Converted Organics, which uses a special composting technology to convert food waste into lawn fertilizer in dry pellets and liquid concentrate for organic farming, says it has gained approvals in Rhode Island to develop a third organic soil and fertilizer manufacturing facility in the United States. The company has leased nine acres in the newly created Lakeside Commerce Industrial Park in Johnston from the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. The Rhode Island Industrial Facilities Corporation gave initial approval on Aug. 1 to the company’s revenue-bond financing application for up to $15 million for construction of the new plant.

Previously, the company filed an application with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to operate a waste recycling center at the site. At full capacity, the plant will process up to 60,000 tons annually. The plant would also divert certain raw waste material bound for nearby Central Landfill.

Johnston’s Mayor Joseph M. Polisena previously said Converted Organics (COIN:Nasdaq) will invest $16.5 million on the site, build a 45,000-square-foot facility, employ 30 to 35 people and give preference to applicants from Johnston. “The Johnston plant will play an integral role in helping us meet demand from our agribusiness, municipal, retail and turf management customers for our all-natural organic fertilizers,” said Edward J. Gildea, company president.

Converted Organics, based in Boston, began operations at its flagship plant in Woodbridge, N.J., in June and is expanding its plant in Gonzales, Calif., which was acquired in January.

Carcieri pushing for renewable energy

Rhode Island should require the state’s largest power company, National Grid, to buy electricity over the long term from renewable energy producers such as wind turbines and solar sources, Governor Carcieri said in a letter to the state Public Utilities Commission. He also asked the PUC in a letter released last week to require National Grid to sign contracts over several decades with developers offering to build renewable-energy projects. The governor did not say how much renewable energy he thinks National Grid should buy or give a timeline. Andrew Dzykewicz, commissioner of the state Office of Energy Resources, said Carcieri wants the contracts to last 15 to 20 years. National Grid did not comment directly on Carcieri’s proposal, but in a written statement said energy policy should be set in collaboration with environmentalists, energy policy advisers, utility companies and developers.

Memorial’s ER parking lot closed this week

The emergency room parking lot at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket is being reconstructed and will remain closed through Saturday. The emergency room entrance and driveway will remain open during the reconstruction for patient drop-off. During the closure, parking will be allowed at the Prospect Street lot, which is usually reserved for employees. To help ease parking problems, the City of Pawtucket will suspend Hospital Zone parking restrictions on Beechwood Avenue during the closure.

Longs could face pressure for higher offer

Longs Drug Stores Corp. may come under pressure from hedge-fund activist investor Bill Ackman to seek an offer higher than the bid it accepted from Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp. Ackman’s fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, owns an 8.8-percent holding in Longs, and holds derivative swaps that it says put its real economic exposure at 23.6 percent, according to a regulatory filing reported by the Financial Times. CVS (CVS:NYSE) said on Aug. 12 that it would buy Longs (LDG:NYSE) for $2.7 billion to expand in the western United States.

Mall executive sells half his common shares

A top executive of General Growth Properties, the owner of the Providence Place mall, sold half his common shares to cover a margin call as the stock price slipped. Bob Michaels, president and chief operating officer, sold 700,000 shares at an average price of $27.13 a share, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale left Michaels with 690,507 common shares in the company, which owns and develops shopping malls. Stock of General Growth (GGP:NYSE) has lost about half its value because of investors’ concerns about the weakening U.S. retail environment and the company’s $18.4 billion in debt coming due in the next 3.5 years. The stock closed Friday at $25.15, up 41 cents a share. The stock has closed as high as $57.84 in the last 52 weeks of trading.

Many Mass. residents haven’t yet filed

The Internal Revenue Service says that more than 150,000 Massachusetts residents have not yet filed paperwork to receive federal economic stimulus checks. The IRS and community groups say they are working hard to make sure that those people, many of them low-income retirees and disabled veterans, file a tax form by the Oct. 15 deadline. Many low-wage workers and recipients of Social Security and veterans benefits do not file tax returns because their incomes are not high enough to require it, or their benefits are not taxable. But low-income residents who earned at least $3,000 last year still qualify for individual payments of $300, or $600 for joint filers. Advocates say the money can be critical for the well-being of the poor or elderly.

Wind-power company raises $257,000

Worcester, Mass.-based Mass Megawatts Wind Power Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: MMGW) says it has recently raised $257,000 in a private placement of restricted shares of common stock. Part of the proceeds have been used to eliminate company debt and the remainder will be used to fuel growth. The company says the highest priority of these funds is initiating substantial third-party verification of its new augmenter technology which, compared with previously designed augmenters, reduces the amount of construction material in producing wind-power-generated electricity. Proving the new product’s long-term durability will allow debt financing and more favorable large-scale equity financing for future power plants and projects, the company says. Upon successful third-party verification, they can then begin developing strategic alliances with other wind-power developers that have done the initial, more expensive and sometimes complicated steps of zoning, financing and other requirements in the development of much larger commercial wind-energy projects.

UBS didn’t warn N.H. about market collapse

New Hampshire securities regulators have accused banking giant UBS of defrauding the state’s leading issuer of student loans. In a civil complaint filed Thursday, the Bureau of Securities Regulation said that while UBS Securities LLC was steering some clients out of the auction-rate securities market last winter because of signs the market would collapse, it was advising the New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corp. to offer higher interest rates so it could stay in. The regulators seek unspecified fines and restitution and a halt to the alleged misconduct. They said a hearing examiner will be appointed for proceedings that could easily take months. “Our investigation revealed that UBS had knowledge that a market collapse was looming but did not disclose that information to the NHHELCO,” said Jeff Spill, the bureau’s deputy director. UBS denied defrauding anyone. “This complaint attempts to link a single client interaction with overall market conditions which affected all student loan issuers, and as such we believe there is no basis for these specific allegations,” UBS said in a statement e-mailed by spokeswoman Kelly Smith.

Dominion seeks to renew Wis. plant’s license

Dominion, the owner of the Manchester Street power station in Providence, the Brayton Point station in Somerset, Mass., the Salem Harbor oil-fired station in Salem, Mass., and the Millstone I and II nuclear plants in Waterford, Conn., has filed an application to renew its Carlton, Wis., Kewaunee nuclear power station’s operating license with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 568-megawatt nuclear unit, about 25 miles east of Green Bay, is licensed to operate through Dec. 21, 2013. With a renewed license, the station would be able to provide electricity through Dec. 21, 2033. Dominion’s three other nuclear stations have been granted renewed licenses for an additional 20 years by the NRC. The North Anna and Surry power stations, both in Virginia, received renewed licenses in 2003, and Millstone was awarded a renewed license in 2005.

Ben & Jerry’s putting Montpelier shop on ice

Ben & Jerry’s is pulling the plug on its scoop shop in Vermont’s capital. The ice cream maker announced Friday that it’s closing the store in Montpelier next month, after more than 20 years in business. The ice cream maker, which owns and operates scoop shops in Burlington, South Burlington and Williston, in addition to the one at its factory in Waterbury, says the Montpelier store is the smallest in its system. Spokesman Sean Greenwood says it’s not that the store was doing badly, it’s just that it’s small and in a small city, with much less volume than other stores.