This is the beginning of a case study of William J. Thibeault, president of Great Northern Demolition Corporation, Wood Waste of Boston, and New Ventures Associates LLC, all listed as conducting business at 85 Boston Road in Everett, Massachusetts.
Great Northern Demolition, for which there is little online data, allegedly sends construction and demolition debris to Wood Waste, a recycling center, and portions of the debris are then trucked some 30 miles away to Newburyport’s former municipal solid waste landfill on Crow Lane.
As the following data and commentary will show, Thibeault is a shrewd businessman.
Some might call him a dirty, rotten scoundrel.
Let’s start with the facts:
- Thibeault and his Wood Waste facility was recently served by the EPA with a $157,000 civil penalty for violating the U.S. Clean Water Act.
The EPA charged him with failure of possession of a permit for pollutant discharge into a Mystic River tributary from 1999 to 2006.
- He proposes “massive” development of a 32-acre Everett property, according to a DEP biased story written by Boston Globe reporter Kay Lazar.
As a prerequisite to the DEP approving any Everett development, Lazar writes that Newburyport officials must sign an agreement to double the amount of C&D debris to be dumped into the landfill.
(C&D debris contains gypsum dust which is the source of an aerial compound called hydrogen sulfide that smells like rotten eggs and is the scientific cause of hundreds of Everett and Newburyport residents who whiff it and get bloody noses, blurry vision, and headaches.)
New Ventures took over the Crow Lane Landfill in 2000 and many residents think it is incredible that New Ventures and the DEP expect to finalize capping before the end of 2008.
Some say Lazar may have been pressured to write it.
- According to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, it is worth noting that Thibeault contributed $300 to Everett state senator Anthony Galluccio in August 2007 and $250 to Massachusetts State Treasurer Timothy Cahill in October 2007.
In December 2007, he contributed $500 to the campaign of Ann-Margaret Ferrante, who is running to contest state Rep. Tony Verga for the 5th Essex district.
- Thibeault’s sister, Della Thibeault, contributed $500 to Middlesex Sheriff James DiPaola in September 2007.
- The plot thickens with this campaign video from Carlo DeMaria who was elected to mayor last fall.
About one-quarter into the video, DeMaria says there is a “possible developer who has the money and the resources” to build a 30-plus-acre site “on lower Broadway” to include a marina, condos, and office space.
Back in the Globe story from last week is the sentence, DeMaria said Thibeault’s lawyers also confirmed that his client is negotiating to buy a 32-acre parcel on lower Broadway…
- The final pawn is Anthony Rossi, an Everett attorney, who contributed $450 to DeMaria’s then-alderman campaign on two days in early 2002.
Rossi is also one of Thibeault’s attorneys.
Politics makes strange bedfellows and I don’t believe in coincidences.
I grant you that campaign contributions may be insignificant in the greater scheme of things. But if you were an elected official (or campaigning to be one) and a representative of big business contributed you several hundred dollars, wouldn’t you want to help out where you can?
There needs to be greater accountability. But with the incestuous relationships I’ve tried to illustrate above, how can anything positive happen? Will the day come, sooner than later, when volatile aerial chemicals are a story of the past?
Everett wants to gain jobs and a large construction project can be that impetus. Newburyport wants to cap its long-overdue landfill. I don’t know what Thibeault wants other than to cause mischief.
For background on Thibeault and Wood Waste, look at the Everett Average Citizen, an online forum, with applicable comment threads here and here (the latter link being the most recent).
Newburyport blogger and recent landfill activist, Gillian Swart, maintains an updated repository of related reporting on the New Ventures connection to the Crow Lane Landfill.
Please post a comment below if there is any information that is missing or needs to be corrected.
I will update this page as necessary.
No related posts.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Unbelievable! What a Sleezbag!! What motivated you to start researching dirt on this asshole? Great article, however.
Nice summation Ari.
Question:
Some say Lazar may have been pressured to write it.
Pressured to write what, the article? Pressured by who?
Thanks
@Andy – I live in Newburyport so the motivation should be clearer.
@Tom – If you look again at the article, the bulk of content is about the proposed development and includes paraphases by Rossi.
When you consider neither city’s newspaper included all of this information in one spot, it’s possible Lazar put two and two together to write it but it’s more plausible that either the DEP or Thibeault’s associations got to the Globe first. It’s a theory, anyway.
Mark of a good reporter, Ari. As I have said, I saw someone at the Globe reading my landfill posts and she obviously went on the Everett Average Citizen as well. The clues were all out there.
