A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 September 27, 1990

David Sokol resigns as president & CEO of
Ogden Martin Systems on 10-8-90.

David Sokol has worked for Ogden Martin since 1983. Waste Not was informed by Ogden Martin that “Mr. Sokol has gone on to pursue other interests. He will be working with Ogden Projects on a consultancy basis.” Theresa M. Gusman, an analyst for Salomon Brothers, told Waste Not that “there had been speculation that David would resign a few weeks previous to the announcement.” Ogden Projects went public in 1989 and the Ogden Corp. owns 85% of Ogden Projects. Ogden Martin Systems is a division under Ogden Projects, which builds municipal waste incinerators. According to a Wall Street Journal report of 4-5-89 (page B-12) Sokol acted as an advisor to Ogden Martin in their bid for Philadelphia’s 2,250 tpd incinerator. Ogden won the bid and immediately offered Sokol a job. That was in 1983. The Philadelphia incinerator was defeated in June 1988 - see Waste Not #10.

OGDEN CORP. PLANS TO BUY OUT THE BLOUNT ENERGY RESOURCE CORP.

This announcement was made public on October 3rd in Warren County, NJ. According to Dave Rickie of Blount, “We have been in discussion with Ogden Martin about the possible sale of all Blount Energy Resource Corp.” Blount has constructed two operating incinerators: the troubled 400 tpd mass-burn incinerator in Warren County, NJ, which went on line in July 1988, and the 1,000 tpd mass-burn incinerator in Minneapolis, MN, which went on line in October 1989. Both incinerators have recently been tested and found to be in non-compliance with mercury permit limits. Blount has been trying for several years to get permits to build a 710 tpd mass-burn incinerator in Quonset Point, RI, which has been persistently opposed by citizen groups. In 1990 ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. acquired Blount’s Swiss subsidiary, W+E Umwelttechnik AG, and owner of the mass-burn technology that Blount uses in its waste-to-energy plants. In this transaction, Blount, retained the North American license for W+E’s technologies, which include processes for municipal and industrial solid and liquid waste incineration as well as resource recovery technology. When Waste Not asked Dave Rickie of Blount whether the impending buy-out of BERC by Ogden Martin would include the W+E incinerator technology, Rickie said “that was unsure of at this time.” ABB Asea Brown Boveri was created in January 1988 and is “a $25 billion builder of power plants, railroad equipment, and industrial equipment” and has “acquired Westinghouse’s power transmission and distribution business, and all of Combustion Engineering Inc., giving ABB 40,000 employees and $7 billion in sales in the U.S. alone. World-wide, ABB has 217,000 employees in 105 countries.” Wall Street Journal, 10-9-90, page B-12.

Warren County, NJ - 400 tpd mass-burn Blount incinerator. “Adrian M. Foley 3d, manager of special projects for Ogden Martin, said the Fairfield subsidiary of Ogden Projects Inc. hopes to sign an agreement to buy BERC [Blount Energy Resource Corp.] by Nov. 1 and close on the deal by December. He would not disclose the potential price...After two years of burning trash, Warren County’s incinerator sill lacks its five-year operating permit, has been fined by state environmental officials for operating violations and has had trouble with levels of toxic substances in emissions and ash. Even so, Foley said he did not anticipate a problem with purchasing the facility. ‘We think it’s one of the better facilities we’ve seen.’ Foley remarked. ‘This is a good plant, it’s been well-run.” The Star Ledger, NJ, 10-4-90, page 56. Editor’s note: The statement by Adrian Foley that the Warren County incinerator is a “good plant, it’s been well-run” is outrageous! The operating record of Blount’s Warren County incinerator has been notorious. Even Theresa Gusman, an Ogden Martin analyst for Salomon Bros., noted in her comments to Waste Not that the Warren County incinerator has been poorly run. Please note the following. The NJ “Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) levied $180,000 in fines against Warren Energy Resource Co., a division of Blount Energy Resources Corp., of Montgomery, Ala., for violating state air pollution standards...The burner either exceeded the amount of particulates allowed in its emissions or bypassed the emission control equipment -or baghouse- 18 times on 15 separate days between July 11, 1988, and Feb. 9, 1989...According to the DEP, the company also failed to notify the DEP of many of the violations, did not continually monitor the boiler temperature for 57 days, and did not keep records for 134 days. The DEP didn’t count 71 days for which the DEP previously cited the company because it did not keep records. According to the DEP, Warren Energy officials failed to keep records a total of 205 days, or 100% of the time that the plant operated between July 5, 1988, and Jan. 25, 1989. The company was fined $2,000 for each violation...In addition, the DEP fined the company $114,000 for not monitoring and recording the boiler’s temperature, and fined it $26,800 for not maintaining log records. [DEP spokesman, James Staples] attributed violations to ‘technical mishaps or human ones’...” Easton Express, PA, 3-10-89. The Warren County incinerator is sited in the middle of a corn field, taken by the County’s right of eminent domain. Residents have complained bitterly of respiratory problems and odors - only to find that Warren County officials and NJ regulatory officials have abandoned them in favor of protecting this incinerator.

