The Wastebroker Blog

US EPA Details Heightened Enforcement Actions for 2009

MikeMalatesta — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:33:38 -0600

While the recession was doing its damage through most of 2009, the EPA, according to its latest enforcement action data, remained plenty busy pursuing civil and criminal settlements, prosecutions and penalties.

Some Highlights. In 2009, EPA:

Opened 387 New Environmental Crime Cases
Obtained $371 Million in Settlements and Penalties
Required Companies to invest $5.4 Billion to reduce pollution
Concluded 51 Enforcement Actions against Federal Agencies and Federal Contractors

To read more about what EPA has been up to on the enforcement side, go to:

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/reports/endofyear/eoy2009/index.html

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/criminal/highlights/2009/index.html

Put That Damn Thing Away.........Please!

MikeMalatesta — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:29:07 -0600

I know that it won’t be long until we have some kind of cell phone like device to which we will forever be controlled and tethered like gravity to the earth. It’s light, feel and vibrations capturing and captivating our attentions like a squirrel captures our dogs’, "hold on, it's my phone...." It’s inevitable I’m afraid (with emphasis). I thought you might enjoy Rachel Marsden’s www.rachelmarsden.com recent article published in the Wall Street Journal about this subject titled “Technology and the New ‘Me’ Generation” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704152804574627960532587996.html.

I found her take to be insightful and funny. She gets ‘me’, and maybe you as well. While I may not be able to avoid the “necessity” of life as it will be; that is life that is not somehow defined by the device I employ, I will promise not to love my device more than my family and friends and to be respectful and polite with my use of it as well. They say that some men build tall buildings to “compensate” for some inadequacy or another. Might our cell phones someday soon make all of us compensators for the lives we could have if only we could live without that damn app?

AWS Honored as a Fastest Growing Firm in Milwaukee for 2009

MikeMalatesta — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:08:09 -0600

I am very pleased that Advanced Waste Services, Inc. was recognized as a Fastest Growing Firm in the greater Milwaukee area by The Milwaukee Business Journal for 2009. AWS, along with 23 other Milwaukee-area firms, was honored at a luncheon on October 30 at The Pfister Hotel. We were extremely pleased that we were able to show a growth rate in 2008 over 2006 of 50%.

In order to be considered for this award, a Milwaukee area firm must have annual revenue of between $5 million and $500 million, have shown revenue growth in each of the last 3 years and have a total net profit over the 3-year period. This is a repeat win for AWS, having made this prestigious list in 2005, 2007 and 2008 as well.

Our inclusion on the list this year was especially gratifying for us, as this was a year of significant rebuilding for us following the September 2008 fire that gutted our plant in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Our revenue from that plant alone, doubled from $6 million to $12 million this past year, despite the challenges of rebuilding and expanding.

We are both pleased and proud of this accomplishment, and we are grateful to our clients for allowing us to continue to serve your needs and to make memorable experiences for you. We owe our success to the trust you have placed in us, and we look forward to continuing our partnership well into the future.

Galleon and CAAP Inc.’s Toxic Business “Advantages”

MikeMalatesta — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:35:54 -0500

In business, everyone is looking for an advantage; an idea, innovation or strategy that keeps them ahead of the competition. For most, the search for that advantage involves the constant pursuit of new, better and different ideas, resources and strategies. Those whose searches yield advantages win, those who don’t, lose. Capitalism as it should be.

Unfortunately, not everyone looking for an advantage chooses to do so in the right way. Some coerce, bully, lie, steal and cheat. Recently we’ve seen the consequences of the pursuit of unfair business advantage is the collapse of the “premier” New York hedge fund Galleon Group, www.galleongrp.com. The firm, led (or more accurately ruined) by its billionaire founder, Raj Rajaratnam, www.hedgefundnews.com/news_n_info/article_detail.php?id=105, has dissolved with Lehman Brothers speed after being charged by New York’s US Attorney and the SEC with illegal insider trading in companies like Google, IBM and others. According to the charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty, Mr. Rajaratnam chose to buy insider information from a cadre of ethics-deprived company and consultant accomplices. This information led to quick profits for Galleon and token cash payments to the accomplices, both at the expense of the “average” shareholder, who are no doubt “losers and schmucks” compared to Mr. Rajaratnam’s ill-gotten “genius.”

