Remediation

Environmental remediation is complex. Every environmentally impacted site is different, so your site remediation approach must uniquely address your legacy site issues or recent incidents.

We bring clarity and certainty by developing solutions that address your site’s unique conditions and objectives. Our focus is on providing remediation investigation, characterization, design, execution and construction that is cohesive and comprehensive.

Our Progressive Remediation Strategies (PROGRESS) approach applies next-generation thinking to the remediation of complex contaminated sites. PROGRESS addresses the inherent uncertainties of remediation — including unseen subsurface conditions — by emphasizing the site geologic model, which quantifies the processes driving remediation performance to inform design decisions for focused, cost-effective remedies that deliver predictable results.

We can provide decommissioning and demolition services, remediate a manufactured gas plant (MGP) site, or mitigate vapor intrusions. We provide environmental emergency response services and can evaluate your options for transferring risk away from your company.

Our team also has extensive experience assisting power generation utilities with the environmental aspects of coal combustion residuals (CCR) management, including hydrogeologic site investigations, groundwater modeling, monitoring well installation, groundwater sampling and statistical analysis. 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.

Building a Strong Foundation for Your Remediation Plan

We begin with the end in mind for seamless regulatory risk management, cost savings and expedited site closure. Your objectives guide us in evaluating risk assessment and mitigation, regulatory negotiations and passive, low-cost remedies as preferred alternatives to costly remedial actions.

Cost unknowns for remediation projects are a frequent challenge. We implement probabilistic cost forecasting to yield a more complete picture of the estimated cost range, as well as evaluate the likelihood of exceeding a particular cost point. Driven by a life-cycle diagram that defines the tasks critical for a path to closure, a Monte Carlo simulation compiles a statistical evaluation of the likely total costs and the assumptions that have the greatest cost impact. We apply this robust tool to help clarify the uncertainty inherent in environmental remediation, boosting your budget confidence.

Evaluating the Path Forward

Our focused remediation solutions leverage the unique characteristics of your site, aiming to reduce uncertainty, deliver lower risk and cost, and support precise, predictable results. Key components of our process include:

• Site investigation and characterization. Our selected technologies optimize data collection and support a focused approach. This helps satisfy regulatory requirements, support effective remedy selection and optimize return on investment. We achieve balance via a thorough interpretation of subsurface conditions using a superior conceptual site model (CSM), contaminant-specific direct sensing technologies, and physical and geophysical techniques.
• Feasibility evaluations. A robust evaluation of remedial technologies and strategies helps identify the solutions that are implementable, effective and economical for your site. This evaluation follows the site investigation and calibration of the CSM, and it provides increased certainty when planning remediation and forecasting costs.
• Risk assessments. Critical to the cost and outcome of your remediation project, our risk assessments shed light on strategies that protect human health and ecological receptors while minimizing remediation obligations and costs. Our work — including Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and state-defined risk assessments, ecological surveys and environmental assessments — is nationally recognized for withstanding scrutiny from regulatory agencies. We leverage our strong relationships and reputation to support your negotiating position.
• Regulatory negotiation and consulting. We help you navigate the regulatory process should a potentially responsible party (PRP) be identified. Our professionals develop strategies that can result in a more favorable outcome, averting a lengthy, complex and costly process. We assist with practical steps that manage your risk profile and help you avoid common mistakes.

Executing & Evolving Remediation 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.

Throughout the course of your site remediation project, we deliver ongoing services that address your site’s particular needs, including:

• Remedy execution and construction. Implementing your remediation project requires a design and construction team that fosters innovative solutions amid complex site conditions, persistent contaminants and challenging regulatory climates — while maintaining an unwavering focus on safety. We are your integrated, single source of responsibility, from planning and permitting through site restoration and closure.
• System optimization and remedy transition. Over time, remediation systems operate at varying degrees of efficiency. New technologies may be more effective than a solution that had been ideal at the time of installation. Remediation sites can often be candidates for cost-saving optimization strategies or transition to more passive remedies. This can save costs and result in a safer, more sustainable remedy that expedites site closure. We provide in-depth analysis of system performance, evaluate performance-impeding subsurface conditions, and develop measures that can maximize contaminant removal and reduce costs.
• Sediment investigation and remediation. Environmental impacts can accumulate in the sediment of water bodies located near contaminant sources. We help you understand the transport pathways; design and test potential remediation solutions in our sediment lab; and finalize designs and execute remedies in the field. Our professionals bring experience with sediment projects of all sizes and complexity. Using field assessments and analytical techniques, we simulate and examine complex presses in the lab, focusing on the alternatives that succeed.