Intertek Settles Civil Claims Resulting From Improper Tests
Intertek Testing Services Environmental Laboratories Inc., a subsidiary of Intertek Testing Services Limited that ceased operations more than three years ago, has settled civil claims resulting from environmental tests conducted by the company between 1989 and 1997. Under the terms of the civil settlement, which was signed by the Department of Justice, Intertek has agreed to pay a total of $8.741 million to the U.S. government. In October 2001, Intertek resolved all criminal litigation with the Department of Justice related to the issue. The settlement relates to tests conducted by former Intertek employees in a facility in Richardson, Texas. Some of the testing procedures were found to be irregular by its own quality control and in January 1998 were reported to the Environmental Protection Agency, which initiated its own investigation. Extensive review of the data provided to customers has shown that it poses no risk of harm to human health or the environment...Read More »
USA Biomass Fails to File Appropriate SEC Reports
Waste-management company USA Biomass Corp. failed to file its annual report by the April 1 deadline because of staffing issues, according to forms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 8, 2000, and on that day its independent accountant, Kelly & Co., resigned. USA Biomass said it cannot hire new accountants without getting approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. USA Biomass expects to report a loss of about $886,000 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001. The figures compare with an estimated loss of about $1.9 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000. USA Biomass said that due to its bankruptcy filing and the reduction in its financial, accounting and administrative staff and the loss of accountants, it can't quantify the amount of the loss for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000. USA Biomass, including its subsidiary American Waste Transport, handles more than 10,000 tons per day of green waste and municipal solid waste,which it transports under contract for Waste Management Inc. and Allied Waste/BFI...Read More »
Government Will Buy Gas Masks for Residents Near Incinerator
The federal government will pay for gas mask-like safety gear for as many as 35,000 people who live near an incinerator where the Army intends to burn deadly nerve gas. Gov. Don Siegelman's office said that the protective hoods, which function like gas masks but are simpler to use, would be distributed under an agreement reached in a lawsuit over the chemical weapons incinerator. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the agreement was linked to the lawsuit. Siegelman filed the suit last month to halt operation of the $1 billion incinerator. Siegelman spokesman Rip Andrews said the state would withdraw its request that a judge block the opening of the incinerator in return for the government's pledge to provide $7 million for the gear and training. The Army plans to begin test burns of nerve gas in September. An estimated 75,000 people live within about nine miles of the incinerator at Anniston Army Depot, situated about 60 miles east of Birmingham...Read More »
Metech Pays $12M to Settle Recycling Conspiracy Claims
Metech International Inc. has agreed to pay $12.1 million in connection with a kickback conspiracy involving the recycling of precious metals. Metech International Inc., based in Mapleville, Rhode Island, and formerly known as Boliden Metech, has also agreed to cooperate with federal authorities in several ways, including processing truckloads of previously stolen industrial scrap and depositing the value of the scrap into the fund to repay the conspiracy¹s victims. Federal authorities, in return, will delay prosecution of Metech and not file criminal charges against the company or its parent company, Sweden-based Trelleborg Corp., if Metech cooperates. In the conspiracy, four Metech employees stole scrap metal and altered samples to mislead customers about content, weight and value, federal authorities said. Boliden kept more precious metals and other valuable materials than permitted in agreements with customers, authorities said. The scheme lasted for more than two decades and cost Boliden Metech customers millions of dollars, authorities said...Read More »
Tetra Tech Wins $14M EPA RCRA Contract
Tetra Tech (Nasdaq:TTEK) has been awarded a $14 million, five-year contract to support the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Resource Conservation Recovery Act program. This RCRA program region covers 22 western states, tribal lands and U.S. territories. This is Tetra Tech's third consecutive win of the RCRA contract, and marks its 18th year supporting the EPA's RCRA program. Tetra Tech is a provider of specialized management consulting and technical services in three principal business areas: resource management, infrastructure and communications...Read More »
ESS Acquires Environmental Software Developer
Environmental Support Solutions has acquired the assets, intellectual property and customer base of Essential Technologies Inc., a developer of enterprise environmental health and safety software. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Essential Information Systems, ESS will bring the company's enterprise clients and partners an integrated suite of environmental, health and safety, and emergency management software. Originally founded in 1975 in Rockville, Md., Essential¹s PlantWare(TM) software has been implemented by Fortune companies throughout the world. In the past year, ESS has acquired three ``Best of Class'' leading EHS application software companies: RMS Systems, Inc. specialists in integrated health and safety applications, Jordan Systems, Inc. innovators in MSDS and chemical inventory management software and Wixel, Inc., leaders in waste management software...Read More »
Aerojet Signs Major California Remediation Agreement
Aerojet-General Corporation, a subsidiary of GenCorp (NYSE: GY), has signed a comprehensive groundwater remediation agreement for the San Gabriel Valley Superfund Site known as the Baldwin Park Operable Unit. Aerojet is one of 19 Potentially Responsible Parties in the BPOU named by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and one of the eight companies to have signed the agreement. GenCorp is a technology-based manufacturer with positions in the aerospace and defense, pharmaceutical fine chemicals and automotive industries...Read More »
Investigators Seek Info on Michigan PCB Dumping
A task force of investigators has been put together to develop leads into the criminal dumping of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls into the St. Clair Shores' drain system in Detroit, Michigan. The St. Clair Shores Police Department, Macomb County Sheriff¹s Department, the Mount Clemens Office of the FBI, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are organizing the task force. PCB levels were measured at 50,000 times acceptable levels, the EPA reported. The chemicals were dumped into storm drains within the past year, with the highest concentration being found in the Harper and Bon Brae area, according to the city. EPA officials have been monitoring the situation and mapped out the areas along the water system where PCBs were discovered. Investigators who suspect the dumping originated from an industrial source want to know how much and how often the chemicals were dumped...Read More »
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