EPA Gave Convicted Climate Expert Salary Awards AFTER He Defrauded Agency
GREEN ENERGY CHRONICLES
John's latest update on corruption, greed and fraud in the clean energy sector.
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EPA Employee Scams $1 Million From Agency, Then Collects Awards
Judicial Watch Gets Records Of EPA Employee Who Scammed Agency
The senior Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official who scammed the agency out of nearly $1 million in pay without working got service and salary awards throughout his lengthy career as a climate policy expert, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch. His name is John Beale and he’s on the verge of completing a 32-month prison sentence for defrauding the government by claiming, while employed at the EPA, to be a “secret agent” for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and going on long vacations that he said were CIA missions.
While he committed the fraud the EPA regularly rewarded him with “Special Act or Service Awards” that included cash and time off, the records obtained by JW reveal. From 1991 through 1998 Beale received thousands of dollars in bonuses for his performance as well as a “Time Off Award” in 1998, the records show. In 2001 he was rewarded yet again with a promotion to work at the White House as a “Senior Policy Advisor.” It’s not like Beale was a lowly employee at the EPA. He was a senior level official who actually worked in the agency’s most powerful office, Air and Radiation (OAR), under President Obama’s current EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy.
OAR is feared by American companies because it develops polices and regulations associated with climate change air pollution that can impose huge costs to both consumers and businesses. McCarthy headed OAR from 2008 to 2013 when Beale was a high-ranking senior policy adviser, which means the EPA Administrator directly managed him at the time. Beale also defrauded the agency by receiving unlawful reimbursements for upscale personal travel, claiming to be away working for the CIA for 2 ½ years while he collected EPA paychecks and continuing to collect his full government salary years after officially retiring from the agency.
A U.S. Senate investigation blasted McCarthy, his boss at the time at OAR, for not taking action for months after learning that Beale committed fraud. “On March 29, 2012, an OAR official raised concerns about Beale’s retirement when he informed McCarthy that Beale was still on payroll,” the Senate report states. “Despite being aware of the fact that one of her subordinates was collecting a paycheck without providing any work product, this arrangement continued for seven more months before McCarthy ever contacted Beale.”
In December 2012, McCarthy met with Beale for the first time in nearly 15 months and he told her he was no longer planning to retire. Beale wasn’t reported to the EPA Inspector General for another two months and, though McCarthy had cause to fire him, she let him retire voluntarily with full benefits. Remember, this is the woman who runs the agency now.
On August 23, 2013, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed criminal charges against Beale and a year later he was convicted of fraud and stealing $900,000 from the government. He’s on the verge of completing a 32-month sentence in a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland. The Senate investigation determined that his actions, not only disgraced the agency, but also raised questions about its management and oversight abilities. In fact, despite Beale’s decades-long history of fraud and deceit many of his EPA colleagues refuse to view him as a criminal and even submitted letters to the court requesting leniency during his sentencing. “These officials’ reaction to the scandal suggests that an individual can steal a million dollars from taxpayers and perpetrate a crime for nearly two decades, but still be considered — by some — as an environmental legend,” the Senate report states.
AWEA 'fact checks' Donald Trump
During a November 2015 campaign stop in Newton, Iowa, the home of blade supplier TPI Composites, Trump said, “It needs subsidy; otherwise, they’re not going to get built.”
During his North Dakota stop, Trump continued his view on incentives: “You need massive subsidies for wind … The government should not pick winners and losers.”
Note: Barb and I have repeatedly written about Patrick Wood III (TPI Composites et.al.).
I should have also named him in this article.
Disclosure: I was a member of AWEA years ago. john.
TPI Composites Wind Turbine Blades Constantly Failing.
In the operational environment, the blades designed and built by Sandia Labs and TPI Composites (the blade manufacturer) were continually breaking (Fig. 1). The blade failures were costing Sandia and TPI valuable time, costs and resources to continually replace broken blades without understanding the root cause of the problem inherent to composite materials.
TPI Composites Director is Director of First Wind, Patrick Wood III.
“After all, TPI Composites has also received accolades from Barney Frank, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and President Obama. Iowa companies have received more than $160 million in Department of Energy stimulus grants. How unfortunate that some Republican contenders chose to endorse more of the same instead of taking the opportunity to explainthe senselessness of such a system. One would think that the Iowa Straw Poll would have been the optimal event to explain the free market perspective rather than acquiesce to the demands for more corporate welfare…”
TPI Composites testified in front of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Stimulus benefits, March 27, 2012.
