On Nov. 9, a grand jury in Jefferson County, Ala., indicted Trey Glenn, the EPA Region 4 Administrator appointed by the Trump Administration in 2017, and his partner Scott Phillips Jr., another former Alabama environmental regulator, on multiple counts of violating Alabama’s Ethics Act.
The grand jury also indicted Glenn on conspiracy counts. The charges include using public office for personal gain and accepting items of value from lobbyists or others.
Glenn has connections to Birmingham’s 35th Avenue Superfund site. The contaminated site is the subject of a bribery scandal that has already resulted in federal convictions of a former state legislator, a lawyer, and an Alabama coal company executive.
Prior to being appointed Region 4 Administrator, Glenn was a private consultant and, along with Phillips, co-owned a company called Southeast Engineering and Consulting that that worked with law firm Balch & Bingham and its client Drummond Company to fight the EPA efforts to test and clean up soil in north Birmingham neighborhoods and in the city of Tarrant from 2014 through 2017. Specifically, they helped advise Drummond Co., and Balch & Bingham LLP on how to handle the site’s potential addition to the National Priority List, which would potentially hold Drummond responsible for expensive cleanup costs. The Birmingham site is contaminated with arsenic and lead, among other chemicals, and the EPA identified Drummond subsidiary ABC Coke in 2011 as one of the parties potentially responsible. The National Priorities List listing would speed up a federal-led cleanup effort, possibly leading to cost-recovery litigation against Drummond and other responsible parties. Glenn and Phillips provided consulting at the same time Phillips served on the environmental commission.
After becoming Region 4 Administrator, Glenn notified the EPA that Drummond and Balch & Bingham were among his prior clients and recused himself from decisions involving them through August 2019.
Glenn testified about his involvement with the 35th Avenue site in federal court in July during the trial of the coal executive and lawyer accused of attempted bribery, according to a local press report from the Birmingham News at the time. He testified that he and Phillips were careful to be sure their work on the project was legal and ethical. Phillips was a commissioner on the Alabama Environmental Management Commission, the decision-making board that oversees the state’s Department of Environmental Management, up until his resignation in 2017. He is also president of Strada Professional Services, an engineering and consulting company that does environmental and waste management. (Bloomberg BNA, 11/13/18)
