Alex Miller, Author at EnviroForensics | Environmental Engineering, Consulting & Remediation

What you need to know when addressing environmental contamination

Posted on August 5, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

IN THE PAST, I HAVE TALKED A LOT ABOUT WHAT LEADS TO THE DISCOVERY OF CONTAMINATION, AND WHAT TO DO IF, OR WHEN, YOU LEARN THAT CONTAMINATION HAS BEEN DISCOVERED AT YOUR SITE OR A PROPERTY. BUT WHAT I HAVEN’T DONE BEFORE, IS PRESENT A SYSTEMATIC PROCESS OF WHAT STEPS SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN WHEN PERC CONTAMINATION IS FOUND. GETTING IT RIGHT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOUR LEGAL SECURITY, YOUR MONEY, AND YOUR REPUTATION ARE ON THE LINE.

BY: JEFF CARNAHAN

To start, I’ll walk through the three important areas to become familiar with when addressing environmental contamination. Also, if you’re interested in this topic area, check out our webinar with Cleaner and Launderer on “how to respond when you find perc contamination”.

UNDERSTANDING THE REGULATORY DEMANDS

If an environmental contamination problem has come to light and you’ve been notified, there are regulations, rules, and laws in effect that require you to respond. Congress passes the laws that govern the United States, but Congress has also authorized EPA and other federal agencies to help put those laws into effect by creating and enforcing regulations. The EPA, in turn, has given each state the authority to implement and enforce their regulations within their area of jurisdiction, so long as the state regulations are at least as stringent as the federal regulations. A similar process exists in Canada between the federal and provincial environmental regulating agencies.

When an environmental release of hazardous substances has occurred onto or beneath the ground surface, these regulations require that the parties that may have caused or contributed to that contamination are responsible for investigating the nature and extent of the release. There are many nuances involved in determining who may become considered a potential responsible party, and who may ultimately be required to clean up the contamination, as I’ve discussed in recent articles. This question of rightful responsibility, if potentially contested, really belongs in the realm of legal liabilities, and an attorney should be consulted. The process for complying with the regulatory agencies is a bit less complex, although there are many nuances and an experienced environmental consultant will be needed to interface with the agency on your behalf.

So, when you first learn that there has been a release of hazardous materials, such as chlorinated or petroleum dry cleaning solvents, the first thing you’ll need to do is quickly find a consultant or an environmental attorney to make sure that you follow the required process for your state. Commonly, there is a reporting process that must be followed, and there are well-defined timelines that must be met. Once the contamination has been reported to the agency, your case will receive a number, which will be used throughout your regulatory process. You may be given an option to enter a voluntary cleanup program, or you may be required to remain in an enforcement program. Those who take the option to perform investigation and cleanup in a voluntary program usually are allowed more freedom in process and timing and may be eligible for a greater degree of indemnification at the close of the process after cleanup is complete. Enforcement programs may take longer since the agency remains involved in every step, and approvals may take a while. There are other regulatory vehicles that may come into play, such as agreed orders or enforcement orders, when higher levels of assurance are needed by you as the responsible party or the agency.

Each agency has its own personality and may create its own frustrations for you. Bottom line, however, is that if an environmental release has been identified and you want to put it behind you, involvement of the regulatory agency will be necessary. The mission of environmental agencies is to protect human health and the environment. If you keep that in mind and let that be the basis for dealings with the agency, you may be able to have a better understanding of their actions. You may also need to remind certain people within the agency of the scope and limits of their own mission at times to keep them from overreaching their boundaries. That’s specifically what most environmental consultants are good at, so look to them to lead these conversations.

UNDERSTANDING THE LEGAL LIABILITIES

There are many legal issues that may arise soon after you discover environmental contamination, for which you may be responsible. The very first of which is, are you potentially responsible. Since this question is a matter of environmental laws, an environmental attorney should help you answer that. If you are a single owner who has operated at a site where nobody else has, then it may not really be an applicable question. However, if there have been multiple operators and landowners at the contaminated site and you are just one of them, there are some legal matters to address. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to involving an environmental attorney on your behalf.

The environmental rules and regulations are very closely linked with the law. Any time a matter of law is involved, so should an attorney. Your environmental consultant cannot and should not give advice related to the law. They can help you adhere to regulations, but not laws. As such, relying on your consultant to assist with regulations at a lower price, and have your attorney help with true legal matters at a typically higher price is the normal combination. Conversely, attorneys aren’t in the business of making scientific recommendations regarding the actual investigation and cleanup of the contamination, so that’s another reason why both environmental consultants and attorneys are needed.

It’s common for your environmental attorney to also assist you in understanding other aspects of legal liability outside of regulatory issues that you may have because of the contamination. For example, if the contamination at your site has crossed the property line, there may be trespass issues, and potentially human exposure liabilities to assess and attend to. By allowing your attorney to guide you during the investigation and cleanup process, you’ll have someone watching your back and making sure you don’t expose yourself to liabilities accidentally. You will want a specialized environmental attorney who has much experience with these types of matters. A general business practitioner is likely not experienced enough with these matters to give you sound advice.

UNDERSTANDING THE FINANCIAL BURDENS

The third component of getting started with handling your environmental contamination problem has to do with money. The investigation and cleanup process ranges from expensive to very expensive, so having a hard look at a financial strategy is of paramount importance. The legal advice and work costs money, the investigation and cleanup process itself costs money, the agency is likely to charge you fees for their oversight, and heaven forbid, there could even be penalties involved if you get behind the eight ball. The really bad news here is that lack of funding doesn’t constitute an avenue for forgiveness of a responsible party’s ownership of the liability to investigate and clean up the contamination. Given a demonstration of financial hardship to the agency, you could qualify for various forms of aid, however. Some agencies work with state-run financial entities that may be able to provide you with a low-interest loan, but that may not be a great alternative. The first action is to evaluate all your business assets to make sure that you aren’t leaving any stones unturned. Of course, look at your old commercial general liability (CGL) policies. If you know that you bought these policies but can’t find them, hire an insurance archeologist to help recreate your old insurance portfolio. If you are in a state with favorable case law, you could be covered for the investigation costs, cleanup costs, and your environmental attorney costs.

Work with your environmental consultant to determine the potential financial burden that you may be facing. They will be very cautious about giving you an estimate because until the investigation phase of the work has been completed it will be difficult to quantify a dollar amount. Therefore it’s important to have various options for funding readily available. Contamination can be very tricky, especially chlorinated solvent releases such as tetrachloroethylene (Perc), which tend to hide the true magnitude until a full evaluation has been conducted. The investigation process alone can cost a few hundred thousand dollars. Over my decades of environmental work, it’s common to see an average cost of over one million dollars for a drycleaner site where a release of Perc has occurred. Granted, I’ve seen regulatory closures attained for less than five hundred thousand dollars, but I’ve also seen drycleaner cleanups cost into the tens of millions of dollars. It just depends on how long ago the release happened, and how bad it was.

Hiring a consultant who has performed numerous drycleaner site cleanups is critical since they can help you understand the potential cost more than others. A good one should also be familiar with other potential funding resources that may be available to you. Everyone understands that small business, and even larger ones, may have a hard time with the financial burden of environmental investigation and cleanups. Don’t panic until you’ve explored all avenues.

