Is EPA-Ireland Inside The Galway Tent?

Is EPA-Ireland Inside The Galway Tent?

Environment Minister Mr Gormley (“secretly” says the Indo) met Anne Butler, an environmental consultant hired by Energy Answers/Covanta.

Previously, she was Director of the Environmental Protection Agency for 10 years and president of the Institute of Engineers for one year.

(Butler was hired by Energy-Answers-Covanta in July 2007)

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/green-leader-in-secret-meetings-over-second-incinerator-for-city-1426003.html
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/12/07/story257079427.asp

————–

Anne Butler.
An Earner.

DIT:
Currently working as an environmental consultant, she was on the board of the EPA for ten years, and headed up the EPA’s waste division which for the first time regulated waste facilities in Ireland at a time of great change.

http://www.dit.ie/DIT/news/2005/anne-butler.html

———————————–
CRH:
Anne Butler joined the EPA when it was set up in 1993 and left last April (2003). She said she was working as a consultant for CRH at a “strategic” and “high level”.

CRH subsidiary Roadstone Dublin was drawn into the illegal dumping controversy in Wicklow when hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste were found on CRH lands at Blessington.
The company is in talks with Wicklow County Council and must apply to the EPA for a licence to clean up the site.

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/12/07/story257079427.asp
_______________________________________

Which stinks more?

• DCC-DDDA’s politicially managed Sewage Factory at Poolbeg

or the

• Revolving Doors between “consulting” businesses and waste-to-toxics companies HQ’ed offshore and EPA-Ireland and Bord Pleanala?

1. An ex–Indaver employee is with EPA-Ireland.
2. July 2007/8: Energy Answers/Covanta hired an ex-Ten-Year-EPA-Ireland Director.
3. April 2008: Covanta hired a senior ex-EPA-USA employee.
4. Taoiseach Ahern appointed his friends to the management levels of DDDA and Dublin Port Company.
   
5. Currently an ex-employee of RPS is on the executive board of Ireland’s An Bord Pleanala. This board apparently uses political science to override its knowledgeable and honest inspectors (Cork, Meath, Poolbeg).

DCC has spent 19 million Euro of taxpayer money on “consultants” to promote Waste-To-Toxics incineration. DCC’s chief pro-incinerator business consultant is RPS, apparently focused on certain planning matters and legal tick-boxes. RPS is also involved with the Poolbeg Sewage factory (under a different name on the site signage) and also apparently with Shell in Mayo.

The stink over five years from the Poolbeg Sewage factory and the unexplained new payment of €36 million is the prime example of the capabilities of DCC-DDDA. This is the smell of the outcomes of political management. Incinerators do not smell. And like tobacco-industry best-available-excuses you can not prove they compromise your health.

Guns don’t kill, Incinerators do.
____________________
More:
http://galwaytent.blogspot.com/2008/04/incinerator-revolving-doors-at-epa-abp.html

Covanta Alias is Energy Answers?

James Joyce … Sandymount Strand … Long Kesh … The Maze … Ogden … Covanta … Energy Answers … Incinerator … Waste-to-Toxics … Waste-to-Energy … DCC … DDDA … DCC-DDDA … IRA … Fianna Fail … Sinn Fein … World’s Oldest Profession … Consultant
___________________________________

Why does Covanta-Energy-Answers-Rathcoole have an “office” in the Caribbean’s Virgin Islands?

Why does Covanta-Poolbeg have an office in Luxembourg?

• Why did Enron, also billed as an “energy” company, maintain Special Purpose Entities around the Caribbean?

In 2007, Energy Answers sold its U.S. operating company, EAC Operations, Inc., including all of its operating assets to Covanta Energy Corporation. This sale involves all of Energy Answers’ operating enterprises in the Northeast U.S.

Energy Answers International will continue to maintain offices in Albany, New York; St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; and Dublin, Ireland; and continue to pursue new project development opportunities.

Why?

_______________________________________
NOTEs:

If true, why is Energy Answers International a separate legal entity to Energy Answers (USA) and to Covanta, and Covanta’s tens of similiarly named corporations ?

