The Grant Evidence - Collusion and Crimes, Part I

The Grant Evidence - Collusion and Crimes, Part I

The rabbit hole of what has transpired behind the back of the general public by our elected officials is absolutely stunning. I will attempt to issue these articles in a series.

There have been two grants provided to Pend Oreille County on behalf of HiTest Sands, Inc., in the amounts of $300K and $250K.

$300,000 Non-Construction Grant
Recipient Pend Oreille County
Grant SRF15-00015-112
Effective Date August 4, 2016, expired June 30, 2017

All work was to be completed on or before June 30, 2017, with the Final Report on activities being due no later then July 7, 2017.

Grant money was to be used for "coordinated development beneficial to the well-being of communities and their residents". However, this grant money was used to assist a foreign corporation bring in a toxic silicon smelter operation, the largest in the United States. (1)

The Grant was not signed until 6/12/17 by the Assistant Attorney General Sandra Adix, and not signed by the POEDC Chair, Ray Pierre, until 6/21/17, and Jamie Wyrobek of the POEDC on 6/21/17.

This Grant was authorized to facilitate the "pass through of funds" to reimburse HiTest Sands, Inc. for the following:

• Feasibility, design and planning costs 
• Environmental analysis 
• Workforce development 
• Technical assistance 
• Relocation assistance 

Scope of Work Authorized under this Grant:

• Preliminary design and engineering services
• Site feasibility
• Planning and consulting services

There is no authorization under this Grant for air quality modeling. That was paid for out of the Environmental Grant (see below).

There is no authorization under this Grant for assisting HiTest with acquiring land, which was done by the Commissioners (County & PUD) anyway.

There is no authorization under this Grant to locate the smelter in Newport. Or to have the County Commissioners collude together to sell and buy land on behalf of HiTest.

Deadline on Final Report was 6/30/17, but wasn't completed until October 2017.

$250,000 Environmental Grant
Recipient Pend Oreille Economic Development Council
Grant 17-63320-001
Effective January 11, 2017, expired June 30, 2017

This Grant was intended for the Usk location, in numerous areas too many to mention here.

Attachment A however, clearly designates the Ponderay Newsprint site as follows: 

" to be located on underutilized property on the site of the Ponderay Newsprint Company mill, in the vicinity of Usk and Cusick Uban Growth Area ". There is no mention of Newport in this Grant.

This Grant was subsequently amended on June 28, 2017 - only 2 days before it expires.
 
There is still no mention of Newport in the Amended Grant, yet very large sums of money were clearly spent (over $100,000) on the new location as shown on the Vouchers for the Newport site. (3) (4).

As part of the amendments, the following were removed:

Task 1 "Public Participation Plan deliverable" was removed (Page 1 of the Amendment). Removed was all forms of public participation and involvement "throughout phases of the project, including pre-application consulting, environmental review, and application review."

Most likely, this occurred because by then, it was apparent the the POEDC had miserably failed to abide by the requirements of this Grant. Public participation never happened. The Department of Commerce went along with this sham by authorizing the amendment.

Perhaps they all think that cancelling this just two days before the expiration date is sufficient to pass the sniff test. I think not. I think they got caught and are trying to cover up their crimes.

Also removed was a written plan to guide communications between stakeholders, including County, HiTest, Kalispel Tribe, Port of Pend Oreille, the POEDC, PUD, Cusick, Washington State Department of Commerce, Washington State Department of Ecology, local schools and local job training programs. And -

Task 6 "Cultural Resource Assessment" was removed (Page 1 of the Amendment).
Task 8 "Timber Lands Assessments" are not funded under this grant, and removed.

The Washington State Voucher Distribution for this Environmental Grant shows Gregg Dohrn, Pend Oreille County HiTest Project Manager, billing for services to this Grant 17-63320-001 on dates July 22, 2016 through December 21, 2016 for a total amount $42,420.

This Grant was not authorized in 2016, yet there are numerous billings being charged for this in 2016. (3) No evidence has been found that indicates there is any kind of authorization or amendments for this.

Dohrn also bills the Environmental Grant for numerous hours and effort (@$140 per hour) in 2017 for alternative site identification (Newport), property acquisition, road access and participation in trying to defeat the Kalispel Tribe Class 1 Air Quality application. None of this information was mentioned to the public.

Estimates are at least 133 hours, or nearly $19,000 were billed to the Grant for these services (low estimate, many more hours are shown in the draft invoices included with the Voucher). (4)

The County also contracted with Rambol to help defeat the Class 1 Air Quality Designation request by the Kalispel Tribe, Rambol invoiced $15,730.40 for this effort.

This the same firm previously used to produce the inaccurate and deceptive Preliminary Air Quality Report on behalf of HiTest, already refuted here, and here. (2) Perhaps the County thought they could sneak this one by too. Why use the same company that failed to provide an adequate air quality analysis unless your trying to cover something up?

Dohrn also bills the Environmental Grant for "property acquisitions" activities (4). More non-disclosure to the general public. The County's HiTest Project Manager was actively working to locate the site in Newport.

Extensive research in the Pend Oreille Economic Development Council, and the Pend Oreille HiTest Executive Committee is also being performed, but many of the same people are involved in both (and none of the public are allowed).

It could not be any clearer that there never has been any proper adherence to the process that we've been told to "trust".  We are being railroaded by specific individuals who have operated WAY outside of their authority.

Efforts to deceive, deflect and confuse the public; withhold public involvement and participation; expend public money on behalf of land acquisition for a private company; attempt to defeat the Tribe's request for air quality protection (for all of us); and bill for services out of the scope, dates and responsibilities granted. There's more.

Washington State is now going to be a gigantic SPECTACLE of incompetence AND MALFEASANCE by State and County public officials colluding with a private foreign corporation.

It's time for a national press conference. If the Attorney General won't act, we will.

Sources 

1. Commerce Grant Number: SRF15-00015-112.
2. Ramboll Environ Invoice 454376, Date July 27, 2017.
3. Washington State Voucher Distribution Index 63530250 signed 6/16/17 by Director Of Operations (signature not quite readable).
4. Washington State Voucher Distribution Index 63530250 signed 7/17/17 by Director Of Operations (signature not quite readable).