Rachel’s News #34, July 20, 1987
The Los Angeles County district attorney in mid-June charged Waste Management, Inc., and two other garbage firms with conspiracy to restrict competition (to fix garbage prices), in what prosecutors called the “largest criminal antitrust case in California history.” Waste Management is the biggest waste hauling company in the U.S.; they operate 102 municipal solid waste landfills and sixteen hazardous waste landfills in 37 states.
According to the WALL STREET JOURNAL June 10, 1987, the companies are charged with illegally operating a cartel, “dividing up customers among themselves, eliminating true competition, and raising prices to artificially high levels.” If convicted, the firms could lose the right to do business in California, and could be fined up to $1 million each. (The JOURNAL did not report whether the firms earned more than $1 million each by their alleged illegal activities.) Five individuals charged with conspiracy in the same case, including two employees of Waste Management, each face up to three years in jail and fines of up to $100,000.
Two weeks later the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed civil charges against the same companies and the same individuals, stemming from the same activities. According to the WALL STREET JOURNAL July 2, 1987, the district attorney’s office said the civil suit was filed because they will seek an injunction to prohibit the companies and individuals from repeating the violations in the future.
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Meanwhile the WALL STREET JOURNAL June 2 reported that in Chicago “Federal investigators are conducting a massive inquiry into price-fixing, bid-rigging, and other criminal antitrust activities in the booming waste disposal industry.” Federal officials said 11 grand juries are investigating criminal activities within the waste hauling industry from Florida to California.
According to the JOURNAL, “Sources close to the investigation” said that Waste Management, Inc., is being investigated in six states and Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) is being investigated in five states. BFI is the second-largest waste hauler in the U.S.
Justice Department officials said grand juries are looking into illegal waste disposal practices in Birmingham, AL; Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, FL; Memphis, TN; Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, PA; Trenton, NJ; Phoenix, AZ; Cleveland, OH; Los Angeles, CA; and at an undisclosed 11th locale.
Both Waste Management and BFI have been convicted of price-fixing and bid-rigging in the past. In 1984, the two firms were convicted of such charges by a federal jury in Georgia. Late in 1986, two senior officials of Waste Management’s south Florida subsidiary, United Sanitation Services, were convicted of antitrust charges. Waste Management, Inc., wasn’t charged in the Florida case, but the JOURNAL cites sources “close to the investigation” saying that the company is now being investigated as a result of the conviction of the two executives.
In a pre-sentencing memorandum for one of the convicted officials, federal prosecutors called the former head of Waste Management’s south Florida subsidiary the “chief architect” of a conspiracy to control waste hauling in the region. The memorandum said the scheme was “financially devastating” and cost South Florida customers “millions of dollars annually.”
LITTLE-KNOWN PUBLICATION GIVES FREE ACCESS TO MANY EPA REPORTS
No matter what you think of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), you’re going to like its Center for Environmental Research Information in Cincinnati, OH. Every three or four months, they publish ORD PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCEMENT; ORD stands for Office of Research and Development. This 30-page booklet lists recent publications giving results of EPA-funded research. The listed publications are free for the asking: just check off the ones you want, send the form back to Cincinnati and wait a few weeks. (The publications are free as long as the supply lasts, so send your order quickly.) To get on the free mailing list to receive ORD PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS, write to EPA, ORD Publications, P.O. Box 12505, Cincinnati, OH 45212.
The listed publications are often technical in nature, but sprinkled throughout the list you’ll find useful titles such as: ASSESSMENT FOR FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS–OCEAN DUMPING (EPA/600/S6-84/001); A PROFILE OF EXISTING HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATION FACILITIES AND MANUFACTURERS IN THE UNITED STATES (EPA/600/S2-84/052); PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF FULL-SCALE HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATORS (EPA/600/S2-84/181); LINER MATERIALS EXPOSED TO HAZARDOUS AND TOXIC WASTES (EPA/600/S2-84/169); EVALUATION OF PROCESSED MUNICIPAL WASTES IN LANDFILL CELLS (EPA/600/S2-84/172); ASSESSMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE SURFACE IMPOUNDMENT TECHNOLOGY: CASE STUDIES AND PERSPECTIVES OF EXPERTS (EPA/600/S2-84/173); STATE OF THE ART OF AQUIFER RESTORATION (EPA/600/S2-84/182); TEST METHODS FOR DETERMINING THE CHEMICAL WASTE COMPATIBILITY OF SYNTHETIC LINERS (EPA/600/S2-85/030); SETTLEMENT AND COVER SUBSIDENCE OF HAZARDOUS WASTE LANDFILLS (EPA/600/S2-85/034); EVALUATION OF AIR EMISSIONS FROM HAZARDOUS WASTE TR
EATMENT, STORAGE AND DISPOSAL FACILITIES (EPA/600/S285/057); RESISTANCE OF FLEXIBLE MEMBRANE LINERS TO CHEMICALS AND WASTES (EPA/600/S2-85/127); UNDERGROUND TANK LEAK DETECTION METHODS: A STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW (EPA/600/S2-86/001); PRACTICAL GUIDE: TRIAL BURNS FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATORS (EPA/600/S286/050); TECHNICAL RESOURCE DOCUMENT: TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR DIOXIN CONTAINING WASTES (EPA/600/S2-86/096); CHARACTERIZATION OF STACK EMISSIONS FROM MUNICIPAL REFUSE-TO-ENERGY SYSTEMS (EPA/600/S3-86/055); and on and on.
The titles are not presented in any apparent order, so you will find yourself reading many titles about subjects you do not understand. Persist. Buried in this gray list of big words, you will find a few sparkling jewels in every issue of ORD PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS. The ones we’ve listed here appeared in the March, 1987 issue; write ORD today or phone (513) 569-7562. –Peter Montague
Descriptor terms: studies; epa; information services; epa office of research and development; wmi; bfi; waste hauling industry;
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Rachel’s News was published by Environmental Research Foundation (E.R.F.) from 1986 to 2009. All together, 1000 issues appeared. Unless otherwise noted, they were written by Peter Montague.
Over the years the name of the publication changed slightly, starting as “Hazardous Waste News,” then “Rachel’s Hazardous Waste News,” then “Rachel’s Environment & Health News” and finally “Rachel’s Democracy & Health News.” In this archive, we have simply used “Rachel’s News.”
E.R.F. changed its location over the years from Princeton, N.J., to Washington, D.C. to Annapolis, Md. and finally to New Brunswick, N.J.
To contact E.R.F. or Peter Montague, send email to pm8525@gmail.com.
