Energy Dept. Hopes to Stimulate $8 Billion in Renewable Energy Projects
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new loan-guarantee program that it hopes will provide as much as $8 billion in funding for conventional renewable energy projects in partnership with private lenders. Eligible projects would include those that generate power from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and other conventional renewable sources.
The DOE is funding for the new program, dubbed the Financial Institution Partnership Program, with $750 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enacted in February this year to stimulate the economy. Financial institutions can apply for partial federal loan guarantees in return for sharing in the risks of a project. Until now, the government has focused on applications for projects that use new or innovative technologies...Read More »
Waste Connections to Develop 40-Megawatt Landfill Gas Project
Waste Connections (Folsom, CA) said it has entered into a 25-year contract with DTE Biomass Energy (Ann Arbor, MI) to develop a 40-megawatt landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) project at its Potrero Hills Landfill in Northern California. DTE will convert an estimated 10,000 cubic feet per minute of pipeline quality gas captured from the landfill into enough electricity to power 7,000 nearby homes. "We currently have 17 renewable energy projects either operating or in development that are expected to produce almost 40 megawatts of power and 10,000 cubic feet per minute of pipeline quality gas," said Jim Little, Waste Connections' senior vice president of engineering and disposal, in a press release. "We also have more than 15 additional landfills that either qualify or could qualify for carbon emission credits and potentially be developed into future renewable energy projects." The agreement speaks to the confidence both companies share in the success of a lawsuit filed against Solano County, which hosts the landfill, to invalidate a 1984 measure to limit out-of-county wastes. The county has never enforced the so-called Measure E which would limit out-of-county waste to 95,000 tons, a small fraction of current volumes which would affect the viability of the gas project if ever implemented...Read More »
Silent Partner of Trash Kingpin Gets 15 Months in Prison
In what may be the final chapter in the conspiracy surrounding trash kingpin James Galante, prosecutors announced that Galante's "silent partner" was sentenced to 15 months prison. Thomas Milo, 72, of Mamaroneck, NY is one of the last of 33 defendants originally indicted in connection with the federal probe of the so-called "property rights" scheme whereby Galante and others used mob muscle to exert others in the Connecticut and eastern New York waste business to keep prices high and to not poach each other's customers. Even though Milo also agreed to forfeit ownership in Galante's Automated Waste Disposal and related companies worth $5 million, his sentence is considered lenient given that he cooperated with prosecutors from an early stage. Milo, an alleged associate of the Genovese organized crime family, pled guilty to one count of conspiring to launder money in February 2008. He acknowledged having paid a "mob tax" of approximately $120,000 per year to Matthew"Matty the Horse" Ianniello, a New York man associated with the Genovese family...Read More »
Southern Power to Build 100-MW Biomass Plant in East Texas
Southern Power announced that it will acquire Nacogdoches Power, LLC including a planned, 100-MW power plant to be fueled with biomass from American Renewables, LLC. The plant in east Texas, which is expected to be completed by summer 2012, will burn forest and wood processing residues and clean municipal wood waste in a fluidized boiler to generate steam that will drive a turbine to generate electricity. Electricity from the project is committed through a 20-year, power purchase agreement (PPA) with Austin Energy, the municipal utility of Austin, TX. Southern Power is a subsidiary of Southern Company that acquires builds, manages and owns wholesale generation assets. Southern Power currently owns and operates more than 7,700 MW of natural gas-fueled generation assets in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina...Read More »
FedEx Elects Waste Management CEO David Steiner to its Board
David P. Steiner, CEO of Waste Management, Inc. has been appointed to the Board of Directors of FedEx Corp. as a member of its Audit Committee. "David's proven leadership skills and high level of personal and professional ethics will further strengthen the independence and quality of our Board of Directors," said Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx Corp. Steiner is a Sarbanes-Oxley dream being a lawyer and having served as a Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Counsel for Waste Management before becoming CEO in 2004. Prior to that, he had been a partner at Phelps Dunbar LLP, a New Orleans-based law firm, and was previously an attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He also serves on the board of Tyco Electronics Ltd...Read More »
Smurfit-Stone to Operate Waste Services' Recycling Facility in Hialeah, FL
Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. said it has partnered with Waste Services, Inc. to operate their materials recovery facility in Hialeah, FL. It is the third such arrangement between Smurfit-Stone, which makes containerboard and corrugated packaging as well as operates materials recovery facilities and the Canadian waste collection and disposal company. Smurfit-Stone already operates Waste Services' Taft and Sanford facilities near Orlando, Florida. Smurfit-Stone has been building upon economies of scale and its recycling expertise to the point that it now operates 29 materials recycling facilities in the United States and collected about 6.6 million tons of recyclable materials in 2008...Read More »
Alter NRG Signs Agreement to Develop a 2-MW Plasma Energy Recovery Plant
Alter NRG Corp., which develops plasma gasification energy recovery projects, said it signed an agreement with Dufferin County, Ontario to develop a 2-megawatt, 75 ton-per-day energy recovery facility that is expected to cost $32 million to build. The plant will utilize Alter NRG's Westinghouse Plasma Gasification Technology which uses high temperature plasma energy to convert the waste into a syngas that can be burned cleanly to generate electricity.
Under the agreement, Alter NRG will build and initially operate the plant, while the county will provide waste feedstock for a 20 year period, a serviced site, an initial $200,000 engineering investment, and help in obtaining project financing which is expected in the form of government grants and incentives, municipal and other debt as well as partner equity contributions. Construction is expected to start in late 2010 to have the plant fully operational by late 2012...Read More »
Stericycle Creates Online Tool for Hospitals to Measure Carbon Footprint
Medical waste services company Stericycle, Inc. (lake Forest, IL) has created an online Carbon Footprint Estimator to help its clients, especially hospitals, determine and mitigate their current carbon emissions. The effort is intended to assist clients explore their environmental practices and to make them aware of company services such as using recyclable containers for sharps disposal rather than disposable containers that end up in landfills...Read More »
Republic Services to Report Third Quarter Earnings on Nov. 2
Republic Services, Inc. said it will announce third quarter financial results after the close of the market on Monday, November 2 and host a conference call later that day at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)...Read More »
Covanta to Report Third Quarter Earnings on Oct. 21
Covanta Holding Corp. plans to announce third quarter financial results at the close of the market on Wednesday, October 21 and host a conference call the following day at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time)...Read More »
WCA Waste to Report Third Quarter Earnings on Oct. 28
WCA Waste Corp. said it will announce third quarter financial results after the close of the market on October 28 and host a conference call the following day at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time)...Read More »
Waste Services to Report Third Quarter Earnings on Oct. 27
Waste Services, Inc. plans to release third quarter financial results after the close of the market on Tuesday, October 27 and host a conference call the following day at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time)...Read More »
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