But, TPI didn't mention their Turkish plans announced on March 21, 2012:
"TPI Composites, Inc and ALKE INSAAT have formed a joint venture company in Izmir, Turkey to manufacture large composite wind turbine blades."
TPI Composites Statement on Award of More than $9 million in Recovery Act Manufacturing Tax Credits from the Obama Administration, (read by TPI link below.
Mass Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) has awarded TPI a $250, 000 grant.
Full Report: True Cost of Wind Must Read pdf.
This report was completed in 2015 and analyzes the true cost of wind including subsidies etc.
ELECTRICITY MARKET NEWS
Barclays Gets Caught Manipulating the US Electricity Market
Then...
Downgrades US Electricity Markets
In Other News:
Terraform Power director resigns, gets extension to file 10k
Judge rejects wind project, BLM failed to do study
Solar panels catch school on fire
Solar City to get $485 million for NY plant amid federal questions
DOE pulls $40m from Dominion's offshore wind project
Wind farm deal collapses after subsidy u-turn
DONG Energy announces Ocean Wind
Iberdrola Renewables Disputes FERC Ruling On Energy Crisis Suppy Contract
Metal Shavings shuts turbines down
Navy, USAF voice concerns about turbines
Fishing Vessel hits offshore wind turbine, 2 injured
Wind tower accident blocks Rt. 201
Misery Wind Project will not be affected by zoning change
Disclosure: This was within my service area/jurisdiction when I served as fire chief/town forest fire warden.
From last week:
Climate Alarmist Admits The REAL Motive Behind Global Warming Scare Tactics
Jun 2, 2016 at 3:20 AM
Reader Comments (28)
http://joannenova.com.au/2016/06/mark-steyn-files-to-push-mann-trial-forward/
Give Mann a 'can opener' Mark!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/06/01/steyn-steps-up-sticking-it-to-the-mann-files-for-expedited-hearing/
Document Dump! The George Mason 'Climate RICO' e-mails are now available and searchable like the climate gate e-mails.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/06/01/crowd-source-this-document-dump-the-gmu-rico20-emails-are-now-online-in-full/
http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/ross-mckitrick-climate-crazy-ontari-ari-arios-no-place-to-grow-but-to-get-the-hell-out-of
This was penned by a professor of economics 2 weeks ago. This is what I see coming here if it isn't stopped.
http://morningconsult.com/alert/clinton-rolls-plan-use-federal-land-renewable-energy/
Hillary Clinton wants to increase renewable energy generation on public lands and in offshore water, the Democratic presidential hopeful wrote in an op-ed published in The Mercury News on Wednesday.
“Now, as we work to combat climate change and build America into the world’s clean energy superpower, our public lands can once again play a key role in unlocking the resources we need,” Clinton wrote. “While protecting sensitive areas where development poses too great a risk, we can accelerate our transition to a clean energy economy by increasing renewable energy generation on public lands and offshore waters tenfold within a decade.”
Clinton’s plan for federal lands also includes goals to double the national outdoor economy in the next 10 years and produce up to $700 billion in new economic activity, increase federal investment in water conservation, and establish a trust fund to support parks and public lands.
Clinton also said she would work to make sure new lands and monuments represent America’s diversity and include more women, minorities and members of the LGBT community.
The op-ed, published in a San Jose newspaper, comes less than a week before the state heads to its June 7 primary.
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Also see this:
http://dailybail.com/home/hillary-clintons-climate-plan-cronyism-gone-wild.html
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/05/28/epa-gold-king-mine-spill/
So, having caused the Animas River spill through what could plausibly be characterized as criminal negligence, the Environmental Protection Agency now wants to reward itself with a big fat Superfund site designation that would be administered by — who else — themselves!
http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/23/new-mexico-sues-epa-for-gold-king-mine-disaster/
http://www.newsinenglish.no/2016/05/30/norway-buying-itself-influence/
Newspaper Aftenposten reported over the weekend that Norway is one of the biggest contributors to the Clinton Foundation’s projects. The money is becoming an issue in the current, hotly contested US presidential campaign, with the Republicans’ likely candidate Donald Trump already attacking the Clinton family for allegedly being financed by foreign governments.
Despite the arguable nature of such claims, Norway’s generosity regardless of which of its political parties holds government power raises some serious questions. Norway’s and other large givers’ support (such as that also given to the Clinton Foundation by Saudi Arabia) can be seen as a means of buying influence, Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University and an expert on legal ethics, told Aftenposten. Regardless of whether the motive was to buy influence, he argued, people can come to believe that decisions made by US authorities were made in Norway’s favour because of Norway’s generosity.
http://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/harvesting-eagles-1/
“No individual and no other industry is allowed to kill even one bald eagle, much less 4,200 – much less do so year after year.”