These three areas – regulatory, legal and financial – are all important when you’re faced with environmental contamination. Whether you expected it or not, you could be on the hook for the cleanup. By following the advice given in this article, you’ll be well on your way to addressing environmental contamination responsibility with a sense of calm for your legal security, your financial plans and your reputation. Both your pocketbook and the future value of your property will thank you and you can rest assured that you took every step you could to get the best outcome possible.

As seen in Cleaner and Launderer

Jeff Carnahan, President
Jeff Carnahan, LPG, has 20+ years of environmental consulting and remediation experience. His technical expertise focuses on the investigation and interpretation of subsurface releases of hazardous substances for the purpose of evaluating and controlling the risk and cost implications. He has been a partner of the drycleaning industry for the past decade, and is a frequent contributor to the national drycleaning publication Cleaner & Launderer. He is an industry leader in understanding that environmental risk includes not only cleanup costs, but also known and unknown third-party liability.

Employee Spotlight: Brian Kappen

Posted on July 21, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

EACH MONTH, ENVIROFORENSICS RECOGNIZES TALENTED INDIVIDUALS, LIKE OUR SENIOR GEOLOGIST AND PROJECT MANAGER, BRIAN KAPPEN. GET TO KNOW BRIAN INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF ENVIROFORENSICS.

BRIAN KAPPEN, SENIOR GEOLOGIST AND PROJECT MANAGER

QUESTION: WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND AND CAREER PATH?
ANSWER: My background is in hydrogeology, which I started to pursue after a less than stellar fifth semester of engineering courses. It’s been 17 years since so my career path appears to be environmental consulting.

Q: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING RECOGNIZED BY YOUR COWORKERS?
A: I’m honored – We have a good crew in Wisconsin, and I appreciate the support of Rob and Wayne on technical projects.

Q: WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT WORKING AT ENVIROFORENSICS?
A: I like the size of EnviroForensics, which allows the company to be nimble and employees to be more than just a number. I also like the culture of hard work and camaraderie. Also singing happy birthday at 7:40 on Monday mornings once a month for staff meetings is always fun.

Q: WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR MOST EXCITING PROJECTS AT ENVIROFORENSICS?
A: One of the most interesting projects has been a drycleaner in Madison, WI because of the scope of the project – a big plume deep in bedrock and neighborhood-wide VI risk, and the effectiveness of the remedies that were implemented. We’re also testing for PFAS before the site can be closed.

Q: WHAT IS YOUR LIFE LIKE OUTSIDE OF ENVIROFORENSICS?
A: I have two daughters aged 10 and 8 who are very nice to me (hoping that continues). I spend the warm few months outside as much as possible – mountain biking, camping, disc golfing, and during a non-COVID year festival going – and the cold months hibernating and drinking dark beer.

How drycleaners can maximize value in real estate transactions

Posted on July 20, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION ISSUES CAN SERIOUSLY IMPACT COMMERCIAL PROPERTY AND BUSINESS DEALS. IN THIS BLOG, WE’LL EXPLAIN HOW TO GET THE MOST MONEY FOR YOUR REAL ESTATE OR BUSINESS TRANSACTION AND HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF DURING THE PROCESS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL, FINANCIAL AND LEGAL COUNSEL. YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO MINIMIZE YOUR RISK BY PREPARING FOR UPCOMING REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS AND INCREASE VALUE WITH ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OPTIONS AND EXPERT RESOURCES.

As environmental consultants, we keep a close eye on commercial real estate trends, and we’ve recently seen indicators that the commercial real estate market is experiencing a recovery and transactions are on the rise in response to falling interest rates. We’ve also seen an increase in the buying and selling of businesses, as investors look for strategic opportunities to pick up a struggling business for cheap.

WHAT DOES THIS CHANGE IN REAL ESTATE TRENDS MEAN FOR THE DRYCLEANING INDUSTRY?

The current economic downturn and the associated market disruptions will be another catalyst of change for the drycleaning industry. Drycleaner owners need to consider if now is the right time to buy, sell or refinance their business or property.

All three of these options will likely prompt environmental due diligence activities like Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) as businesses change hands, properties are sold, or banks re-evaluate loans. Environmental contamination problems could be identified during this process, so now’s a good time to evaluate your options, strategy and environmental preparedness.

WHAT LEGAL LIABILITIES DO YOU NEED TO CONSIDER AS A BUYER OR A SELLER?

It’s important to consider the legal implications of these real estate transactions and the environmental due diligence through your strategy – so it may be wise to consult a real estate attorney to help navigate your deal. Simply taking advantage of the low-interest rates can trigger the need for more collateral to secure bank loans. A few examples for drycleaners include:

Selling your business or merging with another drycleaner
Refinancing your bank loan for a better interest rate
Acquiring new machines or a vehicle
Adding on a new addition or remodeling the business
Buying a new location like a drop plant

Any time a lending activity in the commercial sector involves the use of an owned property as collateral, there is going to be a reassessment of the property’s value, and that is going to include an evaluation of its environmental condition. Especially if it’s a property with a history of drycleaning operations. It’s an unfortunate truth that drycleaners typically will be required to do a phase II just because they are a drycleaner. Sometimes it’s inevitable and unavoidable, especially when you’re not in control of the due diligence like in the case of a neighbor or landlord selling or refinancing.

A lot of times people wait until after they are facing an environmental contamination issue head-on to look for funding options, maybe they are being sued or have received a letter from their regulatory agency, but either way, now they’re in a reactive position trying to find a way to pay for the hefty cost of cleanup.

There are funding options available to drycleaners that include insurance options to buffer risks like historical commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies or purchasing Pollution Legal Liability (PLL) insurance if you don’t already have it. You can add value by purchasing PLL policies, especially if you are unable to locate historic CGL policies or are interested in an extra layer of protection. Pollution policies can cover new conditions at a site from the inception of the policy and onward or for unknown pre-existing conditions. PLL policies focus on the costs and risks associated with potential contamination both on and off the property, as well as unanticipated contamination found during site cleanup and/or redevelopment. These policies can be used as a nice addition to your funding strategy to save deals and manage legal liability.

HOW CAN YOUR OLD COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY (CGL) INSURANCE POLICIES ADD VALUE TO YOUR DRYCLEANING BUSINESS?

CGL insurance policies protect the policyholder from third party liability. For a drycleaner, historical CGL policies directly from the policyholder or from predecessors that pre-date any absolute pollution exclusions can be used to help pay for environmental investigation and cleanup costs. These policies should typically pay for the site investigation to determine the nature and extent of the contamination, legal defense fees, contamination remediation, locating any other responsible parties who should also be held liable for the contamination and interfacing with the regulatory agency on your behalf.

There are three different ways that CGL insurance policies can add value to your drycleaning business.

1. Be proactive and pull together insurance information to create a safety net in case environmental issues are uncovered down the road.

These policies can be worth millions of dollars. Add value to your business by giving yourself that cushion. If you’re prepared for the future, it’ll be less stress and less money out of pocket to formulate a strategy if you know what kind of coverage you have available to you. This first scenario is really the most ideal to pull together your policy information without a deadline – and if you’re unable to locate it yourself, you can hire an Insurance Archeologist to help you track it down.

