"Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday was named as a potential witness in the federal corruption trial of an Alabama coal executive and two politically connected attorneys in that state, according to several Alabama news reports. The case—which is part of a scandal that has drawn in many of the biggest names in Alabama politics—focuses on an alleged conspiracy to bribe a Democratic state legislator in an effort to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to clean up a Superfund site near a largely African-American neighborhood in north Birmingham.
Oliver Robinson, the Democratic state legislator, has already pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Drummond Coal, one of the most powerful businesses in Alabama. Robinson told investigators that the bribes were facilitated by two attorneys at Balch & Bingham, a major Birmingham law firm employed by Drummond. Robinson also claimed that he secretly worked on behalf of the company to oppose efforts to expand the 35th Avenue Superfund site and add it to the EPA’s National Priorities List—a designation that would have allowed the site to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup funds. The listing would also likely have led to the EPA pursuing companies it believed were responsible for the pollution to fund that cleanup. Drummond Coal had already been named a potentially responsible party.
The two attorneys, who worked for Drummond, and the Drummond executive were indicted on bribery charges last fall. They pleaded not guilty and have argued that Robinson was merely hired a contractor. The defendants say Robinson never used his public office to help them."
Russ Choma reports for Mother Jones June 27, 2018.
SEE ALSO:
Advertisement 
