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Pennsylvania American Water
fined for December fluoride spill
The PA DEP
has fined Pennsylvania American Water Co. $25,000 as the result of a December
fluoride
spill at one of its water treatment plants. The company also must implement a
series of
corrective actions to enhance chemical handling procedures and improve public
notification
in emergency situations.
PA-DEP
3/31/06
McCarter & English moves into Boston market
New Jersey's largest law firm is
getting bigger. Newark-based McCarter & English is expected to announce today it
has
reached an agreement-in- principle to acquire the 67-lawyer Boston firm Gadsby
Hannah.
The move gives McCarter a double hit. It adds another office as the firm tries
to establish
a presence up and down the Northeast Corridor, and it provides a conduit into
the Boston
legal market, widely considered one of the nation's most important
Star-Ledger 3/31/06
Biofuel company opens new terminal; credits executive order
New York Governor
George Pataki was on hand Thursday to officially open the first biofuel terminal
in New York.
The governor joined with
Sprague Energy Corp. president John McClellan to turn the valve
which sent soy oil from two 10,000 gallon tanks into a special blending station
at the
company's East Greenbush diesel and heating oil terminal. The terminal serves
customers
in the Albany, N.Y., area as well as western MA and southern VT.
The Business Review (Albany) 3/30/2006
Coalition of environmentalists, energy companies oppose energy fund change
Environmental groups and energy companies are opposed to a New York state budget
proposal that would shift the allocation of renewable energy incentive funds
from the NY
State Energy Research and Development Authority to the annual legislative budget
process.
A coalition of businesses and environmentalists held a press conference
Wednesday at
the State Capital to speak out against this plan.
The Business Review (Albany) 3/30/06
Toll Brothers to open third component plant
Toll Brothers Inc. said Thursday it has
expanded its home-component manufacturing business into Indiana as a way to
serve the
Midwest markets in which it builds homes.
Toll Integrated Systems, a wholly owned
house-
component manufacturing company, will develop a new manufacturing plant in Knox,
Ind.,
and will be Toll Brothers' third manufacturing factory. The Horsham, Pa., luxury
homebuilder
already maintains plants in Morrisville, Pa., and Emporia, Va. The
new plant is expected to
employ more than 200 people by the end of next year. The plant will manufacture
wall panels
and trusses, signature millwork and other home-construction components. Toll
said in a
statement that its ability to take large shipments of lumber and other materials
into its own
plant will help to reduce costs and improve quality.
Philadelphia Business Journal 3/30/06
NJ water supply
regulations subject of convention address
Robert M. Washburn,
of
counsel to Flaster/Greenberg and a current Professor of Law at the
Rutgers University School of Law -Camden, will be a featured speaker on
Thursday, April 27, at 1 p.m. at the 2006 Atlantic Builders Convention
(ABC). His seminar, titled “Water Supply Issues in New Jersey” will be
presented jointly with Joseph J. Hochreiter, CGWP -- a principal
scientist
for Senior Environmental Consulting, LLC of Yardley, PA. The ABC,
an
event of the New Jersey Builders Association (NJBA), is being held in
Atlantic City, NJ at the Convention Center, April 26-28. Washburn also
will serve as moderator of two ABC panel discussions on April 27:
“Legal Trends -- Part I, Land Use Law” at 9 a.m., and “Legal Trends
-- Part II, Environmental
Law” at 11 a.m. Washburn's practice includes general real estate and development
matters,
including utility law, land use, real estate contracts and financing,
syndications, homeowners
association and condominium law, land use litigation, legislation and ordinance
drafting and
review, Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act registrations, and
appearances
before municipal bodies and administrative agencies. Washburn is a life member
of the
New Jersey Builders Association Board of Directors, and is General Counsel to
the Builders
League of South Jersey. 3/28/06
Calgon Carbon restates earnings
Calgon Carbon Corp. said Monday it will have to
restate financial results for three quarters in 2005 due to $1.4M in legal
invoices that were
not recorded in a timely manner. An
investigation by the Pittsburgh-area company's audit
committee determined that its general counsel was the party responsible for not
recording
the invoices. As a result the general counsel, which Calgon Carbon did not
identify, is no
longer with the company.
Pittsburgh Business Times 3/28/06
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Sunoco to pay Honeywell $95
million in price manipulation A federal judge
ordered
Sunoco Inc. to pay Honeywell International Inc. $95 million, upholding an
arbitrator's decision
that Sunoco had manipulated the price of a chemical. Last fall, an arbitrator
found that Sunoco
had engaged in a "dishonest" breach of a contract by negotiating an inflated
price with a third-
party buyer of single barges of cumene. The chemical is used to make phenol,
which in turn is
used to make nylon. That allegedly inflated price was then used as the benchmark in calculating
the price for phenol, the arbitrator found. Inquirer 3/23/06
Largest tire recyclers sought
Recycling Today magazine is assembling information to publish
an updated version of its list of the 20 largest tire recyclers in North America
in its April 2006 issue.
