Only in Louisiana Jindal, Stephen Waguespack, Gary Graphia, Shaw Group, CB&I Question – Bayou Corne Sinkhole - What is the State of Louisiana Department of Natural Resources paying The Shaw Group & CB&I so much money for? Stephen Waguespack Bobby Jindal’s policy director 2007 gubernatorial campaign. Worked as a consultant for The Alpine Group in Washington, D.C.Legislative aide to U.S. Congressman Joe Barton. Member of the Louisiana State Bar. 12/23/2009 Served as Governor Jindal’s New Executive Counsel, Deputy Chief of Staff, Policy Director and Executive Director of the LRA 10/2012 resigned to pursue private sector opportunities 11/2012 Jones Walker expands State Government Relations Practice with Addition of Stephen Waguespack 1/28/2013 gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=3842&printer=1 Jindal appoints Stephen Waguespack to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Baton Rouge, an attorney and special counsel at Jones Walker. 9/6/2013 businessreport/article/20130906/BUSINESSREPORT0112/130909861 New LABI president dismisses criticism that hes too close to Jindal After spending about six years in Gov. Bobby Jindals administration—leaving as chief of staff in 2012—Stephen Waguespack today was named the next president of one of the most influential and powerful lobbying organizations in the state: the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. While some have raised concerns that his connections to the Jindal administration could be a little too cozy for the new role hell take on beginning Sept. 16, Waguespack dismisses such criticism. Copied from Louisiana Ethics-Lobbyist web site when Waguespack was appointed to the BESE board. This has since been removed. ethics.la.gov/LobbyistData/SearchByLobbyist.aspx MR. STEPHEN MICHAEL WAGUESPACK 2013: Legislative / Executive 8555 UNITED PLAZA BOULEVARD, SUITE 500 BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70809 225-248-2186 JONES WALKER, LLP Legislative / Executive Active: 11/26/2012 - current 201 ST. CHARLES AVE, SUITE 5100 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA 70170 PERISCOPE HOLDINGS, INC Legislative / Executive Active: 12/1/2012 - current 211 EAST 7TH STREET, SUITE 1100 AUSTIIN, TEXAS 78701 LOOP GAROU ENTERTAINMENT Executive Active: 12/31/2012 - current 800 RICHARD STREET NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA 70130 BOSSIER PARISH POLICE JURY Legislative / Executive Active: 1/25/2013 - current 6300 E. TEXAS STREET, SUITE 100 BOSSIER CITY, LOUISIANA 71111 AMICUS INVESTOR LLC/UTLEY GROUP, INC Executive Active: 1/25/2013 - current 3890 W. NORTHWEST HIGHWAY, SUITE 601 DALLAS, TEXAS 75220 PERRYVILLE GAS STORAGE, LLC Legislative / Executive Active: 2/8/2013 - current 210 HILL RIDGE ROAD WINNSBORO, LOUISIANA 71295 STONEHENGE CAPITAL COMPANY, LLC Legislative / Executive Active: 3/1/2013 - current 236 THIRD STREET BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70801 CBI CO. Executive Active: 3/18/2013 - current 805 LAS CIMAS PARKWAY, LAS CIMAS III, SUITE 300 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78746 BATON ROUGE AREA FOUNDATION Legislative / Executive Active: 3/26/2013 - current 402 N. FOURTH STREET BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70802 cbi/ CB&I bought The Shaw Group 805 Las Cimas Parkway, Suite 300 Austin, TX 78746 Telephone: +1 512 306 2060 Fax: +1 512 306 2061 Current - 10/18/2013 ethics.la.gov/LobbyistLists.aspx MR. STEPHEN MICHAEL WAGUESPACK 2013: Legislative / Executive PO BOX 80258 BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70898 225-928-5388 LOUISIANA ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY (LABI) Legislative / Executive Active: 9/16/2013 - current 3113 VALLEY CREEK DRIVE BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70808 Gary Graphia nola/politics/index.ssf/2012/10/governor_bobby_jindal_picks_fo.html Governor Bobby Jindal picks former Shaw Group exec as chief lawyer October 15, 2012 at 7:00 PM, updated October 15, 2012 at 7:29 PM BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal has selected a former top executive for The Shaw Group to serve as his executive counsel. Gary Graphia, who has held numerous positions with the Baton Rouge-based company and worked in private practice, will start as the administrations chief lawyer on Tuesday. ……Graphias appointment comes amid an ongoing reorganization in the administration that began earlier this month with the resignation of Jindal Chief of Staff Stephen Waguespack. Waguespack said at the time he that he was leaving the administration to pursue opportunities in the private sector. …….When