Weekly News Bulletin: Feb. 20-26, 2003

 

Waste Renewal Systems Begins Talks With Canadian Cities

Xtreme Companies (OTCBB: XTRE) has announced that its subsidiary, Waste Renewal Systems, Inc., is in talks with the Canadian cities of Hamilton and Toronto to provide alternatives for their rapidly increasing municipal solid waste problems. WRSI's technology converts solid waste into a valuable renewable resource through its thermo-reduction process, a non-burning technique. The process also handles waste without creating harmful residues. The technology is designed to work in conjunction with a landfill and can extend the life of the landfill while providing an additional source of revenue to the Canadian cities...Read More »

 

 

Waste Connections Reports Fourth Quarter, Year-End Earnings

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE: WCN) has announced fourth quarter earnings of $.47 per share on 32.6 million shares. The total includes approximately $1.3 million in expenses related to a labor dispute in the Pacific Northwest and $.3 million of pre-tax expenses involved in moving from the NASDAQ to the NYSE. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2002 was $131.3 million, a 30.3 percent increase over revenue of $100.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2001. Revenue for the full year was $498.7 million, a 32.1% increase over revenue of $377.5 million in 2001...Read More »

 

 

Utah Landfill Bill Stalls Amid Criticism

Republican leaders of the Utah Senate have taken control of a controversial landfill bill that critics blasted as a monopoly protection act for the state's largest commercial trash disposal facility. Supporters of the bill called it a matter of fairness to the ECDC landfill in Carbon County, which has had difficult times of late and wants potential competitors to play by the same rules it does. The original goal of the bill would both require legislative and gubernatorial approval of future landfills contracting with local governments, and also impose a 50-cent-per-ton state fee on all such facilities. But the bill would have blocked some potential ECDC competitors while grandfathering in others-the Solitude Landfill near Green River and the Promontory Point landfill in Box Elder County...Read More »

 

 

Waste Management Releases 2002 Financial Results

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WMI) has announced financial results for its fourth quarter and for the year ended Dec. 31, 2002. Revenues for the quarter were $2.81 billion, as compared with $2.79 billion in the year-ago period. Net income reported for the quarter was $236 million, or $0.39 per share, compared with $158 million, or $0.25 per share, for the fourth quarter 2001. For the full year 2002, Waste Management reported operating revenues of $11.14 billion, compared with $11.32 billion in 2001...Read More »

 

 

Greenpeace Protests Australian Incineration Policies

Nongovernmental organizations have testified at Australian Senate hearings into Australia's relationship with Papua New Guinea and the Pacific region that government policies are failing to appropriately deal with the biggest environmental challenges facing the region. Greenpeace officials have welcomed Australian government funding for a strategy to deal with persistent organic pollutants in the region. However, Greenpeace is critical of the proposal in a report by the government's aid agency AusAid, recommending that the wastes be incinerated. "At a time when Australia is actively seeking to reduce the number of medical incinerators and has banned the development of high temperature incineration for POPs waste, it seems incongruous to say the least, for an AusAid report to propose incineration for other Pacific island states," Greenpeace submitted...Read More »

 

 

States Threaten Lawsuit Against Bush Administration

Seven states have threatened to sue the U.S. government to force a crackdown on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The move comes in response to the Bush administration's policy of asking companies to voluntarily control pollution. Attorneys general from New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington said the Environmental Protection Agency should update its list of pollutants to include carbon dioxide, contending the greenhouse gas traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming...Read More »

 

 

Pennsylvania Landfill Will Briefly Take Sludge Overflow

The Pioneer Crossing Landfill in Exeter, Pa. will be permitted to accept more sludge, on a temporary basis. The decision came after Exeter officials learned that the company's sludge composting facility, A & M Composting in Lancaster, had its 6-acre building collapse from heavy snow last week. The building was processing 40,000 cubic feet of sludge, which now must be moved. J.P. Mascaro and Sons in Harleysville, the company that owns the landfill and composting facility, proposed Pioneer Crossing be one of four landfills taking the sludge. Mascaro officials said the removal would cost the company $12.5 million because the sludge has to be moved before insurance claims can be processed...Read More »

 

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