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Section B Page 2 American Recycler, September 2008
Senate passes legislation
to clean up railway waste
In August, the Senate passed legislation
authored by United States Sen.
Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to allow
states to regulate solid waste processing
facilities along rail lines. It was included
as part of larger rail safety legislation
also sponsored by Lautenberg.
The rail waste legislation is based
on Lautenberg’s Clean Railroads Act of
2007, which targets a loophole in federal
law that prohibits states from enforcing
environmental, health and safety regulations
at these rail sites. This loophole has
allowed railroad companies to pile trash,
largely consisting of construction debris,
at times two stories high, that can cause
serious health and environmental risks to
residents who live near these sites.
“Our backyards should not become
junkyards for industry. Our towns and
cities need to be able to protect their
PHOTO BY NIKHIL GANGAVANE | DREAMSTIME
Railway waste legislation aims to clean
up rail-based waste transfer stations.
Detroit not to
purchase Covanta
incinerator
Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
has announced that the city will not purchase
the waste-to-energy plant that has
processed approximately two-thirds of
the city’s waste since it was built in
1991.
This decision comes after last
month’s announcement that the city
would not renew its lease with the plant
operators, Covanta Energy. Instead, the
city, one of a few that does not currently
have a recycling program already in
place, plans to implement a pilot curbside
recycling program and send the rest
of the trash to landfills.
The city accounts for almost a third
of the trash that the incinerator burns,
and should the city stop sending trash,
the incinerator may be hard pressed to
remain in operation. But despite the
city’s plans, a contract provision dictates
that the plant owners, Energy Investors
funds of Boston, may require waste to be
incinerated if the plant can match or beat
local landfill bids.
Pdf downloaded from http://www.thepdfportal.com/0908_31652.pdf
communities from fire hazards and pollution
caused by waste on rail sites,”
Sen. Lautenberg said.
Courts have ruled that the only
agency that can oversee rail waste sites
is the federal Surface Transportation
Board (STB); however, the Board does
not actively regulate them. No federal
safety or environmental standards exist
and the agency has no inspectors. In fact,
the Board has prevented any state from
regulating rail solid waste sites within
their borders, including 22 current or
proposed ones in New Jersey.
Lautenberg’s Clean Railroads Act of
2007, which was cosponsored by Sen.
Robert Menendez (D-NJ), would make
regulation of these sites permanent. The
House version of the rail waste legislation
was written by Rep. Frank Pallone
(D-NJ-06). Now, the House and Senate
must resolve their differences in the larger
rail safety bills before finalizing the
legislation and sending it to the President
for signature.
Also in August, the Senate Appropriations
Committee approved an extension
of a temporary measure authored by
Sen. Lautenberg to allow New Jersey to
begin to regulate some solid waste processing
facilities on railroads. The measure
was included in a one-year spending
bill for transportation and housing programs
and became effective in January,
but expires after September.
Sen. Lautenberg serves as Chairman
of the Senate Commerce Committee’s
subcommittee on Surface Transportation
and Merchant Marine Safety, Security,
and Infrastructure. The Senator’s subcommittee
has jurisdiction over railroad
issues and oversees the confirmation of
STB Commissioners.
Houston solar
project granted
$50,000 by EPA
The City of Houston has been
awarded $50,000 from the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to help
develop a solar energy plant on the site
of a former landfill.
Funding for the project is part of
more than $500,000 in grants announced
by the EPA for 16 Brownfields Sustainability
Pilots nationwide.
“EPA continues to use the brownfields
program to stimulate both environmental
and economic success,” said EPA
Regional Administrator Richard E.
Greene. “These pilots will demonstrate
best practices that can be used by other
communities across the country.”
The Houston project seeks to revitalize
a 300-acre former landfill site
located near downtown. Funding from
EPA will help with evaluating the various
environmental, engineering, and regulatory
issues involved in the project.
Assistance will also help conduct solar
energy production and financial feasibility
studies.
Puerto Rico SWMA takes steps to
close non-compliant landfills
Major progress has been made over
the past few years in improving the way
solid waste is managed in Puerto Rico,
according to United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Regional
Administrator, Alan J. Steinberg. Steinberg
spoke about several solid waste
achievements at a ceremony at the
Yolanda Guerrero Cultural Center. The
Agency praised the Puerto Rico Solid
Waste Management Authority (SWMA)
for developing a plan to handle municipal
garbage throughout the island and
announced it has secured an agreement
with the municipality of Toa Baja to
close its landfill.
EPA, the municipality of Toa Baja,
P.R., and Landfill Technologies, Inc.,
have agreed in principle to an administrative
order on consent that outlines a
plan to stop receiving waste at the main
part of the Toa Baja landfill by June
2010, with steps to close the landfill
completely to follow. This is the fifth
order issued by EPA requiring a landfill
in Puerto Rico to close since 2007; the
other landfills are in Vega Baja, Florida,
Aguadilla and Santa Isabel.
“I’m gratified that an agreement has
been reached to close the Toa Baja landfill
in an orderly and environmentally
protective way,” said Steinberg. “Closing
landfills that do not meet environmental
WM earnings
Continued from Page 1
with $576 million and $1.09 per diluted
share, respectively, for the same period
in 2007.
Acquisitions contributed 1.0% to
higher revenue in the quarter, while
divestitures caused a 0.8% decline in
revenue in the quarter.
standards in Puerto Rico has been an
EPA priority and we have received
invaluable support from the Puerto Rico
Solid Waste Management Authority on
this goal.”
The SWMA plan to handle solid
waste, the Dynamic Itinerary for Infrastructure
Projects, outlines priorities for
managing waste in the Commonwealth,
which has long been a challenge for its
government.
The 105-acre Toa Baja landfill was
created in 1994 when landfills operated
by the municipalities of Toa Baja and
Bayamón merged. Toa Baja has owned
the landfill since 2005, and Landfill
Technologies, Inc., manages the landfill.
SWMA estimated that in 2003 the Toa
Baja landfill accepted approximately
500,000 tons of waste, mostly household
and commercial solid waste.
Ongoing inspections of the landfill
found it lacking operating controls, sufficient
security, leachate and stormwater
discharge controls, and groundwater and
explosive gas monitoring systems. The
landfill also lacked a landfill gas control
and collection system.
The agreement to close the landfill
is governed by the Solid Waste Disposal
Act as amended by the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act, or RCRA.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL ZYSMAN | DREAMSTIME
Solid waste management practices in Puerto Rico are being overhauled. Non-compliant
landfills are to be closed in an environmentally sound manner.
Operating expenses were 62.5% of
revenue, up from 62.3% of revenue in
the same period in 2007. Excluding the
impacts of higher diesel fuel prices and
higher recycling commodity prices on
both operating expenses and revenue,
operating expenses were 61.0% of revenue
in the second quarter of 2008, or a
130 basis point improvement compared
with the prior year period.