While the waste industry may not have the Hollywood appeal of the greedy hedge fund founder in handcuffs’ perp walk, the quest for illegal advantage is, while not pervasive, unfortunately still alive and well. An October 23^rd article in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/65085807.html, describes the story of CAAP, Inc. and its owner who were found guilty in Washington County Circuit Court for misleading Wisconsin’s DNR investigators. The company and its owner apparently failed to properly dispose of waste acid it collected from the City of Milwaukee’s Linwood Water Treatment facility. Rather than properly dispose of the hazardous waste acid, CAAP instead allegedly brought the waste to the owner’s property and placed it in a van where, over time it either leaked or was dumped onto the ground.

So what do these stories have in common with each other? While CAAP’s owner has been sentenced to 75 days in jail and Mr. Rajaratnam is likely headed there as well, they are not the losers here. The losers are the rest of us who depend on businesses and their leaders to create advantages that satisfy, help and protect their customers, not cheat them or put them at risk.

There is no place in business for cheaters, yet cheaters, as these stories show, are unfortunately alive and well. Whether you’re an investor or a waste generator, you need to make sure you don’t get cheated. You need to see things for yourself. You need to ask the right questions. You need to verify. You need to be responsible.

When it comes to your waste disposal choices, don’t take my word (or anyone’s word) on faith. Ask questions and verify. Beware. Don’t allow cheaters to take advantage of you!

NAWT Symposium Introduces Ideas, Demonstrations and Opportunities

MikeMalatesta — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:22:27 -0500

I’m flying Airtran (www.airtran.com) back to Milwaukee this past Sunday morning after having attended the 4^th (my 1^st) annual National Association of Wastewater Transporters (NAWT, www.nawt.org) Treatment Symposium in Orlando, Florida. NAWT (the acronym’s pronounced naught, as in “naughty” without the "y") primarily attracts professionals from the septage, grease trap and biosolids industries. These members have a desire to collaborate on issues, ideas, innovations and best practices with a goal of continuing to improve their respective operations while progressively moving their entire industries forward as well.

It would have been easy for me to skip the NAWT Symposium (as I obviously have the previous three years), since AWS (www.advancedwasteservices.com) doesn’t typically deal with septage, grease traps or biosolids. I was attracted to go, however, because I read that the symposium included a tour of an Orlando-based grease and septic processing plant called Select Processing of Orlando (no website), and I was curious to see how the operation looked and operated.

The two-day NAWT Symposium included, besides the tour, a jam-packed lineup of presentations on a range of issues from treatment to regulation to odor control to equipment to basically, well, you name it. While I wasn’t particularly interested in every single topic, I was in most, and I came away from them with great information and several promising ideas for us to consider employing at AWS.

Whenever that happens, I feel like my time was well spent.

Besides the Orlando heat (95⁰, give or take), the Select Processing tour was great. The company receives and processes septic, grease trap and biosolid wastes and, not unlike a CWT, uses physical, chemical and mechanical screening, precipitation and dewatering to produce a clean water suitable for discharge and a sludge suitable for landfill disposal or land application. The other neat thing about the tour was that NAWT had arranged for equipment vendors to be on site. These vendors didn’t just have their equipment, they showed how it worked, using Select Processing’s waste for the demonstration. Cool! We saw belt filter presses, receiving station screening systems, rotary presses, dewatering boxes and more. It’s one thing for an equipment manufacturer to talk about their product and quite another to demo it “live” in front of an audience of experts. NAWT deserves a lot of credit for that, and I hope to see future symposiums include an even wider range of collection and processing equipment.

AWS Honored by Inc. Magazine and The Milwaukee Business Journal

MikeMalatesta — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:49:31 -0500

I am pleased to report that AWS has recently received two important awards. First, AWS was included on Inc Magazine’s 2009 list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America. This is our third year in a row on the Inc. 5,000 list. (http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/event/5217)

Secondly, AWS was selected by The Business Journal as a 2009 Fasted Growing Firms award winner and will be honored at an October 30 luncheon at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. This is our third inclusion on this list, and we couldn’t be more pleased. (http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/event/5217)

As we all know, 2009 has been a year of many obstacles, including a dramatic downturn in the economy, that every company had to face in their day-to-day operations. Fortunately, AWS was able to overcome those obstacles and we’ve remained on track. We know we were only able to do this because of the trust and the continued opportunities our clients have afforded us, and we are very grateful for each and every opportunity to provide positive and memorable experiences to our clients. Thank you for your loyalty.

For more information about AWS, please visit www.advancedwasteservices.com.

