DOJ Requires Allied, Waste Management To Divest Assets
The U.S. government is requiring Waste Management and Allied to divest commercial waste-hauling and disposal assets in order to proceed with an asset sale. The department says the transaction, as originally proposed, would have led to higher prices for waste collection or disposal in certain metropolitan areas. The areas are Pitkin County, Colo.; Garfield County, Colo.; Augusta, Ga.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Morris County, N.J.; Bergen and Passaic counties, N.J.; and Tulsa and Muskogee, Okla. Under the decree, Waste Management must divest waste collection operations in Pitkin County, Garfield County, Augusta, Myrtle Beach, Morris County, and Bergen and Passaic counties. Waste Management also will be required to divest waste disposal operations serving Bergen and Passaic counties. In addition, Waste Management will abandon its purchase of Allied's waste collection assets and Porter Landfill in Tulsa...Read More »
Connecticut Institutes New Mercury Emissions Law
Connecticut Gov. John Rowland has signed into law legislation establishing stringent new mercury emissions for the state's coal-fired power plants. The legislation is the first in the nation to regulate mercury emissions from power plants. The law requires coal-fired power plants in Connecticut to achieve either an emissions standard of 0.6 (six-tenths) lbs. of mercury per trillion Btu (0.6 lb/tBtu) or a 90% efficiency in technology installed to control mercury emissions. It is anticipated the new standard, which is effective in July, 2008, will result in up to a 92% reduction in the mercury emissions rate at the Bridgeport Harbor station. Applying the Connecticut standard nationally could achieve up to an 86% reduction in emissions from coal-fired power plants...Read More »
Weston Solutions Becomes Completely Employee-Owned
Weston Solutions, Inc. has announced that financing has been completed to make Weston a 100% employee-owned company. This completes the final stage of the company's recapitalization strategy, years earlier than planned. The transaction was financed by a $25 million subordinated debt facility provided by American Capital and another lender, Allied Capital, and a $47 million senior credit facility provided by Fleet Capital, Weston's existing senior lender. Since becoming a private company in 2001, WESTON has seen continued improvement in profitability, growth, and financial stability...Read More »
Waste Management Will Lay Off 800
Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WMI) will cut 800 white-collar jobs, or 3.3 percent of its work force, as cost-saving software applications replace labor. The move follows the company's layoff of 970 employees in March. Waste Management, which was embroiled in an accounting scandal five years ago, said it will take a $20 million pretax charge in the second quarter ending June 30 for severance and related costs. It said the cuts would result in an estimated $20 million in 2003 pretax cost savings and $50 million annual savings...Read More »
US Ecology Inc. Will Appeal Ward Valley Landfill Decision
US Ecology, Inc. is appealing a March 2003 decision in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Diego denying the company's monetary damages claim against the State of California. US Ecology filed the suit following the state's abandonment of the Ward Valley low-level radioactive waste disposal project after earlier issuing a license to the company in 1993. In March 2003, American Ecology announced that in light of the trial court's ruling, it was writing off the entire $21 million deferred site development asset then carried on its balance sheet for the Ward Valley project...Read More »
Nuclear Fears Cause UAE To Ban Scrap Metal Imports
The United Arab Emirates has banned the import of scrap metal for two years to keep out any radioactive materials looted from Iraq's nuclear complex. The UAE was a main trading partner with Iraq before U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's government in April. Looters plundered the Tuwaitha nuclear complex, about 16 miles south of Baghdad, in the war's aftermath. Radioactive and toxic material is now scattered around the area, experts say...Read More »
Michigan DEQ Takes Closer Look At Wayne Landfill Expansion
Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality is asking Wayne County to rethink its decision to allow the Countywide Landfill to expand. The county, however, is going to leave the final decision up to the state. DSC Countywide Landfill was granted approval to pursue a business plan that included expansion last year, much to the dismay of area environmentalists and many political leaders. But county officials said they would not revisit the decision, since doing so could invite legal action. The landfill is owned by the Detroit Steel Corp., which reopened the site in 1997 after McLouth Steel closed it a year earlier during bankruptcy proceedings...Read More »
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