Today's Top Stories EnviroBusiness News
Enviro-Events Calendar
Free Trial
Home Page
EnviroPolitics
Free, 30-day Trial Subscription
A daily compendium of
environmental and political news and information
EnviroBusiness News….
November 2006
PSEG Fossil reaches
agreement with state, federal regulators on Hudson Station coal unit
PSEG Fossil, a subsidiary of PSEG Power, said today
it has reached agreement with state and federal regulators on an amendment to
its 2002 environmental Consent Decree that will achieve the emissions reductions
targets of this agreement while providing more time to assess the feasibility of
installing additional advanced emissions controls at its coal-fired Hudson Unit
2 in Jersey City.
PSEG news release 11/30/06
Construction companies donate Saratoga wetlands to
conservation group Belmonte Builders and Bonacio
Construction have donated 15 acres of wetlands and woods in a housing
subdivision in Saratoga Springs, NY that will serve as a nature preserve and
help buffer the Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail. The land is located along Stony
Brook Road in the Meadowbrook subdivision on the east side of the city. The
donation was required by the Saratoga Springs planning board during the
permitting process for the fourth phase of the subdivision, which has 30
building lots.
The Business Review (Albany) 11/29/2006
Bayonne terminal sold
A Canadian pension fund has agreed to buy the Global
Terminal in Bayonne and three other container terminals from a Hong Kong-based
shipping company. Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund will pay $2.35 billion to
Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. and assume $60 million in debt. The deal,
which also includes New York Container Terminal on Staten Island and two
terminals in Vancouver, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of
2007, pending regulatory approvals.
Bergen Record 11/28/06
Highstar acquires Interstate
Waste
Interstate Waste Services Inc., a privately held
municipal trash hauler that operates in
Bergen County, NJ
was acquired on Monday by private equity firm
AIG
Highstar Capital II, according to a statement issued by the purchaser
Bergen Record 11/28/06
LeBoeuf, Lamb closing Pittsburgh office The
international law firm based in New York City, said it will close its Pittsburgh
office in January 2007. LeBoeuf opened the office in 1993 as part of an
arrangement with
Alcoa Inc.
to handle the aluminum giant's litigation work. Alcoa on Monday confirmed
it has moved its litigation work to
Hunton & Williams LLP, Richmond, Va.,
Pittsburgh Business Times 11/27/06
Alcan sells Millville, NJ-based company
Alcan Global Pharmaceutical Packaging, a division of Montreal, Canada-based
aluminum maker Alcan (NYSE: AL) that makes products for pharmaceutical
companies, announced the sale of its Millville-based Wheaton Science Products
businesses to a private equity investment firm. The investment firm, River
Associates Investments of Chattanooga, Tenn., will operate the newly formed
company called Wheaton Industries. The corporation will have four divisions
serving researchers and biotechnology markets for services such as diagnostic
and chemical reagent packaging and the conversion of glass tubing into
laboratory apparatus. Wheaton’s management and River Associates said in a
statement that “the Wheaton businesses are strong and growing. There are plans
to invest in and accelerate the growth of the business to realize its full
potential.”
NJBIZ
11/27/06
Airgas to spend $495M for bulk gas business
Airgas Inc.
said it will buy the
BOC Group's U.S. bulk gas business for $495M in
cash. Airgas of Radnor, PA, is buying
the business from
Linde AG of Wiesbaden, Germany, which was
required by the
Federal Trade Commission to sell it as part of
its acquisition of the BOC Group. BOC is based in Windlesham, England. The
operations Airgas (will buy have about 300 employees and generated $154 million
in revenue last year. Airgas will get eight air-separation plants and related
bulk gas business.
Philadelphia Business Journal 11/27/06
Pittsburgh-area manufacturers building a green future
While Western PA has drawn national attention for
having a plethora of green buildings, the energy-efficient components that make
up those buildings have flown largely under the radar. But as more and more
environmentally sensitive buildings take shape around the world, local
manufacturers are preparing to cash in. The Green Building Alliance, a nonprofit
that advocates for green construction, launched an initiative this month to
heighten awareness among local manufacturers of the multibillion-dollar market
available in green building.
Pittsburgh Business Times 11/27/06
EPA Seeks public comment on
draft grant guidelines for underground tank inspections
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has released for public comment draft grant guidelines that
will establish requirements for inspecting underground storage tank systems.
States will have to meet the requirements to comply with provisions of the
Energy Policy Act of 2005. EPA worked with states and other partners to develop
the grant guidelines and, when final, will incorporate them into grant
agreements between EPA and states, which help states implement the tank program.
EPA will accept public comments on the draft guidelines until Dec. 22, 2006.
