Waste Industries Reports Second Quarter Results
Waste Industries USA, Inc., formerly known as Waste Holdings, Inc., a regional, non-hazardous solid waste services company, has reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2002. Revenues were down 1.4 percent, and adjusted operating income was down 11.5 percent for the quarter. The company reported revenues of $63.6 million compared to $64.5 million last year, and adjusted operating income decreased 11.5% to $6.9 million compared to $7.8 million for the same period last year...Read More »
Tucson Recycling Plans Stall Because of Barrels
Expansion of once-weekly recycling and garbage collections throughout Tucson has been stalled until at least the end of August by a dispute over who gets to sell the city 130,000 blue recycling barrels. Faced with a lawsuit over who should get the contract, city officials have agreed not to award it to anyone until an independent hearing officer rules on which of three bidders should get it. Los Angles-based Rehrig Pacific Co. was originally given a $4.8 million contract to fabricate the barrels at $35.99 each after city tests found its barrels superior to two competitors'. Rehrig Pacific had already delivered 29,000 of the barrels when its contract was canceled last week, and a new agreement was issued to Toter Inc. of North Carolina, the low bidder at $35.05 per barrel, after Toter and a second unsuccessful bidder protested the city testing procedures. Rehrig Pacific sued to enforce the original contract and sought a restraining order to block the city from finalizing its contract with Toter...Read More »
Waste Connections Releases Second Quarter Earnings
Waste Connections, Inc. (Nasdaq: WCNX) has announced second quarter diluted earnings per share of $.51 on 32.3 million diluted shares, before expenses related to the termination of the company's search for a Chief Operating Officer and expenses related to the hiring of other officials. Revenue for the second quarter of 2002 was $128.1 million, a 36.3 percent increase over revenue of $94.0 million in the second quarter of 2001. Operating income for the quarter, excluding $1.3 million of employment related expenses, increased 34.6 percent to $34.8 million, or 27.2 percent of revenues, from $25.9 million or 27.5 percent of revenues for the second quarter of 2001. During the quarter, the company closed on six acquisitions representing $17 million of annualized revenues...Read More »
Panel Questions EPA's Pesticide Review
A report by a panel of scientific advisers calls into question whether the Environmental Protection Agency's review of a group of pesticides will be adequate to protect children's health. The independent panel suggested the EPA prematurely concluded 28 pesticides were safe without an adequate review of whether they are particularly harmful when combined. The five-member panel found that the EPA used an inadequate margin of safety for fetuses, infants and children when it reached its preliminary decision to approve the use of all but two of 30 organophosphorus pesticides. The EPA, prompted by a settlement agreement from a lawsuit brought by Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, has been reviewing the cumulative risks of organophosphorus pesticides...Read More »
GE Prepares To Sample Hudson River Soil
General Electric Co. will begin sampling PCB-laden soil in the Hudson River as early as next month under an agreement the company reached recently with federal environmental officials. But GE has only committed to reimbursing $5 million of the $37 million in past costs the Environmental Protection Agency incurred creating the dredging blueprint. And the EPA has yet to cement a deal with the company on the larger questions of the project's design and the actual cleanup. The start of the $15 million sampling project in late August or early September sets in motion one of the largest dredging operations in the nation, decades in the making. For years, GE has fought against having to clean up PCBs it dumped onto the Hudson River from its plants north of Albany until the substance was banned in 1977. GE still has a lawsuit pending challenging the constitutionality of the Superfund law...Read More »
Georgia Power Works To Contain Ash Release
Georgia Power officials are moving to contain a release of ash-laden silt from the Company's Bowen Electric Generating Plant near Cartersville. The spill is flowing into Euharlee Creek, which runs next to the plant and flows into the Etowah River. The release was discovered after plant operators discovered a major sinkage of ash on one of the plant's ash storage areas. Elevated ground water levels in the storage area most likely caused the sinkage of ash, similar to a large sinkhole. Elevated water levels can create conditions that can trigger collapse of underground cavities in sub-surface limestone and cause ground sinkage. The ash is removed from Bowen's four coal fueled boilers and stored on the plant site. It is also dried and sold to the construction industry...Read More »
Nevada Residents Want To Continue Efforts To Block Yucca Landfill
A majority of Nevada residents responding to a recent survey believe the state of Nevada should continue its efforts to defeat the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and should not negotiate a deal for financial compensation with the federal government. About 65 percent of the 404 residents responding to the survey, conducted on behalf of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, believe the state should continue its fight against Yucca Mountain, while 31 percent believe the state should stop fighting and make a deal with the government...Read More »
Casella Postpones Bond Issuance
Casella Waste Systems Inc. has postponed a $150 million 10-year subordinated note sale because of poor market conditions. Companies that rely on the junk bond market for financing are finding demand for their debt drying up following a rash of corporate accounting scandals and bankruptcies and a precipitous decline in equity prices. The company had planned to use net proceeds, together with borrowings from a new $300 million senior secured credit line, to pay down debt under an existing senior secured credit line...Read More »
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