RUTHERFORD REPUBLICAN TEAM

Hipp, Inguanti, Sasso

Candidates For Fiscal Responsibility

Love Canal On the Banks of the HKK River

US ATTORNEY ASKED TO STEP IN ON ENCAP

RESIDENTS’ HEALTH PUT AT RISK BY POLITICALLY-CONNECTED DEVELOPER WIELDING POWER IN TRENTON  

RUTHERFORD – Based on recent news reports that show the EnCap developers are endangering the public’s health by circumventing state environmental regulations in an effort to boost the company’s profit and that the project has benefited from obvious political favoritism, Rutherford mayoral candidate John Hipp is calling on the U.S. Attorney to take over the EnCap investigation started nearly nine months ago by the state Inspector General.  

Hipp said the details of leniency and favoritism highlighted by recent articles in the Record newspaper paint a “very damning and disturbing picture of just how much of a crooked, insider deal EnCap has become.”  

“When there are mountains of evidence reported in a newspaper that shows environmental rules -- meant to protect the public’s health -- are being circumvented by politically connected developers and that staffers in Trenton are intimidated into  silence, then I think the U.S. Attorney has a duty to step in  and unravel this mess,” said Hipp an attorney who has worked numerous environmental cases. 

Hipp noted that he has been calling for a federal investigation for some time, but that recent reports make it more obvious that the state lacks the political will to do a proper criminal investigation and that EnCap’s political patrons have succeeded in bottling up the release of any information on EnCap 
 

“I can’t imagine what state law enforcement officials are waiting for before cranking up a full scale investigation into EnCap and empanelling a grand jury,” said Hipp.  

“If the recent newspaper reports show anything, they show the depth to which a massive political cover up has occurred across several state agencies and three administrations. The extent to apparent arm twisting and influence peddling on behalf of a private company is just staggering,” said Hipp  Hipp said he was particularly alarmed by reporting that showed EnCap was trucking in contaminated fill that would not pass muster in Brooklyn but was okayed by state environmental officials   

“If state sources quoted in The Record are accurate and it is true that EnCap is at the center of a scheme to import fill laced with carcinogens and dumped where homes, schools and playgrounds are supposed to be built, then I think there is ample evidence that a crime has been committed,” said Hipp. 

BOROUGH UNPROTECTED 

Last month Hipp called on Rutherford to sever its ties to EnCap when two state agencies moved to break their relationship with the financially troubled company. The latest evidence, says Hipp, gives more impetus for the borough to protect its residents and taxpayers and end its agreement with Cherokee Investment Partners, the parent company of EnCap. 

“Not only did the mayor and council make a bad financial deal with EnCap,  they apparently have made a deal that threatens the health of the people living in this community,” said Hipp. ‘I don’t understand how Mayor (Bernadette) McPherson and her administration can continue to defend the EnCap deal. 

“Our mayor has been running around telling everyone that even if she did squander millions in EnCap hush money,  at least the borough was getting an environmental clean up. Well, apparently that’s not true. What we have is a conspiracy to create another Love Canal on the banks of the Hackensack River.”