After 2½ weeks, Wolfeboro has finally rested their case.  Their last witness was the expert testimony of Robert Bowden, the hydrogeologist from Fuss & O’Neill.  Wolfeboro spent half of the morning session on direct examination where he continued to hammer on his opinion of lack of data and failure to provide the requisite standard of care.  Apparently, this testimony was also the capstone of the fraud allegation because he introduced a notion that WP had “reverse engineered” the project to achieve a 600,000 gpd permit.

Cross examination was the second half of the morning and about an hour in the afternoon.  WP’s attorney grilled him on his background and experience, then did his best to discredit the witness.  It seemed to be pretty effective.

Wolfeboro declined to redirect and rested their case, whereupon the parties conducted a long sidebar with the Judge.  Mr. Denehey, WP’s head lawyer, did most of the talking,  most likely saying Wolfeboro failed to make some or all of their case and moving to dismiss.

Nevertheless, the defense started right in by calling Bill Brown, President and CEO of Wright Pierce who has been sitting at the defendants table every day.  So far Mr. Brown has told the jury about Wright Pierce, their extensive waste-water and RIB experience in NH (they built 3 of the total 3 systems in NH over the last 10 years).  He explained how RIBs work.  He explained why they are almost always the best cost alternative for land-based disposal, and he explained how NHDES drives the project decisions based on cost. H e also explained how Wolfeboro needed a fast-track solution and how the project had to be compressed to meet the conditions of the Administrative Order.

We’ll see what the case filing system brings in the form of formal motions.  I don’t know about these things, but it would seem like there wouldn’t be any decision on motions until after the weekend.