Unevenflow? The rock band Pearl Jam finds itself
caught up in a tussle over a proposal by the city of Seattle to
build a waste transfer station on the site of a warehouse that the group
uses as its headquarters. Adjacent property owners want the band to use
its clout to help change the city´s mind, but the group is lying low,
reluctant to wade into the controversy, according to an article in the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. That´s surprising, given Pearl Jam´s
reputation for outspokenness and its willingness to dive into political
causes.
"Eddie Vedder´s for the little guy, and Pearl Jam would have a lot of
clout," one property owner, naming the band´s singer, told the
Post-Intelligencer. "The tough thing is, they´re out on tour for a
year."
Picayune & Testy Over Testing: New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin last week temporarily closed a new landfill on the city´s
eastern edge pending the results of tests to determine whether the
Hurricane Katrina debris being deposited at the site poses hazards to
nearby residents or to an adjacent wildlife refuge. That "pending" may
take a while, though. Citizens groups that oppose the landfill are
squabbling with the landfill´s operator, Waste Management of Louisiana,
over how the tests should be conducted, the New Orleans Times-Picayune
reports.
The
Verdict Was The Bluetail Fly
"Corn Ethanol Isn´t All It´s Cracked Up To Be" -- Headline, Salt Lake
Tribune, May 19
Honest, Law-Abiding Businessman Update: Danbury,
Conn., lawyer Jack Garamella has emerged as the latest target in the
FBI´s probe into the influence of organized crime on the waste industry
in Connecticut and surrounding states. According to a Boston Globe
report, Garamella was the longtime corporate lawyer for trash hauler
James Galante, a central figure in the FBI investigation. If Galante´s
name rings a bell, that may be because Waste News last year
profiled him in a story focusing on his ownership of a
minor-league hockey franchise, the Danbury Trashers.
Stores Report Sudden Rise In Demand For Green Paint
"Green Roofs Help Control Pollution" -- Headline, Baltimore Sun, May 20
Pete Fehrenbach
is assistant managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this
column are collected in
the Inbox
archive.
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contents copyright 2005 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.