Some letters have appeared in Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP), discussing Veolia’s plan to build an incinerator in Leeds. To write to the YEP Editor e-mail: eped@ypn.co.uk
Background
In November 2011, Veolia Environmental Services was selected as ‘preferred bidder’ by Leeds City Council to develop a facility that will recycle material from residual black bin household waste before recovering energy from what is left by incineration. Read more about Veolia’s plan at Veolia Environmental Services Leeds website.
Why Boycott Veolia?
Veolia is a French multinational corporation deeply complicit in Israel’s violations of international and human rights law. It assists Israel in its illegal occupation of Palestine. The company operates around the world under various pseudonyms including Connex, Onyx, Cleanaway, and TMM. Veolia, by providing services to illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian land, is complicit in grave breaches of international and human rights law committed by the state of Israel:
- Veolia is involved in the development of a tramway line in illegally Occupied East Jerusalem, linking illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory;
- Veolia operates in illegally Occupied Palestinian Territory, servicing settler bus routes, on roads built on stolen Palestinian land and access effectively denied to Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank;
- Veolia operates a 33 hectare landfill site, the Tovlan landfill, in illegally Occupied Palestinian Territory, servicing the occupier and dumping waste on the occupied.
Impact of Boycott
Veolia is loosing billions due to a worldwide boycott action by campaigners of Palestinian Rights. Recent news included:
BDS Victory: Alstom loses Saudi Haramain Railway contract worth $10B
Cambridge students to begin vote on company with Israeli settlement ties
Eden Springs and Veolia
Veolia’s Financial Troubles
Electronic Intifada reports: On 4 August, Veolia management held a conference call with major financial analysts to defend the company’s latest figures. It wasn’t an easy task. Veolia’s management was forced to gloss over the terrible financial situation of the group that has forced it to draw up sharp cost reduction plans, initiate a complete restructuring of management, plan the pullout from more than forty countries and search for more investors to cover a high debt. Veolia has lost more than 50 percent of its share value since March 2011, according to tear sheet data from The Financial Times (“Marketdata: Veolia Environnement Ve SA,” accessed 25 August 2011).
Veolia to Leave 37 Countries as Loss Spurs Quicker Revamp - Bloomberg News
Veolia Expects to Miss 2011 Profit Target; Shares Fall in Paris – Bloomberg News
French giant Veolia cut down to size for abusing Palestinian rights
Letter by A Hauge – 5 January 2012
Letter by Samuel Agustus – 13 January 2012
Text from YEP website
Letter: Start of a 25 year PFI nightmare?
A HAGUE (Letters, January 5) questions the perils of a 25-year contract with Veolia to build an incinerator in Leeds.
The length of the contract is a major curse of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme. The inappropriately long service contract is dictated by the fact that the PFI contractor has to borrow over a long period, 25 years or more, in order to keep the cost of borrowing within reasonable bounds.
In other words, the long service contract is a necessary condition for getting unnecessarily expensive finance for public projects via PFI.
Councillor Mark Dobson (Letters, January 6) admitted our recycling rate is increasing, currently at 40 per cent, with the aim of 55 per cent by 2016. We question whether there will be enough residential black bin waste to keep the incinerator burning continuously for 25 years. Some local authorities, due to lack of their own waste, had to import or turn to burning business waste in order to keep their incinerators burning.
Veolia’s business focuses on incineration of waste rather than the separation of co-mingled waste required for meaningful recycling.
In 2011, Veolia issued a profit warning and announced pulling out of contracts in 40 countries around the world. The Financial Times website shows Veolia’s shares have lost 60 per cent of their value in the last six months showing declining market confidence in its performance. Its shares have plummeted over the last five years from £63 to a low of £7.80.
There is a worldwide boycott of Veolia, for its complicity in Israel’s war crimes in occupied Palestine by providing infrastructure, transport and waste services to illegal settlements condemned by the United Nations and the UK government, and which cause daily suffering and rights abuses to Palestinian populations.
Do we want a 25-year contract with such a company? I think not. It will be a 25-year-long nightmare.
SAMUEL AGUSTUS, Beeston
Veolia Public Consultation Advert in YEP 12 January 2012
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