Virginia's SPSA Considers Sale of Regional Landfill in Suffolk

Date: February 24, 2011

Source: News Room

Virginia's troubled Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA), a consortium of eight municipalities in that part of the state, is said to be exploring the sale of its regional landfill, according to an article in The Virginian-Pilot. "We're moving to a major strategic decision: Do we sell the landfill?" said Tim Oksman, city attorney for Portsmouth and a SPSA board member. The possible sale of the landfill would help remedy the agency's ongoing debt and management crisis, which peaked two years ago when the agency nearly went bankrupt having revealed that it was buried in $240 million worth of debt and faced a budget shortfall of $16 million. It has since instituted reforms, cut expenses and tried to streamline its operations. Last year, SPSA sold its waste-to-energy plant in Portsmouth to Wheelabrator Technologies, a division of Waste Management, for $150 million. Today, the landfill is receiving just 10 percent of the volume taken in four years ago, with most waste going to the Portsmouth plant and the result of the economic downturn. Meanwhile, SPSA is pressing ahead with a planned $52 million landfill expansion that if approved, would make the landfill more attractive to prospective buyers.

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