Remediation

Every environmentally impacted site is different, so your remedial approach and strategies to achieve regulatory closure must be developed carefully, with a full understanding of site conditions and media, contaminants and regulatory drivers. We deliver comprehensive solutions and wide-ranging capabilities, from initial investigations and risk assessments to implementation and completion of selected remedies.

Whether your project is in the early stages of impact discovery and site assessment, staged for remedy selection, in the design and planning of remediation stage, or ready for implementation of remediation and site closure strategies, our focus is on safe, cost-efficient, site-specific effective solutions.

Our consulting, environmental engineering and geology, environmental construction, and remediation services are fully integrated and can be implemented through your preferred project delivery method: engineer-procure-construct (EPC)/design-build; design-bid-build; owner’s engineer; construction management; or program management.

Core Capabilities Support Every Project

We work on the most complex and challenging sites, applying our full range of capabilities, experience and technical knowledge to develop cost-effective remediation solutions. Our team applies current thinking on the latest remediation technologies and implementation approaches, as well as risk assessment and regulatory strategies that facilitate expedited site closure. We have successfully remediated sites characterized by comingled contaminants, complex geology, challenging groundwater-surface water interactions, and active commercial and industrial operations. We also custom-design and fabricate mobile remediation systems with adaptations for site-specific conditions, bringing cost-effective flexibility to clients with multiple remediation sites.

Site geology is the fundamental control on contaminant fate and transport, so a site’s geology and hydrogeology dictate the feasibility of engineered remedies. Project success hinges on a conceptual site model (CSM) that directly assesses geological heterogeneity and the preferential pathways it imparts. We develop our CSMs by applying advanced geologic analysis to existing data, including such methods as environmental sequence stratigraphy (ESS), which is identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a best practice for CSM development. We also apply other 3-D visualization modeling, GIS and database tools.

Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR)

We have extensive experience assisting utility clients with the environmental aspects of managing CCR investigation and remediation programs. We provide hydrogeologic site investigations, groundwater modeling, monitoring well installation, groundwater sampling and statistical analysis of data. Our experience also includes comprehensive services for the study, permitting, design and construction of utility waste landfills, including facility life evaluations, disposal alternatives, ash utilization and ash handling. [AD1] 

Groundwater Monitoring & Management

Our detailed, in-depth evaluations of long-term groundwater conditions have incorporated innovative sampling technologies that contribute to effective program cost controls. Our management programs include monitoring network designs that provide accurate assessments of background conditions that minimize potential false exceedances and demonstrating compliance with minimal risk and cost.

Probabilistic Cost Forecasting

Environmental remediation project costs can be difficult to predict due to the heterogeneous nature of the subsurface and the many other variables associated with site cleanup, but estimating environmental costs is important for owners looking to plan for the future. Probabilistic cost forecasting can produce a more complete picture of the estimated cost range for an environmental remediation initiative, as well as the likelihood of exceeding a given cost and the assumptions driving the most variation. To do this we develop an environmental life-cycle diagram to define the potential tasks that may be needed on the path to closure. We then develop assumptions about the likelihood and cost ranges for each of the task components. This information is then used to run a Monte Carlo simulation that compiles thousands of cost outcomes based on the assumptions. The software gives a complete statistical evaluation of the likely total costs and the assumptions that are having the greatest impact on the cost. Our team can apply this robust tool to help clarify the uncertainty inherent in environmental remediation, helping boost your budget confidence.

Risk Assessments

Our team can deliver the full range of remediation needs, from identifying vapor intrusion to devising a closure strategy. Our detailed, appropriate and effective risk assessments include Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) human health and ecological risk assessments to state-defined risk assessments, RBCA evaluations, ecological surveys and environmental assessments. We develop innovative risk-based strategies for determining cleanup levels and have written regulatory documents that address Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC) risk assessment and vapor intrusion guidance. We also conduct vapor intrusion investigations, from sampling and screening data to installing and maintaining mitigation systems.

Risk Transfer Strategies (RTS)

With the potential for EPA and other governmental fines and penalties always a possibility, we can ease your financial uncertainty by employing our Risk Transfer Strategy (RTS). By proactively managing environmental cleanup liabilities through an RTS contract, we can help you meet your closure obligations and protect your company in the face of post-Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.

Sediment Investigation & Remediation

Environmental impacts can accumulate in water body sediment located near contaminant sources. We help you understand the transport pathways, design and test potential remedies in our sediment lab, and then finalize designs and execute remedies in the field.  With professionals who’ve written best practices on sediment, we bring the exact experience you need to tackle a sediment project. Our sediment remediation laboratory allows us to perform physical modeling of natural and engineered systems, such as sediment caps, and the migration of viscous liquids (such as oil or tar) in granular media. The laboratory environment allows us to bridge the gap between a desktop analysis and a pilot-scale field trial, increasing project success rates.

Site Investigation

We are well-versed in site investigations under CERCLA, RCRA, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and state and local programs for government and private sector clients. We use a wide variety of investigation approaches to satisfy our data requirements, reduce investigation cost and accelerate the project schedule — minimizing surprises along the way. Our experience includes various screening and investigation techniques including subsurface drilling programs, installation of groundwater monitoring networks, multimedia sampling programs (including biota), CPT, aquifer tests, soil gas and electromagnetic surveys, and other data capture techniques.

Vapor Intrusion

Our environmental staff has conducted numerous soil vapor investigations, in addition to mitigation system installations. Many have helped determine potential risk to current occupants or to allow the reoccupation of a vacant building. We have completed every step of the vapor intrusion investigation process: data screening; development of work, sampling and analysis plans; installation and sampling activities related to exterior soil gas, sub-slab soil gas and indoor air; interpretation and presentation of sampling results, conclusions and recommendations; and installation and maintenance of mitigation systems.

Among our additional services:

• Coal combustion residuals (CCR)
• Data validation and management
• Forensic studies and investigations
• Geological review and site assessment
• High-resolution site characterization (HRSC) techniques
• Litigation support
• Modeling for groundwater and vadose zone
• Operations and maintenance (O&M)
• Optimization
• Phase II and site investigation
• RCRA/CERCLA
• Remedial investigations and feasibility studies (RI/FS)
• Risk assessment
• Risk-based corrective action
• Risk transfer strategies (RTS)
• Studies, reporting or consulting