he retired from The Shaw Group in May, Graphia was serving as executive vice president for corporate development, mergers, acquisitions and client relations. Several months after his departure, Texas-based CB&I announced they were purchasing the energy, manufacturing and engineering company. forbes/profile/gary-graphia/ Profile Gary Graphia Mr. Graphia joined us in August 1999 as our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and served in that position until November 2006 when he was appointed Executive Vice President, Secretary and Chief Legal Officer. He served as our Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Chief Legal Officer until May 2007, when he was appointed Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy, a position he held until December 22, 2008, when he was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Graphia held that position until October 31, 2011, when he was appointed to his current position of Executive Vice President with responsibilities for strategic initiatives, including corporate development, mergers and acquisitions and client relations [...] more Shaw Group Inc Compensation for 2011 Salary 853,679 Bonus 333,333 Restricted stock awards 671,067 All other compensation 44,006 Option awards 549,200 Total Compensation 2,451,285 Options Exercised for 2011 Number of securities underlying options exercisable 10,250 Stock Ownership for 2012 Number of shares owned 61,797 The Shaw Group – CB&I finance.yahoo/news/audit-finds-shaw-overbilled-sand-151226019.html Audit finds Shaw overbilled for sand berms Legislative auditor finds Shaw overbilled Louisiana in sand berm work during BP oil spill AP By Cain Burdeau, Associated Press | AP – Tue, Nov 8, 2011 10:12 AM EST.. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Shaw Group may have overbilled Louisiana about $500,000 after it was hired by Gov. Bobby Jindals administration to build $250 million worth of sand berms along the Gulf of Mexico to block oil spewing from an out-of-control BP well from washing ashore, according to the state legislative auditor. A legislative auditors report Monday said Shaw billed the state between June 2010 and August 2011 for $251 million — $12.2 million for labor and $238.8 million in other costs — and that about $495,000 worth of invoices either should not be paid or should be paid only with more documentation. The audit found problems with bills for material and equipment, travel charges and reimbursable expenses. The berm project, which involved moving huge amounts of sand from the Mississippi River out to open water along the coast, has been regarded as a colossal waste of money because the sand islands probably did little to stop oil from coming ashore. Last December, a presidential commission set up to investigate the BP oil spill called the project underwhelmingly effective, overwhelmingly expensive. BP PLC gave Louisiana the money to build the berms. The state agency overseeing the berm project, the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, asked the legislative auditor to help vet Shaws invoices. There were definitely some errors and exceptions that we called into question, said John L. Morehead of the legislative auditors office. But he did not characterize the overbilling as egregious. The report did not provide examples or go into the details of the overbilling. State and Shaw officials said they were working through outstanding bills. Considering the emergency conditions and the massive size of this effort, we were able to keep billing exceptions to a fraction, said Garret Graves, a top aide on coastal affairs to Jindal. So far, he said the state has refused to pay about $200,000 of the outstanding bills. The Jindal administration continues to defend the berm work, arguing that putting all that river sand onto the coast is helping restore badly eroding barrier islands. There is sand in the system that was not previously there, said Robert Routon, a project manager with the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, the agency overseeing the berm project. Initially, state officials hoped to build 36 miles of berms, but by the end of the project just roughly 16 miles were built with about 20 million cubic yards of sand. Nathaniel Plant, an oceanographer with the U.S. Geological Survey, has been monitoring the berms built near the Chandeleur Islands and said they have been breaking apart after storms. New holes have been breached, he said. If they continue (to break apart) at this rate, more than half has disappeared on two northern (berm) sites, another year could easily take