STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Army Engineers Investigated in $1B Project Thursday, June 7, 2001 http://www.sltrib.com/06072001/nation_w/103742.htm BY JENNIFER LOVEN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is looking into possible criminal wrongdoing in connection with an Army Corps of Engineers report used to justify a $1 billion river construction project, a lawyer for an agency whistle-blower said. The inquiry follows up on an Army inspector general report last year that found three top corps officials engaged in misconduct in the cost-benefit analysis, said the lawyer, Jeff Ruch, executive director for Washington-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Both Ruch, who represents whistle-blower Don Sweeney, and an environmentalist familiar with the inquiry confirmed that the Defense Criminal Investigative Service began asking questions months ago. Phillip Dabbs, supervisory special agent in the DCIS' St. Louis office, would neither confirm nor deny that there was an investigation. The Army inspector general's report in December confirmed Sweeney's allegations that three top corps officials engaged in misconduct by manufacturing a case for expansions to locks on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, in part to please powerful agribusiness interests. The three officials denied any wrongdoing in testimony to the inspector general's office. The corps, which has a $4 billion flood control and river navigation construction budget, makes recommendations to Congress on projects to fund, based on their benefit to taxpayers. A year ago, Sweeney alleged top corps officials altered the eight-year, $56 million cost-benefit analysis to make the locks project appear justified. A review by the National Academy of Sciences found flaws in the economic model on which the analysis was based. As a result, the analysis is on hold while the academy's recommendations are reviewed and data replaced. Ruch, Sweeney's lawyer, said DCIS agents first contacted Sweeney in December and told him they were looking into possible criminal wrongdoing. In March, they approached him for help, Ruch said. Ruch said Sweeney sent agents a memo detailing possible instances where corps officials, including those cited by the inspector general, gave false testimony to inspector general personnel and congressional investigators. The three officials are: Maj. Gen. Russell Fuhrman, retired as second-in-charge at the corps; Maj. Gen. Phillip Anderson, who was the corps' Mississippi Valley division commander and now heads the South Atlantic division; and Col. James Mudd, now retired but formerly commander of the corps' Rock Island District in Illinois responsible for the study. The new military commander of the corps, Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers, has largely dismissed the conclusions of the inspector general's report. � Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
