Oakland Tribune

November 28th, 2001

For more information, contact:

Bradley Angel Greenaction

(415) 248-5010

Medical waste facility may be sold

By Suzanne Bohan
STAFF WRITER

The owners of Integrated Environmental Systems, the state's sole medical waste incinerator, are reportedly in negotiations to sell the beleaguered Oakland facility.

An environmental activist who has led opposition to the incinerator expressed optimism a sale will lead to the demise of the controversial facility.

An IES spokesman confirmed sales talks are under way, but said no deal has been done.

"It would be premature at this point to characterize any report as a deal to buy the company," said IES spokesman Jay Silverberg. "Right now, yes, companies are talking. Is there a deal signed? No."

Silverberg said it was possible that something could happen one way or another within a week between Norcal Waste Systems, IES' parent company, and another business he didn't name.

Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, a San Francisco-based activist group, said Tuesday that IES had already been sold to an Illinois-based waste management firm called Stericycle.

Peter Chung, a regional manager for Stericycle, referred all inquiries regarding IES to their corporate headquarters. Representatives there couldn't be reached for comment late Tuesday.

The incinerator on High Street in the Fruitvale section of East Oakland has been the target of repeated protests by Greenaction and East Bay community groups, and on Oct. 31 IES agreed to pay the state a $925,000 fine to settle a medical waste storage violation at its East Oakland site.

It's the largest fine ever levied in California in a medical waste case.

The activists' objections have focused on the firm's emissions of pollutants such as cancer-linked dioxin, as well as numerous regulatory citations.

IES representatives have responded that the firm has invested millions of dollars in improving its facility, and has since been operating within state and federal laws.