PARIS, Sept. 29, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Veolia Environment, the world's leading environmental services company, and its North American-based companies, are donating $1 million and additional support to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The company is making $500,000 donations to the American Red Cross and to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Relief Fund, steering funds to impacted communities served by the company.
"Hurricane Katrina has caused the world to pause and reflect on this human tragedy and the ways we can assist in the long recovery process ahead," said Henri Proglio, Veolia Environment chairman and CEO. "Many of our customers and employees have suffered tremendously. We are determined to make a difference and this donation is just one of the ways we are able to help those in need."
Three of the company's four divisions -- Connex, Onyx and Veolia Water -- serve municipal and industrial customers located in Katrina's path. Connex (operating as ATC) operates part of Jefferson Parish's fixed-route bus system. Onyx North America provides environmental services to industrial and municipal customers and had customer and company operations impacted in the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Mobile, Ala., areas. Veolia Water North America operates wastewater treatment facilities for the cities of New Orleans, Kenner and Harahan, in addition to providing other water/wastewater services to industrial customers. Dalkia North America's business operations were not affected by the storm.
"Each of our companies has actively supported customers and employees," explained Stephane Richard, Veolia Environment executive committee member and executive director of Veolia Environment North America. "We have seen their suffering and incalculable loss first hand. Many employees have worked tirelessly to help customers and the impacted communities, putting aside their own needs in a time of great personal peril. We are moved by their actions, as they have done everything possible to support customer operations."
The Veolia Environment companies have launched many initiatives to bring aid to affected communities, monetarily and through human capital. Bottled water, food and personal provisions have been delivered in Louisiana and Mississippi. Veolia Water Force, Veolia Water's international humanitarian relief agency, dispatched technicians to Louisiana to determine potential applications for mobile water treatment assets.
The companies have also provided direct financial and humanitarian relief to employees, established funds with employee-matching donation mechanisms, and adopted human resources policies to support individual employees in their time of need.
Veolia Environment (Paris Euronext:VIE) and (NYSE:VE) is the world leader in environmental services and was recently ranked by Engineering News Record as the third-largest U.S. provider of environmental services. The company has operations all around the world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of industrial and municipal customers in four complementary segments: water management, waste management, energy management and passenger transportation. Veolia Environment recorded revenue of $30 billion in 2004 and has 250,000 employees.
Connex North America has over 4,500 employees offering various types of public transportation services. Around the world, Connex transports more than 2.1 billion passengers a year. It operates 15,000 buses, 7,000 trains and has 61,500 employees worldwide.
Dalkia North America provides energy and environmental optimization services to commercial, industrial, institutional and municipal customers.
Onyx North America is part of Onyx, the only operator that provides solid, liquid, non-hazardous and hazardous waste management solutions to both local communities and industry. Its 71,000 employees in 34 countries provide waste management and logistics services, including collection, wastewater management, cleaning and flow control, and treatment and recovery of waste. Onyx posted sales of 6.2 billion euros in 2004.
Veolia Water North America is the leading provider of comprehensive water and wastewater services to municipal and industrial customers, providing services to more than 600 communities in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The company is part of Veolia Water, the No. 1 water company in the world, serving more than 110 million customers.
In other company news: "Veolia Environnement wins nearly $1B water management contract in China" -- PARIS, Sep 29, 2005 (Xinhua) -- Veolia Environnement SA said it has won a 30-year contract to manage the municipal water system in ChangZhou, China, worth over EUR 800 million [US$962.9 million; US$1 = EUR 0.831]. Veolia won the contract by joining with Hong Kong group Citic Pacific, then buying a 49% stake in the ChangZhou Tap Water Group. The remaining 51% will continue to be owned by the city of ChangZhou. The company has 850 employees and operates five water treatment facilities serving a network of 1,750 km for ChangZhou, a city of 1.2 million people located about 100 km from Shanghai...
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