Sunday, July 26, 2009

Poolbeg Incinerator Run by New Jersey's Culture?

Is Covanta influenced by New Jersey's Culture? Will the proposed Poolbeg Incinerator be run using New Jersey's best?

The arrests come in a state that is no stranger to political corruption. The former mayors of Newark, Paterson and Camden, to name but a few, have or are serving time in prison. Wayne Bryant, a former state senator, is due to be sentenced for fraud and bribery on Friday. Until recently, “double-dipping”, holding two elected positions, was the norm.
  • Handing out public-sector contracts to political donors, “pay to play”, is common practice.
  • Cronyism is practically accepted.
  • Mob ties are not unusual [blog-edit: especially in waste management and construction].
- The Economist, Jul 24th 2009, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

New Jersey is not Sweden. Covanta is HQ'ed in New Jersey. Which quite possibly has no influence whatsoever on the corporate culture, apart from sharp suits and haircuts. Covanta is not a gonzo outfit. As far as is known Covanta is a mighty fine corporate citizen. Except perhaps for Dioxins violations reported for all of its New Jersey waste incinerators and about 6,000 violations at Ogden and conflicts with employees and other legal concerns in Florida and a recent 'bankruptcy' issue and the odd explosion forcing people to run indoors.

Like Wall Street bankers also based in New Jersey, Covanta's CEO Tony Orlando is heavily bonus driven with recent official compensation of about $3 million.

US websites list the legal political donations made by Covanta staff to local politicians. In 2008 the Irish lawyer for the Poobeg Incinerator Promoters, 'Willem Schipkijk', had a legal fundraiser in his Dalkey house for at least one American Presidential candidate (Obama) in Dublin. Curious?

DCC's choice of operator for the proposed Poolbeg Incinerator is a Covanta entity legalised in the secret banking haven of Luxembourg. Curious?

In Ireland of course the secret contract DCC made with Covanta was not influenced by any form of "pay to play" nor cronyism nor the total dismissal of scientific facts and the public's interest in favour of secret political diktats. The secret contract may involve a "put or pay" contract which will burden the bankrupted taxpayers who are not killed prematurely by incinerator nanoparticles (PM0.1).

Bertie 'Won It On De Horses' Ahern can confirm this, even if it's actually true. So will the public servants now retiring on the world's highest pensions. These are honest men.

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http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14112480

Friday, July 24, 2009

Poolbeg Borrowings & Green Party "Untruths"


  • Covanta seems to confirm the Green Party was telling totally innocent untruths before the June elections about funding for the waste-to-toxins incinerator.
The Green Untruth of may 2009 was immediately corrected by the Wall Street Journal.

Now in July 2009:
  • Covanta confirms it has borrowed a sum of money - the $389 million is equal to the estimated amount needed for the Poolbeg waste-to-toxins factory. A secret contract with the sharp business men at DCC no doubt makes it easy to borrow money in a depression- by transferring the big risks to Irish taxpayers.
  • Covanta's net debt is said to be $1.7 billion.
  • Liabilities for premature deaths are not mentioned.

Carefully worded Covanta press release clipping [22.07.2009]:

Our balance sheet was significantly strengthened by the $460 million convertible note financing completed during the quarter.

We added approximately $389 million to our unrestricted cash, after giving effect to underwriting discounts, offering expenses, proceeds from the issuance of warrants and the purchase of the convertible note hedge. The entire $300 million of our revolving credit facility continues to be available.

In the quarter, we paid down $72 million of debt, bringing our net debt to $1.7 billion (total debt less cash and restricted funds set aside explicitly for project debt principal repayment).

http://www.only2press.com/archives/10869

Poolbeg Incinerator "Rogue Employer"


The USA's National Labor Relations Board this week issued a comprehensive complaint charging Covanta Energy Corp. and all of its U.S. subsidiaries with violating federal labor law.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/07/01/covanta-complaint-shows-need-for-employee-free-choice-act/


AFL-CIO Local 369 President Gary Sullivan:
The board’s action confirms our first-hand experience that Covanta is a rogue employer with no respect for the rights of its employees.



Dublin City Council has a secret deal with Covanta to run the proposed Poolbeg Waste-to-Toxins incinerator. Possibly to dodge US courts the deal is with an offshore Covanta outfit - a special purpose entity firewalled in secretive Luxembourg (guess why).



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The USA's National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Purple & The Pinstripe.



The Purple & The Pinstripe.


BANANA REPUBLIC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF_HSCmnFTA


The purple and the pinstripe
Mutely shake their heads

A silence shrieking volumes
A violence worse than they condemn

Stab you in the back yeah
Laughing in your face

Glad to see the place again
It's a pity nothing's changed

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