IRGsome

Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive! Sir Walter Scott, 1771 - 1832 Last night’s (11-25-08) required public meeting for International Risk Group (IRG)'s submitted General Development Plan was another in a seemingly endless series (18 in 2008 and a total of over 60, they say) of public meetings concerning the “Lowry Vista” redevelopment project of the former Air Force toxic dump on Alameda. As usual, Marcus Pachner, the talented PR person for IRG, presented a slick, time-consuming slide show for the approximately 300 people in attendance. Essentially, he says, the project is an “idea” that will change over time, as IRG works through repeated official “no” decisions to forge ahead on the $10 (ten dollar) deal. Having attended and videotaped five of these meetings, I am aware that most of the presentation, and even the Q and A afterward, is repetitive and probably boring to the general reader of this blog. So I try to find a pivot point in the discussion, something I can cut out of the 2 ½ hours of blah, blah, blah. YouTube has a 10 minute limit, and readers have about a 2 minute limit before they get bored and click away. This requires me to review the entire meeting, looking for the gem, a moment that will crystallize the truth. I thought I had such a “moment of truth” from Tuesday’s meeting. In the Q and A, Adrienne Anderson, an expert on environmental radiation hazards, states, with regard to a California lawsuit brought by workers made ill from alleged radiation from an IRG project: “… and what was IRG’s response? They sued the workers to silence them, and, they also sued a website, a citizen-based website, that was posting documents about the workers allegations." "IRG took them to court to try to silence them, and a Federal judge, just about two weeks ago, ruled in favor of the worker’s right to speak up about the hazards of what he alleges is associated with his exposure on that site. So the liability, is to sue the people who are concerned, to shut them up. And that is their pattern….” So, to summarize, IRG sued the workers to shut them up, but a judge ruled in the workers’ favor and dismissed the lawsuit. Next comes Brent Anderson, attorney, with International Risk Group. “…as to suing, er, trying to chill Adrienne, I know the website, I guarantee you we haven’t done anything to chill it, AT LEAST NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE, second of all, AS FAR AS I KNOW OF, any litigation that International Risk Group is involved in, in California, we were sued, we haven’t sued anybody. And I think its really important to make that clear”. Here is the lawsuit. Scroll down to 32(h) and (i) for mention of Adrienne Anderson. Note that 1000 "Does" are named. Ok, this looks fairly clear cut. Did or did not IRG sue the workers in California who were suing them? Well, not so fast, it turns out there are two different IRGs being referred to here; International Risk Group and Industrial Realty Group. Both of their websites claim Lowry Vista as one of their projects. The citizen website in question, KaiserPapers.info, details the web of interlocking IRG LLCs (as in Limited Liability Company), in Colorado, Nevada, and California. There is even a patent on the process of turning "brownfields" into money. Two hours later Wait, wait... oh no, there are at least 21 IRGs in Colorado alone. For more, check out California and Nevada Secretary of State offices. So when Adrienne says IRG (Industrial Realty Group) sued the workers, she is correct. And when Brent says IRG (International Risk Group) hasn’t sued anyone, he is correct(but he really isn't making anything clear). And by the way, if you want to get really creepy, the Kaiser Papers website was recently hacked and completely destroyed by what is alleged to be the “Russian mafia”, and the Downey Studios project in California caught fire just hours after the judge ruled against them. This is getting really IRGsome. My head is hurting from IRGness overload. As they say at the Kaiser Papers website “The Justice Department needs to sort this out.”