A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY
13617 315-379-9200 April 26, 1990
PENNSYLVANIA: CITIZEN FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM PUBLIC MEETING
IN
FALLS TOWNSHIP, BUCKS COUNTY.
The Proposal for Falls Township, Bucks County
Wheelabrator 2,250 tpd mass-burn incinerator
Waste Management Inc. 15,500 tpd ash monofill to be located
on banks of Delaware River
(even though incinerator will contribute only 600 tpd of ash)
Consultants: Konheim, Ketcham & Killam
On April 12 the Falls Township Board of Supervisors held a special
meeting to vote on the preliminary permits for a 2,250 tpd Wheelabrator
incinerator. Minutes before the meeting was called to order Aaron
Stutland, vice-chairman of the B-Pure citizens group,
asked a police officer if he could speak to the chairwoman Holly
Moyer. The police officer granted his permission and Aaron approached
Mrs. Moyer to ask if more chairs might be brought in or if people
could be seated on the floor who could not fit into the room.
Mr. Moyer signaled the police officers to remove Aaron. Two
policemen took him by the arms and removed him to a holding cell.
He was held there for the duration of the public meeting, without
charges. He was not permitted to use the telephone. He was prevented
from participating in any way in the meeting. According to B-Pure
(Bucks People United to Restore the Environment): This
action by the Police Department of Falls Township with the concurrence
of the Chairperson of the Board is the culmination of a
steady erosion of our constitutional rights in Falls during the
discussions on the Wheelabrator incinerator. Recent meetings
have seen severe restrictions on public comment and tactics such
as reducing the number of seats available to the public. We cannot
allow police-state methods to develop for the purpose of preventing
people from using their right of free speech and participation
in the government of a free society. For more information
contact Bucks People United to Restore the Environment, 215-946-3699.
WASTE MANAGEMENT INC. NOW HAS 55 PERCENT INTEREST IN WHEELABRATOR.
Waste Management Inc. said it will gain majority
control of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., in a $500 million
transaction that analysts called complementary to both companies.
The acquisition of the majority stake will provide Oak Brook,.
Ill.-based Waste Management - that nation's largest collector
of municipal garbage - with enhanced technology and waste-processing
capabilities. Wheelabrator is a Hampton, N.H.-based developer
and operator of waste-to-energy facilities. Under an agreement
announced Monday, Waste Management will increase its Wheelabrator
holdings to 55% from the current 22% through an exchange of
stock. The pack also allows Waste Management to name a
majority of Wheelabrator directors. Terms of the pact
call for Wheelabrator shareholders - other than Waste Management-
to exchange each of their shares for 0.469 Waste Management
share and 0.574 Wheelabrator share. Waste Management
would issue about 15.2 million common shares, giving the transaction
a value of about $521.7 million at Monday's closing price.
The proposed transaction is 'one of those rare transactions that's
clearly a good deal for both parties,' said Shearson Lehman Hutton
analyst Barry Mannis. Wheelabrator, he said, is giving
up equity in exchange for access to Waste Management's
growing recycling technology, medical-waste service and international
ventures. Waste Management, which last year had revenue
of $4.46 billion, said its European waste-service operation has
annual revenue of about $400 million. Wall Street Journal,
4-4-90, page C-17.
ABB ASEA BROWN BOVERI LTD. BUYS COMBUSTION ENGINEERING.
...Combustion executives were dazzled by the speed
with which ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd., the world's largest
electrical engineering company, agreed to buy their company last
November for nearly $l.6 billion. The deal was struck in six
weeks, a sharp contrast to Combustion's six months of fruitless
efforts to negotiate a cooperative venture with Alsthom S.A.
of France earlier in the year...The Combustion deal
was the biggest in more than 50 acquisitions since 1988 that have
transformed ABB into an enterprise with more than $25 billion
in sales and 220,000 employees in 140 countries. With the Combustion
takeover and last year's acquisition of the Westinghouse Electric
Corporation's power transmission business, over $7 billion
of ABB's revenues and 40,000 employees are now based in
the United States....In the advance guard of the integration are
scores of task forces assembled in January from equal numbers
of Combustion and ABB executives. The power equipment
companies, for instance, set up 12 groups dealing with topics
such as the nuclear power business, boilers, power plant automation,
worldwide manufacturing strategy and coordination of research
and development... New York Times, 5-6-90, page
F-5.