The Enron scandal was a financial scandal involving Enron Corporation (NYSE ticker symbol: ENE) and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen, that was revealed in late 2001. After a series of revelations involving irregular accounting procedures bordering on fraud, perpetrated throughout the 1990s, it left Enron on the verge of undergoing the lowest bankruptcy in history by mid-November 2001.

Former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, the mastermind behind Enron’s complex network of offshore partnerships and questionable accounting practices, was indicted on November 1, 2002, by a federal grand jury in Houston on 78 counts including fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.

Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.

http://www.energyanswers.com/our_company/history/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal

EPA: 6,000 violations at Covanta Incinerator in 2 Years

OGDEN MARTIN

(aka Covanta)

is cited by the EPA with over 6,000 permit violations at its 2,300 tons/day municipal waste incinerator in Indianapolis,Indiana.

Start-Up Date: November 1988
Permit violations: June 1989 to May 1991
Owner & Operator: Ogden Martin Systems of Indianapolis
Pollution Controls: Dry Scrubbers, Baghouse
Boiler Manufacturer: Riley Stoker
Builder: J.A. Jones Construction Company
Air Pollution Controls: Environmental Elements Corporation

EPA counted a total of 6,000 violations of Ogden Martin’s incinerator permit limits during a 2 year period from 1989 to 1991 at Ogden’s incinerator in Indianapolis.

Among the violations: Ogden Martin bypassed their pollution controls – scrubbers and baghouse – 18 to 20 times. Ogden’s incinerator had 27 boiler tube failures within one year.

According to an interview with Jeff Stant, the Executive Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC), the US EPA, the State of Indiana, the City of Indianapolis and HEC, are all currently involved in an official capacity in an enforcement action which is aimed at Ogden Martin’s poorly operated Indianapolis incinerator.

http://www.americanhealthstudies.org/wastenot/wn209.htm

Zell Sells For $39 Billion.

Zell Sells

Billionaire mogul Zell sold his massive residential and commercial real estate empire in 2007 for $39 billion.

Zell has placed his waste-to-energy bet on one New Jersey company, Covanta Holding, which is up more than 23 percent in 2007.

It seems the Waste-To-Toxins (WTT) industry is not effectively monitored anywhere, especially for deadly PM2.5 & PM1.0 particles, nor for Dioxins which are only checked for a few hours each year.

German chemical companies, including IG Farben, aka BASF, and BMW, Daimler Benz and Porsche appear to strongly cripple effective European legislation on toxins generators such as incinerators.

http://www.tellzell.com/
Dioxins, Covanta Record, Deadly Particles (PM2.5), Dublin Bay Incinerator, Energy-Answers-Covanta, Money, Poolbeg Incinerator, Zell

Covanta – Sam Zell

Zell Sells

Covanta – Equity Ownership of Directors and Management

		Number of Shares				Approximate
Name		Beneficially Owned				Percent of Class

Samuel Zell (19)

23,225,534

15.0

%

Zell Shareholding in Covanta, 29-Feb-08: $666 million.

Covanta Book Value Per Share: $6.66
[Source: Yahoo! Finance]

Samuel “Sam” Zell (born September 1941) is a U.S.-born billionaire and real estate entrepreneur. He is co-founder and Chairman of Equity Group Investments, a private investment firm. With an estimated net worth of US$6 billion, he is ranked as the 52nd richest American by Forbes.[1]

On April 2, 2007, Zell bought Tribune Company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, New York Newsday and owner of the Chicago Cubs.

Zell was born in Chicago in 1941 to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland who fled the country just before the Nazi invasion in 1939.

Zell, according to The Forward[6], is also “a major donor to causes in the Middle East. His donations include a $3.1 million donation to the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center in Israel and separate donations to the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress, a right-wing Israeli think tank.

In 2008, Zell announced a plan to place the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field up for sale separately in order to maximize profits.