2. If you’re already in the environmental due diligence, it’s time to pull together a team of experts to formulate a strategy.

When you’re unprepared, environmental contamination is going to be a disruption. It can cause a business or property owner substantial stress about how they are going to react to the news of contamination. But this stress can be avoided with the right team in place to help you weather this storm. Addressing the environmental contamination by cleaning it up will add value back to your property, so it’s a win-win situation. Plus, you’ll be off the hook with the regulatory agencies.

3. If you’ve already spent money out of pocket for environmental investigation and cleanup costs, you may be able to recoup the money.

You may not be able to recover all that has been spent but you’ll be able to put money back in your pocket. That is certainly more valuable than being out whatever was spent on cleanup efforts in the first place.

As you can imagine, as we get further away from the 1985 Absolute Pollution Exclusion (APE) timeframe, the more difficult it can become to track down usable policies that can protect you from environmental liability. And this is exactly what insurance archeology is for, but the further you get from the APE, the more likely it is that the records have been destroyed and potential leads are diminished.

Now is a good time to look at pulling together your own policies, and if you find that you’re having difficulty locating policy information on your own, don’t give up. Consider hiring a professional insurance archeologist to be a part of your team.

WHAT’S YOUR NEXT STEP?

So, whether you’re the buying, selling, or refinancing a dry cleaning business, pulling together any applicable insurance policies to address any unwelcome environmental contamination can not only save a real estate transaction or lending deal, but it can add value to the property. For the seller it will show there is a funding source to address contamination, which would otherwise devalue the property. And for the buyer, who knows that the property’s environmental issues are being addressed now, so that if later down the road they want to sell, they have peace of mind that its free and clear of contamination. Call an environmental consultant who can coordinate your team to maximize your business value.

Watch to the webinar recording to hear what fellow drycleaners asked during the Q&A portion.

Special thanks to DLI and Rubin & Rudman for their partnership on this webinar.

How to pinpoint when a Perc release occurred

Posted on July 8, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

THREE METHODS TO DETERMINING WHEN PERC WAS RELEASED AND IF THERE ARE OTHER RESPONSIBLE PARTIES TO SHARE IN THE LIABILITY

BY: JEFF CARNAHAN

Let’s get technical. With the recent and anticipated increases in the number of drycleaner businesses and properties changing hands, we’re seeing an increase in environmental issues needing to be addressed. It’s rare for a single operator to have occupied a drycleaning business property through the years, especially as far back in time as the 60’s or 70’s. If environmental contamination is discovered at a property with a history of drycleaning operations, every one of the corporate entities that conducted business at that location is subject to claims of the release(s) that occurred during their time at the property.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A PERC TEST, INVESTIGATION, AND CLEANUP?

Can Perc releases be accurately age dated? The answer isn’t a straightforward yes. It can be extremely difficult to tell exactly when an environmental release occurred, but there are scientific methods available to help bracket a range of dates when it was likely. There are three ways to pinpoint when a perc release has occurred. I’ll explain this by using tetrachloroethylene (PCE), also known as Perc, contamination in the groundwater as an example.

1. DETERMINING THE AGE OF THE PERC RELEASE

One way to determine the relative age of a release is by evaluating the breakdown products of Perc. The process goes like this: trichloroethene (TCE)  dichloroethane (DCE)  vinyl chloride (VC)—these are known as “daughter products”, which come from decaying Perc. Perc is considered a recalcitrant compound, meaning it is pervasive in the subsurface environment and doesn’t break down easily under natural conditions. When Perc is released into a typical groundwater environment, where an ample amount of oxygen is present, it generally breaks down very, very slowly, if at all. We have seen groundwater plumes of Perc that are over 50 years old that haven’t degraded at all. Significant natural breakdown of Perc only occurs in groundwater when there is very little oxygen, and the microorganisms that thrive in those anaerobic conditions are abundant. These are the factors that can equate to the degradation of Perc to TCE, DCE, and VC. The longer the plume has existed under these optimal conditions for breakdown, the more daughter products there are. The sequence can be illustrated by the following sequence based on relative proportions of these compounds:

As mentioned, using the ratio of breakdown products to Perc is not singularly a reliable method for estimating the age of the Perc release in groundwater where there is plenty of oxygen.

Learn more about what makes cleaning up Perc spills so expensive

2. DETERMINING HOW FAR THE PERC RELEASE HAS TRAVELED

Another approach is to determine the horizontal extent of the contaminated groundwater plume. In general, the groundwater velocity multiplied by the amount of time since the release occurred equals the distance traveled. Fundamentally, if you know the velocity of the groundwater and the distance the groundwater plume has traveled, you should be able to mathematically determine the amount of time that has passed since the release entered the groundwater. Clearly, it is much more complicated than that and it takes a seasoned hydrogeologist to perform those calculations. Often, a computer model of groundwater conditions needs to be created to account for the vast multitude of variables that come into play.

3. DETERMINING WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PERC RELEASE

The age dating approaches are useful if you are trying to determine when a release of Perc happened at a single property and get a feel for who was operating at that time. A more complicated scenario is when one is trying to determine the age of a Perc release when it has merged with another release from a different property. This is known as a comingled plume. In this scenario, scientists may rely on evaluating the presence of differing chemical isotopes within the Perc found in the distinct groundwater plumes. To understand this approach, the scientist must have information on the original product that the drycleaner used over specific time periods. Different manufacturers of Perc had unique product formulas from their competitors and recycled Perc would have a very different formula from virgin Perc. Under this set of facts, the isotopic analysis, or fingerprint of the product, can be useful.

Find out how environmental forensics can help determine who is liable for a contaminant release

In comingled plume studies, the isotopic fingerprint of each source is established using these methods. In theory, this is not too difficult and would require just a couple of samples in the source area and at the leading edge of the plume. However, in actuality age dating a plume is more complex. As mentioned above, a precondition is that we know the isotopic fingerprint of the Perc product that was used at a given time and location versus the isotopic fingerprint of the Perc product used at a different time and location. If one is trying to establish the age of a release at the same site, we need to know the date when the Perc products that were used switched from one to another.

FIND AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT THAT UNDERSTANDS PERC

These three approaches help the investigation process move forward and allow drycleaners to pinpoint when a Perc release happened. As with many things in life, there’s ambiguity, especially to an untrained eye. This is why it’s so important to find an environmental consultant who understands the complexity that comes with environmental work at drycleaning businesses. They will be able to guide you through this investigation with clear goals knowing which challenges may arise and which challenges that can be avoided.

As always, we’re here to support our friends in the drycleaning community and want to see the best outcome for you no matter your situation.

Learn more about how we can assist you through the environmental investigation and cleanup process. Fill out our contact form.

As seen in Cleaner and Launderer

What Should I Do if an Environmental Investigation Has Been Requested?

