Nalco denies receiving preferential treatment

A spokesman for Naperville-based Nalco said the chemical producer has received no preferential treatment from a water official who has a potential conflict of interest between his public and private roles.

On Friday, Crain's Chicago Business reported that Terrence J. O'Brien, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, co-owns a consulting firm boasting four clients directly regulated by the district. Nalco's Bedford Park plant is one of those clients. O'Brien told Crain's the work he did for those companies didn't involve his agency.

Then Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported O'Brien's companies have made at least $3 million from government deals. O'Brien, a Chicago Democrat now running for Cook County Board president, has regularly reported his ownership of those companies, as required. But he has never disclosed all of the government contracts those companies have gotten.

Asked to make public that information, his campaign staff provided the Sun-Times a list of government contracts for only two of O'Brien's companies.

During O'Brien's four years as a shareholder, K-Plus Engineering got contracts from the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and DuPage County totaling $1.3 million, records show. According to his campaign staff, K-Plus also did work for other governmental agencies, but it wouldn't provide details.

O'Brien is a shareholder in five other companies — all with K-Plus in their names — that do environmental engineering, pipefitting and industrial cleanup, his staff says. His biggest stake is in K-Plus Environmental Services, which pays him $100,000 a year plus a cut of profits, O'Brien campaign manager DeShana Forney says.

K-Plus Environmental customers also include some companies whose wastewater discharges are regulated by the Water Reclamation District. Better Government Association Executive Director Andy Shaw called O'Brien's dual roles "the political equivalent of the fox guarding the chicken house."

Nalco spokesman Charlie Pajor said it's unfortunate the company has been "pulled into what's essentially a political story."

"We pay the same rates that anybody else does for service provided to us by the Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago," he said.

Nalco is listed on the water district's Web site as having paid $1.7 million to the district in the past three years — making it the sixth-largest payer of user fees to clean up its pollution. Nalco's Bedford Park plant consumes some 1 million gallons a day that go to the water district for treatment, Pajor said.

"Because we do use a lot of water on a daily basis, that's why we show up on that list," he said.

Coincidentally, the plant produces technology that helps customers preserve water, he said.

Nalco's office and research facility in Naperville is served by the city's water treatment utility.

Sun-Times Media writer Tim Novak contributed to this report.