New Law Cited in Earnings Drop at American Ecology

American Ecology reported that its earnings dropped 45% in the third quarter, to $1.1 million, or 39 cents a share, on sales that fell 17%, to $11.7 million.

The Agoura Hills-based waste management company blamed its weaker results on new laws increasing the cost of disposing of low-level radioactive waste.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, American Ecology’s net income dipped 50%, to $2.6 million, or 87 cents a share. Sales were down nearly 23%, to $32.4 million.

A subsidiary, U. S. Ecology, was chosen last year to design and build California’s first dump for low-level radioactive waste.