English Majors ARE Think & Grow Rich Majors

MikeMalatesta — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:19:48 -0500

Grace Urbanski, a Marquette University professor friend of mine asked me the other day about whether I felt that my BA degree in English was an advantage or disadvantage in my business career. I get asked this, or something similar, all the time. Here's what I wrote back to Grace:

"I may be biased, but I have never felt that my English degree has been anything but a bonus in the business world. My observation is that most of the people that impress me share a common trait, which is their ability to process information, consider options and articulate direction. An English degree prepares a person perfectly for this as the majority of the work is not, as most people seem to think, just reading books. Instead, the real focus is on learning how to interpret the meaning(s) of what we read and, most importantly, take, substantiate and convey our position clearly and intelligently.

People always seem to be curious about how an English Major ended up in the waste business. I tell them that an English Major prepares a person for any business because it teaches a person to think(and articulate thought) and you can take my word for the fact that most people, in the business world or just the regular world, struggle with both of these skills. In my view, the marketability message to a student considering English as a major is simple. You can pay anyone for information and the cost will continue to decline as information alone is being increasingly commoditized. The people who will be most valuable in the future are the ones who can de-commoditize information by transforming it into valuable ideas that can be articulated and communicated clearly and convincingly."

Grace liked my answer but she wondered whether she could convince students, and their parents, that my perspective was sound. I completely understood her concern since the thinking that an English Major leads only to teaching opportunities (best case) or, more often, nowhere particularly productive, is pretty pervasive. Too bad.... and so wrong!

I believe that the Major of English suffers an acute case of misunderstanding. People get all hung up on the English part and, while you wouldn't know if by reading what most people write or listening to most people speak, most are, nonetheless, largely convinced that they do both of these adequately, ergo (a Latin word) they have no need or desire to study something as fundamental as English. Perhaps, rather than call the Major English, we should simply steal the title of Napoleon Hill's classic book, "Think and Grow Rich" www.naphill.org. There's a major that'll get parents and students attention!

Leadership is Needed in Good and in Tough Economic Times

MikeMalatesta — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:25:52 -0500

I often wonder if it’s true that, as the saying goes, when times get tough the tough get tougher, or whether the truth is that when the times get tough what actually happens is we all get a little more timid, rather than tough. By most “expert” consensus, we are in the middle – or perhaps past the middle – of the most severe business and economic retreat since the Great Depression. Except for some really old (and no doubt very wise) people, none of us has experienced anything close to the downturn the first twenty months of the Great Recession of the 21^st Century have heaped upon us. I know I haven’t. And the fact is, for me as well as you, we have no idea of exactly what to do to combat this tsunami of reduced demand, restricted credit and uncertainty about our futures. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for leadership!

Often, when we encounter rough patches in our business, we resort to re-focusing on our preservation instincts; Reduce Costs (at all costs – human and future potential), Manage Cash Flow (i.e., take advantage of your vendors' goodwill), Right Size (an invitation to jettison those who’s latent competency you might otherwise ignore), etc. We batten down the hatches – there’s a storm ‘a brewing, don’t you know.

I’m not suggesting that this is bad advice. But if you’re a CEO and don’t know about these basic business fundamentals which, by the way, if employed properly and consistently, need not be “rediscovered” in times like these, then perhaps another job is more suitable for you.

But rather than be judgmental, I’d rather be pragmatic. When, like so many businesses in this recession, you see revenues drop 20-30-40 and…..yikes 50% or more, it would be miraculous for anyone to expect that you would stealthfully and systematically manage your way through it. The truth is, at least in most cases – and especially in this recession, you notice it like you might an asteroid descending to earth -- it’s extremely fast and, when it hits, let’s just say (like Tommy Boy might) it’s gonna leave a mark. But just because its trajectory is fast and powerful doesn’t mean that we, as CEO’s, are entitled to a reprieve from our job which is to manage our company's growth and risk, in good times and in bad.

The fact is that many of us are making short-sighted, and damaging, decisions in our companies; decisions for which we will, ultimately, pay many more times for over time than what we believe we will save today. We are scared. And when we are scared, our instinct is to make a decision; quickly. That shows we’re in charge and taking action. But is that effective leadership or good management?

In our business, we see many clients who are truly struggling with their businesses (and we’re not having any Sunday picnic ourselves). Every day is a challenge not only to stay competitive, but, in many cases, merely to stay afloat. Revenue erosion, out of whack bank covenants and restricted lending, cash flow issues, declining order backlog…all are flashing red lights, not the green (or at least yellow) that so many have been used to for so many years. REDUCE COSTS…NO MATTER WHAT! Really? If reducing costs, no matter what, was the answer to business success and longevity in tough times, there would be no need for a CEO. Accountants would have all the tools necessary to run the business world in such matters were indeed so black and white. But the CEO’s job isn’t often so black and white. In good times and tough times, the CEO must balance the realities of today with the plan for tomorrow, sacrificing neither one for the other. That’s tough.