Cell Hell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Zell
http://investor.shareholder.com/cva/secfiling.cfm?filingID=950137-08-4913
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=941219

Equity Ownership of Directors and Management

Covanta Stock Price History

Covanta Book Value Per Share: $6.66
[Sorce: Yahoo! Finance]

Covanta Balance Sheet
Total Cash (mrq):	151.90 Million
Total Debt (mrq):	2.30 Billion

Equity Ownership of Directors and Management

		Number of Shares				Approximate
Name		Beneficially Owned				Percent of Class
David M. Barse (1)			9,338,391	(2)			6.0	%
Ronald J. Broglio (3)			27,925	(4)			*
Peter C. B. Bynoe (5)			52,018	(6)			*
Linda J. Fisher (7)			3,719				*
Richard L. Huber (8)			158,884	(9)			*
John M. Klett			146,591	(10)			*
Seth Myones			110,032	(10)			*
Anthony J. Orlando			459,433	(10)			*
William C. Pate (11)			382,395	(12)			*
Mark A. Pytosh			135,424	(10)			*
Robert S. Silberman (13)			39,319	(14)			*
Timothy J. Simpson			153,944	(10)			*
Jean Smith (15)			58,703	(16)			*
Clayton Yeutter (17)			135,016	(18)			*
Samuel Zell (19)			23,225,534	(20)			15.0	%
All Officers and Directors as a group (16 persons)			34,452,296	(21)			22.2	%

Covanta, Florida: A Decade of Lawsuits.

Covanta, Florida: A Decade of Lawsuits. Recycling Undermined.

In Lake County, Florida, an incinerator contract with Covanta in 1991 has caused more than a decade of acrimony, lawsuits and political fallout.

In late 2000, Lake County, Florida commenced a lawsuit in Florida state court against Covanta-Lake, Inc. relating to the waste to energy facility operated by Covanta in Lake County, Florida.

In the lawsuit, the County sought to have its service agreement with Covanta-Lake declared void and in violation of the Florida Constitution.

• That lawsuit was stayed by the commencement of the (Bankruptcy) Chapter 11 Cases.
• Lake County subsequently filed a proof of claim seeking in excess of $80 million from Covanta-Lake and Covanta.

More at SEC website, 10-Q Filing: http://sec.edgar-online.com/2003/11/14/0000903423-03-000954/Section15.asp

http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1993/08/mm0893_09.html
————–
Paying for pollution

Along with the environmental and health risks associated with incineration, taxpayers are forced to bear the considerable financial costs involved in building and operating Ogden facilities. The case of Lake County, Florida offers a dramatic example of the financial toll Ogden can exact from a community. The county’s original 1984 incineration proposal called for General Electric (GE) to design, finance, build and operate a facility, at no cost to the community.

By the time construction began in 1990, however,

• GE had pulled out of the deal,
• Ogden was the builder, operator and owner of the incinerator and
• construction costs had risen to $79 million.
• In addition, the county is paying the plant’s property taxes.

County Commissioner Richard Swartz says, “We went straight from a situation where Lake County had no financial obligation – zero, none – to a situation where Lake County ended up paying not only for the $79 million in construction costs, but to a total obligation for debt service and operating costs of nearly $300 million over the 22-year life of the Ogden contract.”

Like many communities that have negotiated with Ogden, Lake County locked itself into a “put-or-pay” contract, which forces the county to provide the incinerator with a required tonnage of garbage, or else be charged a penalty. The county is also responsible for disposal of the incinerator ash.

• Swartz says the Ogden contract has undermined the positive economic and environmental effects of the county’s recycling program.

—————
The city of Tulsa, Okla., had to divert its trash to a landfill in 2003 when Covanta briefly closed its incinerator there, citing financial problems.

.

2006: Covanta Repeatedly Fined for Dioxin Releases, Other Toxins

October 9, 2006

In New Jersey, the Covanta company has been REPEATEDLY fined for releasing excessive amounts of dioxin and other toxic emissions from its Essex County plant.

In the past year, New Jersey regulators have ordered Covanta to pay more than $112,000 in fines for violations at ALL three of its waste-to-energy plants in the state.

The Rutgers Environmental Law Center at Rutgers University in New Jersey has filed a notice of its intent to sue Covanta over repeated Clean Air Act violations at the Essex plant, the state’s largest garbage incinerator.
———
By SCOTT HARPER and tim mcglone
The Virginian-Pilot
http://hamptonroads.com/node/165361

Dodge City: Covanta Violations Just Before Bankruptcy. Court Order Required to Enforce Environment Standards.

