Bfi

The owner of a leaking hazardous-waste landfill has until today to devise options for dealing with ground water at the Solley Road site, according to an agreement with state environment officials.A spokesman for Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. (BFI) said the company probably would submit a more detailed version of what it gave the Maryland Department of the Environment several months ago when applying for a permit to discharge treated water into nearby Marley Creek.Spokesman Peter Block said the company, the nation's second-largest waste hauler, would not make its decisions public until the Department of the Environment receives the document today.

State environmental officials have given Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) three weeks to figure out what to do with ground water from its closed hazardous waste landfill on Solley Road where environmental protections are failing.Dane Bauer, deputy director of the Maryland Department of the Environment's (MDE) water management administration, told officials of the nation's second-largest waste hauler at a meeting Friday morning to "lay out a strategy for what is the best option at this time," he said.

The nation's second-largest waste handler was sued for $100 fTC million this week in federal court by a man who says its Solley Road landfill has contaminated his adjacent land with hazardous waste so badly that he cannot develop it.John C. Blumenthal, whose Blumenthal Power Co. Inc. owns 145 acres between the closed landfill and Marley Creek, has proposed building a 738-home subdivision on the site. But cancer-causing chemicals from the landfill, owned by Browning Ferris Industries, have turned up in test wells on his property.

Opposition to a proposed waste transfer station in Elkridge was hobbled yesterday when the leading land owner fighting the facility withdrew its opposition to the proposal by Browning Ferris Industries.At the beginning of the last of three hearings on the proposal, county Zoning Board members were told that Bluestream Limited Partnership had accepted BFI's offer to buy a strip of land for a berm to shield its property from the sights and sounds of the trash facility.Bluestream owns 79 acres next to the 17-acre BFI property.

Developer Arnold Sagner makes no bones about his opposition to a Browning-Ferris Industries trash transfer station on Route 1 in Elkridge. Such a facility, he believes, would ruin his plans to develop an industrial park on land adjacent to the BFI site. He could be right about that, as well as the idea that hurting his plans affects industrial development in Howard County as a whole.Mr. Sagner also contends that if the county allows BFI to controlthe lucrative business of shipping local trash outside the state, the county stands to lose millions of dollars in potential revenue.

Nearly four years ago, Browning-Ferris Industries had only two recycling plants in the country. Today there are more than 65.The latest plant, a 42,000-square-foot facility with the capacity to process close to 300 tons of refuse a day, was dedicated Wednesday in Elkridge.The plant is expected to increase substantially the company's presence in the Baltimore region as BFI goes after local government recycling contracts and commercial customers.The plant, which has been in operation for a month, is processing approximately 100 tons of materials daily, including bottles, paper, plastics and aluminum, said BFI District Manager Jim Stone.

Browning-Ferris Industries will hold a grand opening and dedication from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today to mark the completion of its newest Maryland investment, a $4 million regional recycling plant in Howard County.The 42,000-square-foot Elkridge Recyclery, off U.S. 1 in Elkridge, will use technology developed by Aluminum Co. of America to process up to 300 tons of recyclable material a day. Its opening will result in the addition of 30 jobs to BFI's 115-person work force in Howard County.William D. Ruckelshaus, former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and now chief executive officer of BFI, said recycling is one of the fastest-growing parts of the company's business.

Browning-Ferris Industries will hold a grand opening and dedication from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today to mark the completion of its newest Maryland investment, a $4 million regional recycling plant in Howard County.The 42,000-square-foot Elkridge Recyclery, off U.S. 1 in Elkridge, will use technology developed by Aluminum Co. of America to process up to 300 tons of recyclable material a day. Its opening will result in the addition of 30 jobs to BFI's 115-person work force in Howard County.William D. Ruckelshaus, former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and now chief executive officer of BFI, said recycling is one of the fastest-growing parts of the company's business.

County administrators defended awarding Harford's recycling contractto Browning-Ferris Industries Inc., despite estimates showing another company would have charged less, based on information in the county's own recycling plan and a bid analysis commissioned by the county.BFI's one-year $285,000 contract was based on an estimate Harford would provide the company with 4,680 tons of recyclables to process and make ready for market. That means the company will charge $61 a ton and would be expected to process about 15 tons of recyclables a dayin 312 working days.