S.C. Court of Appeals Finds Safety-Kleen's Landfill Exceeds - Regulatory Requirements

Safety-Kleen Corp., formerly Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc., announced that it will appeal the January 17, 2000 decision of the South Carolina Court of Appeals related to various financial assurance, capacity and other issues at its Pinewood, South Carolina facility. Although Safety-Kleen has technical concerns with the opinion, the fundamental issue of safety was resolved in favor of the Company. The Court unanimously disagreed with the allegation of potential harm to the environment from the Pinewood facility. The Court stated the landfill's design and monitoring system "exceeded the regulatory requirements."

The Court also found that the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control ("DHEC") regulations, which allow companies to provide financial assurance for potential environmental impairment through financial instruments such as letters of credit and insurance, were invalid due to a procedural technicality. The ruling would allow DHEC to require cash for financial assurance. While the Court recognized that the South Carolina General Assembly had approved the regulations' substantive content of the financial assurance provision, the Court failed to find that the statutory public notice provisions had been fulfilled.

"Requiring cash for financial assurance would set a draconian and unprecedented standard for our facility and hundreds of other businesses across the State," explained Henry H. Taylor, Vice President and General Counsel of Safety-Kleen Corp. "We anticipate the General Assembly will reaffirm its earlier decision to allow companies to choose and the State Treasurer to review the financial mechanism," added Taylor.

"The South Carolina Court of Appeals has chosen to apply a more stringent definition to our facility concerning non-hazardous waste than that required by the United States Congress, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the South Carolina General Assembly or the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control," said Taylor. Safety-Kleen Corp. is very much concerned with this new, more stringent standard, which if applied would reduce the facility's capacity, and will pursue appropriate available alternatives to ensure a reasonable outcome for this issue.

Safety-Kleen Corp., headquartered in Columbia, S.C., is the leading industrial waste service company for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams. From collection through recycle and disposal, the Company provides comprehensive waste management services to over 400,000 customers in North America.