Obama urges Congress to pass stimulus
By Bruce Geiselman
President-elect Barack Obama
during a Jan. 8 address called on
Congress to quickly pass an $800
billion economic stimulus package that includes incentives for
energy efficiency and green energy development.
Obama acknowledged the
price tag was steep, but said the
cost of doing nothing would be
greater.
“We start 2009 in the midst of
a crisis unlike any we have seen
in our lifetime — a crisis that
has only deepened over the last
few weeks,” Obama said during
an appearance at George Mason
University in Fairfax, Va.
Nearly 2 million workers have
lost their jobs so far, and if the
federal government fails to act, it
will get worse, Obama said.
“I don’t believe it’s too late to
change course, but it will be if we
don’t take dramatic action as
soon as possible,” he said. “If
nothing is done, this recession
could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double
digits.”
Only the federal government
in the short term has the resources to lift the nation out of a
deep and severe recession, he
said.
Obama’s plan includes:
● Doubling the production of
alternative energy in the next
three years.
● Modernizing more than 75%
of federal buildings and improving the energy efficiency of 2 million American homes, saving
consumers and taxpayers billions of dollars in energy costs.
● Upgrading the nation’s power grid to reduce risks of blackouts and to deliver clean alterna-
tive energy to every corner of the
nation.
● Making immediate investments to computerize all of
America’s medical records within
five years.
“In the process, we will put
Americans to work in new jobs
that pay well and can’t be out-sourced — jobs building solar
panels and wind turbines, constructing fuel-efficient cars and
buildings, and developing the
new energy technologies that will
lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet
in the bargain,” Obama said.
Other programs Obama wants
to fund that don’t have as direct
an environmental impact would
include equipping schools, colleges and universities with more
modern classrooms, labs and libraries, expanding access to
high-speed Internet access
Recycling company opens
C&D single-stream facility
By Jim Johnson
As a child of the ’60s, Peter
van der Linde remembers seeing
people throw stuff out of their
car windows.
Later, as a captain of a super
tanker, he remembers the crew
legally dumping oily wastewater
and garbage at sea.
And even later, as a contractor, he was disturbed by the
amount of debris created when
building a home.
“At the time, I just looked at it
blankly and said, ‘There ought to
be a better way,’” van der Linde
remembered. “We’re like a bunch
of locusts ravaging the planet.”
Van der Linde spent years
building homes and a successful
offshoot roll-off container business by handling his own and
other contractors’ debris.
In load after load, he saw perfectly good material headed for
the landfill.
It got to the point where he
was trying to Dumpster-dive into
50 containers a day to salvage
materials.
“This is where I really couldn’t
take it any more,” he remembered.
So the businessman embarked
on plans to create a rather simple, labor-intensive construction
and demolition debris recycling
operation: Bring it in, dump it
out, rescue what you can.
But those plans eventually
changed when he learned about
automated sorting systems than
can handle massive amounts of
material each day.
Just last month, Van Der Linde
Recycling opened an $11 million
single-stream C&D debris materials recovery facility in Troy, Va.,
that is already handling up to 250
tons each day. “I am delighted to
be at that level, and we’ve got
things pending that will very
quickly double that,” he said.
The facility is permitted to accept up to 1,000 tons daily.
HANDLING DEBRIS: Just last month, van der Linde Recycling opened an $11
million single-stream C&D debris materials recovery facility in Troy, Va., that
is already handling up to 250 tons each day.
“I literally can’t take it any
more,” van der Linde said about
seeing waste. “I am compelled to
do this.”
But van der Linde is quick to
point out he is not a tree-hugger.
“This is not Boy Wonder saves
the planet,” he said. “I’m pleased
to be playing a small role in
terms of recovering our surroundings.”
Van der Linde Recycling collects debris from five counties
and hopes to push out even further from its base located about
halfway between Richmond and
Charlottesville.
Michael Ledford, president of
van der Linde Recycling, was attracted to the company after
working for years in the solid
waste collection and equipment
sales businesses.
“This project has been near
and dear to my heart. I’m a hardcore scuba diver and I want to
see that we take care of the
earth,” Ledford said.
Van der Linde’s enthusiasm for
the project is infectious, Ledford
said. “When you see somebody
that is so excited about it, it really got me more excited,” he said.