EPA's Web site provides the public with the draft guidelines, as well as details
about how and where to submit comments. Draft grant guidelines on inspection
requirements:
http://www.epa.gov/oust/fedlaws/epact_05.htm#Drafts
11/22/06
Head of PSEG outlines the future
E. James Ferland, chairman, president and CEO of
Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc., told stockholders Tuesday management was
not just marking time for most of the
last two years when the energy company tried, but failed, to merge with Exelon
Corp.
Gannett 11/22/06
> PSEG to staff up to 600 jobs by next year
Star-Ledger 11/22/06
Four new development zones in Pennsylvania
Four new strategic development zones will be created
in Pennsylvania that will provide tax incentives to businesses that commit to
investing and creating jobs in the zones, according to legislation signed today
by Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday. Two zones will be established in the southwestern
portion of the state, a third in the Lehigh Valley and a fourth in a region yet
to be determined. Senate Bill 854 is modeled after the state's Keystone
Opportunity Zone.
Pittsburgh Business Times 11/21/06
The road to commercial fuel cells is long but so tempting
Three years ago, Frank Slattery and
his team at
Franklin Fuel Cells visited a gas station in South Philadelphia, applied
gasoline directly from
a pump to one of their patented, copper-ceria fuel cells and waited to see what
happened. Then they
watched as the 10-centimeter cell converted that gas to energy without producing
any byproducts other
than water.
Philadelphia Business Journal 11/20/06
Foreign wind-power companies take in the Pennsylvania air
Politicians are well known for generating
a lot of wind, but under Gov. Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania is becoming well known
for it, too. The state's wind
farms are capable of generating 153 megawatts of power, the second-highest
capacity among states east
of the Mississippi River and 13th nationwide.
Philadelphia
Business Journal 11/20/06
Clean Power Markets deal fertilizes Enerwise's growth
Philadelphia Business Journal
11/20/06
Alternative energy companies in NY prepare
for 'banner' year
Business Review (Albany) 11/20/06
Contaminated properties now easier to clean
up, sell A
number of recent regulatory changes
are providing both "carrot" and "stick"
incentives for public corporations to address idle or "mothballed"
facilities
with environmental liabilities. New accounting rules will force companies to
include the cost to remediate environmental liabilities on their books. On the
other hand, new programs and technologies
make it easier
to sell property with environmental contamination for remediation and
redevelopment,
thereby avoiding some
of these costs.
Business Courier (Cincinnati) 11/20/06
PA Supreme Court justice joining Phila. firm
Cozen O'Connor
said Friday that Pennsylvania
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman will step down from the bench at the
end of the
year to join the law firm as head of its more than 50-lawyer appellate practice
group.
She will also
head up a yet-to-be-formed alternative dispute resolution practice group and
work mainly out of the
firm's West Conshohocken, Pa., office.
Philadelphia Business Journal
Legal
Intelligencer 11/17/06
Legal pros
.jpg)
offer
tips to business owners on complying with environmental regulations
Members of a legal and engineering
panel advising business on complying
with federal and state environmental
regulations at a Nov. 15 seminar
sponsored by the NJ Business &
Industry Association are, from left:
David Brogan, NJBIA; Patrick Mottola,
Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus; Toby
Hanna, Environmental Resources
Management, Inc.; John McKinney, Jr.,
Wolff & Samson; Edward Hogan, Norris
McLaughlin & Marcus, and Steve
Barnett, Connell Foley.
(A. J. Sundstrom Photos)
A second panel addressing Site Remediations/
Brownfields, Land Use and NJDEP Regulation,
at right, are, from left, David Brogan, NJBIA;
Wolfgang Skacel, Assistant Commissioner for
Compliance & Enforcement, NJDEP; Neil Yoskin, Sokol, Behot & Fiorenzo, William
O'Sullivan,
Director of Air Quality, NJDEP, and
Neil Rivers, Project Manager, Langan
Engineering &
Environmental Services.
Calgon Carbon says it needs time to study patent decision
A Pennsylvania water filtration
technology manufacturer said on Thursday that it will need time to study a
decision by a Canadian
federal court that invalidated one of its patents. Robinson Township based
Calgon Carbon Corp.,
which manufactures activated carbon and systems that use ultraviolet light to
purify water, has
been battling competitors in U.S. and Canadian courts over its patent for using
ultraviolet light to
control cryptosporidium. The bacteria can be fatal to persons with suppressed
immune systems.
In July, a U.S. District Court in New Jersey invalidated the same patent under
pressure from three
of Calgon Carbon's competitors, including Wedeco, a division of ITT Industries
Inc.
