A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 January 1992


Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
12-27-91: STATE DENIES PERMIT FOR ABB/COMBUSTION ENGINEERING
2,250 TPD INCINERATOR.

Some background:
* IRS ruled that $335 million bond deal was fraudulently done by the firm of Matthews & Wright.

* V.P. of Matthews & Wright, Arthur Goldberg, serving 18 months for frauds.

* Matthews & Wright got $14 million off the top of the bond issue.

* $6.2 million the city got for project development was “by all accounts” squandered.

* After spending the $6.2 million the city of Chester borrowed $1.1 million from Rickel & Assoc. of NJ - interest on this loan could be as high as 300%!

* Leon Bean, former executive director of the project, was convicted on corruption charges.

* The city of Chester owes $23.6 million on big bond issue -- $1 million more than their ‘92 budget.

Siting:

INNER CITY MINORITY RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY

Less than one mile from the WESTINGHOUSE 2,688 tpd mass burn trash incinerator
Less than 900 feet from Immaculate Heart of Mary elementary school
The City of Chester is listed as the 10th worst town out of 774 in PA for air pollution problems
The City that wanted WESTINGHOUSE & ABB municipal incinerators:
is rampantly corrupt according to State’s Crime Commission:
According to the Chairman of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, Michael J. Reilly,

“Corruption in Chester is worse than ever...If anything, the city of Chester is worse
than the last time we looked at it’...His conclusion was based on a 16-month
investigation of organized crime in the city. The ‘last time’ to which Reilly referred,
was the 1978 investigation that ended with the conviction and imprisonment of
former Mayor Jack Nacrelli...[According to Reilly] ‘John Nacrelli is the government...
He and his organization have made Chester an area in which racketeering is
allowed to flourish with the support and protection of his organization...the perception
is, the government is for sale...” Delaware County Daily Times, 2-21-89, page 4.

Major Opponents: A priest and his parish.

Reverend John McFadden, pastor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary school, and his parish members are the ones to credit for stopping the ABB incinerator proposal. Rev. McFadden told Waste Not that there “was virtually no opposition to the Westinghouse incinerator” that went on line in 1991. The ABB/Combustion Engineering incinerator scheme was to burn Philadelphia’s trash in the city of Chester. Because of the proximity of his school to this incinerator, McFadden began to ask questions and to keep his parish members informed. “We knew that the only way [ABB] could build was by having a guaranteed waste stream.” With the help of Clean Air Action in Philadelphia, Rev. McFadden and about forty parents and children made a presentation to the City Council of Philadelphia in 1991 to explain Chester’s air pollution problems. After their presentation the City Council of Philadelphia voted 13 to 1 against giving a trash contract to the city of Chester. We asked Rev. McFadden why the project proceeded so far if the state had a regulation prohibiting the siting of an incinerator within 900 feet of a school. His responded by saying that because the city of Chester had endorsed the project he presumed that the State would accept his waiver of this regulation. For more information contact: Rev.McFadden, 1408 West 2nd St., Chester, PA 19013. Tel: 215- 872-2023.

Report on Chester, PA, from the Delaware County Daily Times, PA, of 1-28-92: On December 27, 1991 the state Department of Environmental Resources “rejected the solid waste and air quality permit applications on grounds of insufficient need and pollution concerns...Project developer ABB Resource Recovery Systems, Combustion Engineering Inc. said it would not appeal DER’s rejection to the state Environmental Review Board...The project team failed to get a key commitment of 2,000 tons of refuse per day from Philadelphia, which DER cited as an example that the facility was not crucial to the area’s needs. ...The project was beleaguered from the very start, when project officials scrambled to beat an August 1986 deadline of a change in a federal law that would wipe out the tax-exempt status of the $335 million bond issue the city floated to develop the facility. But early last year the IRS ruled that the bond deal was fraudulently done by the Wall Street firm of Matthews & Wright to beat the deadline and said the city owed up to $23.6 million. Chester has yet to pay the bill, which amounts to about $1 million more than the city’s 1992 budget. New city solicitor Ed Lawhorne said yesterday, ‘The IRS has been more inclined to go after the bondholders than go after the city.’ The IRS has consistently refused to discuss the matter. If Lawhorne’s scenario is correct, project officials have said that the city could face hundreds of lawsuits from angry bondholders. Former Matthews & Wright Vice President Arthur Goldberg pleaded guilty in November 1990 to frauds similar to Chester’s that occurred in Guam and East St. Louis, Ill. and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. A plea bargain assured Goldberg would not be charged in the Chester deal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Matthews & Wright got $14 million off the top of the bond issue. The city got $6.2 million development for the project, which, by most accounts, it squandered without ever acquiring a full site area or completing any of several other conditions necessary to start construction. After spending the $6.2 million, Chester Resource Recovery Authority borrowed $1.1 million from Rickel & Associates of New Jersey. Authority Board President Willie Ralph Leake, former Mayor Willie Mae Leake’s husband, said last night the entire loan has not been repaid. The authority pledged most of the tracts in the site area to Rickel as collateral for the loan. Councilman Ed Zetusky, commenting on estimates that the interest on the loan may be as high as 300 percent, termed the deal ‘loansharking.’ Neither Ken Rickel, president of the company, nor authority Solicitor John Nails, will comment on the status of the loan. Leon Bean, former executive director of the project, awaits sentencing after being convicted of corruption charges. The Delaware County Grand Jury which indicted Bean said the project under his tenure ‘was a study in administrative bumbling and corruption...

“Waste Management Inc:
an encyclopedia of environmental crimesand other misdeeds.”

Just published and available for $20 for non-profits and $50 for-profits from: Greenpeace, 1436 U Street, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: 202-462-1177. If you need this report, quickly send your check to Greenpeace because they don’t have many copies. Written by Greenpeace toxics campaigner, Charlie Cray, this is an expertly-crafted 285 page document on Waste Management Inc. This report is packed with information and 775 references, and the information is presented in a style that makes it simple to find out just what you want to know, for example: a chronology of WMI’s track record and operations -including their overseas operations, WMI’s hazardous and municipal waste incinerators, penalties and settlements, a state-by-state list of WMI landfills and all their subsidiary companies, the latest on political contributions to U.S. Senators and Congressman, contributions to environmental groups, a listing of all WMI and Chemical Waste Management shares in other companies, revolving doors, coupled with a state-by-state list of groups fighting WMI --and more! This is the blueprint for future reports that should be written on each waste company. This report is so important and well done that Waste Not will zerox a copy and loan it (for 2 weeks) to anyone who cannot afford the $20. But if you or your group are into the waste issue, take it from us, that you will regret not having the original.


WASTE NOT # 183 A publication of Work on Waste USA, published 48 times a year. Annual rates are: Groups & Non-Profits $50; Students & Seniors $35; Individual $40; Consultants & For-Profits $125; Canadian $US45; Overseas $65. Editors: Ellen & Paul Connett, 82 Judson Street, Canton, NY 13617. Tel: 315-379-9200. Fax: 315-379-0448.