“Pete is someone who has been
in the building business all his
life,” Ledford said. “He was willing to step up and say there is a
better mousetrap. And he was
willing to put his money where
his mouth is.”
While van der Linde did not
talk financial specifics, he said
there is “huge psychic income”
associated with the project. “One
would hope that there is also a
bottom line, that I can stay solvent,” he said.
“My intentions are to never go
back into homebuilding, period.
This is such an exciting area, and
such a creative one,” van der
Linde said. “I’m enjoying this so
much and it’s been such a wonderful, all-consuming [experience].” ■
Contact Waste & Recycling News senior
reporter Jim Johnson at 937-964-1289 or
jpjohnson@crain.com
across America, and investing in
medical science, research and
technologies.
“I’m asking Congress to work
with me and my team day and
night, on weekends if necessary,
to get the plan passed in the next
few weeks,” Obama said.
Environmental groups quickly
commended the president-elect
and joined his call for Congress
to act.
“As this plan moves to Congress, it is vitally important that
the government focuses on investing in newer, cleaner, more
efficient technology and not wasting money on costly business-as-usual approaches like new coal
plants, dams or ‘highways to
nowhere,’” Sierra Club Executive
Director Carl Pope said.
Frances Beinecke, president of
the Natural Resources Defense
Council, endorsed Obama’s plan,
saying it would jump-start an
economic recovery, create new
jobs and reduce global-warming
pollution.
“Economic recovery goes hand
in hand with clean energy, and it
is vital that our nation’s leaders
continue to invest in a clean energy workforce so that we can make
America more competitive and
end our dependence on expensive,
dirty fuels,” Beinecke said.
Obama had hoped Congress
would have an economic stimulus package approved and ready
for his signature immediately
following his Jan. 20 inauguration, but Congress was on recess
until the week of Jan. 5 and it
appears unlikely a plan could be
approved before late February. ■
Contact Waste & Recycling News senior
reporter Bruce Geiselman at 330-865-6172
or bgeiselman@crain.com
Defendants to pay
$100M to clean up
N.J. landfill site
By Jim Johnson
It’s being called one of the nation’s most contaminated landfill sites,
and hundreds of defendants will pay millions to help cover the site’s
remediation.
More than 200 defendants are paying about $100 million to help
cover the cleanup cost of the long-closed Combe Fill South landfill in
Morris County, N.J., a Superfund site.
New Jersey reached a settlement with the parties for $43 million,
which includes $12.7 million for the state’s past remediation costs at
the landfill and $3.2 million for natural resource damages.
The defendants also will have to pay $27 million to cover future re-
mediation costs, according to state Attorney General Anne Milgram
and Mark Mauriello, acting commissioner for the state Department of
Environmental Protection.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, will receive
$56 million to cover past remediation costs, the state said.
“Through this agreement, we are recovering costs incurred by the
state to protect our citizens from one of the nation’s most contaminat-
ed landfill sites and obtaining compensation for damage done to natu-
ral resources,” Milgram said.
“This settlement is important for the residents of New Jersey and for
our environment.”
The landfill has been on the Superfund list since 1983 and includes
65 acres of disposal space on a 115-acre parcel.
The site was a municipal landfill from the 1940s to 1981, coming un-
der Combe Fill Corp.’s ownership in 1978. That company went bank-
rupt in 1981, and the site was not closed properly, according to the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The landfill accepted industrial waste, sewage sludge, septic tank
waste, chemicals and waste oil for decades, the state said. Subsequent
testing found “significant levels of hazardous substances, specifically
volatile organic compounds, in groundwater and surface water at the
site,” the state said.
Benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and chlorethane were all found in
ground and surface waters at the site.
A landfill cap as well as a groundwater treatment system for the
site’s shallow aquifer previously were constructed. Officials are cur-
rently investigating possible contamination of a deeper aquifer.
About 170 people live within a half mile of the landfill, according to
the U.S. EPA.
New Jersey previously was able to collect about $2.1 million in what
it calls “prior partial settlements.”
Settlement of the case resolves lawsuits filed in 1998 by the state
DEP and the federal EPA. ■
Contact Waste & Recycling News senior reporter Jim Johnson at (937) 964-1289
or jpjohnson@crain.com