Posted on June 10, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

BE PROACTIVE BY CONTACTING AN INSURANCE ARCHEOLOGIST AND AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT

BY: DRU CARLISLE

We understand that most people are unhappy when environmental issues pop up. This can happen when a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) has uncovered Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs), you’ve received a demand letter from an environmental regulatory agency, or you’re aware that you most likely have contamination. Back in the day, many industrial solvents and chemicals used in operations like dry cleaning and manufacturing were not known to be hazardous, so regulations were different than they are today. Even newer industrial operations can have minor hazardous leaks and spills causing environmental impacts that will need to be addressed when they are discovered. Depending on the past business operations at certain properties, sometimes environmental issues are inevitable. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and potentially minimize your out of pocket expenses.

In this blog, we’ll dive into effective strategies to address environmental issues.

BE PROACTIVE WITH INSURANCE ARCHEOLOGY

It’s never too early to prepare for the potential challenges associated with environmental issues; whether it’s finding funds to cover the expenses through insurance archeology or finding the right partner to lean on for support. This is why it’s important for drycleaners, industrial launderers and textiles, and manufacturers to be proactive and assemble their available resources before an environmental issue is discovered.

LOCATE YOUR OLD POLICY INFORMATION AND BUSINESS RECORDS

Business owners that search for their old comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance policies before an environmental investigation begins will have an important step taken care of because these policies can be used to help pay for resolving environmental liabilities.

Historical CGL policies, once located and leveraged, typically cover the costs of your legal defense and will pay on your behalf of damages if you are found liable—up to the limits of your policy. Historical CGL policies are valuable assets that may be worth millions of dollars and depending on your situation and the state in which you conduct business, the out-of-pocket environmental cleanup costs may be minimal.

Infographic illustrating the what commercial general liability policies can be used to pay for, such as environmental and defense costs. — Once triggered historical commercial general liability (CGL) policies can be used to recoup or pay for 1) site investigation, 2) remediation/cleanup, 3) interim remedial measures, 4) building a legal case, 5) responsible party search, 6) interfacing with agencies, 7) defense against legal claims, and 8) legal fees. Additionally, CGL policies can be used to recoup costs already spent. To learn more about CGL policies, visit How Does It Work? CGL Policies and Insurance Archeology.

If locating your old policy information and business records proves to be too difficult to do on your own, you can bring in an experienced insurance archeologist to help find your old policy information, put together a corporate history and coverage chart for your company and property. Insurance Archeologists utilize a number of methods for tracking down evidence of policies, whether your own, or past owners or operators.

Learn more about our insurance archeology services

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT

Since contamination devalues a business and a cleanup can take some time to do, it’s smart to act sooner than later, like when you’re ready to sell or pass on your business to the next generation. And now that you know how to find your old policy information and business records, it’s time to start strategizing with environmental experts to prepare for an environmental investigation.

DETERMINE THE RIGHT CONSULTANT FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY

Experience matters and choosing an environmental expert with the right background and knowledge to guide you as you prepare your environmental strategy is crucial. Find environmental experts with significant experience in your industry. For example, drycleaners and industrial launders and textiles should look for experts with proven chlorinated solvent experience while manufacturers should look for experts with proven polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) or hexavalent chromium experience.

The strategy may include an environmental investigation, a vapor intrusion assessment or maybe even an environmental remediation if contamination is found. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect when the process starts but having an experienced environmental consultant with expertise in your industry can make a big difference. They’ll have a better sense of what to expect at your business and will be there to help you navigate the decisions you’ll need to make to move forward with your environmental strategy.

While cleanup strategies are personal for each business, the overall steps are similar. A smart strategy begins with 1) finding what coverage is available, 2) determining the extent of contamination, and 3) implementing a site-specific cleanup plan.

The three steps to environmental cleanup including insurance archeology, environmental investigation, and environmental remediation — These are the steps to a smart environmental cleanup strategy. Read more about addressing environmental contamination.

There’s no need to face environmental liabilities or demand letters on your own. Business owners can take proactive steps to get in the driver’s seat and protect their assets with the support of insurance archeologists and environmental consultants. We strongly believe there shouldn’t be a financial barrier to performing meaningful environmental restoration work and that insurance policy coverage for environmental liabilities should be honored by the carriers.

Do you have questions about environmental investigations? Contact us today.

Dru Carlisle, Director of Drycleaner Accounts
For over 10 years, Dru has helped numerous business and property owners facing regulatory action, navigate and manage their environmental liability. Dru has vast experience in assisting dry cleaners in securing funding for their environmental cleanups through historical insurance policies. Dru is a member of numerous drycleaning associations in addition to serving on the Midwest Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (MWDLI) advisory council and on the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute Board (DLI) as an Allied Trade District Committee Member.

Setting Your Environmental Investigation and Remediation Priorities

Posted on June 10, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

EVERYONE IS MAKING TOUGH DECISIONS RIGHT NOW ABOUT WHAT TO SPEND MONEY ON, AND WHAT CAN WAIT. IN THIS ARTICLE, I’LL WALK YOU THROUGH WHAT CAN WAIT AND WHAT CANNOT WAIT EVEN IN OUR CURRENT COVID-19 BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT.

BY: JEFF CARNAHAN

The EPA and many State environmental agencies have issued statements providing loose guidance related to the potential availability of some slack in regulations due to COVID-19 and the financial stress that it has put on many responsible parties who are in a cleanup program. If you are in a position where there is a known release of hazardous substances from your operations or previous operations at your site, there are decisions that need to be made about whether or not to proceed with various aspects of the environmental investigation and cleanup process. Some things can wait, and some just cannot.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION ISSUES THAT CANNOT WAIT

There is an adage that says, “Do whatever you want, so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone”. With environmental contamination issues, there is often the possibility that others could be put in harm’s way from exposure to hazardous substances. The work related to investigating and eliminating a direct exposure to contamination should be top priorities, and it really can’t be put on hold. Here are three scenarios where environmental cleanup shouldn’t wait:

1. VAPOR INTRUSION ASSESSMENT

At sites where a subsurface release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as PCE, TCE, or Benzene has occurred, the potential for vapor intrusion most likely exists at nearby buildings. If there are residences, daycare facilities, schools, or medical care facilities close by, that threat carries an even higher urgency. Whereas many investigations that include soil or groundwater sampling are measuring a potential exposure, vapor intrusion assessments measure actual exposure situations. If vapor intrusion is actually occurring at a building, the occupants are breathing the contamination directly. The VOCs mentioned above are all carcinogenic to some degree and are highly regulated. Exposure scenarios where their levels are identified at concentrations higher than risk-based screening levels are strictly enforced by regulatory agencies. If you are the responsible party for a release of VOCs and the vapor intrusion exposure pathway hasn’t been ruled out, appropriate sampling of the inhalation exposure pathway at nearby structures should not be delayed. If it is confirmed that levels of VOCs in the indoor air at sampled buildings are higher than the regulated levels, immediate actions to protect the occupants, such as the installation of a sub-slab depressurization system, will also be required.

2. GROUNDWATER SAMPLING IN DRINKING WATER WELL PROTECTION AREAS

It is not uncommon for releases of contamination to migrate into the groundwater, and then become mobile and transport downgradient. Since groundwater is a valuable drinking water resource in many areas, the potential exists for contamination to make its way into potable water supply wells. Like vapor intrusion assessments, the sampling of groundwater for the presence of contamination within a well-head protection area is an assessment of a direct exposure for those who may drink that water. This type of exposure scenario, if likely or probable, is one where there should not be delay in making a determination if your release is impacting others. The timing is unfortunate, but sampling of the ingestion exposure pathway in this situation will be strictly mandated by regulatory agencies.

