Who is Scott Phillips? Former Alabama environmental commissioner faces indictment
Updated Nov 14, 2018; Posted Nov 13, 2018
Former Alabama Environmental Management Commissioner W. Scott Phillips. (Dennis Pillion | dpillion@al.com)
A former chairman of the Alabama Environmental Management Commission now faces indictment in Alabama for violating state ethics laws while serving on the commission.
W. Scott Phillips, former chair of the AEMC, was indicted Tuesday by a Jefferson County grand jury on charges that he violated state ethics laws by "soliciting a thing of value from a principal, lobbyist or subordinate, and receiving money in addition that received in one's official capacity, according to the Alabama Ethics Commission."
The indictments were related to work Phillips performed as a consultant for industries working to prevent a polluted Birmingham neighborhood from being added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List, which could pave the way for expedited cleanup and could lead to potentially responsible industries in the area being forced to pay for the cleanup.
Phillips served on the AEMC, the civilian board that oversees the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and votes on statewide environmental regulations, for nearly 15 years, from Dec. 16, 2002 until April 22, 2017. Phillips served three terms as commission chairman, and four and a half terms as vice-chair. Phillips was vice-chair of the commission when he resigned from the commission in 2017.
Phillips and Glenn worked as consultants for Drummond Company, in connection with law firm Balch & Bingham, in their efforts to oppose the listing. Earlier this summer, Drummond Vice-President David Roberson and Balch attorney Joel Gilbert were convicted of bribery, money laundering and other charges in relation to efforts to oppose the listing, which included paying a state lawmaker, then-Rep. Oliver Robinson, to encourage people not to get their soil tested to see if it contained high levels of contaminants including lead, arsenic or benzo(A)pyrene, a known carcinogen.
Phillips and Glenn both testified as witnesses in that trial about their role in the operation.
Phillips was vice-chair of the commission in 2015, when Stacie Propst of Birmingham-based environmental group GASP gave a presentation to the commission to urge the board to back the addition of the 35th Avenue site to the NPL.
As a commissioner, Phillips received an advance copy of that presentation, which he provided to Gilbert. Gilbert then distributed talking points refuting Propst's arguments to the commissioners before Propst gave her presentation.
Before the indictments were announced, ADEM Director Lance LeFleur said the presentation was a public document that anyone could have requested from ADEM.
"It appears that [Phillips] made a copy of a document, that is technically a public document, available to his employer," LeFleur said after the Gilbert trial. "That, in some people's minds, has an appearance of favoritism. I leave that up to other folks to make that call."
LeFleur also noted that commissioners serve on a volunteer basis and see their duties as an act of public service, and declined to comment on whether Phillips' role as a consultant working to oppose an environmental cleanup was a conflict of interest with his work as an environmental regulator.
"[Commissioners] all have business interests outside of the commission and as long as those business interests don't interfere with the performance of their duties as commissioners, then I believe that ethics laws recognize that and allow it," LeFleur said in August.
After Phillips' resignation, the AEMC unanimously approved a resolution espressing gratitude to Phillips for "his significant contribution to a better environment and improved quality of life for the citizens of Alabama," and offered a round of applause at the June 2017 commission meeting. He served as the certified well-driller on the commission.
In addition to his work on the AEMC, Phillips was head of the Birmingham office of Malcolm Pirnie, which later became Arcadis, and started multiple consulting firms, including Southeast Engineering and Consulting and Blue Creek Consulting. According to his LinkedIn page, Phillips is currently the president of STRADA Professional Services, a Birmingham-based company that describes itself as a minority-owned infrastructure engineering and program management consultancy firm.
Phillips was chair of the Environmental Management Commission in 2005, when Glenn was chosen as ADEM director. Though Phillips did not vote on Glenn's appointment because of their previous ties, Glenn's selection still sparked an ethics investigation. The Alabama Ethics Commission found probable cause that Glenn had used his previous position as director of Alabama's Office Water Resources to help obtain the ADEM director's job, after he signed invoices to pay Malcolm Pirnie, the firm for which Phillips worked at the time. A grand jury declined to indict Glenn on those charges in 2009.
*Updated to clarify that comments from LeFleur were made before the indictments were announced.