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| #BILLYPENNGRAM OF THE DAY Reverse view from Philadelphia’s Cira Green (photo by @farrylfindsphilly) |
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#BILLYPENNGRAM July 16, 2021 Read More »
Covanta will maintain its corporate headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, and its management team is expected to remain in place.
By Haley Rischar, Waste Today
Sweden-based EQT Infrastructure, a global investment organization, has acquired Covanta Holding Corp. in an effort to “accelerate the company’s journey towards becoming the most sustainable provider of waste disposal services.”
Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders will receive $20.25 in cash per share of Covanta’s common stock in a transaction valued at $5.3 billion, including the assumption of Covanta’s net debt obligations. The purchase price represents a 37 percent premium to Covanta’s unaffected share price of $14.86 on June 8, the day prior to initial media speculation on the transaction.
Related stories:
Covanta Holding Corporation to be taken private
Covanta sells to EQT for big bucks as waste-to-energy grows
Covanta discloses emissions data for all NJ waste-to-energy plants
The acquisition is subject to Covanta shareholder approval, as well as customary government approvals, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
“We are pleased to announce this agreement with EQT,” says Michael Ranger, president, and CEO of Covanta. “Our comprehensive analysis during the past nine months has been singularly focused on enhancing value for our shareholders. EQT certainly recognizes the value we see in our business, and this transaction represents an excellent outcome of our strategic review.
“Furthermore, as an organization dedicated to sustainability and environmental stewardship, EQT shares our vision for a safer, cleaner, and more prosperous future through sustainable waste management, thereby ensuring no waste is ever wasted. We couldn’t ask for a better partner as we embark on this next phase of our company’s evolution, delivering on our goal of building a sustainable future for all stakeholders.”
Covanta is currently the world’s leading waste-to-energy provider, operating facilities in North America, Europe, and the U.K. Annually, Covanta’s 40 plus facilities process approximately 21 million tons of waste from municipalities and businesses and convert it into renewable electricity to power over 1 million homes.
Following the completion of the acquisition, EQT says it will work with Covanta’s management team to build upon the company’s strengths, such as its portfolio of assets that provide essential waste services to municipalities and commercial customers, its long-term community relationships, and its numerous growth opportunities, including a robust U.K. project pipeline of new waste-to-energy infrastructure and Covanta’s Environmental Solutions platform.
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By Dan Gearino, Inside Clean Energy For two days this week, much of the financial media was paying close attention to a Delaware courtroom where Tesla CEO Elon Musk faced intense questioning about the 2016 merger of Tesla with SolarCity. Because of Musk’s celebrity and tendency to say wild things, much of the coverage treated this as an entertaining performance, but the case touches on a pivotal moment in the U.S. solar market that set the stage for where we are today. Click to read the full story In 2016, SolarCity was the dominant player in the U.S. market but it was running out of money. Musk, who was chairman and a major shareholder of both Tesla and SolarCity, helped to engineer Tesla’s $2.6 billion purchase of the solar company. The deal may have saved SolarCity, but some shareholders are now suing Musk, arguing that the transaction amounted to a bailout of SolarCity that was not in the best interests of Tesla. Aside from questions of whether this was a bailout, it is now clear that Tesla was not ready to build on what it had with SolarCity. While Tesla’s top executives were focusing on developing their make-or-break product, the Model 3 sedan, the company’s rooftop solar business was withering. As the trial plays out, I asked Bryan White, an analyst for Wood Mackenzie, to reflect on the significance of the Tesla-SolarCity sale. “The decline of SolarCity following the Tesla acquisition opened the door for companies like Sunrun, Vivint, and Sunnova to be the largest residential solar lease players,” he said. “And it’s hard to say whether Sunrun would have ascended and achieved enough scale to have acquired Vivint without Tesla-SolarCity’s decline.” White was referring to Sunrun’s 2020 purchase of Vivint, which combined the companies that were then No. 1 and No. 2 in market share, while Tesla was No. 3. Sunrun is now acting like a market leader, with high-profile partnerships like the one with Ford, related to integrating the all-electric F-150 pickup for use as a home battery. There’s no way to know if SolarCity would have taken a similar path to what Sunrun has done as the leader, but it’s a fascinating “what-if” because Sunrun has done so much. Also, it may be that SolarCity’s problems with its operations and finances were so great that it was going to lose its leading status regardless of the sale to Tesla. But we can say for sure that Tesla has had a difficult time figuring out how to manage and build its solar business. “I would describe Tesla’s approach (to rooftop solar) as very in flux,” White said. “They have been playing around with their pricing and product offerings quite a bit in the last year or so. As they try to re-assert their dominance in this space, they are clearly trying to figure out what works best for them to achieve profitable growth.  |
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Lawsuit recalls how Elon Musk was king of rooftop solar but then lost it Read More »
From the Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a stewardship program to encourage the voluntary withdrawal of previously granted low volume exemptions (LVEs) for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Historically, some new PFAS have been allowed to enter the market through LVEs. The goal of the PFAS LVE Stewardship Program is to stop the ongoing manufacture of PFAS under previously approved LVEs that have not gone through the full pre-manufacture review process under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA will also hold a webinar on July 29, 2021 to provide an overview of the program.