Pittsburgh Business Times 11/17/06
PSE&G again named America's most reliable
electric utility
This is the second year that the
utility, the largest in New Jersey, was named the nation’s most reliable
electric utility, and the fifth year
that it garnered the regional award.
PSEG News Release 11/16/06
New Jersey Farm Bureau elects 200-2007 officers
At
their 88th Annual Meeting held
Nov.
13-14
at the Somerset Marriott in Somerset,
NJ, members of the New Jersey Farm Bureau elected,
from left, Tom Byrne, 1st VP; Richard
Nieuwenhuis,
President; Steven
Jany, Treasurer, and Ryck Suydam,
2nd VP. Among those addressing the farmers were
NJ Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperus,
Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula and Dr. Robert
Goodman, Executive Dean of the Rutgers School
of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The Farm
Bureau, which represents agricultural producers and
enterprises at all levels of government, is located at
168 West State Street in Trenton. The organization's
Executive Director, Peter Furey, was saluted during
the convention for his 25 years of service. 11/15/06
(Gabor Grunstein Photo)
Philadelphia, Chicago law firms merge
Drinker Biddle & Reath said Monday it
had completed
a long-discussed merger. The
Philadelphia firm merged with Chicago's 200-lawyer Gardner Carton &
Douglas. Drinker Biddle Chairman Alfred Putnam said both firms approved the deal
by partnership
votes over the course of the past two weeks. The deal, which has been under
discussion since March,
will become official Jan. 1 with the firm being known as Drinker Biddle & Reath
in all markets but
Chicago and Milwaukee, where the firm will be called Drinker Biddle Gardner
Carton for one year.
Philadelphia Business Journal 11/13/06
K&LNG attorneys on
nanotechnology's business opportunities, regulatory challenges
Nanotechnology–the deliberate engineering of particles that are too small for
the eye to see in order
to create matter that has different properties than those at the conventional
scale–has come of age.
There are reportedly over 300 consumer products world-wide that contain some
nanomaterials. This
technology is present in products ranging from cosmetics (like sunscreen), to
pollution remediation
technologies, to semiconductors. Global sales of
nanomaterials could exceed 1 trillion dollars before
2015. As with other scientific advances, this one may not fit neatly into
current regulatory regimes
designed to protect humans and the environment from
a wide range of risks. This Alert gives a
snapshot of how nanotechnology is currently regulated,
and some of the issues that will be faced
regarding how it may be regulated in the future.
K&LNG Environmental Alert
GM considers $21M investment in NY facility
General Motors is considering placing
additional work in its Tonawanda Powertrain engine plant. Spokeswoman Doris
Powers Toney
confirmed that GM is considering a $21 million renovation "for the purpose of
modernizing engine
lines and volume for possible new work." GM has applied to the Erie County
Industrial
Development Agency for a $21M incentive package for use in purchasing new
manufacturing
equipment and upgrading the 600,000 square-foot building at the River Road
plant.
Buffalo Business First 11/13/06
Fiberglass maker turns to new system to cut gas costs
A fourfold increase in the price
of natural gas since 2001 has pushed Paul Lierheimer, president of Fiber Glass
Industries, Inc.
in Amsterdam, NY, into taking a risk he wouldn't have considered before.
(Albany) Business Review 11/13/06
PA firm creates first-of-its-kind
environmental lab
An environmental lab in Harmarville,
PA is adding a new technology that will make it the first commercial lab of its
kind in the country.
Microseeps Inc., which was founded by former
Gulf Oil Co. employees in 1984, is spending
$500,000, or about 15 percent of its annual revenue of $3.4M, on a new system
that will allow it
to perform compound-specific isotope analysis of various chemical
compounds. The
process will
allow environmental engineers to determine the elemental make up of fuel and
chemical spills and
determine how best to treat them in the field. The lab's certification also will
allow engineers to use
the testing data in court as admissible evidence in forensic investigations that
are attempting to
determine the sources of toxic spills.
Pittsburgh Business Times 11/13/06
Singley joins Wolf Block firm
Carl Singley, the outspoken and
influential friend-turned-foe to
Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street, has joined
the
Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen
law firm as
counsel five months after leaving
Blank Rome. Singley, 60, the former dean of
Temple University's
Beasley School of Law, said he left Blank Rome
because he no longer wanted to practice full time
and thought he would return to
teaching. But he said he was recently approached by Wolf Block
partner Alan
Kessler and Chairman Mark Alderman and was given an opportunity to practice law
while working on business development, special projects, diversity issues and
the firm's government
relations subsidiary. Singley maintained a
three-decade-long friendship with Street until shortly after
the mayor was
elected to office in 1999. The two had a falling out and Singley supported
Street's
Republican opponent, Sam Katz, when the mayor ran for re-election in
2003.
