Republic Allied Deal Now More Likely in Current Environment
Waste Management which has proposed to buy rival Republic Services for $6.73 billion now says "that the current credit market environment made acquisition debt more expensive and a transaction less attractive to Waste." These were the words of Waste management CEO David Steiner in a telephone call to Republic CEO James O'Connor as reported in a recently filed S4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Steiner went on to say that Waste Management "continued to be interested in acquiring Republic" and "would continue to monitor the credit market and other conditions impacting a possible acquisition of Republic." He said "Waste would continue to pursue clearance of its antitrust filing with the Department of Justice." He also "expressed an interest in buying any assets that would be divested as a result of a Republic-Allied combination, if the Republic-Allied merger went forward." Most industry analysts including Leone Young of Citigroup, Brian Butler of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey and David Feinberg of Goldman Sachs say that a Republic-Allied deal now appears more likely than a Waste Management-Republic combination...Read More »
NRC Postpones Decision Whether to Allow Italian Nuclear Waste into Utah
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is postponing a decision on whether to allow EnergySolutions to import nuclear waste from Italy for disposal at its Tooele County facility in Utah. The NRC is awaiting a ruling in federal court over whether the eight-state "Northwest Compact" has jurisdiction to block the planned waste imports. EnergySolutions argues that only the federal government can regulate it as a private enterprise engaging in international business and that the compact lacks authority to regulate low-level nuclear waste. Lawyers for the compact argue the opposite: that Congress set up the regional waste program to control the flow of all low-level radioactive material in and out of the eight-state region. Under a contract that has been in effect since 1991, the compact has permitted EnergySolutions to operate a low-level waste site within compact boundaries, but foreign waste was never specifically allowed. Members in Congress have taken notice. Democratic Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah and Bart Gordon of Tennessee recently introduced legislation to ban most foreign waste...Read More »
Waste Management to Help Others Develop Landfill Gas
Waste Management, which is the nation's largest landfill owner and developer of landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) will use its expertise to help others develop similar projects. The company's third-party LFGTE development team recently broke ground on a 1.4-megawatt LFGTE facility at the municipally owned Madison County landfill near Syracuse, NY. Last year, the company pledged to add 60 more LFGTE projects to its existing portfolio of 112 projects by 2012. That will give them 700 megawatts of generating capacity collectively...Read More »
Sims Group Buys Large Tampa, FL-based Electronics Recycler
Scrap metal giant Sims Group Limited recently acquired Tampa, FL-based Global Investment Recovery Inc., an electronics scrap recycler with operating facilities in Florida, South Carolina, Nevada, Louisiana and Arizona. The acquisition will increase Sims' North American electronics recycling and asset recovery market presence by approximately 40%, consolidating its market leading position. Jeremy Sutcliffe, Sims' Executive Director said: "The GIR acquisition is a tremendous addition to Sims Recycling Solutions' North American business and will be a significant contributor to our growth strategy in the region."...Read More »
Senators Praise Passage of Recycling Investment Saves Energy (RISE) Act
U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Representative Melissa Bean (D-IL) praised the inclusion of their legislation, the Recycling Investment Saves Energy (RISE) Act, in the tax extenders package signed into law last week. It provides tax breaks to encourage investment in recycling and creates energy savings by allowing investors to claim accelerated depreciation for the purchase of equipment used to collect, distribute, or recycle a variety of commodities such as paper, plastic and glass. A wide group of organizations supported the legislation including the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, the American Beverage Association, the Glass Packaging Institute, the National Recycling Coalition and the Solid Waste Association of North America...Read More »
Hasta La Vista to Recycling Theft in California
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a law to fight recycling theft. The legislation, AB1778, requires junk dealers and recyclers to pay by check and obtain identifying information from people who turn in more than $100 worth of California redemption value (CRV) containers or $50 worth of newspapers. The measure had been opposed by scrap dealers and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) on the grounds that it discourages recycling, puts an undue burden on dealers, and would do little to discourage malfeasance. The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Abel Maldonado said it "simply requires scrap metal dealers to abide by the same rules that apply to pawnshop dealers." The law goes into effect on January 1, 2009. Violators will be subject to fines of up to $5,000...Read More »
WCA Waste acquires Advantage Waste Services in Missouri
WCA Waste Corp. announced its acquisition of Springfield, Mo.-based Advantage Waste Service, a deal which includes two hauling operations and a transfer station, though details of the transaction were not disclosed. Advantage adds 15 routes in southwestern Missouri which increases to 70 WCA Waste's total in that market. "This acquisition strengthens our position in one of the company's long-established and proven markets," said Tom Fatjo, chairman of WCA Waste, in a press release. "Operationally, it will allow us to improve efficiencies by increasing route density and internalizing volume of our existing landfills." WCA Waste operates 24 landfills, 22 transfer stations and material recovery facilities, and 28 collection operations in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas...Read More »
Waste Pro Partners with SP Recycling at Florida Facility
Waste Pro USA Inc. said it is partnering with SP Recycling which will operate Waste Pro's new Bradenton / Sarasota materials recycling facility (MRF) co-located with the company's new trucking and customer services facility in Manatee County. The operation allows both company's to achieve greater economies-of-scale and offer additional commercial and residential recycling programs in the area. The alliance follows a similar arrangement between Advanced Disposal and Smurfit-Stone announced for its Jacksonville facility last week...Read More »
Casella Waste Operates New Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project in NY
Casella Waste Systems opened a 4.8 megawatt gas to energy facility at its Hyland landfill in Angelica, NY. It is Casella's fourth gas-to-energy project and is expected to produce enough electricity to power 5,000 homes. "The Hyland facility is now another strong example of how we're working to leverage our existing assets as well as traditional waste streams to create incremental revenues through a resource transformation business strategy," said John W. Casella, Chairman and CEO...Read More »
Laidlaw Berlin and PSNH Reach Bio-Power Purchase Agreement
Laidlaw Berlin BioPower LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Laidlaw Energy Group Inc. said that Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH) has agreed to purchase all of the power produced by the company's biomass-fired power plant in Berlin, New Hampshire for the next 20 years. The Berlin facility, which cost $100 million to develop and is a retrofit of the existing Fraser Paper pulp mill, will generate as much as 66 MW through the burning of 700 thousand tons of wood chips per year. Laidlaw estimates that the facility will directly employ about 40 people and generate 500 jobs in the region indirectly...Read More »
SCS Engineers Acquires RJR Engineering
SCS Engineers acquired Houston, Texas-based RJR Engineering, Ltd. which also provides environmental engineering, consulting and construction services to clients in the solid waste industry. The engineering practice of the new SCS Houston office will continue to be led by Jeffrey K. Reed, P.E. and James Roy Murray, III P.E., who bring a combined experience of approximately 50 years of diversified environmental engineering experience...Read More »
Allied Waste to Report Third Quarter on October 29
Allied Waste Industries Inc. will report third quarter financial results after the close of the stock market on October 29 and host a conference call later at 5 p.m. (Eastern)...Read More »
Republic Services to Report Third Quarter on October 31
Republic Services plans to announce third quarter financial results via internet broadcast on Friday, October 31 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern)...Read More »
Waste Connections to Report Third Quarter on October 21
Waste Connections said it will report third quarter financial results after the close of the market on October 21 and host a conference call the following day at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern) to discuss those results...Read More »
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