His office accepts new patients and telehealth appointments. 2023 FOX Television Stations, until WED 9:00 AM PST, Mendocino County Coast, until WED 8:00 AM PST, Carquinez Strait and Delta, from THU 2:00 AM PST until THU 8:00 AM PST, Carquinez Strait and Delta, from WED 1:00 AM PST until WED 8:00 AM PST, North Bay interior valleys, East Bay Interior Valleys, Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Lucia Mountains and Los Padres National Forest, from THU 12:00 AM PST until THU 9:00 AM PST, Mendocino County Coast, High Stakes: Sports Betting in California, Japanese startup announces balloon flights taking passengers up to space. Responsible for establishing a corporate relationship with multi-national companies, and manage salary accounts, corporate credit cards . "We were doing a ridiculous amount of volume at a much lower rate than what they could possibly have done." Kooistra sold his home in California in February and returned to Arizona, where he founded a pool cleaning business in May. Fortinet and Palo alto SME with NSE 1,2,3,4,5,7 and PCNSE 7. In response to a long list of questions, PG&E provided a brief statement that did not directly address how warning signs like the company owners' long conflict with the city of Hayward and participation in an illegal dumping operation were overlooked. Later, the news agencies revealed a suspicious real estate transaction that connected Singh and one of the PG&E employees. Utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric accused two of its former employees of accepting bribes to funnel business to a waste-hauling company after the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history. PG&E first started disposing of waste in the companys Hayward yard in 2016, and the business expanded to include the cleanup of PG&E yards throughout Northern California. / CBS San Francisco, by Scott Morris, Bay City News Foundation. A Santa Clara University psychology professor said the enormity of the destruction and devastation in Paradise can take an emotional toll on fire victim and leave psychological scars. The Bay City News Foundation and ProPublica first reported the exchange, which one expert described as possible money laundering. Bay Area Concrete is part of a sprawling network of hauling, recycling and construction companies owned by Bay Area couple Preet Johal and Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh. Bay Area Concrete's contract with PG&E was terminated, and the company is under criminal investigation. The company declined to make Singh or Johal available for an interview. Ownership of that new company was later transferred to a PG&E employee who oversaw Bay Area Concrete's work in Paradise. In business meetings, Singh tends to take the reins, while Johal listens quietly, occasionally asking a question. But Singh wanted $5.5 million about $1 million more than the assessed value and Rossi said he eventually realized that he'd never be able to buy the house back. Packal said PG&E attempted to use equipment Bay Area Concrete had installed on PG&E property in Petaluma, and the company sent PG&E a cease and desist letter. When those did not work, they issued three violations in 2018 for allowing concrete dust into the street, where it clogged storm drains. In exchange, the lawsuit alleges, a company linked to Johal and Singh repaved Huggins' driveway while they were supposed to be working on a PG&E job. The accused PG&E employees, Ronald Huggins Jr. and Ryan Kooistra, did not respond to requests for comment. The allegations are patently false and not supported by the evidence, she said. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. A sign outside the Sacramento location warns state, city and county inspectors and code enforcement officers that they are not allowed to pass and must call for an escort. Please subscribe to keep reading. After the site was shut down, Singh and Johal hired Olivero to be the CEO of Bay Area Concrete. PG&E did not say how much the utility believes it was overcharged by Bay Area Concrete as it continues to investigate. But two industry sources with knowledge of Bay Area Concrete's work in Paradise identified Kooistra as the PG&E employee accused of receiving gifts. 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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay Area Concrete, operating under the name Slurry Waste Solutions, built a specialized disposal facility in Paradise. In a statement, PG&E spokesperson James Noonan called the alleged actions of Bay Area Concrete "completely unacceptable.". Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. After contracting for the Paradise cleanup, Bay Area Concrete's annual revenue jumped from $16.5 million to $43.5 million, according to documents filed with a lease application. The complaint alleges that Huggins and Kooistra approved the overbilled work in exchange for kickbacks. