PROJECTS - ECC Horizon

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

We provide a suite of customized services to address highly specialized problems.

Since 1986, ECC Horizon has helped resolve thousands of environmental projects for businesses, property owners, insurers, and law firms.

Here are a just a few representative examples of projects we’ve successfully completed.

Chlorinated Solvent Remediation (Indiana)

Defining client’s responsibility and options to achieve a reduced cost to closure

Re-directed remedial strategy from a more expensive soil vapor extraction remedy to a targeted excavation approach.
Developed sampling plan and lines of evidence to demonstrate to IDEM’s satisfaction that client was only responsible for portion of the impacts observed – brought clarity to a complicated bimodal delineation map to distinguish the cVOC plume from another off-site source using compound specific isotope analysis..

Implementation of less costly remedy saved client approximately $500K and cut time to closure
by 5 years

Industrial Paint Manufacturer (New York)

Client being charged with releasing contaminates into a public waterway.

Conducted thorough forensic cause and origin investigation and implemented a plan that included surveying entire area including river tributary, examining manufacturer’s processes, understanding nature of client’s products and chemicals, and studying tributary water quality.
Uncovered another outfall into the tributary that was unknown to authorities.
Presented all evidence – including the results of analytical testing to local, county and state officials.

.Result:

Findings were accepted and our client was exonerated.
Resumption of operations occurred without incident.

Furniture Store Fire (Mississippi)

Policyholder claimed that fire damage led to environmental losses in and around his furniture store.

ECC mobilized to the site within 24 hours to assess site conditions and determine if the fire resulted in environmental damages.

.Result:

Through observation and sampling, it was determined that no environmental damage occurred to
implement the insurance policy resulting in a savings to the carrier of $985,000.

Municipal Property Remediation (Indiana)

High initial cost for remediating 3 municipal properties was compromising the city’s ability to sell
property for beneficial community use. All properties were contaminated with petroleum constituents and free product and chlorinated solvents compromised one.

Actions:

Engineering remedial estimates by others topped $2.7 MM, and determined inadequate site characterization led to very conservative assumptions.
Reviewed publicly available documents to correctly identify adjacent oil refinery as source of free product impacts. Identified this other responsible party which provided an additional funding source.
Identified an alternative remedial approach which included using environmental restrictive
covenants to drive down regulatory closure costs.

Final agreed cost for remediation and regulatory closure was $250,000.

Vapor Mitigation in Former Manufactured Gas Plant (New York)

70,000 sq. ft. commercial warehouse located on property contaminated with petroleum related
compounds from historical MPG operations and chlorinated solvents from a commercial dry
cleaning operation located across street required a remedial solution to resolve vapor intrusion
concerns.

Remedial scope included retrofitting an active vapor mitigation system into existing building structure with a 2’ thick slab on grade foundation.
Sub-surface monitoring probes were installed at 6 foot depth to avoid obstruction of flow from existing foundation piling.
Installed 250 linear feet run of 3” diameter vapor piping notched into existing floor slab to suction side of blowers and 35 foot vertical elevation on discharge side – creating complicated blower suction pressure drop design criteria.
Engineered pressure balancing across blowers to adjust to variability in sub-surface airflow and flexibility to modulate blowers in the event of individual blower failure..

Successfully completed site remediation – Obtained closure from New York Department of
Environmental Conservation, indoor air sampling met New York Department of Health’s quality
standards.

Mold Assessment/Remediation (New York City)

Cost estimates ranged to over $1,000,000 to remediate mold from a large commercial space.

ECC reviewed the mold assessment data as well as the resulting remediation cost estimates, and determined that insufficient sampling was undertaken to support the scope of the proposed remediation.

Result:

Additional mold testing revealed that remediation costs should not exceed $150,000, thereby
leading to a cost savings of approximately $850,000.

Emergency Response/Remediation - Closure (Pennsylvania)

Gasoline vapors were combusting in trenches at a construction site, threatening excavation workers
and halting work progress.

Immediately mobilized to the site to begin investigation and worked with public officials to mitigate emergency.
Determined a leaking UST was the contamination source.
Working closely with local regulators, mobilized special equipment to remove the UST and secure the contamination area.
Implemented a comprehensive soil sampling plan, excavated more than 6000 tons of contaminated
soil and used a low cost bio-remediation method to allow the soil to be beneficially re-used as
non-contaminated material.

Clean-up completed for 47% less than originally reserved.

Nitrate Spill (Indiana)

Agricultural client needed quick resolution of a spill to get family farm back on track.

Actions:

Provided data, petitioned and convinced IDEM to apply soil impacted by the spill as fertilizer avoiding the client’s cost of disposal and cost for purchasing replacement volume.

Creative approach successful in cleaning up spill saving client 20%.

Chlorinated Solvent Remediation (Washington)

Defining boundaries of hazardous versus non-hazardous excavation materials to drive lower remedial costs.

Actions:

Established detailed staged and supervised sampling protocol to validate disposition of excavated soils.

.Result:

Improved approach successfully reduced project costs by $65K.

Metal Processing Facility

Long term cost to closure was making it difficult for all stakeholders to reach agreement on remedial
approach.

Determined original plan to extract chlorinated groundwater for over 14 years from aquifer was flawed, groundwater impacts could not be extracted through site’s impermeable clay soils. • Determined plan to demolish an existing site building was unnecessary – the underlying soil impacts were not migrating and the soil did not require removal.
Designed an alternative plan to dechlorinate the groundwater impacts in place and cleanup will occur 11 years earlier than previously scheduled.

Remedial plan adjustment and management lowered cost to closure by $4 MM from original
estimate.

Residential Underground Storage Tank (New Jersey)

Impacted soil and groundwater from a heating oil UST were located beneath a residence. Due to
logistical challenges associated with structurally supporting the home to remove the underlying
contamination, contractor costs were deemed by ECC to be excessive.

Actions:

ECC proposed a fixed-price remediation cost estimate via injection program that was approximately $200,000 less expensive than the most competitive time and materials bid.
ECC’s plan called for an aggressive injection approach that would achieve compliance levels within one year.

ECC implemented our plan and saved the client approximately $200,000 in remediation costs
compared to a non-guaranteed time and materials estimate.
The site achieved compliance levels in 1 year.

Environmental Consultants

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

We provide a suite of customized services to address highly specialized problems.

Environmental
Consultants