Balch & Bingham lobbyist Jeffrey H. Wood was the "man in the middle" as Southern Company dove into the muck of the North Birmingham EPA scandal

Jay Town and Mark Crosswhite

Evidence from anonymous sources shows that a lobbyist for Southern Company played a central role in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal. The records also show that the lobbyist, Jeffrey H. Wood of Birmingham-based Balch & Bingham law firm, helped compromise the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding an investigation into the scandal. 

That is from a report at banbalch.com, operating under the CDLU public charity and advocacy group. Under the headline "Email Exposé: Southern Company Lobbyist Critical Element in North Birmingham; DOJ Compromised," Forbes writes:

Never-seen-before emails delivered anonymously to the CDLU, show that Jeffrey H. Wood indeed was in the thick of the North Birmingham effort to suppress African Americans from having their toxic and contaminated property tested. The population of North Birmingham is 92.5 percent Black.

On May 18, 2016, Wood briefed Joel I. Gilbert about efforts on Capitol Hill, confirming that he was on Capitol Hill specifically about the “EPA’s actions in North Birmingham.”

The hearing on Capitol Hill was an attempt to help the criminal scheme to suppress African Americans by having congressmen allege that EPA  (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) employees were overzealous, acting improperly, accessing property without permission of the owner, and overreaching in their conduct.

They even alleged that the EPA was trying to close businesses employing people in the energy sector.

They provided an unnamed affidavit, the star of the hearing, in an attempt to grill two representatives of the EPA.

It did not take long for Drummond Company and U.S. Rep Gary Palmer (R-Alabama) to enter the picture:

An hour later, Gilbert, so proud of the efforts on Capitol Hill by Southern Company, sent an email to the top brass at Drummond Coal Company, including “confused” Drummond General Counsel Blake Andrews, and executives from their affiliated company, ABC Coke.

Southern Company lobbyist Wood was a critical element in the spectacle. He worked with congressional staff to create “talking points” and brought Congressman Gary Palmer “up to speed.”

And the unnamed affidavit, the star of the hearing?

Per the criminal enterprise’s request, the affidavit was not entered into the record nor was the name of the affiant ever released by Congressman Palmer.

What about early signs of Wood's involvement? They were there, Forbes writes, and they came from Jim Kerr -- Southern Company's "Man of Many Hats":

We, the CDLU, provided documentation in December of 2017 to Jim Kerr, the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Chief of Staff of Southern Company showing indisputably that Jeffrey H. Wood, a lobbyist for embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, had lobbied on behalf of Alabama Power in the second and third quarters of 2016 specifically about the North Birmingham CERCLA matter.

We provided Kerr with lobbying reports from the second quarter and third quarter of 2016 filed with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives showing Wood clearly was on Capitol Hill inquiring about the CERCLA.

CERCLA stands for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the North Birmingham CERCLA matter eventually led to a bribery scheme born at the offices of Balch & Bingham and led by Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert, who is currently serving a five-year sentence in federal prison for bribery and money laundering.

In January of 2018, during a phone call, Kerr falsely told us that Southern Company was not involved in the North Birmingham Bribery Scheme or the Newsome Conspiracy Case. Both were lies.

When confronted on the call about Jeffrey H. Wood, Kerr was side-swiped and obviously caught unprepared.

At first, Kerr said he wasn’t sure what we were asking, but after repeating the question with reminders, he took 5 seconds to respond with a canned legal answer: “It’s, um… I told you that I looked into the information provided me. We reviewed the information, and I have no concerns about anything inappropriate.”

As The Root reported in 2018:

Kerr responded, “We do not see a place to step into [the Oliver Robinson scandal].” That rings hollow considering that Wood, Balch’s point lobbyist for Southern, was lobbying on Superfund policy at the time on behalf of Southern. In fact, Wood has specifically recused himself from any matters at the ENRD pertaining to the 35th Avenue site, suggesting that he was specifically lobbying about the site. After [the CDLU] pointed this out, Kerr took a long pause before going full Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “We reviewed the information. I have no concerns about anything inappropriate.”

The new evidence blows Kerr's story into the clouds. And we now know Wood was a guy who got things done for Southern Company, a "mover and shaker," you might say. He played a major role in helping to get the DOJ off the trail. And that was a multi-faceted task, involving a number of dubious Donald Trump appointees, writes Forbes:

Eight months later, Jeffrey H. Wood would be one of the first people to enter the Trump Administration on inauguration day as the acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wood would work under U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose number one lifetime financial supporter as a candidate for U.S. Senator had been Southern Company, while his number two lifetime financial supporter was Southern Company’s sister-wife, Balch & Bingham, according to Open Secrets.

That summer of 2017, Jay E. Town would be confirmed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.

The trifecta was complete.

With U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Principal Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood, and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Southern Company compromised the U.S. Department of Justice with three of their most ardent lackeys in power at the same time.

Is it any wonder that no one expanded the North Birmingham bribery investigation after Gilbert and David Roberson, of Drummond Company, were found guilty in 2018?

Is it any wonder that no one investigated the terroristic and death threats against Burt Newsome, his wife, and their four young children in the summer of 2018?

Is it any wonder that no one investigated the initial billion-dollar cost overruns at the Kemper Plant in Mississippi and the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia?

Is it any wonder that no one investigated Jay Town, who blocked four FBI investigations into the Newsome Conspiracy Case?

Southern Company was too powerful, too entrenched.

These emails demonstrate without a doubt that Southern Company was “up to their eyeballs” in North Birmingham and that the criminal RICO enterprise had three powerful lackeys in the U.S. Department of Justice that appear to have been more loyal to Southern Company than the pursuit of blind justice.

An orchestrated spectacle indeed!

Note No. 1: Documents and audio related to this post can be viewed and heard by clicking on this link.

        Note No. 2: Jeffrey H. Wood now is a partner in Washington, D.C., with the Houston-           based law firm of Baker Botts.