So what is the answer to the unique and (again, unless you are of the age most might consider exceptionally wise) unprecedented times we face today? The answer, of course, is the same as it was in 1929 and the early 30’s; LEADERSHIP. Leadership is always in substantial demand, in good times – when the lights are always green, and, even more in bad times, when the lights are yellow and red. Leadership is about being smart and not about being merely reactive. It’s about the present, but not simply about preservation. Preservation is an animal instinct. It’s not unique to a leader. We ALL have it and it’s always based on fear of loss rather than on opportunity of gain. But preservation (fear) alone is no way to run a business. Preservationists perish as they deplete their stored rations and their accumulated goodwill.

Times like these challenge leaders and leadership to the very core. We all (you can’t fool me) question ourselves and our abilities in times like these. That’s natural. It’s also natural, again in times like these, for fear to creep inside our beings, to challenge our beliefs and, like Garth, to question our worthiness (“we’re not worthy….we’re not worthy”). But, leadership isn’t about being simply reactive or “worthy”, it’s about being effective.

I’ve heard that it’s possible, like when you witness an accident, to have a brief, extraordinary burst of strength that, for example, allows one to lift a car off of a helpless pedestrian. That sounds a lot like what I see being passed off as leadership today, lifting cars off of struggling companies (whew, that’s hard work). But, like all accidents, the substantive lesson doesn’t come from the response, it comes from (1) The study of the cause and (2) The action to prevent the repeat of the cause.

Leadership in tough times, like all times, requires the courage not only to make the hard decisions but, more importantly, not to make those decisions in your business today at its expense tomorrow. We’re all learning powerful leadership lessons in this recession, but the education can’t come at the expense of relationships, ideas and our job to create long term value. Be careful not to take so many steps back that there is no gas in the tank left to go forward!

Drip Gas Goes BOOM!

MikeMalatesta — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:32:06 -0500

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the potential dangers presented by drip gas that hide in the brines, frac and other Gas Field Fluids (GFF) generated by Marcellus Shale drilling. Drip gas is a naturally occurring form of gasoline found near many oil and natural gas wells, in natural gas pipelines, and as a byproduct of natural gas extraction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drip_gas). My message was intended as a warning, a wake-up call if you will, to both the producers and the wastewater handlers active in the Marcellus.

Having had our plant burn to the ground by a fire which we suspect was fueled by drip gas that we had carelessly permitted to enter our facility, I felt that the rest of the industry, particularly the transporters and the treatment facilities, needed to learn from our experience and to, immediately, become aware of the significant dangers associated with drip gas and take the necessary actions to test for the presence of drip gas in GFF prior to receiving it for treatment and processing.

Unfortunately, my message either failed to reach the right people or was dismissed as hyperbole or exaggeration.

On February 25, 2009, a second facility, Youngstown, Ohio-based Virgin Oil and Water, Ltd., was severely damaged by a violent explosion and fire that, according to the fire chief (and common sense), appears to have been the result of two dreaded enemies, drip gas and a spark being invited to the same party (http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/feb/26/explosion-rocks-plant/)/ . Unlike our experience with drip gas, which resulted in lots of property damage but no injuries, Virgin was not so fortunate. Lee Whinery, a Virgin employee, remains in an Akron hospital in critical condition from the burns he received from the explosion. Our thoughts are with Mr. Whinery and his family, and we’ve established a fund, the AWS Lee Whinery Fund, on his behalf. Please feel free to donate!

It’s obvious that the dangers associated with drip gas in Marcellus GFF are real (two fires should make that a duh!), significant, life-threatening and, of course, manageable. Managing drip gas requires both an appreciation of the danger and actions to identify and mitigate the danger.

A drip gas management plan might look like this:

1) Producers should develop a Drip Gas Management Plan, communicate it to everyone associated with GFF activities and train everyone who handles GFF on the dangers of drip gas.

2) Companies, like ours, who handle GFF should have the proper equipment and procedures in place to sample ALL off loads and detect drip gas before accepting the load. A “Set-a-Flash” device is what we use, and it works exceptionally well.

3) ALL smoking and the use of open flames (torches, etc.) should be prohibited within 50 feet of all GFF loading, transportation and processing activities.

4) All GFF loading, transportation and processing activities and GFF disposal at Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW’s) should be discontinued unless the POTW has and uses the equipment necessary to detect the presence of drip gas prior to receiving material. Imagine the damage to property and people that a drip gas-fueled explosion and fire could create at a POTW or in a sewer system.