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Nearly two years after the deadly Camp Fire, a new era for California's utilities is still taking shape. The company, Packal said, had a truck to haul water from site to site. All Rights Reserved. In its suit, Bay Area Concrete alleged that it had saved PG&E millions of dollars by doing disposal work in Paradise more cheaply than a competitor. "It was pretty much out of control the entire time they were in operation," he said. The new court filings show that PG&E had a longer business relationship with Bay Area Concrete than previously known. Bay Area Concrete is part of a sprawling network of hauling, recycling and construction companies owned by Bay Area couple Preet Johal and Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh. Lucero, who pleaded guilty in a 2008 case involving the payment of bribes to landfill operators in San Jose, told one of Johal and Singh's employees that he had permission to dump on a national wildlife refuge site on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Bay Area Concrete has said that PG&Es accusations of fraud are false and the bankrupt utility was just trying to get out of paying its bills. Another shell company, CCI Management, was owned by Kooistra and acted as a subcontractor for Bay Area Concrete in Paradise. During public comment, Gerald Carroll, an attorney for another neighbor, D.W. Nicholson, pleaded with the commission to deny the appeal, citing concerns about the health of their employees from dust. "Absolutely no photos or videos taken on these premises without permission," it says. It paid a low hourly rate, but it was a steady contract that soon expanded to include sweeping PG&E sites from Sacramento to Monterey and east into the Central Valley. Oct 2021 - Dec 20213 months. For years, the owners of Bay Area Concrete Recycling had run an unlicensed dump in the city of Hayward, California. Under Kooistra's supervision, PG&E hired Bay Area Concrete to build a new slurry disposal center at a former Waste Management facility in Paradise. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey confirmed that PG&E contacted his office regarding the allegations and said he is waiting for further information from the utility. Bay Area Concrete overcharged for travel time while hauling and billed PG&E for work that was never done or was unnecessary. Police shut down the site in September 2014. PG&E alleges that in exchange for these kickbacks, the employees provided lucrative clean-up jobs to Hayward-based Bay Area Concrete Recycling. Dawn Sweatt, an attorney for Bay Area Concrete, said her clients vehemently deny the allegations by PG&E. PG&Es counterclaim, filed earlier this month, names Bay Area Concrete, both former PG&E employees, Singh, Johal, several of their other companies and Bay Area Concrete CEO Kevin Olivero as defendants. Kooistra resigned and his supervisor, superintendent of gas transmission and distribution Ron Huggins, also no longer works at PG&E, they said. In state filings, its business address was listed as 1580 Chabot Court in Hayward, where another of Singh and Johal's companies is located. The firm was tied to illegal dumping on federally protected wetlands and had engaged in a long conflict with regulators in the city of Hayward, where Bay Area Concrete operates a dump. Yadwinder has three known connections and has the most companies in common with Sabrina Hamipi. Not only did Lucero not have permission to dump there, but it was on wetlands adjacent to the wildlife refuge, which is home to endangered salt marsh harvest mice and burrowing owls. He sold his home in Rocklin and moved to Arizona. And it's not being done." The pair were careful to keep Bay Area Concretes purchase orders low enough that Huggins would not have to seek approval from his supervisors. Kooistra did not respond to attempts to contact him by phone, mail or social media. The decision would prove the latest in a series of dubious choices by PG&E that have raised questions about the utility's commitment to safety and the environment, the review found. PG&E hired Bay Area Concrete to dispose of waste from hydrovac trucks special vacuum trucks that use pressurized water for precise excavation. Despite that, PG&E then contracted with Bay Area Concrete to play a key role in the cleanup after the Camp Fire. In the summer of 2014, Economy Trucking used an illegal dump site in Newark, a nearby suburb, to get rid of thousands of tons of concrete and asphalt, court records show. The site was shut down by police and its operator, James Lucero, was convicted of violations of the federal Clean Water Act. It turned out to be a lucrative business opportunity for Bay Area Concrete - thanks to Pacific Gas & Electric, the giant Northern California utility company whose electric lines had caused the conflagration. This is in addition to avoiding the significant negative environmental impacts that trucking and processing these materials elsewhere in the state would have caused.. City staff described broken promises, obstruction and apparently willful violation of the law. "PG&E has initiated an internal review to determine why this wasn't detected earlier, and we will be enhancing our protocols to ensure this doesn't happen again," a PG&E spokesperson wrote. Corporate records unearthed by the news organizations show that while the fire still burned in Paradise, an attorney for Bay Area Concrete's owners registered a limited liability company at the business address of another one of the owners' companies. Copyright Weeklys All rights reserved. But slurry can be tough to get rid of. Later, the news agencies revealed a suspicious real estate transaction that connected Singh and one of the PG&E employees. According to the countercomplaint, Kooistra denied any wrongdoing or having an interest in the companies, despite the interest being disclosed in public records. Bay Area Concrete, operating under the name Slurry Waste Solutions, built a specialized disposal facility in Paradise. Bay Area Concrete is part of a sprawling network of hauling, recycling and construction companies owned by Bay Area couple Preet Johal and Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh.
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