$50 million of taxpayer money has disappeared

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Encap: The money is gone, the dirt still there

Monday, February 9, 2009

BY JEFF PILLETS AND JOHN BRENNAN

NorthJersey.com

More than 18 months after the collapse of EnCap Golf, state agencies that promoted the project are no closer to recovering more than $50 million in taxpayer money that disappeared with the Meadowlands venture.

The cleanup of nearly 800 acres of North Jersey's most polluted property — land that sits in view of Manhattan's skyline — will also remain illusory for the foreseeable future despite the state's repeated guarantees that EnCap would save the day.

Last Tuesday, a frustrated federal court judge threw out EnCap's claim for bankruptcy protection.

...

"The tragedy is that none of this ever had to happen if the state managed the project with even a shred of competence," said Donald Trump.

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"Instead of cleaning up the site, the state was letting EnCap bring in dirt that was dirtier than was already there," Trump said. "They were approving everything that EnCap wanted."

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After a yearlong review of what went wrong with the project, state Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper concluded that the Meadowlands Commission was part of a divided state bureaucracy that had been essentially duped by EnCap and its lawyers. The Tampa, Fla.-based company had neither the experience nor financial backing it advertised, Cooper said.

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EnCap's troubles emerged into public view at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 when The Record began to publish a series of stories detailing the financial and regulatory deals the project had cut with state officials.

Soon after, the project ran into massive cost overruns, construction delays, missed debt payments and claims from unpaid contractors.

http://www.northjersey.com/environment/env...encap00909.html

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

New Jersey, right?

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Where else.

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From the same page:

FAST FACTS

Its proponents said EnCap Golf would transform 785 acres of landfills in Lyndhurst and Rutherford into a golf-themed mini-city. Now the project is bankrupt. In late 2005, three public agencies came together to provide more than $300 million in financing for the project. The bonds were sold without public guarantees, leaving those who hold them on the hook.

* $107 million from the Environmental Infrastructure Trust. The bonds were first sold to private investors, but are now held by a bank syndicate headed by Wachovia, the troubled financial giant now part of Wells Fargo.

* $104.3 million from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The bonds backing this loan were bought by the DEP with taxpayer money, and $51 million is gone.

* $103.2 million from the Bergen County Improvement Authority. Wachovia is again on the hook, for roughly a third of the amount; among the others is an affiliate of EnCap’s parent company, which is owed $20 million.

* Of the $314.5 million total, just over $80 million remains unspent.

[mawilson 2,133]

$50 million? That's it?

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$50 million? That's it?

And now you know what they mean when they say Wall Street is out of touch

[NickD 203]

$50 million? That's it?

And now you know what they mean when they say Wall Street is out of touch

I lost a quarter at one of those crazy Illinois toll booths, but did find it under my car seat when I got home. Did they look under their car seat? Should be easier to find 50 million than just a quarter.

How in the f__K do you lose 50 million bucks?

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How in the f__K do you lose 50 million bucks?

theft

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I guess $50 million is pocket change in comparison to a trillion or so.