By John Stang
US Ecology said Thursday it does not anticipate resuming waste treatment for several months at its Grand View, Idaho, facility following a November explosion that killed one employee and injured eight others.
On Feb. 7, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality authorized the Boise-based environmental services provider to resume disposal of bulk wastes at US Ecology Idaho, but not yet to resume waste treatment operations.
“Though our Grand View facility resumed landfill operations in February 2019, we do not anticipate treatment operations to resume until the second half of the year,” President and CEO Jeff Feeler said in the company’s latest earnings press release. “Plans to re-route materials as necessary to other US Ecology facilities continue while we work through the rebuilding process. While recoveries from insurance for property damage and from business interruption are anticipated, timing and amounts are difficult to estimate.”
The company did not provide more about the situation. “We do not provide specific waste volumes or information on specific customers but the landfill is fully operational and accepting direct bury material,” US Ecology spokesman David Crumline said Friday by email.
The US Ecology Idaho site is one of 20 spread throughout the United States for waste treatment and disposal, with some handling radioactive wastes. Grand View is used for disposal and treatment of hazardous and nonhazardous materials, including very low-activity radioactive waste, waste from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) cleanup sites, and naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM).
Last November, an explosion blew holes in the roof of the facility used for processing waste barrels at the 328-acre hazardous waste disposal operation. Equipment operator Monte Green, 48, was killed and eight employees suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The cause of the event remains under investigation by US Ecology, Idaho DEQ, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
In the earnings report, US Ecology said it increased revenue for both the fourth quarter of 2018 and the full year. Speaking to financial analysts Friday, Feeler attributed the higher numbers to normal corporate growth.
Fourth-quarter revenue of $157.5 million represented an 18 percent increase from $133.7 million in the same period of 2017. However, net income of $13.7 million in the latest quarter was down from $30.8 million on a year-over-year basis — dropping from $1.40 to $0.62 per diluted share. The drop reflects the 2017 federal tax reforms that boosted US Ecology’s income in the fourth quarter of that year.
Annual revenue rose from $504 million in 2017 to $565.9 million last year. Net income in 2018 was $49.6 million, compared to $49.4 million in 2017.
US Ecology’s Environmental Services (ES) business line covers its waste treatment and disposal operations, including Grand View and its low-level radioactive waste facility at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. That business tallied $108.1 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018, up from $97.8 million in 2017.
For the year, Environmental Services collected $400.7 million, up from $366.3 million in 2017.
“Our fourth quarter ended on an up note, topping off a strong year, especially given the difficult comparison to the fourth quarter in 2017 and the headwinds faced at our Idaho facility which was non-operational for half of the quarter,” Feeler said in the release.
In the Friday earnings conference call, executives predicted US Ecology revenue for 2019 would fall in a range of $583 million to $627 million, with the ES segment’s revenue between $408 million and $483 million.
