You ever wonder why top Texas State Officials aren’t joining the fight against Green Group, the garbage company that wants to build giant towers of trash where they are not wanted?
Governor Greg Abbott? Silence.
Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus? Silence.
All while taxpayers in Caldwell County and Waller County spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars fighting this unwanted invasion, that will kill economic development, lower home values, and threaten the…
Silence.
Maybe the Texas Ethics Commission knows the reason.
Green Group has friends in high places.
Since January 2011, Green Group Holdings has spent up to $3.6 million dollars on lobbyists. Most are former officials of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the agency that has to approve their permits. Some of the people who have been on the Green Group payroll clearly have friends in high places.
Patricia Shipton is the Chief of Staff for Joe Strauss. His number two. Before that she was a lobbyist for Green Group Holdings. Texas Ethics Commission records show she may have been paid up to $400,000 in three years from two Green Group related entities.
When Governor Greg Abbott was inaugurated he named Randy Erben as his Legislative Director. Erben had been general counsel for Texans for Rick Perry, the former Governor’s primary political committee.
What else had Erben done?
Erben was a registered lobbyist. For Green Group Holdings. Paid up to $25,000 to influence Texas government officials for the garbage guys. The Erben-Yarborough law firm had even deeper ties to Green Group. Two other firm lobbyists show up on Green Group Holdings payroll between 2012 and 2013.
It is nice to have friends in high places. It is also nice to share that news with the public on exposegreengroup.com.
But what good does it do when the Rhinos just keep getting elected and appointed? The taxpayers are expected to just shut the hell up and pay our taxes, right? Corruption, graft, greed, and arrogance. And the average citizen is just screwed.
Ask the management of any waste company and they will tell you that 90% of all trash is recyclable. There was a young man in Conroe, who started a recycling business, and it thrived. He took it all in, plastics, all types, ranging from garden hoses to cheese wraps, all metal, all paper, styrofoam, pvc, he found buyers and outlets for his recycling business. For reasons unknown to me, he was shut down by what he termed “the big boys” of Conroe. During the time his business was in operation, my non-recyclable trash amounted to one feed sack every 3 months. Seriously! Think about that. Why are we still developing new land fills, when recycling can be had? Seems to me those in high places don’t care about our carbon foot print, or the possibility of creating new jobs. They just want to “pile it up”…
“Giant towers of trash”? Really? How tall will the towers be? 50 stories?
Great job Scott! There should be more reporters like you!