Amerex Completes Acquisition of Solberg Scandinavian AS

Acquisition Adds Global Offering of Class A and Class B Firefighting Foam

TRUSSVILLE, Alabama - March 1, 2011 - Amerex, a leader in the manufacture of hand portable extinguishers and fixed special-hazard fire suppression systems, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Solberg Scandinavian AS, one of the largest independent firefighting foam agent manufacturers in Europe.

"This strategic acquisition enables Amerex to uniquely bring advanced, environmentally sustainable firefighting foam technology to the Americas, and will give us a global footprint as a full-line manufacturer serving the fire protection and firefighting industry," explained Amerex Corporation president Bill Beyer. "We are excited to add the Solberg staff, its manufacturing operations, and firefighting foam research capabilities to our family."

Solberg Scandinavian AS, based in Bergen, Norway, has been involved with the manufacture of firefighting foams since the 1980s. Solberg is recognized throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific Region for its environmentally sustainable fluorosurfactant and fluoropolymer-free products that are an innovation in Class B firefighting foam. Additionally, Solberg manufactures a complete range of traditional Class B synthetic Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFF) and Alcohol Resistant Concentrates (ARC), as well as U.S Forest Service approved Class A and High-Expansion concentrates. Solberg enjoys significant market share sales in Northern Europe and Australia, where its unique technology is preferred by customers in the aviation, petroleum, oil and gas markets.

Changes at Wesco!

 

Joanna Zachodna

The New Year has brought not only sleet and snow our way, but also changes in Wesco's Sales Team.  We've got a new addition on the sales force and we know everyone will welcome Joanna Zachodna aboard!

 

Joanna, while not "new" with Wesco, as she currently handles our international sales, has been given the responsibility of handling the West Coast sales.  She will now be our "go-to girl" for California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Nevada,Hawaii and Alaska. She is looking forward to servicing those areas with her winning attitude! Look for her at NAFED-Las Vegas and CAL-SAFE this year, as well as other west coast conferences!

Heather Mastrull

 

There have also been some changes for Shannon Esopenko and Heather Mastrull. Heather, in addition to handling her Northeast territory, will now be handling the entire east coast, from Maine to Florida! Heather is excited at the prospect of being able to work with the Southern states! Look for her at both the FFEDA and GAFSED conferences this year, as well as NAFED Atlantic City and Indianapolis!

 

As for Shannon, she's been given the task of adding the states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky to her territory, as well as concentrating on the future opening of yet another Wesco Location. Right now, we'll keep that a bit of a secret but it's going to be a terrific spot and Shannon is revved up and looking forward to getting the word out on how Wesco will be able to make it even easier to do business ...EVERYDAY!

Shannon Esopenko

 

Stay tuned for even more wonderful things to come from Wesco HMB, Inc.!

On Thursday, January 20, the State Department and EPA hosted a stakeholder meeting to begin discussions for 2011 on the issue of HFCs in the Montreal Protocol.  Participants included Gina McCarthy, Drusilla Hufford, Cindy Newberg, and Tom Land of EPA, and Dan Reifsynder and John Thompson of State.  There were about 50 attendees representing industry and environmental NGOs.

 

It appears that the US, Canada, and Mexico will again propose an amendment by the May deadline to add HFCs to the Montreal Protocol and slowly phase down their production.  The amendment is likely to be similar to the 2009 and 2010 proposed amendments, but they are considering potential modifications to the baseline years (currently 2004-2006), interim reduction steps, and control of byproduct emissions.  Any proposed amendments would be discussed at the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) meeting scheduled for August in Bangkok and at the Meeting of Parties (MOP) scheduled for November in Indonesia (Bali).

 

Although State and EPA admitted that the 2010 MOP was "terrible" because they were blocked from discussing the HFC amendments by a small number of countries that included India and Brazil, they are encouraged by the 90 countries that signed the HFC declaration and by some recent "breakthroughs."  In bilateral climate discussions between the US and India, Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern raised the HFC issue with the Indian Environment Minister and now two workshops on HFCs have been scheduled, including one on February 18 in India (Delhi).  US business representatives were encouraged to participate in these workshops to provide information to developing countries on the availability of HFC alternatives.

 

There was one rather surprising public statement from a representative of Ford Motor Company.  He said that Ford is against putting HFCs in the Montreal Protocol because they are not ozone depleting substances, HFC-134a has a much lower GWP than CFC-12 which it replaced in car air conditioning, and HFCs are not a main driver of climate change.  This was the first real opposition to the HFC amendment expressed at one of these stakeholder meetings over the last two years.

 

In response to a question, EPA stated that they believe they have the legal authority to implement a Montreal Protocol amendment on HFCs without legislation from Congress.

 

Laughing gas - known to scientists as nitrous oxide - is now the biggest threat to Earth's ozone layer, according to a new study.

 

The ozone layer, part of Earth's upper atmosphere, protects plants and animals from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

 

In 1987, countries around the world united to ban chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs-gases that were commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners. These gases made their way into the atmosphere and thinned the ozone layer by about 5 percent worldwide.

 

CFC emissions drastically dropped following the ban and the ozone layer has been on track to largely recover by mid-century, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

 

But nitrous oxide emissions, which are being released at a rate of about ten million tons a year, may thwart that progress.

 

An expansion in farming and soaring numbers of livestock may increase emissions of the gas, which comes mostly from fertilizer and animal waste.

 

"The ozone layer would be prevented from recovering by the time we thought it would," said study leader A. R. Ravishankara of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado.

Executive Summary

 

E.1 Introduction

 

The following sector summaries show that despite the introduction of new halon alternatives and the remarkable progress in switching to them, there is still an on-going need for halons. As such, halon recycling is becoming even more important to ensure that adequate stocks of halons are available to meet the future needs of the Parties.

 

 

E.2 Global Production and Consumption Phase-out of Halons

 

As of January 1, 2010, halon production and consumption, as defined by the Montreal Protocol, for fire protection ceased. Additionally, there has been no essential use halon production since 2000 (as authorised by Decision VIII/9). However, halon 1301 (CF3Br) continues to be produced in China and France for use as a feedstock in the manufacture of the pesticide Fipronil. The current total halon feedstock production quantities in these countries are not known to the HTOC, but have been increasing annually in China since 2005.

 

Since 2006, nine Parties have reported a negative production of halons for fire protection, indicating that they have been destroying halons. In addition, the last two producers of halons for fire protection, China and South Korea, reported no exports in 2008 or 2009. However, some halons may have been exported as fire extinguishers and or fire extinguishing systems. Only eight Parties operating under Article 5 reported importing newly produced halons in 2008, down from sixteen in 2006. The global trade in recycled halons is robust, but as would be expected, the trade in recycled halons by Article 5 Parties has been limited, since they were allowed to import newly produced halons through 2009.

 

Now that there is no global production of halons for fire protection uses, management of the remaining stock becomes crucial for ensuring sufficient halons for applications that need them.

 

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