Philadelphia Business Journal
11/7/06
NRG Energy, Inc. submits bid proposing IGCC technology at
Huntley Plant
The company
submitted a
bid--in response to the New York Power Authority (NYPA)'s request for
proposal--to build
an innovative, 680 net megawatts (MW), Integrated
Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant at its
Huntley facility in western New
York. NRG said its bid is fully aligned with New York's energy and
environmental
policy objectives, including reducing carbon dioxide emissions through the
Advanced
Clean Coal Power Plant Initiative launched earlier this year by the
Governor's Office of Regulatory
Reform. The proposed plan also reflects that NRG
has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding
with El Paso Corporation to
explore carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in the Northeast, with an
initial
focus on western New York. IGCC is a process that involves converting coal to a
synthetic gas,
removing the pollutants--sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and
mercury--as well as potentially carbon dioxide
(CO2), from the synthetic gas
before combustion. The cleaned synthetic gas is then used in a combined
cycle
gas plant in order to generate electricity. The NRG IGCC plant will have the
ability to capture up
to 65 percent of the carbon dioxide produced.
News release 11/7/06
RPI gets $1.23M grant for two-year, joint
research on alternative energy
Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute will study how
alternative energy would impact electricity distribution on the
power grid with
a grant from the New York State Office of Science Technology and Academic
Research.
Researchers from the school's Center for Future Energy Systems,
Sensitron Semiconductor of Deer Park,
N.Y., Inverters Unlimited Inc. of Albany,
N.Y., and Advanced Energy Conversion of Malta, N.Y., will be
involved in the
two-year project.
The Business Review (Albany)
11/6/06
Roseberry to join Maser Consulting
Richard Roseberry of Union Township has joined Maser
Consulting, an engineering firm with offices in Clinton, NJ as assistant
department manager for municipal
engineering services in Clinton. Roseberry has
served as the township engineer and director of public works
for Green Brook
Township, and prior to that served as a senior engineer for Hunterdon County
Department
of Roads and Bridges. He is a licensed professional engineer,
professional planner, a certified municipal
engineer and a certified public
works manager.
Courier-News 11/6/06
Lawyers aid wind farm to blow away red tape
The developer behind a new wind-energy
generation
project in Lackawanna recently broke slag and expects to complete construction
of the
Steel Winds
facility before next summer. When finished, the project is expected to supply
enough clean, renewable electricity
to serve the annual needs of 6,000 U.S. homes. Project developer BQ Energy is
represented by Buffalo-based
Phillips Lytle LLP, which helped BQ obtain the
appropriate approvals in 60 days, a process
that normally can take up to two
years. "From the time you apply for regulatory approval, it takes a couple
of
years to develop a project," said Paul Curran of BQ Energy, who is project
manager for Steel Winds.
"Every project is different, every site is different.
It's not unusual to take a couple years of study and
negotiation, and another
one to two years to get approval." To expedite the process, Phillips Lytle
coordinated input from consultants, met with regulators and stakeholders, and
completed the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) submittal.
It also worked with regulatory agencies to assess economic and
environmental impacts the project would have in Lackawanna.
Buffalo Business First
11/6/06
Rumors suggest GM may build diesel engines in NY
In a region hungry for good news, the
possibility of additional work being assigned to General Motors Corp's
Powertrain engine plant is
tantalizing. Speculation is widespread among the Tonawanda facility's 1,880
employees that new V-6
and
V-8 diesel engines for GM pickup trucks will be added to the plant's
existing product line. The topic
is
hushed publicly - union representatives declined to speak for the record and
a company spokeswoman
had
no comment - but rampant inside the plant and at local establishments that
employees frequent
after work.
Buffalo Business First 11/6/06
Archer & Greiner’s Marc Rollo speaks at annual NRD
case session Marc A. Rollo, Esquire,
a
partner with the law firm of Archer & Greiner in Haddonfield, NJ, was selected
to present at the Ad-Hoc
Industry Natural Resource Damage Group’s Annual NRD Case Session in Los Angeles,
California on
October 25, 2006. The Ad-Hoc Industry Natural Resource Damage Group was founded
by major
corporations
in wide-ranging industrial sectors to enable ongoing communication among
companies that
were, or might become, the subject of natural resource damage
(NRD) actions under CERCLA or
“Superfund”, the Oil
Pollution Act, and other federal, state, and local laws. For more than a decade,
the
Group has assumed principal responsibility for coordinating industry
positions on NRD matters nationally
and it acts as a clearinghouse for the
industrial community on wide-ranging NRD-related issues. Mr. Rollo
concentrates
his practice in the area of environmental litigation in both state and federal
courts, with a
specific emphasis on underground storage tank, NRD and MTBE
litigation. He received his Bachelor’s
Degree, cum laude, from Boston College in
1987 and graduated from Villanova University School of Law
in 1990. Mr. Rollo
serves as the Chairman of Archer & Greiner’s Petroleum Industry Practices Group.
