on the MDEQ
website, their mission is to “…safeguard
the health, safety, and welfare of present and future generations of
Mississippians…”?
But my larger question is this: Why is
Ms. Morgan making her primary interest timely construction of the Burnsville
plant? Shouldn’t compliance with state
environmental law be her only concern? Instead she promises, “to keep the project moving
forward” and “resolve all comments as quickly as possible so that
the facility can have a final permit in place for financing as soon as
possible.” Again, MDEQ’s
mission, and Ms. Morgan’s job, is to “…safeguard
the health, safety, and welfare of present and future generations of
Mississippians…” – not to deny public hearing (which are required by federal
law) so that proposed facilities can have “final permit
in place for financing as soon as possible.”
It could be that (as
we have noted) John Correnti,
one of the primary
funders of Mississippi Silicon, has given
hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions
to Mississippi Republicans over the years. Or that Gov. Bryant personally flew
to Brazil to court Rima Industrial, a company that
was under criminal
indictment for money
laundering, fraud, and racketeering.
But here’s something else that’s
interesting: Mississippi Silicon responded to the complaint boasting that
“Mississippi Silicon has the potential to create 150 new full-time, permanent
jobs in Burnsville within the first three years of operations.” In court
documents, they go on to state – under penalty of perjury – that maybe,
somewhere over the rainbow, they may create as many as 200 jobs. Here’s the rub: according to the Memorandum
of Understanding Mississippi Silicon signed with the MDA to get almost $25
million in state and local incentives, the plant
must assure:
…the creation of not less than Two Hundred (200) new full-time jobs (the "Job Creation Commitment")…within three (3) years after the Start of Commercial Production…and maintain such number of jobs for a period of seven (7) years (the "Maintenance Period")
Meaning, they don’t create 200 jobs – not 150, as they
claim they have the potential to create
– they don’t get our money.
Just an aside, Nucor
– whom the state took extraordinary lengths to refuse to allow comment – employs
hundreds
of Mississippians and says they have never laid off a worker. Mississippi Silicon – for whom the state has made
every conceivable effort to give competitive advantages – has already cut 25%
of its workforce. And they aren’t even open for business yet. But I digress.
Reading this reminded us of a quote that came out of the
governor’s office when they claim the first learned of the racketeering, fraud
and money laundering charges being brought against Rima Industrial. According to the North East Mississippi Daily Journal:
Nicole
Webb, a spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Bryant, also pointed out…that there are
"clawback" provisions in
the agreement
with Mississippi Silicon "that protect taxpayers in the event a company violates the terms of its agreement."
So to review, since he attended the ribbon
cutting for the Burnsville plant, Governor Bryant has learned that one of his partners is an indicted
felon; another is a long time political
contributor, with a history
of failed businesses; a person on his own staff
actively worked to short circuit the permitting process; and that Mississippi
Silicon themselves say that the plant will not create the number of jobs required
to comply with their agreement.
If all
of this doesn’t constitute cause for exercising “clawback provisions” to
“protect taxpayers in the
event a company violates the terms of its
agreement," what possibly ever would?
1 comment:
Is this the same John Correnti who is the CEO of Big River Steel, LLC? WOW!! Hey, here's a quote from 'ol "Jiltin' John" about gub'ment, courtesy of Arkansas Business. Prepare yourselves.
"What’s the role of government in big private-sector projects," the reporter asks.
"Stay out," Correnti answers. "You might say, ‘Wait a minute. You’re being hypocritical, John. Look what the state put up [for several of your crappy projects].’ And that’s true. But you’ve got to stay competitive as far as a state’s concerned. ... Is it better for the state to invest in a company like Big River? Or is it better to invest in more SNAP cards and more welfare? ... But as far as government is concerned, they should stay out of private industry.
If this is the same guy then he must use a special harness to keep his huge testicles from dangling into the water when he goes to the bathroom.
Source: http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/99954/big-river-steels-john-correnti-on-governments-role-in-private-sector-projects-stay-out
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