3. SURFACE SOIL SAMPLING WITHIN INHABITED AREAS

One factor that allows subsurface soil sampling at contamination sites to proceed at a calculated pace is that many times the impacts are well below the ground surface. When this is the situation, the likelihood of people coming into contact with the hazardous substance is pretty low and may be limited to construction workers who may be digging in the area. When contamination appears to be present at the ground surface in a location that is frequented by people, especially children, the potential for direct contact with that soil is much higher. While this threat is less common than vapor intrusion or groundwater ingestion exposure, if your site fits into this scenario, be prepared for the regulators to demand that investigation and exposure mitigation measures be carried out, with little to no leniency.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION ISSUES THAT CAN WAIT

If you’ve already advanced your site investigation and/or remediation process past the point where you know whether there is a threat of an ongoing exposure, you can probably get some concurrence from the regulators to slow things down a bit. Here are two scenarios where environmental work could be postponed:

1. POST-REMEDIAL ACTION MONITORING

Typically, after a cleanup action has been implemented, say a source area soil excavation or a groundwater cleanup, there is a period of time during which routine quarterly, semi-annual or annual groundwater monitoring is required to demonstrate that the project was successful. Sometimes the cleanup mark can be missed, and it isn’t known until post-remedial monitoring shows a rebound in contaminant concentrations. Although any delay in the performance of this monitoring has the effect of prolonging the amount of time until you get your regulatory closure, if it is necessary to route the funding to other, more critical business efforts, it is likely that you can get the relief you need.

2. CLEANUP ACTIVITY IF ONLY YOUR PROPERTY IS IMPACTED

If you are involved in an environmental investigation and cleanup, and you have already shown through sampling that the extent of contamination doesn’t extend beyond your own property boundaries, it is also likely that you can put off cleanup for a period of time. Of course, if conditions were to arise in the meantime that involve the potential sale or refinancing of your property, the issue would once again be at the forefront and most likely the work would need to move forward to complete the deal.

When economic conditions turn sour, as they are now, business leaders look to save cash on things that don’t absolutely need to happen right now. There are some situations, as we’ve discussed, where environmental projects may be delayed for a period of time to help out. Keep in mind, however, that as long as there is an environmental condition at your property that has not been closed through a regulatory program, your business and your property will never have its full value. Perhaps now is the time to seize the day and protect your assets’ value If this is your goal, it makes sense to keep the project moving.

_____________________________________________________________________________

As seen in Cleaner and Launderer

Jeff Carnahan, President 
Jeff Carnahan, LPG, has 20+ years of environmental consulting and remediation experience. His technical expertise focuses on the investigation and interpretation of subsurface releases of hazardous substances for the purpose of evaluating and controlling the risk and cost implications. He has been a partner of the drycleaning industry for the past decade, and is a frequent contributor to the national drycleaning publication Cleaner & Launderer. He is an industry leader in understanding that environmental risk includes not only cleanup costs, but also known and unknown third-party liability. 

10 things we’re doing to make time for nature

Posted on June 4, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

UNITED NATIONS URGES THE WORLD TO LISTEN TO NATURE DURING TIME OF PANDEMIC AND CLIMATE CRISIS

“The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature.” That’s the beginning of the mission statement for this year’s UN World Environment Day theme; “Time for Nature.” This year’s edition comes at an unprecedented time when the world is facing a historic pandemic and the devastating impacts of climate change. The UN is urging everyone in the world to listen to the message that nature is sending us: To care for ourselves, we must care for nature.

WHAT IS WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY?

World Environment Day began in 1974 and has grown into a global platform for raising awareness and taking action on urgent issues from marine pollution and global warming to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime. Every June 5th there’s a call to action to engage local governments, businesses, celebrities, and citizens to focus on a pressing environmental issue.

This year we have witnessed an alarming array of catastrophic episodes including the wildfires that swept through Brazil, Australia, and the US, locust infestations across Eastern Africa, and the global COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted millions of lives. All of these events demonstrate the interdependence of humans and the webs of life in which they exist.

WHY SPENDING TIME WITH NATURE IS IMPORTANT

Getting time with nature has become a mental health necessity these past few months We’ve had time to reflect on our own personal impacts on the world around us. It’s forced us to think about the way we consume, what businesses we support, and how their practices impact the environment, who we elect as our leaders to safeguard our natural resources, and how we educate and talk to the next generations about protecting our precious planet.

HOW WE’RE SPENDING TIME WITH NATURE

As environmental engineers, geologists, and scientists, our team has an innate appreciation for nature. Before the pandemic, outside of our professional environmental work, we would conduct regular neighborhood cleanups to spend some time outdoors and protect the environment from the adverse impacts of improperly disposed of waste. Since we all can’t gather together, here’s how some are spending time outside and preserving and protecting their corner of the world.

1. PICKING UP LITTER

Now that it’s light enough to enjoy nature after work, I spend most of my evenings hiking and taking photos of the Indiana Dunes. During my walks, I’ll pick up trash (I have a record for picking up 39 balloons in one walk – 31 mylar and 8 latex). I also spend entirely too much time looking for beach glass (truly addicting).

Michele Murday, Northwest Indiana Regional Manager

2. GARDENING

I love any kind of gardening and can be found outside in our yard planting or transplanting on any sunny weekend day! My favorite plant is Russian Sage but it spreads easily in a bed so I keep mine in pots. We also have some iris plants that are from Jeff’s grandmother’s garden, still blooming! Here is a pic of my new plant babies, including succulents, some Russian Sage, some Salvia, Milkweed, some edible herbs, Flowering Onions, a mini Aloe plant, and a couple of unknowns that I brought from our old house!

Morgan Saltsgiver, Director of Brownfields & AgriBusiness

3. GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD

Grow your own, so you know what’s in it. I used treated lumber for these raised beds. I line the insides with landscaping cloth. My wife got the cloth bags at the ends. We have had fantastic fingerling and new potatoes from them.

Mark Nommay, Warehouse Manager

I don’t pretend to know how to garden (I always kill the lavender plants I try to grow), but I do keep a vegetable garden every year. Homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers are the best part of summer. This year I’m trying for a few variations of peppers, too.

Dru Shields, Director of Accounts

4. SPENDING TIME IN COMMUNITY GREEN SPACES

My husband and I recently moved to the Windsor Park neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana. We commune with nature by landscaping and walking in our area. We’re lucky to have Triangle Park, Fletcher Park, Spades Park, and Brookside Park all near us. It’s incredible to have so much greenery and towering trees living downtown. When we’re walking, we pick up trash and talk to our neighborhoods. My husband has joined the board of the Windsor Park Neighborhood Association, and we’re excited to be investing in our community.

Elizabeth Hemingway, Marketing Director

5. CAMPING

Camping, hiking, and mountain biking is how our family has fun in the great outdoors. Not sleeping on the ground any more thanks to the USS Winnebago!

Brad Lewis, Principal Scientist

6. FISHING

I spend a lot of time at our Kentucky Lake home fishing.

