Envirocare of Utah, the state's only commercial radioactive waste disposal facility, is being sold to a group that includes a New York investment company as well as Utah firm Creamer Investments "and several other local investors."
The price was not announced.
Envirocare, based in Salt Lake City, operates a disposal site at Clive, Tooele County. Other than some small operations authorized to store short-lived radioactive material that quickly become harmless, it is the only facility of its type in Utah.
Envirocare's owner, Khosrow B. Semnani, entered into a purchase agreement with an investment group led by Lindsay Goldberg & Bessemer, New York City. The group includes "Creamer Investments and several other local investors," says the announcement of the sale. The same press release also was posted on the Lindsay Goldberg Web site.
Purchase price was not disclosed, but the release pointed out that the investment company has more than $2 billion of committed capital in its business, focusing on "acquiring well-managed businesses and actively helping to build long-term value."
While agreement has been reached, the transaction has not yet closed, said Tim Barney, Envirocare vice president. Until then, the parties are keeping quiet about details.
"We want to answer questions," Barney said Wednesday. "We look forward to it, but because of how these things go, we need to wait until the closing to do that."
Still, both sides felt the public should know what is going on, so the announcement went out. Meanwhile, Barney said, the closing should be early in 2005, but it's hard to know exactly when.
Dianne R. Nielson, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said Semnani met with the department Wednesday morning before the announcement was released, "so we wouldn't be surprised."
Such transfers are familiar to the department, which regulates Envirocare. Rules are in place to govern the process, she said.
"We're going to work with the new purchaser to make sure that we can effectively transfer those permits and licenses, and facilitate this decision as best we can," Nielson said.
That not only includes transferring licenses to the new owners, she added, "but also establishment of sureties for closure and post-closure for the radioactive waste as well as the mixed waste on the site."
Mixed waste is material not only contaminated with low-level nuclear material but also with hazardous non-radioactive matter.
"It's important for a facility like this to be able to ensure compliance," Nielson said. "That's what its customers are looking for as a safe place to dispose waste."
Creamer Investments was the operating partner of East Carbon Development Corp., a Carbon County landfill that disposes of waste from as far away as New Jersey. Its partner was Union Pacific. Then ECDC was sold to Allied Waste in 1997.
The Creamer in Creamer Investments is Steve Creamer, a Salt Lake man whose projects in Utah go back at least 20 years, including construction proposals involving the Burr Trail near Capitol Reef National Park and a Book Cliffs highway. Creamer said that when the time comes, "I'll be excited to tell you our story" about the Envirocare purchase.
"We think it'll be a fun opportunity."
Reached by telephone at his business, Western Pacific Group, 136 S. Main, he said after the sale of ECDC, "we bought a company from Laidlaw called JTM Industries."
That company was used to create ISG Resources, which consolidated the fly ash industry in America, he said. This is the recycling of fly ash from coal-fired power plants, material used as a replacement for Portland cement and concrete, he said.
They consolidated nine companies and handled environmental aspects of 165 power plants in 37 states, Creamer said. The company was the largest recycler of coal combustion products in America, recycling about 8 million tons a year, Creamer said.
ISG Resources was sold to Headwaters in September 2002. Based in South Jordan, Headwaters is involved in alternative energy and services, according to a Nov. 1, 2003, article in the Deseret Morning News. That article was an announcement of Creamer's resignation from the Headwaters board of directors.
Creamer said after ISG Resources was sold to Headwaters he stayed for another year during its transition, "and I've been just looking for something since then" to do, he added.
"And this is it."
Charles Judd, who was terminated as president of Envirocare in January 2002, said rumors had circulated in the industry for about six months that Envirocare might be sold. Judd himself hopes to operate a radioactive waste disposal facility near Envirocare, Cedar Mountain Environmental.
"It's been a possibility," he said. "Now it looks like it's (the sale) just come to a fruition. It's something of a surprise."
He does not believe Envirocare was under any financial stress to cause a sale. "I think the company is just doing fine," he said. The time must have seemed right for a sale, he said.
"Obviously, there's a strong marketplace." There's a lot of profit potential in storing radioactive waste, he added. He believes there is plenty of opportunity for two disposal operations in the vicinity.
Referring to the Envirocare sale, Judd said, "Sounds like both sides are happy with it."
Envirocare and Cedar Mountain are in litigation, he said. "I'm hopeful we can have a better relation with the other folks when they come on board."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com