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UNION COUNTY LOCALSOURCE LOCALSOURCE.COM THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2011 — PAGE 19

COUNTY NEWSCounty offers severalyoga class for adults

The popular gentle yoga seriesat Trailside Nature and ScienceCenter in Mountainside willresume on Tuesday nights throughMarch 22. The series is intendedfor adults 18 years and older.

For information about this seriesor upcoming programs at Trailside,call 908-789-3670.

This series is an opportunity tolearn and experience Raja yogatechniques for integrating body andmind. Yoga instructor Claire M.Bay, certified by the Chopra Centerin New York City, returns to Trail-side to teach and guide the partici-pants. Students will learn how touse nature's healing powers torelieve stress. Soothing music willenhance the overall experience.

Each yoga session will run from7:15 to 8:30 p.m. Pre-registration ispreferred as space is limited; how-ever, participants can register forindividual sessions. Doors willopen 15 minutes prior to each class.Participants are asked to bring ayoga mat or pillow. Yoga classeswill be offered on Tuesdayevenings: Tuesday and March 15,and 22. Trailside Nature and Sci-ence Center is located at 452 NewProvidence Rd., Mountainside.

Human Service boardelects new chairman

The Union County Human Ser-vices Advisory Council announcedrecently the election of James W.Home Jr., President and CEO ofUnited Way of Greater UnionCounty to a one-year term as chair

of the organization."It is with great honor that I

accept the position as chair of theUnion County Human ServicesAdvisory Council," stated Home."It is very inspiring to work withthe dedicated individuals on thiscouncil that are developing pro-grams to improve human servicesthroughout the county."

The Union County HSAC is acounty-based planning, advisoryand advocacy organization dedicat-ed to meeting the human serviceneeds of the county at large.

The Union County Human Ser-vices Advisory Council works toimprove communications and coor-dination between human serviceproviders, funding agents and therecipients of service. James W.Home Jr., joined UWGUC in 2005as Chief Executive Officer.

Potential municipal partner hasa questionable track record

By Cheryl HehlStaff Writer

This is the first in an investigative series on Covan-ta Energy, the company holding the lease on the coun-ty waste incinerator.

The Union County Utilities Authority is pushingfor 14 towns to sign on the dotted line so they cancomplete a deal with Covanta Energy on a 45-yearextension of the Rahway trash to energy incineratorlease. But local officials might want to do their home-work before they get their pens out.

Although the county stands firmly behind the movethey believe will save $2.1 million a year over the next45 years if all 14 towns come aboard, New Jersey Cov-anta — which has incinerators all over the country —does not have the best track record when it comes toemissions violations. Emissions include carcinogenslike sulfur dioxin and carbon-monoxide.

In 2009, the company that turns household waste inUnion County into electricity, paid a $16,400 fine tothe Department of Environmental Protection forexceeding allowable levels of carbon monoxide andsulfur dioxide released into the atmosphere.

Although local officials said at the time that theseviolations that led to the fines were not major, thesetype of emission violations have been used as ammu-nition against Covanta in other towns where local gov-ernments were considering the company to run wasteincinerators.

The Rahway plant, which processes all of UnionCounty's household waste, or about 1,500 tons a day,into renewable energy, is monitored by Covanta, whosubmits its numbers to the DEP. The three carbonmonoxide and one sulfur dioxide violation, cited in the2009 fine, were all reported in that manner.

In Dutchess County, N.Y., where Covanta was bid-ding to run waste facilities, legislator Joel Tyner triedto block Covanta from running an incinerator inPoughkecpsie. He said publically that he was con-cerned about the $190,000 in fines Covanta has paidsince 2005.

In December, town council members in Walling-ford, Conn, expressed concerns when they learned thesource of an emissions violation that precipitated theshutdown of a Covanta-run incinerator.

Covanta had been managing the plant for severalyears, but bought the plant last July from the Con-necticut Resources Recovery Authority when theauthority's 20-year contract with five towns ended.Just weeks later, on July 29, the Connecticut DEPissued Covanta a notice of violation after testing

revealed Covanta had allowed the incinerator to emitmore than twice the permitted levels of dioxins fromone of its uni :s.

The plant was shut down immediately and was stilldark in December. In August, Connecticut AttorneyGeneral Richard Blumenthal sued Covanta on behalfof the DEP. But this lawsuit was not the company'sfirst brush with state action. In November 2009, Cov-anta agreed to pay a $355,000 settlement to the Con-necticut DEP, according to records.

"Our legal action follows a repeat environmentalviolation — excessive emissions of toxic dioxin," Blu-menthal said in a statement. "Even following a settle-ment less than one year ago for a similar violation,Covanta again spewed unpermittcd levels of dioxininto the air."

Covanta's 1 istory includes emerging from bank-ruptcy in 20CK, investments in professional hockeyarenas as well as operating power plants in China,Costa Rica, India, Hawaii and Virginia.

Several of its power plants, in other states —including Virginia — have been fined in the past forair pollution violations or have been entangled in con-tract disputes and lawsuits. But, by the same token, thecompany also has won several environmental awardsand settled many of its legal disputes.

In 2003, Covanta was fined $14,695 by state regu-lators for excessive emissions of carbon monoxide atan Alexandria, Va. plant, as well as failing to submitenvironmental reports in "',001 and 2002, which isabout the time the company was preparing to file forbankruptcy.

The city of Tulsa, Okla., 'iad to divert its trash to alandfill in 2003 when Covanta briefly closed its incin-erator there, citing financial problems.

Covanta also is one of the top 40 "primary respon-sible parties" at a toxic superfund site in New Hamp-shire and will have to pay its share of an estimated $48million cleanup there, according to DEP authorities.

In the fall of 2005, Covanta Energy was purchasedby Danielson Holding Company, which itself hasemerged from bankruptcy around 1990. In the fall of2004, Covanta became known as Covanta HoldingCorporation.

In 2006, according to company corporate filingswith the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cov-anta's future depends heavily on renewed municipalcontracts, many of which are set to expire in the next10 to 12 years.

Next week: More about Covanta and the impactemissions have on health.

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