Brian Moskalick, Field Professional

7. REPLACING FRONT LAWN WITH NATIVE AND NON-INVASIVE GROUNDCOVER

We just finished removing our front lawn for a butterfly and edible garden. We have a cherry tree, serviceberry, blue berry, currants, and hops alongside coneflowers, butterfly bush, and other native and non-invasive ground cover and shrubs. Several butterflies and pollinators have already been spotted. We also completed the installation of our third rain barrel to capture more runoff. This should significantly reduce the solar gain on the house, limit rainwater runoff, and will just be a pleasant place to read a book or enjoy a beverage.

Rob Hoverman, Northern Midwest Director

8. WANDERING

I make time for nature by turning down unknown roads in remote places in order to stumble upon vistas such as these.

Jeff Carnahan, President

9. SPENDING TIME AT A NATIONAL OR STATE PARK

Nothing beats a day trip of biking through Brown County State Park’s beautiful views and forested areas to get some fresh air and exercise. The rolling hills have provided an entertaining bike course to explore and enjoy over the weekends.

Jackie Cabrera, Marketing Manager

My wife and I love to hike! One of our favorite hiking spots is the beautiful Little Grand Canyon in Shawnee National Forest in Jackson County, Illinois.

Mark Phillips, Regional Director

10. PASSING DOWN AN APPRECIATION FOR NATURE TO THE NEXT GENERATION

I was raised playing in the creek beside our house. It’s where I found my love of geology. To me, it is the best place on earth. Now I love playing with my son in the creek and getting lost in the woods.

Jennifer Hallgarth, Director of Consulting Services

Join our nature-loving team. Visit our careers page.

Six reasons why you may need to prepare for an environmental investigation soon

Posted on May 14, 2020December 14, 2023 by Alex Miller

WITH ALL THE LATEST BUSINESS CHALLENGES RELATED TO COVID-19 AND THE RESULTING ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, THE LAST THING ANYONE NEEDS IS TO BE SURPRISED BY AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION ISSUE.

It is the rare business owner or executive these days who feels in control of what’s happening to their revenues and bottom line, myself included. This month, I want to revisit a topic that is vital to understanding how and when an environmental investigation gets triggered. With this information, I want you to feel more in control of your situation as you think through the potential paths your business may be headed down, whether that be in the near future or further down the road. As we talk with more and more cleaners looking to renegotiate their leases, sell their properties for liquid assets, consolidate or sell their businesses, or even buy businesses to expand their footprint, specific environmental considerations need to be understood. In any of these scenarios, an assessment of environmental conditions will be necessary. Be prepared, so that you’re not surprised by expensive environmental contamination.

SO, WHAT SCENARIOS TRIGGER AN ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION?

1. YOU’RE SELLING YOUR BUSINESS OR PROPERTY
If you want or need to sell your business or property, the potential buyer and/or their financial lending institution will be keen to verify that the asset they are purchasing doesn’t have any unknown detractors from its true value. Due diligence is required during business and property transactions to determine if the operating business and/or property carries any potential environmental liability including hazardous waste contamination, lack of permits, permit violations, and compliance deficiencies. Understanding these conditions allows the buyer to evaluate potential limitations, liabilities, and risks associated with the property. Due Diligence will start with a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) to identify if there’s any likelihood of contamination. More often than not, due diligence at a drycleaner is going to uncover environmental problems. In fact, the ASTM standard for performing Phase I ESAs requires a Phase II ESA if former operations at the site included drycleaning. A Phase II ESA includes collecting samples of soil, groundwater or building materials to analyze for various contaminants, primarily solvents in this situation.

2. YOU’RE REFINANCING YOUR PROPERTY
There are numerous stimulus sources available and more are on the horizon for small businesses due to the COVID-19 crisis where collateral is not needed, but if you’re going to be refinancing a loan where your property has been used as collateral, your bank is going to require a new Phase I ESA. Again, for most drycleaner sites where solvent use has been ongoing for a number of years since the original loan was closed, a Phase II ESA will be required before the refinance is approved.

3. YOU’RE RETIRING WITH PLANS TO HAND OFF YOUR BUSINESS TO YOUR CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN
While the current situation could result in the delay of many retirement plans for industry veterans, if may also accelerate others. If you want to retire and hand off your business to your children or grandchildren, you’ll want to make sure they are protected from liability that could hamper their efforts of maintaining or growing the business you built. As there may be a high probability that contamination is lurking beneath your building due to decades of drycleaning operations, you’ll want to conduct the needed investigation and regulatory closure process to get the issue buttoned up before you make the transfer of ownership.

4. YOUR NEIGHBOR OR LANDLORD IS SELLING OR REFINANCING THEIR PROPERTY, WHICH REQUIRES AN ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION
This scenario is the one you have the least amount of control over. If your neighbor is selling or refinancing their property, they’ll be conducting the same real estate due diligence process that you would be doing if you were the one involved in a sale. Their environmental investigation may uncover an environmental release that may lead to you. They’ll notify the regulatory agency of the issue, and that will lead to a demand for you to conduct your own environmental investigation and cleanup process.

5. YOU’RE RENEGOTIATING YOUR LEASE
When renegotiating or terminating your lease, your landlord may decide that he would like a baseline of any potential environmental impacts on the site. Alternatively, a new tenant, especially a cleaner, may want to ensure that they are not held liable for any impacts on the site should they be found later. In both cases, there is a likelihood that either may decide to perform environmental due diligence. As is the same with the previous scenarios, if contamination is found, that information might be submitted to the state regulatory agency, and further investigation and likely some form of remediation will be required.

6. YOU WANT TO BUY A PROPERTY OR ANOTHER DRYCLEANING BUSINESS
Just as some businesses will become casualties of the COVID-19 crisis and the economic downturn, others who have larger market shares or deeper pockets to weather the storm will turn to acquisitions to help further strengthen their position. If you want to buy a property, which used to house, or currently houses a drycleaner or any other commercial operation, you’re going to want to conduct the necessary due diligence to protect yourself from taking on another’s liability during the process.

Once environmental contamination comes to light as a result of an investigation performed under one of the scenarios above, a regulatory closure will be necessary for the deal to go through. If the contamination was discovered under the neighbor scenario (number 4), then you won’t have any other option.

As you continue to strategize about the best way to navigate these dangerous economic waters for the health of your business, don’t forget to scan the horizon for obstacles like environmental liability. If you know where they are and have a plan to deal with them, they are less likely to sink you unexpectedly. Safe voyages, friends.

Learn how to use your old insurance policies to offset environmental investigation and remediation costs, contact us today.

As seen in Cleaner & Launderer

What are PFAS compounds and how can we test for them?

Posted on April 30, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

OUR PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST DIVES INTO THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING PFAS COMPOUNDS AND THE REMEDIATION OPTIONS AVAILABLE

BY: BRAD LEWIS

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are part of a broad chemical group that were first developed in the 1940s. Since then, there have been nearly 5,000 different PFAS compounds that have found their way into commercial use. Some of these compounds are now being phased out due to toxicity concerns, however new fluorinated compounds like Gen X and ADONA are being developed to replace them.

