Page County - A $34 Million Dump for the President's Brother

I get a google news alert each day on the "Shenandoah Valley".

Today, this interesting article appeared in my inbox and I thought I would share it with fellow bloggers.

It appears as though President Bush's brother, Marvin Bush, is partner and co-founder of the venture capital firm, Winston Partners, out of McLean, Virginia.

Marvin's company purchased Tellurian, Page County’s waste management and landfill operator for the Battle Creek landfill. FYI - the Page County landfill accepts garbage from out of state, like many other landfills in the state.

The article states, "The permit for the Battle Creek landfill allows for 250 tons of garbage per day. The expected carry capacity for an 18-wheeler is about 20 tons, so 250 tons a day would bring a dozen big trucks every day into the Battle Creek facility. "

Apparently, "an under-the-counter deal was made between some Page County supervisors and Tellurian to illegally accept delivery of 1,500 tons/day at the Battle Creek landfill. The DEQ in Richmond, the Governor’s office (at the time this was Governor Mark Warner, now a 2008 Democratic presidential aspirant, and his Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore) and others were aware of the deal."

The article goes onto say that, " An illegal "amendment" to the Page County contract with Tellurian – increasing the garbage deliveries to 1,500 tons a day – was physically signed by the local County supervisors on 14 December 2001. Within hours of this illegal amendment, Tellurian was purchased by Winston Partners. Several months later, Tellurian was renamed National Waste Services of Virginia. Over-dumping continued, with help from the Virginia DEQ and the governor’s office for nearly two years.

And…"Upon the closure of the landfill, Marvin Bush’s NWS sued Page County supervisors. The lawsuit alleged that the closure violated the contract and had pushed NWS into bankruptcy. Even though Page County had the right to end the contract without penalty at any time, Page County supervisors agreed not only to have the County’s taxpayers clean up the environmental mess made at the Battle Creek Landfill, but for them to pay NWS’s landfill related debts.

Marvin Bush owed another company, Capitol Source, $34 million as a result of the alleged bankruptcy of NWS. Even though the court imposed no criminal or civil penalties, the settlement agreement deemed that Marvin Bush would receive $34 million, and that he would receive Battle Creek landfill profits until the debt is totally paid.

The general saga has been reported here and here. It is also well known to federal investigators.”

Here's the best part, "In sum, Page County is handing over the first $34 million of profits from the recently re-opened Battle Creek landfill to Marvin Bush. Presumably, the bribes paid by NWS and Winston Partners to the various government officials – both Democrat and Republican – are covered by the $34 million.

One would think that this is enough criminality for local and state government. But there’s more! It is a Class IV felony – a crime – to falsify County financial records. Yet, according to the Page County Treasurer, the County financial records do not show the huge debt to Winston Partners. This debt, and the destination of years of future profits from the Page County landfill, remains hidden from taxpayers. "

I am not familiar with the situation, so if anyone has any extra information, please chime in and enlighten us all.