Remedial Action, Optimization, and Regulatory Closure

EA has installed more than 75 remediation systems ranging in scale from small retail petroleum sites to large multi-plume manufacturing facilities. EA has practical experience that includes tracking both financial and resource utilization from installation to closure to provide our customers with reliable capital and operational costs. These remediation systems have been conducted under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and state and county requirements. EA can provide turnkey services in remediation system design, construction oversight, system start-up and check out, and implementation, including operation and monitoring of the system, if desired.

Remediation System Implementation

With EA’s significant design experience comes an impressive project list of remediation system implementations. EA has provided project management, construction oversight, system start-up, and operator training for remediation projects throughout the western U.S. including institutional controls, engineering controls, monitored natural attenuation, excavation and treatment or disposal, soil vapor extraction, dual/multi-phase extraction, in-situ biological reduction, in-situ chemical reduction, and in-situ chemical oxidation. In addition, EA has installed numerous systems for groundwater extraction and treatment including extraction wells, conveyance systems, injection wells, and complex treatment processes. Treatment equipment expertise includes granular activated carbon, advanced oxidation systems, thermal oxidizers for off-gas treatment, reverse osmosis, air stripping, and associated ancillary equipment.

Risk Management

EA’s senior professionals have been in the environmental industry and serving industrial clients for decades. This experience allows us to take a forward-looking perspective on projects to manage risk and capture opportunities. EA has prepared long-term financial forecasts and Phase 1 environmental assessments for potential remediation projects for numerous Fortune 100 companies. These forecasts/assessments include identification and estimation of risk, opportunities associated with short- and/or long-term plans, peer review of due diligence projects, and assessment of risk for property sales agreements. EA staff have also conducted peer review and participated in technical panels to evaluate, optimize project strategic approaches, and minimize liability for our clients.

Remediation System Optimization

EA has worked with many clients on existing soil, soil vapor, and groundwater remediation projects to review existing processes and optimize systems to reduce operational costs and/or increase the removal efficiencies of their systems. EA’s team have provided senior level consulting and review for major design modifications on existing, large-scale soil and groundwater remediation systems including project management oversight. EA staff have evaluated and optimized commonly used remediation treatment processes and less common processes, such as circulating dry scrubbers for regenerative thermal oxidizers and advanced oxidation process systems. In addition to lower operating costs and improved removal efficiencies, EA’s expertise has also lowered system downtime, improved reliability, and streamlined monitoring and reporting to substantially reduce project lifetime costs.

Sustainable Operations

EA has evaluated the overall sustainability of remediation projects from construction through closure. These evaluations have included qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative analyses depending on project needs. EA has prepared feasibility study level analyses using the Naval Facilities Engineering Command SiteWise software to compare and contrast pump and treat and in-situ remediation approaches. EA staff have incorporated solar powered equipment to eliminate the need for power at remote pumping stations and to reduce the environmental footprint of long-term remediation projects. EA staff have also evaluated water resource conservation for various projects including reuse of extracted water in municipal reclaim water systems.

Brownfields Redevelopment

Over the past several decades, redevelopment of older, environmentally impacted properties (brownfields) has grown in importance as urban revitalization initiatives have been implemented throughout the country. Remediation of these properties often involves a risk-based approach, with the remedy being integrated with final development plans. EA staff have been involved with redevelopment projects of former industrial properties ranging from several acres to several hundred acres. EA staff have worked with property owners, regulatory agencies and municipalities to return underutilized properties to productive redevelopment projects. Some of these projects have incorporated either long-term institutional controls and/or concurrent remediation that is compatible with redevelopment plans.

Protection of Municipal Supply Wells

EA staff have experience in improving municipal water supply wells through increasing production and protecting/improving water quality. EA’s experience in the design, construction, and operation of these wells allows us to assess any potential contamination threats or determine current causes of lower water quality. EA has helped many municipalities improve their water wells through hydrogeological studies resulting in the isolation of poor water quality zones, recommendations for increased well depth to increase output, and guidance to move well locations for better water quality and output.

Regulatory Closure

EA’s significant experience in all areas of soil, soil vapor, and groundwater remediation has allowed us to successfully negotiate with regulators from local, state, and federal agencies to reduce or eliminate costly project requirements during closure negotiations. EA’s senior professionals have worked many remediation projects over the years and their technical knowledge has helped identify and remove regulatory requirements that were not relevant. EA staff have successfully developed and implemented closure plans to obtain RCRA hazardous waste management unit closure and/or site closure for many of our clients over the last three decades.

Electrical System Design and Management

Instrumentation and Controls Design

Instrumentation and controls are the foundation of a well-designed facility and can improve reliability, lower operating costs, and avoid unwanted downtime. EA has designed and installed hundreds of systems to date from simple level and flow controls to site wide automation. EA’s engineers are skilled in process design, loop drawings, control logic, motor control, plant instrument layout, distributed control system (DCS), programmable logic controller (PLC), specifications, data sheets for instrumentation, and sequential flow charts.