Thermo Remediation Inc., a Florida company specializing in removing contaminants from soil, announced yesterday it has acquired a Baltimore firm to establish a presence in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Included in the purchase of Environmental Recycling Associates (ERA) is a 62-acre soil facility in the Rosedale section of Baltimore County, which contains a 30,000-square-foot recycling center and related laboratory and office space.
A Thermo Remediation official said ERA cost between $5 million and $10 million. The company declined to reveal the exact purchase price.
The facility will be operated by a Thermo Remediation subsidiary, TPS Technologies Inc. ERA's eight employees will be retained.
"It's a market we've been anxious to become involved with," said George Dohn, a TPS Technologies regional sales manager. "It's been a strategy of the company to put centers such as this in places where they're needed, or acquire existing centers . . . transportation is a major factor."
With the purchase, Thermo Remediation -- a subsidiary of Thermo Process Systems Inc. -- will have eight centers in six states.
Thermo Remediation stock has been publicly traded since December 1993, after a initial public offering that generated net proceeds of $12.5 million.
Its other operations are in Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Oregon.
In its fiscal 1994, the company produced earnings of $2.6 million on revenues of $24 million, a 37 percent gain in net income from the year before.
Through the first six months of its fiscal 1995, ended Oct. 1, Thermo Remediation reported net income of $1.6 million, on sales of $14.1 million. Total assets as of that date were $21.7 million.
In addition to its network of soil remediation centers that use thermal processing to remove petroleum and other contaminants from tainted ground, the company provides waste fluid remediation services.
Petroleum contamination of soil is caused by leaking underground and above-ground storage tanks, many of which become vulnerable after years of exposure to the elements. Of the five million underground storage tanks in the United States, the federal Environmental Protection Agency recently reported that 220,000 have experienced leaks of some kind into surrounding soil.
Environmental Recycling has been in business since August 1994, operating a lined soil-storage facility that is described as one of the most advanced centers on the East Coast.
"As we continue to expand our nationwide network of soil remediation centers, this new operation will enhance our presence in one of the largest markets for soil cleanup in the United States," said Jeffrey Powell, Thermo Remediation's president and chief operating officer, in a prepared statement.