Sept. 24, 2001 Issue 542

Rebekah A. Hall

The Waste Age Wire is an e-mail newsletter from the Waste Age magazine staff, designed to provide you with a quick view of news, events and upcoming magazine topics. For in-depth news coverage, visit WasteAge.Com. Compiled by Rebekah A. Hall

IN THIS ISSUE:

Opinion Poll

News:

- NRC Postpones Conference Until January

- Waste Management Lawsuit Settled

- Hi-Rise Reports Lower Quarterly Revenues

- EPA Plays Integral Cleanup Role

- Waste Management Provides Cleanup Assistance at Disaster Sites

- Unstable Foundation at WTC Site May Hinder Progress

Newsbriefs: Acquisitions, Agreements, etc.

Events

Highlights from Waste Age's September issue

For continuing news coverage of the waste industry’s role in the national tragedy, visit www.wasteage.com

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OPINION POLL:

The cost of my business insurance is:

a) increasing significantly; b) increasing modestly; c) not increasing at all; d)other

E-mail your comments to: [email protected].

All comments are subject to publication. Please include your name, city, state and company.

NEWS:

NRC Postpones Conference Until January

Alexandria, Va. -- The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) has decided to move its Annual Congress and Exposition to Jan. 13-16, 2002, in Seattle. The conference originally was scheduled to be held Sept. 30 -Oct. 30, 2001, and the NRC initially said it would hold the conference as planned. But in the past week, "because of both the emotional reactions and logistical problems resulting from the [Sept. 11] terrorist attacks, a number of moderators, speakers and exhibitors were either unable or unwilling to participate" at the originally scheduled date, says Paul Baldridge, NRC president.

The Washington State Convention and Trade Center, and the Sheraton Hotel have agreed to move NRC's conference to the new dates, and NRC is working with other hotels on the date change as well.

All registrations and exhibitions will automatically be moved to the January dates without penalty. The NRC also will release an additional program update and registration form with a new registration deadline.

A new cancellation policy for people who have already registered but are unable to attend at the new dates is being developed and will be distributed in the next few days.

For more information, visit www.nrc-recycle.org/changedate.htm

Waste Management Lawsuit Settled

Wilmington, Del -- A Delaware judge has approved Houston-based Waste Management Inc.'s agreement to settle a derivative shareholder lawsuit by providing $24.6 million of four former officers' benefits to the company rather than to shareholders.

At issue were allegations by shareholders that the four former officers were responsible for an earnings shortfall in 1999 and had participated in insider trading. The officers will give up $8.1 million in severance payment and about $16.4 million in other benefits.

Hi-Rise Reports Lower Quarterly Revenues

Miami -- Hi-Rise Recycling Systems Inc. has reported revenues for the quarter ended June 30, 2001, of $14.2 million, compared with revenues of $18.3 million for the same quarter last year. Net loss was $6.1 million, compared with net income of $21,000 for the same quarter last year.

EPA Plays Integral Cleanup Role

New York -- The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been given up to $83 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help with cleanup activities and monitor environmental conditions in lower Manhattan.

The EPA is working closely with federal, state and local officials, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to help with cleanup methods for hazardous materials and site monitoring.

But the EPA's primary concern, according to a statement issued by Administrator Christie Whitman, is to ensure that rescue workers and the public are not exposed to elevated levels of potentially hazardous contaminants in the dust and debris in and around the disaster area. To that end, the agency has provided dust masks and has suggested authorities keep site debris wet to avoid airborne dust that can lead to or aggravate respiratory problems.

Waste Management Provides Cleanup Assistance at Disaster Sites New York and Arlington County, Va. -- Houston-based Waste Management Inc. has provided screening equipment to New York and debris-transporting assistance to the Pentagon in the wake of the terrorist attacks last week.

In New York, the company has donated portable screeners to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the New York Police Department (NYPD) to ease the sifting and sorting process. "They were [sifting through evidence] by hand before," says Sarah Voss of Waste Management. She adds that the company still is standing by in New York to provide assistance if needed.

At the Pentagon, plans are underway to transport debris from the tragedy to a landfill in King George County, Va. Waste Management is working with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and surrounding communities to ensure their full support to use the landfill. "It has been very well received so far," Voss says.

Unstable Foundation at WTC Site May Hinder Progress New York -- The World Trade Center towers reached six stories below ground level, incorporating a shopping center and subway station, among other things. As workers dismantle the wreckage from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, they are finding instability issues with the WTC's basement walls.

