Delaney the Grouch

Sixth district Democratic congressional candidate John Delaney’s questionable business record extends beyond loan sharking and profiting off the misery of homeowners through mass foreclosures. 

That record also includes ownership of a company that operated a Virginia landfill, which polluted the surrounding area.

Delaney’s CapitalSource owned 129,000 shares of common and preferred stock in National Waste Services of Virginia.  The firm operated the Battle Creek landfill, owned by Page County VA.  In what the Richmond Times-Dispatch called a “rare move” The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality shut down the landfill for violations such as, illegally dumping thousands of tons of trash, failing to properly cover waste, and allowing polluted storm water to out of the landfill. 

Virginia had only shut down two companies in the past 25 years prior to revoking the permit from National Waste Services.

The Washington Post reported that the Battle Creek accepted 1,500 tons of trash a day, 600 percent more than it’s state permit of 250 tons a day.

Despite a May 2003 consent decree, where Page Count agreed to resolve the violations and paid a $30,000 fine, Virginia DEQ shut down the Battle Creek landfill.

As part of an agreement to settle the matter National Waste Services agreed to assist Page County find another operator for the Battle Creek landfill.  As part of the arrangement National Waste Services main creditor CapitalSource submitted offers to the Page County Board of Supervisors offer from other companies qualified to operate the site.

Despite this environmental record, the Maryland Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters (both reliable auxiliaries of the Democratic Party) defended Delaney from a mailer sent by the Maryland Republican Party, using this information.

Page Co Battle Creek Lf June 262003