PFAS are well known for their unique chemical properties that repel oil and water and resist temperature, chemicals, and fire. They also have electrical insulating properties. These are the attributes that make PFAS attractive and are why they are found in many durable industrial and everyday products and materials like non-stick surfaces, firefighting foam as a flame retardant, stain resistant materials, water repellent coatings and plating demisters to name a few.

WHY ARE PFAS AN ISSUE?

PFAS chemicals are everywhere and they don’t break down. This is why PFAS chemicals are known as “forever chemicals” because they never go away.

The chemistry is complex because PFAS are not one chemical compound, they are a class of chemical compounds that share the common carbon-fluorine bond however they vary widely by their size, structure, toxicity, and mobility in the environment.

The carbon to fluorine bond is one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry, making PFAS compounds particularly resistant to degradation. Since they do not break down and they were used in lots of materials, they are being found everywhere in the environment. States like Michigan have made the effort to test public and private potable water supplies for PFAS and have found them to be more widespread than previously thought.

HOW DO PFAS CYCLE THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT?

A lot has yet to be learned about even the more commonly encountered of the PFAS compounds. Despite their size, these compounds have relatively high water solubility and are surprisingly mobile in the environment, especially in groundwater.

PFAS are resistant to treatment and degradation, and typically go through water and wastewater treatment plants untouched and end up in discharges to surface water and to the land. Since they persist and go largely untreated, they often cycle through the environment and create widespread impact as shown on the graphic from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

PFAS cycle showing the many different methods PFAS can enter a household through consumer products, food, and drinking water, and then into the environment. — This graphic describes the PFAS cycle and how PFAS can move from one location to multiple locations with the potential to impact communities. Source: Michigan Department of Environmental Quality

The concern for human health is due to the PFAS compounds tendency to have long residency time in the human body, which is known as bioaccumulation. This combined with their largely unknown human health toxicity, means that we do not currently understand how big of a health concern this is at the moment. The lack of toxicity studies along with the fact that it is being found everywhere, poses a significant concern for regulators in charge of human health and the environment.

Currently, regulators are trying to establish criteria for PFAS compounds while at the same time scientist are trying to establish the different compound’s toxicities. The situation is very fluid and there will be a lot of changes to the science and regulations.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF THERE MAY BE PFAS CONTAMINATION?

PFAS were used in a variety of industries. There may be PFAS contamination in the groundwater or soil at manufacturing sites of the following products:

Textiles and leather with coatings to repeal water, oil and stains
Paper products with surface coatings to repel grease and moisture
Metal plating to prevent corrosion, suppress fume and reduce wear
Wire manufacturing through the coating and insultation processes
Industrial surfactants with plastics, mold release coatings and flame retardants
Photolithography for anti-reflective coatings and wetting agents
Along with ski waxes, cookware, fabric softeners, pesticides, windshield wipers, medical products, personal care products and dental floss

Or businesses that use Class B firefighting foams, such as:

Airports
Military bases

Source: ITRC

To date, the majority of the PFAS cleanup sites have been at large chemical manufacturing plants and military properties where aqueous firefighting foams (AFFF) have been used.

HOW ARE PFAS REMEDIATED?

It’s very difficult to remediate PFAS. PFAS compounds are very resistant to biological, chemical and heat degradation; therefore, many of the remediation techniques that are used for petroleum and chlorinated solvent sites are largely ineffective on PFAS. Since they cannot be easily degraded, they need to be removed.

Most remediation technologies to date have focused on pumping water from the ground and treating it through either reverse osmosis systems or filtration (carbon or ionic) media. However, this simply concentrates PFAS onto a different media that now needs disposal. Soil impacts are typically excavated and disposed of at off-site disposal facilities. As this issue comes to light, more disposal facilities may reject these waste streams.

Currently, there is a lot of on-going research on innovative methods to either remove or stabilize PFAS in the ground to decrease its mobility or to destroy it with thermal or chemical methods. These technologies are a long way from being proven and time tested. Like everything with PFAS this an ever-changing playing field.

HOW ARE PFAS REGULATED?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has yet to define PFAS as a hazardous substance; therefore, it is not yet subject to all of the CERCLA regulations. This lack of hazardous substance designation also means that there is somewhat of a grey area for whether PFAS should be considered a Recognized Environmental Condition (REC) during real estate due diligence process. Buyers should be cautious when doing Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) and should consider State designations and the most recent US EPA updates.

PFAS aren’t widely regulated yet in the United States on a Federal level. Some states like Michigan, Wisconsin and New Jersey have gotten out in front of the US EPA and have established state regulatory limits for a small number of the more commonly used compounds. At this moment, PFAS regulation is primarily state specific, so it’s important know what a state’s status is on PFAS regulations.

In late 2019, the US EPA established a PFAS Action Plan to study and formulate regulations ranging from adding PFAS to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) toxic chemical list to recommendations for addressing contaminated groundwater and preliminary drinking water regulations for Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). A more thorough examination of the Federal and State regulations can be found on the Interstates Technology Regulatory Counsel (ITRC) Basis of Regulations website.

HOW CAN YOU TEST FOR PFAS IN DRINKING WATER?

For now, the US EPA has established a drinking water Health Advisory Limit for just two out of nearly 5,000 PFAS compounds but is deep into a long regulatory process of establishing enforceable limits. Some states have expanded on this and are regulating additional PFAS compounds.

The EPA has provided PFAs measurement methods, health advisories, state level-support, and regular updates on their website — The EPA has established PFAS measurement methods, issuing drink water health advisories, supporting site-specific challenges and providing tools and information so communities can better understand processes and procedures. Source: EPA PFAS Page

Testing for PFAS is a complicated proposition because:

The testing methods are still evolving (currently focused mainly on drinking water)
Laboratories are still investing in equipment and training to perform the testing
The detection limits established so far are very low (70 parts in a trillion parts or ppt)
These compounds can be found in a lot of background sources in both the field sampling equipment and the laboratory equipment (high potential for false positives)
Tests currently only look for a small number of the more common compounds

The most important thing to establish if a regulator asks you to sample for PFAS is which compounds are required and at what detection levels. Then discuss with your laboratory if they can detect those same compounds at those same low levels. It is very important to vet your lab’s experience with analyzing for this emerging contaminant. You will also want to be sure that your samplers have taken precautions to limit the potential for contamination of the samples from everyday products (plastics, coatings, sunscreens, stain proof fabrics).

WHAT IS MICHIGAN DOING ABOUT PFAS?

Michigan is one of the pioneering states in the race to test drinking water supplies for PFAS. They sampled over a thousand community water supply wells and non-community water supply wells and found that the drinking water had low levels of PFAS chemicals. They’ve also tested wastewater from treatment plants and streams.

As already mentioned, other states that are working hard to develop the regulations are Wisconsin and Minnesota.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT GOING FORWARD?

In a lot of ways PFAS are the perfect storm of an emerging contaminant. They have widespread use, they are not easily treated, they persist in the environment, they bioaccumulate and they are thought to have health effects down in the low parts per trillion (ppt) levels.

The science and the regulations are evolving as we speak, and much will change in the next couple of years. If you are faced with the proposition of sampling your site for PFAS, take a deep breath and do not be in a rush to charge forward. Take time to understand what you are being asked to do and what are the applicable standards to which you will be held. What applies today may be very different from what applies tomorrow.

