RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS	12 Months Ended
RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS	Dec. 31, 2012
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]
Related Party Transactions Disclosure [Text Block]	NOTE 18. RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS One member of our current Board of Directors is Senior Counsel to a major international law firm which provides Covanta Energy with certain legal services. The amounts we paid this law firm were approximately $0.2 million, $3 million, and $2 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Such member of the Board of Directors has had no direct or indirect involvement in the procurement, provision, or oversight of billings of such legal services and does not directly or indirectly benefit from amounts paid to such law firm.

The entire disclosure for related party transactions. Examples of related party transactions include transactions between (a) a parent company and its subsidiary; (b) subsidiaries of a common parent; (c) and entity and its principal owners; and (d) affiliates.

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-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.

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