Transparency News, 7/12/21

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The developer of a proposed natural gas plant in Charles City County said Friday that it is no longer pursuing the project. The move was welcomed by people in the county who say they don’t want more fossil fuel pollution. Opponents say local and state officials haven’t been transparent about the proposal and a plan for a second plant a mile away. On the local level, the Charles City County Board of Supervisors voted in April to “revert” 88 acres of land the county gave to C4GT in 2015 for the plant. The group Concerned Citizens of Charles City County found out more through Freedom of Information Act requests to County Administrator Michelle Johnson. Johnson, in response to questions from the DEQ, wrote on April 30 that she had spoken to Anand Gangadharan, president of the C4GT company. “He informed me that his project has not been successful as he would like it to be,” she wrote to the DEQ. Johnson and Gangadharan discussed the company returning the property to the county, and Gangadharan agreed, she wrote, but said he would not pay a $150,000 penalty established in the agreement. “He requested that I keep it quiet; however, the Supervisors’ action had to be public,” Johnson wrote. She also said she and the Board of Supervisors are hearing citizen concerns and trying to be transparent.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

 

The NYPD has refused to release disciplinary records for Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams — despite a state law meant to lift the veil of secrecy around such documents. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, was an NYPD cop for 22 years, retiring as a captain in 2006. The future mayoral candidate was one of the department’s most vocal internal critics and founded a reform group, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. He has spoken publicly about being the target of four Internal Affairs Bureau investigations. The NYPD has not released any documents related to Adams’ time as an officer, though, denying requests by POLITICO under the state's Freedom of Information Law.
Politico
 

 

Some of our Democratic readers were surprised when we seconded Republican calls for a more complete investigation of how the Virginia Parole Board has been releasing prisoners without always adhering to state law or policy. They shouldn’t be surprised, though. We’re journalists. It’s in our bones to want to know more. For the same reason, we think Republicans have been wrong to oppose a congressional inquiry into the events of Jan. 6. We should all want to know more about what led a mob to storm Congress, with some chanting that they wanted to hang the vice president. If the former investigation wound up embarrassing some Democrats, and the latter some Republicans — so what? Political parties naturally want to avoid that kind of thing but the populace at large should be demanding more accountability from both parties. If we don’t fully know what’s gone on behind the scenes in both cases, how do we know whether we can prevent such things in the future? We don’t. And that brings us to the other investigation that ought to be commissioned: We need a pandemic commission. 
The Roanoke Times