“We are witnessing a government wildlife agency that was created to protect highly important species now laying out a red carpet so a devastating industry can kill many more thousands of eagles. The Fish & Wildlife Service might as well be sending an invitation to anyone in the Lower 48 to kill these iconic birds.”
Although I had been studying raptors and wildlife for decades, 2008 was the year I first became aware of the terrible fate that the industrial wind power industry was inflicting on our eagles. Since then, I have shared written many articles pointing out how this industry uses bogus research and devious methods to hide its slaughter of bald and golden eagles and other species.
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In other wildlife news…
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/08/north-woods-lawlesscontroversial-maine-warden-service/
They swept in after dark on a cold winter’s night: some 30 armed wardens backed by state troopers and shadowed by two film crews from the television show “North Woods Law.” Riding in two dozen vehicles, lights flashing, they rushed up the only road into Allagash as a convoy, then began peeling off in groups to simultaneously raid or visit nine residences housing one-fifth of this isolated hamlet’s population.
At that very moment, in three other towns across the state, a half-dozen wardens knocked on doors as part of the operation.
“We’re prepared for them if they come out wanting a fight,” Warden Chris Simmons told the television crew in the back of his vehicle as they sped through the night on Feb. 5, 2014. “We’re ready for anything.” They had all been briefed at a staging area that this would be, as the television team would recount, “a high-stakes and possibly dangerous operation.”
But the wardens, who were raiding the town after a two-year undercover investigation, met no resistance during the takedown, which was code-named “Operation Red Meat.”
In reality, the operation had surprisingly scant results. But in this latest incident, the wardens went so far as to unlawfully seize a stock of canned peaches and vegetables from a 64-year-old woman whom they tried to prosecute for processing illegal game. Despite the intervention of lawyers and a state legislator, the woman says they failed to return most of her canned food. After dropping all charges against her, wardens contacted her seasonal employer of 13 years, which resulted in her not being rehired…
UPDATE:
Wardens chief: Undercover operations stopped; ‘no intention’ of investigating misconduct claims
Col. Joel Wilkinson testifies during a State House inquiry into hunters' accusations that a warden gave them alcohol, shot a deer himself and encouraged them to commit crimes.
http://www.centralmaine.com/2016/06/01/lawmakers-to-question-maine-warden-service-on-undercover-operations/
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/terraform-power-terraform-global-get-default-warnings-20160602-00682
SunEdison Inc.'s financial woes are beginning to affect the fortunes of its corporate offspring, the "yieldcos" that buy its completed power projects.
TerraForm Power Inc. and TerraForm Global Inc. have been handed default warning notices from bondholders, due to their failure to deliver audited financial statements for 2015, the TerraForm companies revealed in filings Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Delivery of the notices on May 31 starts the clock ticking on a 90-day period that could leave the companies, owners of major power projects around the globe, at the mercy of lenders.
Threats to U.S. bulk power grid revive reliability concerns
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060038174
The sharp historical demarcation between federal- and state-regulated portions of the U.S. power grid needs to be rethought as local utilities see more rooftop solar and battery storage technologies in their service areas, grid officials and experts said yesterday.
Local utilities' distributed resources, particularly customer-owned solar and storage facilities, may become large enough before long to pose potential threats to the interstate grid. Disruptions in cities or small towns -- whether they're accidental or intentional -- could move upstream to the wider grid, said participants at a daylong grid security conference at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission headquarters.
"There needs to be a lot of work done on distributed resources and how they are effectively integrated into the grid," said FERC Chairman Norman Bay.
http://sethkoenig.bangordailynews.com/2016/06/01/politics/here-are-the-top-5-long-term-challenges-facing-maine-according-to-angus-king/
….The wind charlatan from Virginia, who now is a Maine senator, has one yuuuge challenge. Keeping his senate seat. Read the comments of above article and then this:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/collins-and-king-believe-that-maine-isn-t-capitalizing-enough-on
and this:
S. Donald Sussman, who personally incubated D.E. Shaw, longtime half owner of First Wind, sells his newspapers
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/majority-owner-of-portland-press-herald-largest-political-campaig
U. S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree's husband gave First Wind's half owner its start with $28 Million
S. Donald Sussman, the billionaire husband of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) gave hedge fund D.E. Shaw its start with $28 million. D.E. Shaw is the longtime half owner of First Wind, the wind developer running roughshod over the ridges and mountains of Maine in its endless pursuit of taxpayer funded subsidies, stimulus grants and government mandated support from ratepayers. Sussman is also the owner of Maine Today Media, owner of the largest newspapers in the state such as the Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
The screenshot below references the $28 million amount.