PAST NEWS ITEMS ON OGDEN MARTIN:

Bristol, Connecticut - 650 tpd mass-burn incinerator. In 1987 Ogden Martin agreed to pay Phil Armetta, a garbage hauler from Middletown, a $3 million ‘finder fee’ for “his role in linking Ogden Martin Systems Inc. of New Jersey with Bristol-area communities.” According to a Bristol Press, CT, report of April 23, 1987, Armetta “acknowledged receiving a $400,000 developers fee and $200,000 for the reimbursement of expenses. He will also be paid another $100,000 each year for the 25 years the plant is in operation...Ogden Martin President and Chief Executive Officer David Sokol this morning said, though, that the $100,000 fee will escalate each year as the consumer price index increases...Armetta said the fees stem from work done to get the project off the ground. Armetta said he helped convince Bristol to be the host site for such a plant, helped market the project to the other communities and that brought the vendor in...Sokol said the fees are being borne by the company and not the towns, since the fees are being paid out of Ogden’s construction and operating revenues. He did concede, though, that taxpayers ultimately bear the expense since Ogden’s revenues come from tipping fees paid by the towns from tax revenues...[Sokol] reported that Ogden resource recovery projects in the two other communities where local contacts were employed as middle men involved fee arrangements similar to those made with Armetta. Sokol identified those communities as Tulsa, Okla, and Marion County, Ore...” For a copy of this report, please send a SASE to Waste Not.

Los Angeles, CA: Ogden Martin won the contract to build a 1,600 tpd mass-burn incinerator in Los Angeles. That proposal was defeated in August 1987, and is well documented in the excellent book War on Waste, by Louis Blumberg & Robert Gottleib (publisher, Island Press, 1989). The same authors of War on Waste published, “Citizens take on the Experts” in The Nation, 5-28-90 (pgs. 742-744), and cited the incinerator which would have been “located in a poor black and Latino neighborhood of South Central L.A.” For a copy of The Nation article, please send a SASE to Waste Not.

Marion County, Oregon: 550 tpd Ogden Martin mass-burn incinerator. “...When the Oregon plant couldn’t meet the state’s emission limits for nitrogen oxides, the state raised the limits so it could.” Newsday, NY, 12-13-87.

Waste Not is offering back issues of all newsletters that reported on Ogden Martin incinerators, which include #s 10,23,24,25,26,29,30,31,36,37,52,57,74,81,84,88,90,92,94,105,116. Cost: $15.

Due to an astonishingly small amount of money in Waste Not’s account, we are compelled to raise subscription rates (see below). If anyone can afford a donation, it will be most appreciated.

WASTE NOT # 118 A publication of Work on Waste USA, published 48 times a year, annual rates are: Groups & Non-Profits $50; Individual $40; Students & Seniors $35; Consultants & For-Profits $125; Canadian Subscriptions $US45. Editors: Ellen & Paul Connett, 82 Judson Street, Canton, NY 13617. Tel: 315-379-9200. Fax: 315-379-0448.