ENFORCEMENT ACTION ORDER BY CONSENT ISSUED TO
Covanta Alexandria / Arlington, Inc

11. … Termination of this Order, or any obligation imposed in this Order, shall not operate to relieve Covanta from its obligation to comply with any statute, regulation, permit condition, other order, certificate, certification, standard, or requirement otherwise applicable.
——————–

SECTION D: Agreement and Order

… In addition, the Board hereby enters an order imposing upon Covanta Alexandria / Arlington, Inc., a civil charge of Fourteen Thousand Six Hundred Ninety Five Dollars ($14,695.00), the payment of which shall be subject to the terms and conditions of Covanta’s confirmed plan of reorganization.

—————————
6. On January 3, 2002 at 0950 hrs. EST, Mr. George Ball-Llovera contacted NVRO to report a malfunction that resulted in a 4-hour exceedance of the carbon monoxide limit set forth in the air permit.

During that call Mr. Ball-Llovera was informed that Covanta needed to provide quarterly EER’s for the facility in addition to the Annual and Semi-Annual reports. Mr. Ball-Llovera indicated that he would provide the required documents. At 1440 hrs. EST, Mr. Ball-Llovera again contacted NVRO personnel to say that by January 31, 2002 the Annual Report and the 4th Quarter EER would be provided to NVRO and that the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Quarter 2001 EER’s would be provided soon after.
…
…
12. On February 25, 2002 Mr. George Ball-Llovera hand delivered the 3rd quarter 2001 EER for Covanta to the NVRO.

13. On April 1, 2002 Covanta filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. (“Bankruptcy Court”)

Covanta Threatened Canadian Doctors Against Incinerator?

A committee consisting of Orillia’s 54 doctors generated a report, based on extensive research of published health data, that recommended a rejection of the incinerator proposal: 52 (and later, 53) of the doctors endorsed the report.

Dr. Don Philpott, a member of the committee, noted that: “People can be bamboozled into thinking that acceptable risk means no additional risk, but that is just not true…“

In retaliation for the call to reject the incinerator’s installation, Ogden Martin threatened to sue the doctors of Orillia for defamation.

The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) passed a resolution in support of the Orillia doctors, after which the threat of litigation was dropped.

The Ontarion Ministry of Environment under the NDP government banned the development of new municipal solid waste incinerators and enacted stricter standards for existing incinerators. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orillia,_Ontario]

In 1992 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited Ogden Martin (now Covanta) for 6,000 violations between 1989 and 1991 at its Indianapolis incinerator alone.

OGDEN MARTIN

is cited by the EPA with over 6,000 permit violations at its 2,300 tpd municipal waste incinerator in Indianapolis,Indiana.

Start-Up Date: November 1988
Permit violations: June 1989 to May 1991
Owner & Operator: Ogden Martin Systems of Indianapolis
Pollution Controls: Dry Scrubbers, Baghouse
Boiler Manufacturer: Riley Stoker
Builder: J.A. Jones Construction Company
Air Pollution Controls: Environmental Elements Corporation

EPA counted a total of 6,000 violations of Ogden Martin’s incinerator permit limits during a 2 year period from 1989 to 1991 at Ogden’s incinerator in Indianapolis. Among the violations: Ogden Martin bypassed their pollution controls – scrubbers and baghouse – 18 to 20 times. Ogden’s incinerator had 27 boiler tube failures within one year. According to an interview with Jeff Stant, the Executive Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC), the US EPA, the State of Indiana, the City of Indianapolis and HEC, are all currently involved in an official capacity in an enforcement action which is aimed at Ogden Martin’s poorly operated Indianapolis incinerator. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orillia,_Ontario , http://www.americanhealthstudies.org/wastenot/wn209.htm%5D

==============

Covanta Energy Corporation was formerly known as Ogden Martin.
CHWMEG Report Number: H482.2
http://www.chwmeg.org/asp/search/detail.asp?ID=466
http://www.secinfo.com/d2851.bd.5.htm
http://www.secinfo.com/dsvr4.138e.htm#7psh

Covanta Bankruptcy: On December 2, 2003, DHC executed a definitive investment and purchase agreement to
acquire the energy and water businesses of Covanta in connection with Covanta's emergence from Chapter 11
proceedings in bankruptcy
http://www.secinfo.com/dsvr4.138e.htm#1stPage