Weekly News Bulletin: Oct. 16-22, 2006

 

Oshkosh Truck, Owner of McNeilus, to Buy JLG Industries for $3 Bil.

Oshkosh Truck (NYSE: OSK), which owns the McNeilus brand, is buying JLG Industries (NYSE: JLG) for $3 billion. JLG makes scissor lifts and other aerial work platforms in what is described as a late-cycle or stable business segment. Oshkosh hopes the transaction, which will nearly double the company's annual revenue, will help stabilize its more cyclical business which is making a variety of specialty commercial, fire and emergency and military vehicles...Read More »

 

 

Van Eck Global Introduces Environmental Services Index Fund

New York-based investment advisor Van Eck Global has introduced an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the fast-growing environmental services sector. The fund, called Environmental Services ETF (EVX) will track the newly created Amex Environmental Services Index (AXENV), which is primarily comprised of well known waste management and environmental service companies...Read More »

 

 

Shortage of Waste Disposal to Drive the Need for Waste-to-Energy Plants in Europe

According to a new report by industry consultant Frost & Sullivan, Waste-to-Energy markets are in the midst of a renaisance in Europe where the market reached $1.8 billion in 2005 and is expected to reach $2.7 billion by 2010. Several factors have been cited: a shortage of landfill space and more aggressive landfill legislation against increasing waste volumes and rising energy prices are leading countries "to revisit waste management strategies and develop more cost-effective, sustainable solutions...Read More »

 

 

English Municipal Authorities Reject US Navy "Ghost Ships"

English municipal authorities in Hartlepool have rejected a British firm's plans to dismantle several of the US Navy's rusting "ghost ships" at its Graythorp yard. The firm, Able UK says that it will appeal the decision, especially since three of the vessels are already on site. For its part, the firm claims that the multimillion dollar contract will bring over 700 jobs to the town and create a world-class ship recycling facility...Read More »

 

 

Michigan Waste from Canada Issue Still Hot in Election Season

The Michigan waste issue continues to resonate politically despite a deal to stem Canadian waste imports. That deal was struck by Michigan senators (both democrats) Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin whereby Toronto officials agreed to phase out waste exports by 2010 in exchange for the Senators' agreement not to pursue legislation in Washington that would have added a $420 Homeland inspection fee to every waste truck entering the US. Stabenow's republican challenger to Mike Bouchard charges that the deal is evidence of Stabenow's "do-nothing" status in Washington and will do little to stem the flow of imported commercial and industrial wastes which go unaddressed...Read More »

 

 

Apex Mayor Demands More Disclosure on Chemicals in the Blaze

Apex, NC Mayor Keith Weatherly last week demanded an exact accounting of the chemicals inside the warehouse that exploded on October 5, 2006. The owner of the warehouse, The Environmental Quality Co., released a somewhat limited 19-page inventory. That list includes toxic heavy metals such as mercury and lead, benzene, potassium cyanide, and pentachlorophenol. Also present were various chlorinated compounds including vinyl chloride...Read More »

 

 

Rep. Reyes Calls for Hearings into Asarco, EPA Settlement

Recently revealed information has lead Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) to ask for a congressional hearing and investigation of allegedly illegal disposal of military hazardous wastes at Asarco Inc.'s El Paso copper smelter and other facilities during the 1990s. The now bankrupt US copper company, Asarco, was fined $20 million by the US EPA in 1999 because it had been pretending to recycle metals while actually burning hazardous waste...Read More »

 

 

Louisville, Kentucky: "Kicking Butts and Taking Names"

Louisville Kentucky Mayor Jerry Abramson "is serious about eliminating litter of all forms." He has just launched an appropriately named campaign entitled "Kicking butts and taking names" primarily aimed at cigarette liter that constitutes some 30% of the debris collected from streets, sidewalks and parks...Read More »

 

 

Lancaster County Solid Waste Joins the Chicago Climate Exchange

The Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA) announced that it is the first public environmental services organization in the US to become a member of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), North America's only, and the world's first, voluntary, legally binding multi-sector market for reducing and trading greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions...Read More »

 

 

Conference on Renewable Energy, BioFuels, Anaerobic Digestion in Minneapolis Oct. 30

BioCycle Magazine invites you to attend its Sixth Annual BioCycle Conference on Renewable Energy From Organics Recycling in Minneapolis, MN, from October 30 - November 1, 2006...Read More »

 

 

SCS Appoints Dr. Brad Peebles Project Director in Newly Created Palm Beach Office

SCS Engineers (SCS) said that J. Bradbury "Brad" Peebles, PhD, CEP, joined the company as a Project Director in the firm's environmental services practice in Florida and will oversee environmental projects for industrial and government clients throughout the country...Read More »

 

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