WWW.USDOJ.GOV: WASTEWATER TREATMENT COMPANY PLEADS GUILTY TO BRIBERY
Payoffs involved in S&WB process, feds say. Executive accused of taking kickbacks,
"From June 1993 through October 1996, AWT and PSG officials provided legal services and cash payments to Maraldo in order to influence and reward her for supporting PSG's business interests with the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board.
Very interesting, considering;
in 1989 Kathleen Babineaux Blanco was elected to the Public Service Commission, where she became the first woman to chair the Commission (1993-94). She left that position when she was elected lieutenant governor in 1995.
The Public Service Commission has jurisdiction over publicly owned utilities providing electric, water, waste water, natural gas, and telecommunication services in addition to all the electric cooperatives in Louisiana. The LPSC also regulates intrastate transportation services including passenger carrier services, waste haulers, household goods carriers, non-consensual towing, intrastate pipelines and state ship pilotage. The companies under the Commission’s jurisdiction must obtain approval before instituting new rates, issuing stocks and bonds, transferring assets, and undertaking major construction projects such as additional power plants, transmission lines, etc.