There are approximately 600 PFAS with currently granted LVEs. Through this program, EPA intends to work with trade associations, non-governmental organizations, and companies to encourage the voluntary withdrawal of the LVEs. This new program is based on a 2016 outreach effort that resulted in companies withdrawing more than half of the 82 long-chain PFAS LVEs that were targeted for voluntary withdrawal at the time.
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To participate in the program, companies with previously granted PFAS LVEs may choose to voluntarily withdraw their LVEs and certify that they will no longer manufacture or import that PFAS. Alternatively, companies may choose to voluntarily withdraw their LVE following submission and review of a pre-manufacture notice, which will provide for a robust safety review and the imposition of appropriate and enforceable protections for human health and the environment. EPA will provide recognition of program participants on its website.
The establishment of the PFAS LVE Stewardship Program follows an announcement in April that new LVE submissions for PFAS would likely be denied since a sufficiently robust safety review is unlikely to be possible in the 30 days the law allows given the potential hazards associated with various subclasses of PFAS and the need to consider their potential persistence in the environment.
EPA launches program to reduce PFAS in the marketplace Read More »
By BRUCE MOHL Commonwealth
“We’re currently working through all of the various legal and administrative issues about who owns what,” Baker said during an interview after an event about summer programming for youths at a park in Mattapan.
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER says he is not sure whether the state actually owns a key chunk of land at Brayton Point in Somerset, as several town officials have insisted.
Asked if he was saying he is not convinced the state owns the deep-water pier and 12.5 adjacent acres on the 308-acre Brayton Point property, Baker said: “I am not – not yet.”
The Select Board in Somerset is preparing to send a letter to Baker asking him to step in and help resolve a dispute between the town and the current owner of the property, Commercial Development Inc. of St. Louis.
Members of the Select Board say documents they have received from the state under a public records request indicate the state Department of Conservation and Recreation owns the pier and the adjacent land. A title search also indicates the state leased the pier and adjacent land to the original power plant owner in the 1950s, a provision that was contingent on a power plant being located on the property.
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The company says this data will help provide transparency and peace of mind to stakeholders and communities
Posted by Adam Redling, Waste Today
Covanta, Morristown, New Jersey, announced that emissions data for all of its New Jersey waste-to-energy facilities is now accessible to the public on the company’s website. This is the same data used by operators on-site at each of the three Covanta facilities in the state to monitor operational performance.
The company says that publishing this data will help provide “a layer of transparency to give stakeholders and communities increased peace of mind, as well as a unique birds-eye view into the science behind sustainable waste management.”
“By making this data publicly accessible, it is our hope that people will see beyond the industrial exteriors of our facilities and have an opportunity to engage with the work we are doing on behalf of the environment, and at the same time, develop a greater appreciation for the essential role our dedicated employees play in safely and sustainably managing the waste society creates,” Covanta COO Derek Veenhof says.
“Making this information available to our community members is not a regulatory requirement. We are doing so in order to provide greater transparency and understanding of the work we do every day on behalf of our neighbors and communities,” Michael Van Brunt, senior director of sustainability at Covanta, says.
Related Covanta news releases
Covanta Camden Works with Camden County Office of Veterans Affairs to Retire Old U.S. Flags
Covanta Assists Local Connecticut Law Enforcement on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
Emissions Data Now Available Online for the Waste-to-Energy Facility in Chester, PA
Continuous emissions monitoring is an important tool in determining a waste-to-energy facility’s compliance with the emission limits set forth in its operating permit established in accordance with the federal Clean Air Act and other regulatory requirements. In 2020, Covanta’s facilities in New Jersey operated in compliance with their permits over 99 percent of the time, the company says.
Collectively, Covanta’s New Jersey facilities serve the solid waste disposal needs of more than 1.8 million people in the counties of Camden, Essex, and Union. This waste is used to power approximately 90,000 homes and helps avoid 1.8 million tons of greenhouse gases annually by keeping waste out of landfills.
Covanta has more than 600 employees in New Jersey and approximately 4,000 in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and the UK.
Facility information and emissions data for Covanta’s New Jersey plants can be found for the respective sites: Covanta Camden, Camden, New Jersey; Covanta Essex, Newark, New Jersey; and Covanta Union, Rahway, New Jersey.
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
Covanta discloses emissions data for all NJ waste-to-energy plants Read More »