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Angus King 2016 top donors:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2016&type=I&cid=N00034580&newMem=N&recs=20
Note: Donor Jay Cashmanm is owner of wind concern Patriot Renewables and is involved in offshore wind.
http://www.patriotrenewables.com
http://renews.biz/68625/maine-oks-patriot-wind-farm/
http://morningconsult.com/alert/doi-announces-wind-energy-proposed-lease-sale-new-york/
The Interior Department announced the proposed lease sale for more than 81,000 acres for offshore commercial wind energy leasing in New York on Thursday.
The proposed acreage is about 11 miles south of Long Island and is identical to the New York Wind Energy Area, identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management earlier this year. A proposed sale notice will be published in the Federal Register on June 6 and will be open for public comment for 60 days. BOEM will also hold a public seminar in late June or July to describe the auction process for leasing, the Interior Department announced.
Seven companies are currently qualified to participate in an auction for leases, according to the DOI.
[including Deepwater Wind LLC, Fishermen’s Energy LLC and EDF Renewable Energy Inc. New York State Energy Research and Development Authority also said it plans to participate.].
“This is another major step in broadening our nation’s energy portfolio, harnessing power near population centers on the East Coast,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement. “Offshore wind power marks a new frontier in renewable energy development, creating the path for sustainable electricity generation; job creation, and strengthening our nation’s economic competitiveness. I am optimistic about New York’s renewable energy future, as we work toward harnessing the enormous resource potential of wind energy offshore the Empire State.”
BOEM will also publish an Environmental Assessment on June 6, which will be available for 30-day public comment period, and plans to hold four meetings in June to provide an overview of findings.
http://www.off-grid.net/solar-panels-suspected-cause-fire/
http://joannenova.com.au/2016/06/defcon1-legal-threat-californias-near-miss-on-new-laws-to-jail-climate-skeptics/
Here’s how a democracy becomes a technocracy: when the legislation decrees a government department edit is “truth” and threatens to jail anyone who disagrees. For a whole 3 months California’s Senate didn’t treat this bill like the democratic-leprosy that it is. Today it’s just been “moved to inactive” which means it is out of action for the moment — immediate threat over — but the fact that it was proposed and passed several Senate committee stages in California should rattle the bones of every freeman. A tyranny beckons.
There are already laws that stop people from profiting from lies and deception. They apply to everyone. Why do they need climate skeptic specific laws? Because the skeptics speak the truth.
This is nuclear stuff:
Senate Bill 1161, or the California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016, would have authorized prosecutors to sue fossil fuel companies, think tanks and others that have “deceived or misled the public on the risks of climate change.”
So close. Washington Post:
A landmark bill allowing for the prosecution of climate change dissent effectively died Thursday after the California Senate failed to take it up before the deadline.
Senate Bill 1161, or the California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016, would have authorized prosecutors to sue fossil fuel companies, think tanks and others that have “deceived or misled the public on the risks of climate change.”
The measure, which cleared two Senate committees, provided a four-year window in the statute of limitations on violations of the state’s Unfair Competition Law, allowing legal action to be brought until Jan. 1 on charges of climate change “fraud” extending back indefinitely.
Legislate scientific laws? (Make govt departments untouchable.)
Rather than being a law that applies to one and all, the bill starts by defining their “truths”, entrenching falsehoods, and an immature corrupted scientific field into legislation — hard to believe. If a government department was — banish the thought — wrong about something, this type of legislation would jail people for saying so — all hail the US EPA?
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:...
That last link on California is frightening.
http://www.tpl.org/about/angus-s-king-iii
Angus S. King III was Vice President for Mergers and Acquisitions at SunEdison in Portland, Maine, a North American wind energy company focused exclusively on the development, ownership and operation of wind energy projects. King has a background in strategic management consulting, real estate development and politics. Formerly a principal at Evergreen Partners and vice president of development for the Wishcamper Group, firms focusing on the acquisition, preservation and rehabilitation of affordable housing across the country, his work covered all stages of development, including government relations, finance, and construction. Prior to joining the Wishcamper Group, King held positions with Bain & Company, the Clinton White House, and a number of political campaigns. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School.
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They specialize in crisis management too.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Kessler
This is from someone in California...
