Clean Energy Fuels and Covanta Energy Announce Plans to Open a Compressed Natural Gas Fueling Station at the Essex County Resource Recovery Facility

NEWARK, N.J., Aug. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- To support the growing demand for natural gas-fueled refuse vehicles in New Jersey, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE) and Covanta Essex, a subsidiary of Covanta Energy Corporation (NYSE: CVA), have been awarded a contract by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to site, build, and operate a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station at the Essex County Resource Recovery Facility in Newark, NJ.    

The CNG fueling station, to be built and operated by Clean Energy on the Covanta Essex site, will be a convenient and effective way for public and private municipal waste haulers to convert their fleets of diesel vehicles to cleaner, more economical and more efficient compressed natural gas vehicles. Natural gas refuse trucks provide significant reductions in emissions, are 90% quieter than traditional diesel trucks and displace the use of oil on a gallon-for-gallon basis.

"The deployment of natural gas-fueled refuse trucks is a win-win for the resource recovery facility and for the communities it serves, providing a greener collection process and reducing overall costs," said Mark Riley, general manager, Eastern U.S. for Clean Energy. "We are pleased to be able to support the region with this valuable fueling resource."

Covanta Essex operates the Essex County Resource Recovery Facility (ECRRF), which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  The ECRRF is an Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility, located off the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 15E in Newark, NJ, which generates approximately 500,000 megawatt hours of clean, renewable energy from municipal solid waste per year, while also recycling about 15,000 tons of metal.  The facility reduces the need for over 350,000 tons of coal that would be needed to create the same amount of electricity and offsets 900,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually. This is possible due to the avoidance of methane from landfills, the offset of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel electrical production, and the recovery of metals for recycling.

"Covanta Essex is pleased to help in the conversion of refuse trucks to cleaner, more efficient technologies like natural gas," said Hank Asher, Covanta Essex business manager. "Providing a cleaner fuel for trucks delivering municipal solid waste to our facility is a perfect complement to what we do here: generating clean, renewable energy. Covanta Essex is committed to supporting ventures like this and others to limit any adverse impacts to the environment and our community."

Construction of the new fueling station is expected to commence during the third quarter of 2011. The project is being partially funded by a grant from the New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition (www.njcleancities.org), a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization for the promotion of the development and use of alternative fuels, alternative fuel vehicles, and the appropriate related infrastructure. This project is part of a larger grant award from the U.S. Department of Energy using funding provided by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

About Clean Energy Fuels

Clean Energy (Nasdaq: CLNE) is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America and a global leader in the expanding natural gas vehicle market. It has operations in CNG and liquefied natural gas ("LNG") vehicle fueling, construction and operation of CNG and LNG fueling stations, biomethane production, vehicle conversion and compressor technology.

Clean Energy fuels over 22,700 vehicles at 238 strategic locations across the United States and Canada with a broad customer base in the refuse, transit, trucking, shuttle, taxi, airport and municipal fleet markets. Clean Energy del Peru, a joint venture, fuels vehicles and provides CNG to commercial customers in Peru. We own (70%) and operate a landfill gas facility in Dallas, Texas, that produces renewable natural gas, or biomethane, for delivery in the nation's gas pipeline network, and we plan to build a second facility in Michigan. We own and operate LNG production plants in Willis, Texas and Boron, Calif. with combined capacity of 260,000 LNG gallons per day and that are designed to expand to 340,000 LNG gallons per day as demand increases. NorthStar, a wholly owned subsidiary, is the recognized leader in LNG/LCNG (liquefied to compressed natural gas) fueling system technologies and station construction and operations. BAF Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, is a leading provider of natural gas vehicle systems and conversions for taxis, vans, pick-up trucks and shuttle buses. IMW Industries, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary based in Canada, is a leading supplier of compressed natural gas equipment for vehicle fueling and industrial applications with more than 1,200 installations in 24 countries. www.cleanenergyfuels.com

Clean Energy Forward Looking Statements — This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including statements about the demand for and procurement of CNG refuse vehicles, the use of the station by refuse fleets, the funding of the station by New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition and the timing for commencement of construction of the station. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including the performance, availability and price of CNG refuse trucks relative to gasoline and diesel refuse trucks, the price per gallon of CNG relative to diesel and gasoline, Clean Energy's performance of its obligations under the grant contract with the New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition and permitting or other delays encountered during construction of the station. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this press release and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

About Covanta

Covanta Energy Corporation is an internationally recognized owner and operator of large-scale Energy-from-Waste and renewable energy projects and a recipient of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.  Covanta's 44 Energy-from-Waste facilities provide communities with an environmentally sound solution to their solid waste disposal needs by using that municipal solid waste to generate clean, renewable energy. Annually, Covanta's modern Energy-from-Waste facilities safely and securely convert approximately 20 million tons of waste into 9 million megawatt hours of clean, renewable electricity and create more than 9 billion pounds of steam sold to a variety of industries. For more information, visit www.covantaenergy.com.

Covanta Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking" statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act"), Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"), the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "PSLRA") or in releases made by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), all as may be amended from time to time.  Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Covanta and its subsidiaries, or general industry or broader economic performance in global markets in which Covanta operates or competes, to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Statements that are not historical fact are forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements can be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking language, such as the words "plan," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "project," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "seeks," or "scheduled to," or other similar words, or the negative of these terms or other variations of these terms or comparable language, or by discussion of strategy or intentions.  These cautionary statements are being made pursuant to the Securities Act, the Exchange Act and the PSLRA with the intention of obtaining the benefits of the "safe harbor" provisions of such laws.  Covanta cautions investors that any forward-looking statements made by Covanta are not guarantees or indicative of future performance.  Important assumptions and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements with respect to Covanta, include, but are not limited to, the risk that Covanta may not successfully close its announced or planned acquisitions or projects in development and those factors, risks and uncertainties that are described in periodic securities filings by Covanta with the SEC.  Although Covanta believes that its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from a projection or assumption in any forward-looking statements.  Covanta's future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any forward-looking statements, are subject to change and inherent risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date hereof and Covanta does not have or undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by law.

SOURCE Covanta Energy Corporation