Dive summary:

• The Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority in Pennsylvania is in the last phase of buying the Harrisburg, Penn. incinerator.
• Harrisburg has been dealing with nearly $350,000 in debt and can work towards resolving that debt with the sale.
• LCSWMA will also be leasing the city’s parking lots and garages and privatizing city-run trash and recycling services.

From the article:

Were Moody's to follow through, it could increase the authority's borrowing costs, though experts are split on how much. Warner has said the authority doesn't necessarily need to ask Moody's to rate the bonds, and LCSWMA will go through with the purchase regardless.

Warner also dismissed concerns about potential environmental problems on the incinerator site. In the late 1980s, both the state Department of Environmental Resources and federal Environmental Protection Agency raised the possibility of soil or groundwater contamination due to the disposal of ash on the site. However, in response to questions from one activist last year, a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said none of the waste buried on the site was hazardous. Last week Warner agreed, insisting there are "no hazardous waste liability issues." ...