"It’s not dead. The legislation can be offered up as an amendment or a gut and pass (replace the contents of any bill moving thru the legislature) at the last minute and passed with little or no notice. I think this was a trial balloon to see how loud the pushback was going to be so that the democrat majority would know how devious they need to be to pass it."
http://joeforamerica.com/2016/05/sec-issues-climate-chaos-guidance/
President Obama continues to use “dangerous manmade climate change” to justify a massive regulatory onslaught that will “fundamentally transform” America’s energy, economic, business, industrial, social, legal and constitutional systems before he leaves office.
The more science batters alarmist claims, the more people realize that plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide makes life on Earth possible, the more China, India and other developing countries burn oil, gas and coal and increase their CO2 emissions to lift billions out of poverty, malnutrition, disease and brutally short lives – the more the administration issues draconian climate edicts.
Almost every department, agency and bureaucrat that didn’t eagerly volunteer has been dragooned to aid the campaign: from the EPA and Agriculture, Interior, Defense and State Departments, to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The Securities and Exchange Commission is the latest agency to re-up.
Shouldn’t wind turbine companies have to disclose that generating just 20% of US electricity with wind power would require some 186,000 turbines, 19,000 miles of new transmission lines, 18,000,000 acres of land, and 270,000,000 tons of concrete, steel, copper, fiberglass and rare earths, plus millions of dead birds and bats every year? Is that sustainable?
Shouldn’t insurance companies and reinsurers have to “disclose” that their higher rates and profits are based on 20-foot higher sea levels and more violent hurricanes conjured up by bogus computer models? Doesn’t that amount to deceptive advertising, fear-mongering and corporate social irresponsibility?
* If President Obama and the SEC are going to demand full disclosure, honesty, transparency and accountability, those fundamental principles should also apply to government officials. They rarely do.
Justice Department lawyers have knowingly lied to judges in immigration cases. Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes and other officials have been caught in multiple bald-faced lies. The IRS deliberately targeted conservatives, and then destroyed records and lied about its actions. EPA bungled a mine cleanup, polluted waterways in four states and lied about the impacts. NOAA and EPA have engaged in systematic misrepresentations and data manipulation on climate change. No one has been punished.
The impacts on company profits, investors, employees, families and communities have been extensive. Government agencies want more and more power and control over our lives – but refuse to accept any accountability for incompetence, malfeasance, deliberate lies or the serious harm they cause.
This is why Americans are fed up. Perhaps the 2016 elections will finally bring long overdue change.
http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/TerraForm+Power+(TERP)+Enters+Seventh+Amendment+on+Revolving+Facility+After+Receiving+Notice+of+Default+from+Trustee/11700315.html
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Former First Wind CEO and VP at SunEdison starts new misadventure….
Paul Gaynor
CEO & Co-Founder
Longroad Energy Partners
February 2016 – Present (5 months)
Charles Spiliotis
Co-Founder at Longroad Energy Partners
San Francisco Bay Area Renewables & Environment
Current
Longroad Energy Partners
TIMELINE-Barclays, Merced agree to mediation in power market manipulation case
http://www.lse.co.uk/ukMoneyNews.asp?code=y6llcag7&headline=TIMELINEBarclays_Merced_agree_to_mediation_in_power_market_manipulation_case
June 3 - Barclays Plc and California power company Merced Irrigation District told a federal court in New York that they agreed to hire an outside mediator regarding Merced's lawsuit against the bank over alleged power market manipulation charges.
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2012 alleged Barclays and its traders manipulated the power market in California from 2006 to 2008, and proposed the bank pay $435 million in civil penalties and disgorge $34.9 million in ill-gotten gains. The FERC case is still in federal court in California.
Merced alleged in its suit that the manipulation alleged by FERC caused power purchasers to pay at least $139.3 million more for electricity.
Following is a timeline of FERC's Barclays case and the events leading up to it: May 2016: Barclays and Merced Irrigation District told a federal court in New York that they agreed to hire an outside mediator regarding Merced's lawsuit against the bank over alleged power market manipulation charges...
http://eelegal.org/federal-foias/
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060045642
U.S. EPA employees were in tears. Worried Energy Department staffers were offered counseling. Some federal employees were so depressed, they took time off. Others might retire early.
And some employees are in downright panic mode in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory.
“People are upset. Some people took the day off because they were depressed,” said John O’Grady, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, a union that represents thousands of EPA employees. After Election Day, “people were crying,” added O’Grady, who works in EPA’s Region 5 office in Chicago. “They were recommending that people take sick leave and go home.”