Industries Worry about New Superfund Financial Rules
A wide range of industry groups are concerned that EPA could require them to acquire financial assurance (clean-up insurance) against their facilities becoming Superfund sites, arguing the rules would be redundant and possibly illegal. EPA announced late last year that it intends to develop the rules for the chemical, petroleum and coal industries along with electric power generators, mining companies and solid waste landfills. It was primarily a response to a lawsuit filed by environmentalists that argued EPA is required to develop such rules under section 108(b) of the Superfund law.
Solid waste facilities would conceivably have to acquire financial assurance under Superfund that would be in addition to current requirements and despite their not managing any hazardous wastes. Last week, The National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) filed comments opposing the proposal. They argued that EPA should narrow any new responsibilities "to those facilities that are not already covered by RCRA financial assurance requirements. In addition, because [municipal solid waste] facilities (i.e., landfills, transfer stations, and recycling operations) no longer accept or manage hazardous waste, these facilities should not be required to acquire [Superfund] financial assurance."...Read More »
Waste Connections 1Q Revenue and Profit Jump
Waste Connections (Folsom, CA) said first quarter revenue jumped 17 percent to $307.5 million from $262.7 million in the year ago period. Net income grew to $27.6 million or $0.35 per share (based on 78.7 million shares) from $22 million or $0.27 per share (80.8 million shares) last year. Chairman and CEO Ron Mittelstaedt attributed the strong showing to a combination of positive organic growth, strong recycled commodity prices, and acquisitions that helped the bottom line. "We returned most of our free cash flow in the quarter to stockholders through the repurchase of approximately 2 percent of outstanding shares and remain well positioned with one of the strongest balance sheets in our sector to fund additional growth opportunities."...Read More »
Republic to Pay for $20 Million Landfill Cap in Vegas
Republic Services will invest $20 million in a project to cap a long closed landfill near Las Vegas, NV. Flood waters had destroyed part of the original cap in 1998. However, disagreement over the extent and cost of the liability, estimated be as much as $70 million, prevented action until now. Work on the 440-acre Sunrise Mountain Landfill is expected to begin this summer and culminate in 2012. The US EPA recently approved engineering plans for the permanent cap and drainage system...Read More »
Advanced Disposal Buys Fore Recycling on Gulf Coast
Advanced Disposal Services Inc. (Jacksonville, FL) has acquired Fore Recycling, a recycling company that operates in the Gulf Coast area of Mississippi and Louisiana. It is Advanced Disposal's third acquisition in less than two months. In March the company acquired assets of Trash Prince Inc., which does business in and around Fort Meade, FL, and before that, Excel Waste Services, with a C&D recycling operation in Nashville, TN. That had followed its acquisition of Waste Removal Services LLC in Nashville only a month earlier. In January the company said it had about $80 million available for acquisitions after having refinanced its credit facility...Read More »
New York City Proposal to Expand Recycling
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn introduced legislation to improve and expand the city's recycling program, its first significant change since its inception in 1989. Among many goals, it would expand plastic recycling beyond types 1 and 2 to include all rigid containers; expand public space recycling bins from 300 to 700 bins within 10 years; require DOS to establish a textile recycling program; require improved leaf and yard waste composting, and improved recycling at city schools and city agencies. More importantly, the law would replace tonnage mandates with percentage diversion goals to avoid the penalty caused by decreasing volumes. And, it would mandate improved enforcement, outreach and education, and in true bureaucratic fashion, require more studies and reports...Read More »
WCA Waste Opens New Landfill Gas to Energy in Kansas
WCA Waste Corp. (Houston, TX) has begun operating a 1.6 megawatt landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) project at its Oak Grove Landfill in Arcadia, KS. The company partnered with Enerdyne Power Systems, Inc. (Matthews, NC) to build the project that will be operated by new entity Oak Grove Power Producers LLC. Kansas City Board of Public Utilities is purchasing the electricity, which will be enough to power about 1,000 homes, for which it will receive all renewable energy credits. The site features a 2,300 horsepower, 20 cylinder Caterpillar, 3520 Generator, which has been altered to accept landfill gas...Read More »
Rumpke Sees Return on $6 Million Recycling Plant Upgrade
Rumpke Consolidated (Cincinnati, OH) has begun operating its recycling plant in St. Bernard following a $6 million upgrade. The newer single-stream facility employs rotating disks, optical sorters and computer's to monitor the system's speed and efficiency in real time. The facility is already twice as efficient and productive as its predecessor and is expected to sort 50 tons per hour once fully operational. The system can now recover 97 percent of all materials that enter the facility. Before, it was 93 percent. (The industry average is 90 percent). This will be crucial since during the six months of the plant's conversion, the company baled and warehoused more than 10,000 tons of material to be processed once the new plant came on line. The company says that its next mission is to educate the public about the 60 percent of waste currently discarded in the trash that could be recycled instead...Read More »
Industrial Services of America Expects Big First Quarter
Industrial Services of America (Louisville, KY) announced that it expects first quarter earnings to be in the range of $0.39 to $0.42 per share on revenues of between $72 and $75 million. That compares with last year's first quarter earnings of $0.18 per share on revenues of $24.2 million. CEO and founder Harry Kletter said "We continue to operate on all cylinders as our stainless operation continues to expand and our shredder is running near full capacity." The company's recycling division has begun operating its new 150,000 square foot building for processing stainless steel and high temperature alloys...Read More »
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