American Ecology Loses $2.8 Million in Quarter

American Ecology Corp. said it lost $2.8 million in the quarter that ended June 30, compared with a $2.9-million loss a year earlier. Its second-quarter revenue fell to $9.9 million from $10.4 million.

The company said $2.5 million of the latest loss came from National Ecology, a subsidiary that operates a waste-conversion plant in Baltimore County, Md., and is about to operate one in West Palm Beach, Fla.

American Ecology has signed a letter of intent to sell National Ecology to Babcock & Wilcox Co., a unit of McDermott Inc. in New Orleans. William E. Prachar, American Ecology’s chairman and chief executive, said a purchase price has not been negotiated, but that it would be less than the $5.7 million that a previous, unidentified suitor had offered for the subsidiary.

For the first half of 1989, American Ecology lost $2.5 million, compared with a $3.7-million loss a year earlier. Its six-month revenue rose to $20.5 million from $19.1 million.