Kvaerner Joins Masada OxyNol(TM) Team To Build New York Garbage-to-Ethanol Plant

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TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Kvaerner Joins Masada OxyNol(TM) Team To Build New York Garbage-to-Ethanol Plant

ALABAMA, BIRMINGHAM, Feb. 5 -/E-Wire/-- Masada OxyNol(TM) LLC (Birmingham) announced today an agreement with Kvaerner Process Services Inc. (KPSI) to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a waste-to-ethanol conversion facility in Middletown, New York valued at over $100 million. Daryl Harms, Masada's CEO, stated, "We are proud to have Kvaerner join Masada's world class team for this innovative waste management project. Prior to issuing the environmental air and solid waste permits, the USEPA and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation gave this project the most thorough environmental permit review that we know of." The Middletown project will accept waste from the Orange County area and has long term waste disposal commitments from 24 municipalities. The project has gained support from Orange Environment Inc., the local environmental watchdog group, and other environmentalists.

Kvaerner Process Services Inc. is part of the world-wide Kvaerner organization with $8.42 billion in sales. The organization was ranked second largest international contractor according to Engineering News Record. ENR also reported that Kvaerner is the largest international construction firm working in Europe and the largest international design firm working in the U.S. The Kvaerner companies have expertise in environmental infrastructure, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial processes and have 35,000 permanent employees around the world.

"We take on some of the world's most challenging projects," said David Kelley, President of KPSI. "Kvaerner and Masada have the same goals -- to build the Middletown plant safely, quickly, and within budget, using the expertise of union trades and qualified local vendors. This has great partnership potential -- Masada's proprietary process, skilled union labor, and our world class construction and design expertise." Kelley said an important step would be to finalize negotiations with the local building trades unions. Harms commented that "The unions have stood by us over a long and continuing development cycle and we stand by the unions."

The Masada OxyNol(TM) facility in Middletown will be a state of the art waste management facility capable of beneficially re-using and recycling over ninety percent of municipal solid waste and municipal sewage sludge. The primary product from the waste conversion process is ethanol, a renewable, clean burning vehicle fuel. The proprietary Masada process promotes a high rate of recycling and reuse of waste, provides a local waste disposal option, and helps municipalities avoid the legal liabilities associated with landfilling. This local waste management facility also helps reduce the exportation of large amounts of waste to other states, a growing problem particularly in the region surrounding New York.

During construction of the facility, 350 to 800 skilled building trade union members will be employed, and the project is expected to contribute an estimated $38 million annually to the local economy. The facility will create 200 new permanent jobs for the Orange County region.

Harms added that last year Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), the leading insurance affiliate of HSB Group, Inc. issued a Systems Performance Insurance binder for the project. The policy will insure the technical performance of the Middletown waste-to-ethanol facility. Systems Performance Insurance is a customized form of "efficacy insurance" that guarantees the economic viability of the technology to produce products at commercial levels within quality expectations.

The Masada project team also includes Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and JP Morgan Securities (New York City), Malcolm Pirnie (White Plains, NY), and Harris Group (Seattle WA). R.W. Beck Inc. is the bond underwriters independent engineer.

Harms lauded the leadership of the City of Middletown, the facility's host community, and other participating municipalities. "None of this would have been possible without the foresight of these leaders. Middletown had the vision and courage to build a 21st century alternative to landfills eight years ago. They had the wisdom to reach out to their neighbors and the strength to stick by this project through the lengthy environmental public review process. The great interest and foresight shown by many leaders in the Orange County area will continue to strengthen this project."

The Masada OxyNol(TM) waste conversion process couples a material recovery system with proven "biomass" conversion steps. Masada's process recycles or reuses ninety percent of incoming waste, allowing less than ten percent to go to landfills. In addition to removing traditional recyclable materials, the facility will generate approximately 9.5 million gallons of ethanol, a cleaner burning vehicle fuel. Ethanol is a renewable fuel produced from the "biomass" components of waste and corn, and has a large, well-established market as an octane booster. Ethanol is also used as an oxygenate that reduces hazardous tailpipe emissions and compounds that contribute to ground level ozone, also known as smog, and replaces petroleum-based MTBE, which has contaminated groundwater in New York, California and numerous other states.

Tim Judge of Masada OxyNol LLC, [REDACTED-PHONE], or [REDACTED-PHONE]

http://www.masada.com

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