The magazine’s staff is asking any
readers involved in tire recycling who think they may belong on
this list to contact editor Brian Taylor at
btaylor@gie.net to
request a copy of a brief form to qualify
their company for the list. Companies are being asked to provide a passenger
tire equivalent (PTE)
figure for the number of tires recycled in 2005.
Recycling Today
3/21/06
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Brogan takes over at DLA's Philadelphia office
Litigator James Brogan has been named
Philadelphia office managing partner of
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. The 3,000-attorney firm
has 54 lawyers in its Philadelphia office at One Liberty Place. Brogan succeeds
William Kiniry,
who has been responsible for the firm's growth in the city -- largely done
through lateral additions
from large, city-based firms -- over the past decade. Firm officials said
Kiniry, also a litigator, would
continue as a partner and "focus on global firm initiatives."
Philadelphia Business Journal 3/21/06
New DVD seeks to counter anti-wind power arguments in New York
Trieste Associates,
a Saratoga Springs environmental education and public relations company, has
produced and is
distributing a 17-minute pro-windpower DVD. The DVD is being sponsored by
Reunion Power, UPC
Wind, and Everpower Renewables -- companies involved in New York's growing wind
power business.
The purpose of the video, titled "New York Wind," is to counter some of the
arguments being made
by opponents of wind farms, according to Trieste Associates owner Marion
Trieste. These include
turbine noise, safety issues, the impact of wind turbines on bird migration
routes, and the negative
impact of hundreds of windmills in the rural landscape. "We need to set the
record straight on wind
power and the positive gains that are before us," Trieste said.
The Business Review (Albany) 3/21/06
Veteran exec to lead American Water
American Water, the nation's biggest water company,
yesterday named Donald Correll chief executive in a move that will put an
experienced leader at the
helm at a time when its parent is seeking to sell the U.S. unit. Voorhees, NJ-based
American Water
employs about 1,300 people in NJ and is also the state's largest water utility,
serving more than 2M
(or 600,000 customers) in 176 communities throughout the state
Star-Ledger 3/21/06
American Water announces new leader The
company announced today that it has named
Donald L. Correll president and CEO, effective April 17. Correll will replace George MacKenzie,
who has served as the Voorhees, N.J., company's interim president and CEO since
Jan. 1.
MacKenzie will remain on American Water's board of directors. Correll is
president and CEO of
Pennichuck Corp., a Merrimack, N.H., water utility. He has held those
positions for three years.
Prior to joining Pennichuck, Correll was chairman, CEO and president of United
Water of Harrington
Park, N.J., where he spent 25 years in various roles.
Philadelphia Business Journal 3/20/06
Foster Wheeler Appoints Troy Roder
Foster Wheeler Ltd. announced today
that,
effective March 1, 2006, W. Troy Roder has been appointed president and chief
executive
officer of Foster Wheeler USA Corporation (FWUSA), part of the Global
Engineering and
Construction (E&C) Group. Mr. Roder reports to Umberto della Sala, chief
executive officer
of Foster Wheeler's Global E&C Group.
Foster Wheeler 3/16/06
More law firms raise pay for new associates
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis
became the latest Philadelphia law firm to raise first-year
associate salaries Thursday,
moving from $115,000 to $125,000, effective July 1. Firm management also decided
to
increase the salaries of other associate classes in all of its seven offices by
$10,000
and said a select number of senior associates will be considered for increases
on a
case by case basis.
Philadelphia Business Journal 3/16/06
Thomas Edison State College and PSE&G offer
new science degree program
Thomas Edison State College and PSE&G
have developed the nation’s first baccalaureate
degree program in energy utility technology, a program designed to help the
energy industry
meet labor shortages expected over the next 15 years. The 120-credit Bachelor of
Science
in Applied Science and Technology degree in Energy Utility Technology at Thomas
Edison
State College has a curriculum that focuses on the technical core competencies
integral to
the utility industry and the principles of business and management. The program
leverages
PSE&G training and builds on the associate degree programs in energy utility
technology
the company has helped to develop and implement at Mercer County Community
College,
Essex County College and Middlesex County College.
PSEG 3/15/06
Hybrid car rebates going, almost gone, in Pa. for fiscal year
Demand for Pennsylvania's
hybrid-electric vehicle rebates will soon outpace funding, the DEP announced
Thursday. To date,
more than $1.3 million in rebates has been awarded from the $1.5M allotted for
the 2005-06 fiscal
year. The state expects to run out of funding in April. An additional $1M will
become available at
the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1.
