Rossi’s Financial and Environmental Criminal History

As New Energy Times brings this phase of its reporting on Andrea Rossi’s Energy Catalyzer to a close, it is an appropriate time to reflect on one of Rossi’s previous technology adventures.

In the 1970s and ’80s, Rossi claimed to have invented a process and device which he called the Petroldragon, to convert household and industrial waste, such as old tires and hospital waste, into oil.

In November 1979, journalist Luigi Bacialli wrote a book with Rossi about his life and his Petroldragon miracle, Petrolio Dai Rifiuti (Oil From Garbage).

Bacialli called Rossi the “Sheik of Brianza.” Brianza was the region where Rossi lived. The book is a flattering vision of Rossi and his Petroldragon.

By 1989, Italian newspapers had started reporting on Petroldragon as a scam: “A Tale of Toxic Waste, Billions [of Lira], and Mega-Scams.” Click here for an extensive record of Rossi’s Italian financial and environmental criminal history as reported by major Italian newspapers.

After two decades with his Petroldragon idea, according to a 1990 Italian Senate report, Rossi was still hoping to obtain “steady-state.”

A Senate staff member interviewed Rossi and visited his Petroldragon site as part of a comprehensive review of the status and reconstruction of industries in the Basilicata region after the earthquakes of 1980 and 1981.

The interviewer for the Senate found three Petroldragon ovens on Rossi’s site; only one appeared to be in operation. According to information the interviewer obtained from Rossi, all three units were ready for production and for sale, a scenario nearly identical to that of the Energy Catalyzer.

In another remarkable prequel to the Energy Catalyzer and Rossi’s Journal of Nuclear Physics, the interviewer found that Rossi had created his own publishing house as well as a scientific journal (also see Senate report) and appointed himself the editor.

By 1992, Rossi had been indicted for false invoicing, tax evasion and punishment for environmental damages caused by Petroldragon.

In March 1994, the regional government ordered the closure of the Petroldragon plant and revoked its permits for the collection and storage of toxic waste.

A month later, in April, Rossi was accused of polluting ground water with lead as a result of the Petroldragon. A local prosecutor hypothesized that Rossi illegally disposed of the waste.

In March 1995, there were local protests against the 20,000 tons of liquid toxic sludge that Rossi had accumulated eight years earlier and was still holding in his tanks. At the same time, Rossi was arrested for tax fraud, false billing and illegal trafficking of gold with international accomplices. At least one of them, according to Corriere della Sera, was a well-known figure in the underworld.

Rossi’s magic plan to turn waste into oil imploded: It didn’t work, he had collected toxic waste from companies who were eager to give it to him, it was leaking and polluting the environment, and he ran himself into bankruptcy. He abandoned the site and left it to the people in the region and the local governments to clean up.

At one point in February 1996, during one of Rossi’s 56 trials, he asked to show a miniature demonstration of his Petroldragon in the courtroom.

Apparently, that didn’t work out, and after dioxin was found in his waste in March 1996, Rossi found himself in handcuffs, and the court seized his assets.

By March 1996, the Petroldragon died, according to Corriere della Sera:

“The oil from ‘recycled waste’ never existed, the former Omar refinery of Lacchiarella never brewed any marketable product, and all transfers of waste from other storage facilities occurred without the required regional permits. Yesterday, it was permanently wrecked, and the financial entrepreneur from Brianza, Andrea Rossi, 45, former owner of ‘Petrol Dragon’ received a double sentence from the Court of Milan and the Appeals Court of Turin for the ecological and financial adventure.”

Meanwhile, the storage tanks, which were already leaking, were like ticking time bombs.

By April 1997, the local and regional governments were trying to figure out how to get the tens of billions of liras they needed for the cleanup. Rossi was supposed to have shown up for a trial, but he failed to appear, apparently fleeing the country.

He was wanted as a fugitive, and in June 2000, when he came back to Italy, he was arrested in the Rome airport and sent to jail.

In October 2000, the Corriere della Sera headline read as follows:

“[Rossi] Claimed He Had the Formula to Transform Toxic Waste Into Black Gold, Only Succeeded in Causing Environmental Disaster. “Oil Wizard” sentenced to 8 years. Expenses Enough to Bankrupt Lacchiarella Refinery – Omar Turned Into Warehouse of Tanks Holding 57 Thousand Tons of Toxic Waste – Reclamation Costs More Than 30 Billion.”

On May 5, 2011, Maurizio Torrealta and Angelo Saso, journalists with Italian public television, produced an investigation called “The Magic of Mr. Rossi.”

The following excerpts from that broadcast will complete our report:

Rossi : “But these are things which belong to my past which have nothing to do with what we are talking about at the moment, and I kindly ask you now to move on.”

Edoardo Bai, Legambiente Lombardia Region, Italy: “Rossi basically took a series of old and misused refineries where there are big containers, huge storage containers, and stocked the waste collected in all these old refineries he gathered [from] all around Italy. The largest one was the one of Lacchiarella, and he left the waste there without treating it.”

Bai: “When Petroldragon closed up shop, it left behind 57,000 tons of toxic waste. There were some leaks in the bottom of the reservoirs, and therefore the ground was permeated. Consequently, the underground water was polluted.”

Luigi Mariani, lawyer of Lombardia Region, Italy: “It was necessary to reclaim the land and plough the land and take the waste which was in the ground from Lacchiarella and bring it to waste disposal plants in Germany.”

Luigi Acerbi, mayor of Lacchiarella, Milan, Italy: “To date, the drainage cost [the government] around €22.5 million. To have land which can be devoted to possible public use, a complete reclamation of the land is needed, which will cost around €9 million [more].”

Mariani: “Andrea Rossi has been repeatedly condemned by many tribunals for illegal disposal of hazardous and toxic waste fulfilled without the regional authorization. He was condemned by the [inaudible] magistrate of Lecco and the magistrate of Monza, the magistrate of Milan and the magistrate of Turin.”

Acerbi: “In the years where he was working here, he didn’t produce a single drop of oil, as far as we know. What he did was creating just a media event. He was able to persuade – in a way that I cannot explain – a good portion of public opinion, and that’s exactly what is hard for me to explain. He persuaded technicians in the field, scientists and important institutions, [inaudible] the region of Lombardia that he was able to do magic.”