Concerned citizens demanded a county investigation into why a waste-to-fuel project at the Lamar County landfill is years past its original completion date, with some public money flowing to the man who promoted the project. Now, they’re getting an investigation, and at a higher level. The FBI has taken up the case, the FOX 5 I-Team confirmed.
Lamar County trusted its landfill chief with a waste-to-fuel project whose price tag is nearly double the size of the county's operating budget. It turns out Executive Director Johnny Poole got paid some of that money himself.
Lamar County's solid waste authority has spent more than $20 million on a plan to turn trash into cash. But nine years after it took out a big loan from the state, none of the machinery is operating.