Philadelphia Business Journal 3/10/06
GE, Department of Energy to collaborate on offshore wind
turbine GE Global Research
in Niskayuna, NY announced it has entered into a $27M partnership with the U.S.
Department of
Energy to design a next-generation offshore wind turbine. GE said the turbine
will be optimized for
minimal cost of energy but is expected to be between 5 megawatts and 7
megawatts. GE is touting
the planned new wind turbines as being "one of the most powerful wind turbines
in the world." GE's
revenue from wind power projects topped $2B last year.
The Business Review (Albany) 3/10/06
"Environmental Protection and Land Use, Balancing Green
Policy and Politics" is
the title of a feature article in the January 2006 issue of the New Jersey
Reporter magazine written
by Michael Catania, a former environmental bill writer (think: Pinelands
Act, Spill Fund) in the NJ
Legislature's Office of Legislative Services and a former Deputy Commissioner at
the New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection. Catania is now president of
Conservation
Resources Inc.
The article provides his view of the environmental challenges and opportunities
that face the new
Corzine administration including:
the future of smart growth;
appropriate use of eminent domain;
effective regulations to discourage inappropriate
development;
preserving open space and farmland;
stewardship of public lands;
and the fate of Petty’s Island. Read the
entire article
here. 3/9/06
Langan Engineering opens new office in Las Vegas
Langan Engineering and Environmental
Services is proud to announce the opening of its eighth and newest office in Las
Vegas, Nevada,
where Langan has been providing geotechnical engineering and deep foundation
consulting services
since 1998. “Client responsiveness, along with our technical excellence and
practical experience,
define who we are and what we do. To increase our responsiveness and meet the
needs of our growing
client base, we are expanding our presence in Las Vegas,” according to Rudolph
P. Frizzi, P.E.,
a Principal with the firm. Langan’s new office, in the heart of town at 3900
Paradise Road, Suite 183,
will be managed by Michael E. McGettigan, P.E., who will be assisted by several
seasoned engineers
who have relocated to the new location. Mr. Frizzi and Roger A. Archabal, P.E.,
a Senior Associate,
will continue their involvement with Las Vegas projects having done so since the
firm first began working
in the region. Sonia H. Mimoso will lead the office’s marketing and business
development. Founded in 1970,
Langan has its headquarters in Elmwood Park, N.J. Other offices are
located in New York City; Miami, FL;
Philadelphia and Doylestown, PA; New Haven, CT; and Trenton, NJ.
With over 540 employees, Langan is
one of the country’s fastest growing consulting firms and is ranked by
Engineering News Record as 110
among the top 500 engineering firms, up from 174 in 2001. Industry information
experts ZweigWhite
named Langan one of the “Hot Firm 100 A/E/P Design Firms” in the United States.
For more information
about Langan and its Las Vegas office, contact Rudy, Roger, Mike or Sonia at
702-415-2040. 3/9/06
Aqua America subsidiary announces upgrades
Aqua Pennsylvania Inc. said Tuesday it
plans
to spend more than $76M this year upgrading its water systems in Bucks, Chester,
Delaware and
Montgomery counties. The amount is part of $136M that the largest subsidiary of
Aqua America Inc.
plans to spend this year upgrading water systems in PA.
Philadelphia Business Journal 3/8/06
Direct Energy enters upstate New York market
Direct Energy Services LLC of Stamford,
Conn.,
has become the latest energy retailer operating in New York state. The company
announced Tuesday
that it is supplying power to customers in the National Grid (formerly Niagara
Mohawk) territory, which
includes much of upstate New York, as well as Orange and Rockland counties and
the downstate
Consolidated Edison territory.
The Business Review (Albany) 3/8/06
BASF extends Engelhard offer
The stalemate continues between New Jersey-based Engelhard and
BASF, the big German chemical maker trying to acquire Engelhard. In a
statement, BASF said yesterday
it is "disappointed" it has been unable to reach a confidentiality agreement
with Engelhard to discuss
financial details. BASF also said it has extended the deadline for its cash
tender offer of $37-per-share until
March 17 from a previous deadline of Friday.
Star-Ledger 3/7/06
Flaster/Greenberg shareholder to address affordable housing regulations
Carl S. Bisgaier
will be a featured speaker at the Atlantic Builders Convention on Thursday,
April 27. His seminar, titled,
“In the Trenches at COAH (Council on Affordable Housing)” will be presented
during the three-day
New Jersey Builders Association convention, to be held April 26-28 at the
Atlantic City Convention Center.
Bisgaier, who received a Life Achievement Award from Legal Services of New
Jersey for his efforts in
Mount Laurel affordable housing litigation, represents major commercial and
residential developers
throughout the State of New Jersey in connection with real estate transactions,
applications for zoning,
land use approvals, real estate litigation, and affordable housing. 3/7/06
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