Brad Lewis, CHMM, Principal Scientist at EnviroForensics

Brad Lewis is a detailed-oriented and collaborative leader with 30+ years of environmental consulting experience that covers a variety of projects ranging from due diligence, environmental compliance, landfill, Brownfields, underground storage tank, and chlorinated hydrocarbon investigations and cleanups. As Principal Scientist, he oversees investigations and cleanups. He helps project teams set the technical and regulatory strategies that will meet their client’s goals. Lewis has implemented many innovative site investigation strategies including the use of down-hole sensing equipment, mobile laboratory, and an immunoassay to characterize sites.

He has consulted on many high-profile projects dealing with petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, hexavalent chromium, chlorinated solvents, bedrock impacts, vapor intrusion investigations, and vapor mitigation.

Earth Day 2020: 9 leaders in the fight to save our planet

Posted on April 22, 2020March 20, 2023 by Alex Miller

EARTH DAY IS A REMINDER NOT TO DISMISS THE SIGNS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND HOW THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC SERVES AS A WARNING

April 22, 2020 marks 50 years of celebrating Earth Day and promoting causes and movements to protect and preserve our celestial home. This year’s theme is Climate Action. The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a reminder that we need to take existential threats seriously before they escalate out of control. The same lesson can be applied to the impending climate crisis.

According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the last five years have been the warmest on record, and 2020 is already trending towards the top of the list. This consistent annual increase in global temperature is causing the polar ice caps to melt at an exponential rate, putting the safety of coastal populations and crucial ocean ecosystems at serious risk. Weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable causing mass destruction in the form of more intense hurricanes, more widespread tornado outbreaks, longer wildfire seasons, and more devastating droughts and water shortages. And, as the globe warms the potential for more pandemics like COVID-19 grows as mosquitoes carrying diseases like malaria, dengue fever, chikunguya and West Nile virus roam beyond their current habitats.

WHAT IS EARTH DAY?
The good news is that we have previously pulled ourselves out of similar environmental calamity. The first Earth Day demonstrations in 1970 were in response to a lack of rules and regulations on human-caused environmental impacts. Issues like oil spills, smog, acid rain, and rivers so polluted they literally caught fire were top of mind as 20 million Americans took to the streets to protest environmental damage and demand a new way forward.

Following that first Earth Day, the federal government passed landmark environmental legislation like the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, and also created the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many countries followed our lead in adopting similar laws, and our country’s leadership on environmental issues peaked with the negotiation and passage of the Paris Climate Agreement on Earth Day 2016.

WHY EARTH DAY IS IMPORTANT TO US
Earth Day is a special day at EnviroForensics. While we are an environmental consulting firm professionally, we are also a group of environmental allies who work together to provide solutions for environmental issues. We are also part of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s (IDEM) Indiana Partners for Pollution Prevention program which is a commitment to environmental stewardship in the workplace.

Check out our 6 ways to be an environmental steward in the workplace

Our mission is to clean up our corner of the world, and we support any effort that works towards a healthier environment for all. We support environmental initiatives put on by our Sustainability Council like our neighborhood cleanup program and our recycling initiative. And, we walk lockstep with our non-profit partner, Water for Empowerment, to help them champion environmental justice in the form of access to clean water and sanitation for women and families in Nicaragua.

BEACONS OF HOPE
Luckily, there are environmental scientists, activists, and organizers from all parts of the world who are not going to let that happen without a fight. Here are a few leaders in the climate crisis that you should know more about:

1. GRETA THUNBERG Organization: School Strike for Climate Over the past two years, the swedish teenager has become a household name. In 2018, she started skipping school to protest outside of Swedish Parliament and demand stronger climate action. Out of that small act of defiance, the “Fridays for Future” movement was born inspiring 13 million strikers across 228 countries worldwide. In 2019, Thunberg was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. She has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice.
2. JANE FONDA Organization: Fire Drill Fridays The two-time Academy award-winner has devoted a significant chunk of her time and energy to activism. In the 1960s, she protested the Vietnam War. In the early 2000s, she was a vocal critic of the Iraq War. She has fought for decades to advance the causes of Women’s Rights, Native Rights, and Israeli-Palestinian peace. Fonda is now the leader of the Fire Drill Fridays Movement, which holds weekly protest rallies on Capitol Hill, to demand Congress: 1) Pass the Green New Deal, 2) Commit to a 50% reduction in fossil fuels within a decade, and 3) Phase-out of existing fossil fuel projects and into a renewable energy economy that provides environmental justice for all.
3. MARI COPENY Organization: Little Miss Flint The 12-year-old activist is best known by her nickname “Little Miss Flint.” She gained notoriety as an 8-year-old, raising awareness about Flint, Michigan’s ongoing water crisis. Since 2016, she has raised over $500k for bottled water, school supplies, toys, and bikes for the children of Flint. Her work has expanded to fundraising for communities with similar water issues across the country.
4. JIM POYSNER Organization: Earth Charter Indiana Poysner is the Executive Director of Earth Charter Indiana, which is the only Earth Charter chapter in the U.S. The organization’s mission is to inspire and advance sustainable, just and peaceful living in Indiana. Their critical work starts early, supporting climate education of youth, and providing them with the tools to express themselves and make their voices heard.
5. ARMOND COHEN Organization: Clean Air Task Force Cohen is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force which has been in operation since 1996. The Clean Air Task Force is a nonprofit environmental organization devoted to the development and scale of low-carbon and other climate-protecting energy technologies.
6. ALEXANDRIA VILLASEÑOR Organization: Earth Uprising After suffering an asthma attack during a family trip to California during a massive wildfire, Villaseñor started researching climate change and how it impacts the severity of these fires. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, she began to skip school every Friday to protest outside the United Nations Headquarters. Her group, Earth Uprising is working on the following missions: 1) Local government lobbying, 2) Community presentations, educating others on the climate crisis, 3) Advocating for climate education in our school administrations and school boards, 4) Unique direct actions and protests, and 5) Participating in Fridays for Future and the global climate strikes.
7. XIYE BASTIDA Organization: People’s Climate Movement Bastida was one of the major organizers of Fridays for Future New York City and has been a leading voice for indigenious and immigrant visibility in climate change. In 2015, her family was forced from their home in Mexico after extreme flooding. They moved to New York City where Bastida enrolled at the Beacon School, and started organizing students for climate activism. She led the school in the first major climate strike in New York City in 2019. She has leadership roles in the People’s Climate Movement, the Sunrise Movement, and the Extinction Rebellion.
8. VANDANA SHIVA Organization: Navdanya Research Foundation Dr. Shiva is the founder of the Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in Dehadrun, India. She is known for her work in environmental justice and food security. She is motivated by the mission to bring light to the most marginalized victims of climate change and work to illustrate the importance of cultural and ecological diversity to the survival of our planet.
9. AL GORE Organization: The Climate Reality Project The former Vice President has been one of the leading voices in climate activism in the 21st century. Gore’s 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, was one of the first wide release documentaries to sound the alarm on the threat of climate change. The Climate Reality Project is an organization of activists, cultural leaders, organizers, scientists, and storytellers committed to promoting urgent climate action across every level of society.

Join our environmentally conscious team. Visit our careers page.