Sims Group to Buy Metal Management for $1.49 Billion
Sims Group Ltd., the world's biggest recycler of scrap metal, is buying U.S.-based Metal Management Inc. for $1.49 billion in stock which equates to $57.75 per share and represents an 18% premium. Buying Metal Management will give Sims control of about 13% of the U.S. metal-recycling industry and more than 200 operations on four continents. Sims Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Sutcliffe has been buying rivals, including New York-based Hugo Neu Group, to expand and gain more control over scrap prices...Read More »
Stora Enso Exits North American Market with Sale to Cerberus Capital
Finnish pulp and paper company Stora Enso is selling its factory holdings in North America to NewPage, the paper industry subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management, LP for $2.52 billion. NewPage is paying $1.5 billion cash, assuming $200 million notes and $450 million in debt. Stora Enso will be left with a 19.9% interest in the new entity to be called NewPage. It will comprise 12 paper mills with an estimated annual production capacity of 4.75 million tons. In 2006, NewPage and Stora Enso North America's combined pro forma sales and EBITDA were some $4.3 billion and $525 million, respectively...Read More »
Waste Management To Add 60 Renewable Energy Facilities Within Five Years
As part of its previously announced initiative to develop 60 new landfill gas (LFGTE) projects over the next five years, Waste Management recently added two more. Both projects would be in South Carolina where the company already has projects in Elgin and Wellford. Together, they generate 16 MW of electricity or enough to power 15,000 homes annually. The new projects will draw gas from company landfills in St. George and Ridgeland. The company previously said that it expects to spend $400 million to develop some 60 projects which are expected to generate 700 MW of electricity or enough to avoid the burning of 8 million barrels of oil per year. With a portfolio of 281 landfills, the company is strongly positioned to continue innovating LFGTE where it already has 20 years of experience. LFGTE projects are prized for their ability to provide dependable base load power, in contrast to the intermittent nature of other renewable energy sources...Read More »
Manhattan Judge Clears the Way for Upper East Side Transfer Station
New York Upper East Siders' objections to a new marine transfer station have been summarily rejected by a Manhattan judge. New York County Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman ruled in favor of the city's Department of Sanitation (DSNY) plan to reconstruct a new marine waste transfer station at an existing site on East 91st Street which is a component of Mayor Bloomberg's comprehensive 20-year solid waste management plan for the entire City. That plan, largely replaces the City's existing truck-based waste export system with a barge and rail system that ships waste in sealed containers. It was approved by the City Council by a vote of 44-5 on July 19, 2006. Plaintiffs in the case accused the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) of giving "rubber stamp" approval to DSNY transfer station projects alleging a failure of due process and equal protection...Read More »
Oklahoma DEQ Moves to Shut Down North Tulsa Landfill
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is at war with the North Tulsa Sanitary Landfill for allegedly failing to submit an approvable plan for a new disposal cell as part of a previous consent order. The landfill alleges that the agency failed to exhaust all administrative remedies before seeking to close it. An Oklahoma County district judge ordered the landfill to close and denied a request to stay that action. The Oklahoma Supreme Court recently declined to stay the lower court's decision...Read More »
Allied Waste to Power 225 Trucks on Biodiesel
Allied Waste Services is converting its entire 225-truck fleet in San Mateo County, California to locally sourced biodiesel fuel. By converting from 80,000 gallons of petroleum diesel each month to clean-burning B20 biodiesel blend, Allied says it will reduce its local carbon footprint by more than 3.3 million pounds each year—the equivalent of taking more than 315 cars off roads or providing energy to more than 650 homes each year. The fuel will come from Energy Alternative Solutions of Watsonville, California, which produces a biodiesel from locally-based renewable resources. The high-quality fuel can be used in any diesel engine without modification, and has superior lubricating properties that will prolong engine life and reduce maintenance costs...Read More »
Georgia Landfill to Produce 1.4 Billion Cubic Feet of Gas per Year
A new public-private partnership has developed a $25 million landfill project in Georgia that is expected to yield as much as 1.4 billion cubic feet of gas per year when it becomes operational in February, 2008. Jacoby Energy Development Inc. says that it has an agreement with Waste Management, DeKalb County and Atlanta Gas Light Co. to recover and clean methane from the Live Oak landfill, which closed in 2004. Located on the south side of Atlanta, the 130-acre landfill accepted 1.2 million tons of wastes per year during its 19-year life. Jacoby plans to sell the gas to marketing companies while paying down a tax-free loan provided by the county's development authority. This is only the ninth such project in the country to pump methane through a commercial pipeline. Other landfill gas projects typically burn the fuel at the landfill to create electricity or pipe it to dedicated sites for use...Read More »
Three Fourths of Companies Expect to Spend More on Environmental Programs
A recent survey of corporate executives finds that 77% anticipate spending more on environmental programs. Most believe that corporate responsibility programs can positively impact their business and help achieve strategic goals, according to a survey of more than 500 business executives conducted by Grant Thornton LLP. 50% expect to allocate more to social responsibility programs and 45% will spend more on economic/governance initiatives. Respondents cited tax incentives, customer support, and innovative technologies driving the trend...Read More »
Ze-gen Expands Management Ranks with New Finance Chief
Boston-based renewable energy from waste company Ze-gen is adding to its ranks. The company has lured John P. Harper, previously a founder and principal of Birch Tree Capital, LLC, to join as Vice President of Finance & Treasurer. Harper seems ideally suited to the task with over 20 years of experience in financing clean and traditional power generation and other infrastructure projects where he has structured the financing for utility-scale and community clean power projects involving a variety of technologies, including wind, photovoltaic, biomass, land-fill gas and cellulosic ethanol...Read More »
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