Two fires, an explosion and a critical injury are ENOUGH! Drip gas is a fact of life in GFF. We cannot ignore it, and we can’t risk it! We need to manage it, all of us, in an effective, proactive way. We don't just need to know that it could be there, we need to know when!

Flammable Drip Gas a Concern in Marcellus Drilling Wastewater

MikeMalatesta — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:06:03 -0600

Much has been written and discussed about the enormous opportunities related to the Marcellus Shale (www.geology.com/articles/marcellus-shale.shtml) natural gas play. It’s hard not to get excited about the potential economic impact that the extraction of this gas will have on hundreds of companies, thousands of individuals and the entire Commonwealth. The prospect for dollars, jobs and development, not to mention the security of helping to extend our energy independence, is a much needed breath of fresh air, especially in the midst of the most difficult economic circumstances we’ve seen in several generations.

Opportunities, however, rarely come without challenges and getting the Marcellus natural gas out of the ground and to the consumer is no different in this regard. The challenge receiving perhaps the most attention is how to dispose of all the wastewater that is generated both by the drilling and by the ongoing extraction process. The volume of wastewater connected to these activities is enormous now and will continue to grow as the drilling activity intensifies.

Managing the wastewater disposal requirements is one issue that not only gets everyone’s attention, but forces collaboration on a solution as well. Today, it’s clear that all of the affected parties including the Energy Producers, the PA DEP, POTW’s and Professional Disposal & Recycling Firms like ours are exploring every avenue possible to supply the treatment capacity necessary to accommodate the drilling activity (and preserve the much needed economic impact associated with it) while protecting our precious natural water resources as well. It’s not an easy task.

Most wastewater treatment systems, be they mechanical, chemical or biological, are not able to remove many of the contaminants commonly found in the drilling and extraction related wastewaters. Examples of these contaminants include Chlorides, Salt and Total Dissolved Solids which, when present in elevated levels, are tough, expensive and slow to remove. As a result, most or all of these contaminants flow through the treatment systems, leading to higher levels of the contaminants in rivers (as evidenced recently in the Monongahela River) to which the water eventually flows. These elevated levels have the ability to negatively affect the chemical balance in the river and the quality of the drinking water upon which many communities rely.

There is another significant issue and danger present in the drilling related wastewater that has yet to get much attention, but it certainly got ours. In September 2008, we had a very serious fire at our wastewater processing facility. Luckily, no one was hurt. When we investigated the fire, we determined that the primary cause was our own improper use of a cutting torch. What we also come to conclude, however, was that the fire was additionally fueled and intensified by the presence of “drip gas” that, unbeknown to us, was in our treatment system. Drip gas is a naturally occurring form of gasoline found near many oil and natural gas wells, in natural gas pipelines, and as a byproduct of natural gas extraction. As you can imagine, and as we unfortunately found out for ourselves, drip gas burns fast and hot and, due to its low flash point (@75f), it can easily be ignited by a flame, a cigarette or even by static electricity.

When we resumed operations at our plant, we instituted a policy that requires us to sample and test every incoming truck for the presence of drip gas. That policy has paid many dividends. On average, of the 50-70 trucks transporting drilling related wastewater to our facility daily, we reject 1 or 2 because the loads contain drip gas and are extremely flammable. We don’t know what happens to these loads. Perhaps they are returned to the drilling site or managed as a flammable hazardous waste. That would be appropriate. Or maybe they are simply re-routed to another commercial treatment facility or Publically Owned Treatment Works that either doesn’t sample the loads or is not equipped or staffed to test for the presence of drip gas. If this is the case, the likelihood that someone else may have an experience similar to ours or worse is, unfortunately, high.

In our view, of the many wastewater contaminant challenges associated with the Marcellus drilling related activities, drip gas is the most significant because 1.) Like TDS and Chloride, it is impossible for most mechanical, chemical or biological treatment facilities to remove and, as a result, drip gas flows through these systems and into our rivers. 2.) Many, likely most, treatment facilities do not sample loads and, even if they do sample, are not equipped to test for drip gas and 3.) With the presence of a spark or static electricity, drip gas will ignite and burn quickly and violently putting property and people at risk of damage and injury.

As we continue to pursue a practical and achievable balance between the economic opportunity and environmental challenges facing us in the Marcellus, it’s important that whatever directions we pursue support both the protection of our resources and the safety of our people and systems. We learned the hard way just what can happen when drip gas meets a spark and we took the necessary steps to ensure that we won’t need to learn that lesson again. For the safety of our people, our water quality and our infrastructure, we need to build drip gas testing plans into every drilling related wastewater management program. If we fail to do so, we won’t be the last ones to experience the lesson firsthand.