the rest of it. USGS is tracking what happens to the berms because it wants to see if the sand transported to Chandeleur Sound winds up accumulating on the barrier islands, which scientists fear will disappear as sea levels rise and hurricanes pummel them. A research question is to what degree has putting that much sand out there turned the clock back (on island disintegration). We dont have a final answer on that at all, said Asbury Sallenger, a USGS oceanographer who heads up efforts to map changes along the Gulf Coast. theadvocate/home/7267641-125/state-shuffling-dollars-to-pay State shuffling dollars to pay for Bayou Corne sinkhole Jindal administration expects to recoup costs By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON October 09, 2013 Seventeen days into the new state budget year, the state Department of Natural Resources needed to borrow $8 million from the state treasury to meet the day-to-day expenses of Bayou Corne. Months later, the money’s almost gone. DNR’s biggest expense is paying CB&I to help with the science behind a 25-acre sinkhole in northern Assumption Parish. The agency also is spending dollars on supplies, travel and personnel. DNR’s expenditures on Sept. 18, roughly two months after Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols signed the request for a seed of federal funds, already clocked in at $7.4 million. Across state government, dollars are being shifted to pay for sinkhole-related expenses. The Jindal administration banks on recouping the money through litigation against Texas Brine Co. and a Dallas subsidiary of oil giant Occidental Petroleum. To date, the state’s sinkhole-related expenses are approaching $10 million. At issue: Who is to blame for the collapse of a Texas Brine well that punched a giant hole in the ground felling trees, releasing gas and threatening hundreds of homes. A suit was filed in August on behalf of all state agencies involved in the response to the sinkhole. Meanwhile, Texas Brine launched its own legal battle against the Occidental subsidiary and three other companies. Below Louisiana’s surface are towers of salt deposits rising from what used to be an ocean floor. Oil and gas companies mine into the salt to store butane and natural gas or to extract brine for industrial uses. The state contends that Texas Brine and Occidental mined the Napoleonville Dome to the point that it became unstable, triggering a collapse that sucked in the earth and forced Bayou Corne-area residents to evacuate their homes. Texas Brine blames Occidental Chemical Corp., Vulcan Materials Co., Adams Resources Exploration Co. and Browning Oil Co. Inc. The litigation will unfold in 23rd Judicial District. Back when the sinkhole was 8.6 acres, DNR hired Baton Rouge’s The Shaw Environmental Group to deal with issues, such as determining how to vent off the methane. CB&I later acquired Shaw. DNR expected to pay CB&I $6.3 million as of Sept. 18. The state Department of Transportation and Development has spent nearly $1.4 million on feasibility studies, monitoring and equipment. The state Department of Environmental Quality spent $593,538 on a mobile air monitoring lab, command center, mileage and equipment, not including other expenses. The treasury loan that DNR received came from federal funds. DOTD Secretary Sherri LeBas tapped into an emergency fund. DEQ and other agencies are using money from their budgets. Deputy State Treasurer Jason Redmond said seeds — or treasury loans — are granted one fiscal year at a time. He said DNR must repay the money by Aug. 15, 2014. LeBas said she spent dollars putting in place a monitoring system to pinpoint any problems in the highways and bridges near the sinkhole. She said she also spent money on feasibility studies in case a detour or a bypass is needed because of issues with La. 70. So far, she said, there is no indication of problems. “We’re just being proactive and moving through the process,” she said. Patrick Courreges, communications director for DNR, said his agency might need another treasury seed, given the speed with which the $8 million is being spent. He said there is no timeline for pulling out of Bayou Corne. “The governor’s committed we’re going to be there,” he said. In a prepared statement, Nichols, who is the governor’s chief financial adviser, said the game plan is for the state to recoup its expenses from Texas Brine. “Texas Brine owes the state money, and we want to make sure they are held accountable,” she said.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 23:48:01 +0000
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