FLORIDA: Articles about Covanta Incinerator in Florida

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NEWS

Incinerator Story Is One Of Public Betrayal

By Lauren Ritchie, Sentinel Columnist | October 29, 2003


Mystery has always enveloped Lake County's infamous deal to build a garbage-burning incinerator. Heck, those who were crafting the transaction over a few years didn't know which teams were on the field half the time, let alone who was on first. The landscape changed that fast. In the end, Lake County commissioners gave a company that became Covanta Energy a $200 million gift in the form of an incinerator, complete with all the bond financing, and operations and maintenance costs through 2014.


NEWS

Incinerator Deal Makes Best Of Bad Situation

By Lauren Ritchie, Sentinel Columnist | October 26, 2003

The garbage-burning incinerator in Okahumpka has been to Lake taxpayers what bowling balls are to a drowning man when they're tied around his neck. Now, for the first time, a chance has emerged to clip the rope on that despicable deal. County commissioners will talk about it Monday and vote on it Tuesday if they like what they hear. This sounds like an easy decision, but it may not be. That's because they will be feeling all the same things buyers feel when they've just agreed to purchase a new car from a dealer.

$200M incinerator deal took Lake to cleaners, critics say

By Martin E. Comas, Sentinel Staff Writer | February 15, 2009

OKAHUMPKA -- It's a deal that many have called the biggest boondoggle in Lake's history because when the bonds are paid off for the Covanta Energy garbage-burning plant in June 2014, the county will not own the plant. It's also a deal that forced higher garbage rates and taxes on residents and businesses to cover all those costs. Because of today's slumping economy, it's particularly painful. "Under that crazy contract, it hurts," County Commission Chairman Welton Cadwell said. In 1985, county commissioners approved bringing a power-producing garbage incinerator into the area.

NEWS

Lake's Covanta Lawsuit Rings Up Huge Bills With No End In Sight

By Kevin P. Connolly, Sentinel Staff Writer | April 14, 2002

TAVARES -- When Lake commissioners voted to sue the owner of the county's trash-burning incinerator nearly two years ago, they knew they were in for a long and costly fight to get a better deal for taxpayers. They were right. The fight to gain control of the incinerator from Covanta Energy, formerly Ogden Corp., has cost the county more than $1.5 million, making it the most expensive dispute in Lake County's history. Most of the money has gone to attorneys, county records show. The county's lead counsel on the case, the firm of GrayHarris Attorneys at Law, formerly Gray, Harris & Robinson, which has offices in Orlando, charges the county $175 an hour, plus expenses.