He resides in Haddonfield. 11/4/06
Conservation Resources Inc
Announces $65,000 in Grant Awards
Conservation Resources Inc (CRI) announced its first Small Grant awards to
non-profit conservation organizations totaling $65,000. "From urban centers like
Newark and Camden, to remote areas in the Pinelands and Warren County, these
grants are going to a diverse array of conservation projects that demonstrate
how non-profits are helping improve water quality,
restore damaged ecosystem, and improve the quality of life in New Jersey", said
Michael Catania, President of CRI. Of the sixteen different funded projects,
seven are land preservation projects, three are land stewardship and/or
ecological restoration projects, and six other capital conservation projects.
The purpose of CRI’s small grants program is to provide seed money for the
initiation of land preservation projects, to help cover certain costs which are
not fully reimbursable by other existing grant programs, such as appraisal and
survey expenses, and to provide matching funds to support non-profit land
stewardship and ecological restoration projects. Funding for these small grants
has been provided by the
William Penn Foundation,
The
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the
Victoria Foundation, as well as individual
donors. For more information and a map showing the sixteen projects that were
funded through CRI's Small Grants Program, please
click here.
CRI is a statewide non-profit conservation organization. Its mission is to
increase the capacity, expertise and technical and financial resources available
to private and public conservation organizations in order to maximize the
preservation of open space and farmland in the Garden State. 11/3/06
New York Racing Association declares bankruptcy
The
New York Racing Association
has taken what its president called a "last option" in its struggle to
stay afloat -- filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Charles Hayward said
the purpose of the filing Thursday in federal Bankruptcy Court in New York City
is to maintain the current racing schedule and purse structures at the Aqueduct,
Belmont and Saratoga thoroughbred tracks.
"Chapter 11 bankruptcy does not mean going out of business," Hayward said in a
statement released by NYRA. "In fact, it is a constructive process that allows
NYRA the opportunity to achieve financial reorganization while continuing to
conduct world-class thoroughbred racing without interruption." The state has
pledged $30M to keep NYRA in business, but the association balked at the
way a state commission wanted to cut a $19M n payment into three pieces instead
of giving the association the money all at once.
The Business Review (Albany)
11/3/06
Settlement hurts Duquesne Light third quarter results
Duquesne Light Holdings Inc.
said third-quarter profit fell from a year ago, hurt by a state tax settlement.
The Pittsburgh-based utility company
said net income was $900,000, or 1 cent per share, down from $43.6Mn, or 56
cents a year ago. Under terms of the state
tax settlement announced last month, Duquesne Light will pay approximately $60M,
which includes interest. This settlement resulted in a third-quarter charge to
net income of $16.1M. A consortium led by a
Macquarie Bank managed fund and Diversified
Utility and Energy Trusts, both of Australia, have agreed to Duquesne for $1.6B
Pittsburgh Business Times
11/3/06
Green forum works on goals The Pittsburgh
Green Forum on Vacant Land Revitalization, in conjunction with 11 graduate
students with the H. John Heinz III School for Public Policy at
Carnegie Mellon University, is working on a
project to identify vacant properties in Pittsburgh and develop a plan to
remediate them. The forum and its goals are the dream child of late Mayor Bob
O'Connor and the Urban Ecology Collaborative, a group of local environmental
nonprofits that include the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the
Nine Mile Run Watershed Association
and Pennsylvania Cleanways of Allegheny County Inc.
Pittsburgh Business Journal
11/3/06
Send your business or organization news to:
envirobusinessnews@enviropolitics.com
Previous months:
Enviro-Business - October 2006
Enviro-Business - September 2006
Enviro-Business - August 2006
Enviro-Business - July 2006
Enviro-Business - June 2006
Enviro-Business - May 2006
Enviro-Business - April 2006
Enviro-Business - March 2006
Enviro-Business - February 2006
Enviro-Business - January 2006
Try a free, 30-day, trial subscription to
EnviroPolitics
The best way to explore all that
EnviroPolitics
has to offer is
to read it every business day for a full month.
And now you can. Get your
30-day, no-obligation, no-commitment,
trial
subscription just for the asking.
Return to the main page