ABB ASEA BROWN BOVERI LTD. BUYS BLOUNT'S INCINERATOR TECHNOLOGY.
1-4-90: Blount Inc. has found a buyer for W+E Umwelttechnik
AG, its Swiss subsidiary and owner of the mass-burn technology
that the Montgomery, Ala., construction company uses in its waste-to-energy
plants. ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd., the growing energy
conglomerate based in Zurich, agreed to acquire the firm last
month for an undisclosed amount...W+E, which developed
the horizontal grate that it uses in mass-burn furnaces, handles
all of Blount's waste-to-energy sales and development outside
North America, and has about 45 projects in Europe and Japan.
Blount will continue to hold the U.S. license for W+E's
technologies, which include processes for municipal and industrial
solid and liquid waste incineration as well as resource recovery
technology...An ABB executive says that the addition of
W+E's well-established incineration technologies and engineering
capabilities will allow the firm to offer complete turnkey solutions
to its waste handling customers...A Blount official said
that while the sale of W+E can be seen as a step away from resource
recovery, Blount is negotiating a long-term licensing arrangement
with ABB for the Western Hemisphere, including South America..ABB
is in the power generation industry, including transmission and
distribution and transportation. It also supplies environmental
technologies, such as flue gas cleaning to the waste handling
market. [ABB Executive V.P. Edwin Somm] said the W+E
acquisition includes a new ash handling process that reduces residual
ashes and transforms them into an environmentally safe product...
untitled Dow Jones document, 1990.
GOOD PLANETS ARE HARD TO FIND! An environmental
information guide, dictionary, and action book for kids (and
adults) prefaced with remarks from Dr. David Suzuki. This a wonderful,
easy to read, A-Z learning tool on what we should all know in
order to take good care of our environment. The A-Z definitions
include the most important concepts we all have to understand
such as acid rain, biodegradable, CFC's, clear-cut, compost, diversity,
food chain, Gaia, hazardous waste, landfill, nuclear waste, ozone,
PCBs, to recycling 80%. Included in the definition for hazardous
waste: ...Either scientists must learn how to break down
hazardous waste into non-poisonous substances, or we must stop
using the products that make hazardous waste... Under landfills:
...In some areas, garbage is burned in large incinerators.
Burning garbage creates air pollution and, after it is burned,
more than 20% of it is left as ash that must still be disposed
of in a landfill. This ash is a hazardous waste... Written
especially for our youth the illustrations and definitions are
superb. Available from: Namchi United Enterprises, PO
Box 33852, Station D, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6J 4L6. Telephone
604-736-6931. Single copies are $7 (US) post paid. Postage-paid
bulk rates ($US) are: 10 copies @ $5.50 each; 25 copies @ $5
each; 50 copies @ $4.50 each; 100 copies @ $4 each; 200 copies
@ $3.50 each; 300 copies @ $3.25; 500 copies @ $3 each; and 1000
copies @ $2.75 each.
GENERAL ELECTRIC: The new owner of the Blount-built
Minneapolis incinerator held its annual stockholders meeting in
Erie, Pa, on April 25, 1990. At the meeting stockholders
rejected the following:
l. A proposal for an annual list of G.E officers who served
the government within the past five years.
2. A proposal aimed at stopping GE from marketing nuclear power
technology.
3. A proposal that called for modification of products that release
chlorofluorcarbons
4. A proposal that would have required GE to outline to stockholders
its environmental policies.
WASTE NOT # 100 A publication of Work on Waste USA, published
48 times a year, annual rates are: Individual & Non-Profits
$35; Students & Seniors $25; Consultants & For-Profits
$100; Canadian Subscriptions $US40. Editors: Ellen & Paul
Connett, 82 Judson Street, Canton, NY 13617. Tel: 315-379-9200.
Fax: 315-379-0448.