According to an ABCNews.com report, most of the soil surrounding the WTC site originally was a landfill, some of it trash and dirt dating back to the time of the American Revolution.

The trash originally was dumped into the Hudson River to give New York City more room. Consequently, the original shoreline of the river runs directly under the WTC site.

If nothing has been holding the containment wall up from the inside, some engineers fear the soil and nearby river will try to push the wall over. Now, some members of the team that constructed the towers 30 years ago are working on how to take it apart safely. One theory is to anchor the wall with thousands of steel cables, drilled deep into the ground.

NEWSBRIEFS: Acquisitions, Agreements, etc.

Acquisitions

- ENSR International, Westford, Mass., has acquired selected assets of McLaren-Hart/Jones (MH/J) Environmental Consulting from J.A. Jones, Charlotte, N.C.

- Peterson Pacific Corp., Eugene Ore., has acquired Blo-Tech Systems, Eugene, Ore.

Agreements

- Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., and Trimble, Sunnyvale, Calif., have announced plans to form a joint venture to develop and manufacture advanced electronic guidance and control products for earthmoving machines in the construction, mining and waste industries. The companies are working toward a definitive agreement to begin operations on the venture by early next year.

- The Industrial Business Area of Mettler Toledo Inc., Columbus, Ohio, and Measurement Systems International (MSI), Seattle, have formed an agreement allowing Mettler-Toledo to distribute MSI’s products through their sales, service and distributor channels.

Alliances

- Arrow Truck Sales Inc., Kansas City, Mo., has allied with Heil Environmental Industries Ltd., Chattanooga, Tenn., to become an exclusive nationwide aftermarket provider of dump bodies for Arrow’s used trucks.

Contracts

- Foster Wheeler Environmental Corp., a division of Foster Wheeler Corp., Clinton, N.J., has been awarded a worldwide environmental remediation and construction contract by the U.S. Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE), Brooks Air Force Base, Texas.

- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Washington, D.C., has awarded Intelligent Optical Systems, Torrance, Calif., a $750,000 Phase II contract to continue developing "smart" sensor toxic waste remediation monitoring technology.

- Metcalf & Eddy, Wakefield, Mass., has been awarded a Response Action Contract (RAC) extension from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region I for site remediation in New England.

EVENTS

November 27-30, 2001

Environment Japan 2001

Chiba City, Japan. Contact: Jerry Mayeroff for the Japan External Trade Organization, 401 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 660, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Phone: (773) 761-0868.

November 28-29, 2001

Business Energy Solutions Expo

Orlando, Fla. Contact: The Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). Fax: (770) 381-9865. Website: www.aeecenter.org/bese.

December 3-6, 2001

14th International Conference on Site Remediation and Environmental Management

Orlando, Fla. Contact: Paul Reneau, Gas Technology Institute (GTI), 1700 South Mount Prospect Road, Des Plaines, Ill. 60018-1804. Phone: (847) 768-0780. Fax: (847) 768-0501. E-mail: [email protected].

December 4-7, 2001

17th Annual Pollutec International Exhibition of Environment Equipment, Technologies and Service for Industry

Paris-Nord Villepinte, France. Contact: Emmanuelle Cade, International Trade Exhibitions in France Inc., 1611 North Kent Street, Suite 903, Arlington, Va. 22209. Phone toll-free: (888) 522-5001. Fax: (703) 522-5005. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.pollutec.com.

IN WASTE AGE'S SEPTEMBER ISSUE:

Features:

- Waste Age 100: Our annual ranking of private waste management companies.

- Truck & Body Report 2002: Waste Age's 22nd annual digest of the latest garbage trucks.

- Keeping It Cool: New software and management techniques can help reduce methane and minimize greenhouse gases.

Business Trends:

- Squeezing Money out of Debtors

- Landfill Rides on a Performance-Based Contract

- Companies Shuck Health Insurance Costs

Business Briefs:

- Labor Department Seeks To Improve Squashed Ergonomics Rule

- Old Process Aims To Convert Tires into New Oil

- Federal Appeals Court Upholds Flow Control in New York

Columnists:

- Profiles in Garbage: Batteries, by Chaz Miller

- Circular File: Whose Capacity?, by Chaz Miller

- EIA: DOT Upholds Medwaste Hauling, by Alice P. Jacobsohn

- Legal: Stealth Litigation Upheld, by Barry Shanoff