Just because the DN did not necessarily pick up on them doesn’t mean Lazar was coerced. And why wouldn’t she talk to the attorney? Chip Nylen talks to the Current.
Sorry, your explanation for using “some say” in trying to read into the Globe reporter’s motivation/alleged bias is weak. If the “some” is just you, be honest and say it. Anything else is casting aspersions based only your problems with the tone of the story, with no concrete evidence of the reporter’s thinking.
Otherwise, good digging on this post.
Ari,
You’re just scratching the surface…
Date Name Address Amount Occupation Employer To
11/17/2005 THIBEAULT, DELLA 85-87 BOSTON STREET EVERETT, MA 02149 $500.00 INFORMATION REQUESTED 11/10/05 Barrios, Jarrett T.
01/31/2002 Thibeault, Della 85-87 Boston St Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 bookkeeper Wood Waste Guerriero, Patrick
04/27/2005 Thibeault, Della 85-87 Boston St Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Bookeeper Wood Waste Baddour, Steven A.
12/31/2005 Thibeault, Della D. 85-87 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Letter Sent Letter Sent Reilly, Thomas F.
03/30/2006 Thibeault, Della D. 85 Boston St # 87 Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 info requested 4/2/2006 Barrios, Jarrett T.
09/23/2007 Thibeault, Della D. 85-87 Bposton St. Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Sent Letter 9/07 DiPaola, James
01/31/2002 Thibeault, William 85-87 Boston St Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 owner Wood Waste Guerriero, Patrick
05/17/2002 Thibeault, William 1690 Revere Beach Parkway Everett, MA 02149 $100.00 Ranieri, Anthony
07/24/2006 Thibeault, William 85 Boston St Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Healey, Kerry Murphy
08/31/2006 Thibeault, William 85 Boston St Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Information Requested Letter Sent Hillman, Reed V.
12/30/2007 Thibeault, William 85 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Real Estate Self-Employed Ferrante, Ann-Margaret
10/03/2007 Thibeault, William 85 Boston st Everett, MA 02149 $250.00 info requested info requested Cahill, Timothy
04/27/2006 Thibeault, William 85 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $250.00 Retired None Buonomo, John R.
03/30/2006 Thibeault, William 85 Boston St Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 info requested 4/2/2006 Barrios, Jarrett T.
04/27/2005 Thibeault, William 85 Boston St Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Owner Wood Waste Baddour, Steven A.
06/21/2002 Thibeault, William 85-87 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $250.00 friendly way with Frank. No Grabauskas, Daniel A.
05/17/2004 Thibeault, William 85-87 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $250.00 Construction Self Motzkin, Michael
07/31/2006 THIBEAULT, WILLIAM J 85 BOSTON ST. Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 DEMOLITION COMPANY WOODWASTE OF BOSTON Nuzzo, Jr., Frank
01/17/2006 Thibeault, William J. 85 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $250.00 Owner Woodwaste Glodis, Guy William
02/15/2007 Thibeault, William J. 85 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $250.00 Owner Wood Waste Glodis, Guy William
03/07/2008 Thibeault, William J. 85 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Owner Wood Waste Glodis, Guy William
12/07/2007 Thibeault, William J. 85 Boston Street Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Owner Great Northern Site Corp. Berry, Frederick E.
09/23/2007 Thibeault, William J. 85 Boston St. Everett, MA 02149 $500.00 Sent Letter 9/07 DiPaola, James
08/08/2007 Thibeault, William J. 85 Boston St. Everett, MA 02149 $300.00 Owner Wood Waste Galluccio, Anthony D.
@Gillian & Anon 11:05 – Thanks for your comments. I thought the tone of Lazar’s story was fine. I am not implying that the reporter was coerced but as this idea was relayed to me, I felt it worthy to include it as “some say.”
@Bubba – I focused on contributions since 2007. I did not include Worcester Sheriff Guy Glodis as he has no jurisdiction in the northeast part of the state. I must have missed Fred Barry though; thanks!
This has been going on for a long time……
According to Mass.gov Glodis was a State Senator until 2004.
I’m a little late noticing this but he made contributions to our state senator baddour?
Correct.
thibeault lives in lynnfield at
6 Elizabeth Way…why doesn’t DEP or EPA etc. test the materials on site in both locations before they get mashed up or after ? I am sure there would be some interesting readings. Anybody run his criminal record? Believe he served time
…also check essex county registry of deeds, he was taken to court and a lien placed on his gloucester summer home by tools 4 hire for just under $10k in 2006 and was finally paid this past may….if he has no problem screwing the little guys working on his own home, what do you think he will do to the residents of everett and newburyport?