Author: Alex Miller

Case Study: Second-generation dry cleaner prepares exit strategy

Posted on by Alex Miller

Insurance archeology uncovers historical insurance that funds the environmental cleanup

A prominent dry cleaner located on main thoroughfare in Highland, Indiana.

The dry cleaner owner wanted to sell his family’s business and property, which he anticipated had contamination. He contacted EnviroForensics to proactively develop a plan of using the business’ historical insurance to fund the environmental investigation and cleanup work. This allows him to sell a “clean” property without any environmental encumbrances maximize his property values.

Issue

Environmental due diligence revealed soil and groundwater contamination from historical dry cleaning operations. The vapor intrusion assessment indicated that the contamination was contributing to documented indoor air impacts at the adjacent restaurant. This meant the dry cleaner was on the hook to assess the nature and extent of PCE contamination in the soil, groundwater and air; and to clean it up.

Action

EnviroForensics conducted insurance archeology, which located historical insurance policies to fund all the environmental investigation and remediation, including the indoor air impacts next door. EnviroForensics provided a site-specific remediation plan to clean up the soil and groundwater that reduced the long-term monitoring activities and included a vapor mitigation system to mitigate the indoor air impact at the neighboring restaurant.

Results

EnviroForensics provided an effective environmental remediation solution and effectively mitigated the vapor intrusion concerns. The insurance carriers ultimately agreed to fully cover all costs. The owner did not have any out-of-pocket expenses. When the time comes to sell, the property value will be maximized—thanks in a large part to the owner’s proactive planning.

Contact us for more information.

What makes cleaning up perc spills so expensive?

Posted on by Alex Miller

PERC IS ONE OF THE MORE EXPENSIVE CONTAMINANTS TO CLEAN UP. HERE’S WHY IT’S SO EXPENSIVE TO CLEAN UP AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.

Blue drums filled with perc or perchloroethylene stacked on top of one another

Dry cleaners are keenly aware that the use of tetrachloroethene (PCE, known as Perc) in the textiles industry has become as heavily regulated as nearly any other industrial chemical to date. In fact, environmental concerns resulting from the current or past use of Perc are practically as common as those arising from old gasoline stations. Everyone has seen the vacant, seemingly valuable, corner lot that used to house a bustling gas station yet is now sitting in ruin. These old gas stations are known to have been the cause of environmental problems, and the high cost of the cleanup is often the reason why they go dormant for so long. Unfortunately, the amount of time and money that is required to investigate and ultimately clean up dry cleaner sites that have been impacted with Perc can be several times higher than at typical gas station sites. A common gas station site falls into the $350,000 range, and we have seen average closure costs for dry cleaner sites more in the $1 million to $1.25 million range. What makes Perc so much harder and more expensive to clean up than petroleum?

This article discusses a few of the complicating factors about Perc releases that make them so unique and so darn expensive.

1. PERC IS HEAVIER THAN WATER

Part of the reason that Perc releases are so challenging to investigate and cleanup is because of its chemical properties. PCE is over 60% heavier than water under normal conditions and sinks to the bottom while the groundwater floats on top. Likewise, when a release of Perc to the ground occurs and it reaches down to the groundwater table, it will continue to sink until it hits a layer of dense material, like clay.

Illustration of perc contamination sinking through the groundwater to the bedrock while the petroleum sits on top of the groundwater
An illustration of PCE contamination vs petroleum contamination.

It will sit there and continue to dissolve for a long time, which can cause a long groundwater contamination plume. The groundwater plume may also be very deep, depending on the geological conditions in your neighborhood. Big and deep means that more off-site properties are likely to be impacted as the plume grows. If multiple clay layers exist, there may be continuing sources of groundwater impacts.

FACT: PERC IS HEAVY AND CAN TRAVEL FAST AND FAR, WHICH CREATES LARGE PLUMES IN GROUNDWATER.

Petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, Stoddard solvent, and the like, are less dense than water. In contrast to Perc releases, once a petroleum spill reaches the groundwater table it floats on top of the groundwater and migrates horizontally. As a result, most petroleum releases are fairly shallow and comparatively simple to investigate and cleanup.

2. PCE IS RESISTANT TO NATURAL BREAKDOWN

There are naturally occurring microbes, bugs, in the subsurface that breakdown many organic compounds and materials. In the shallow zones, there is usually plenty of oxygen in the soils and groundwater, and oxygen-loving bugs thrive here. Some varieties of these bugs readily use petroleum contamination as a food source, which has the result of slowly reducing the amount of petroleum contamination over time. So, recall that most gas station and petroleum pollution is present in the shallower zones of the subsurface where there are plenty of these helpful, oxygen-loving bugs that eat petroleum, and voila; you have a cheap cleanup method. In fact, a common and cost-effective remediation strategy in these situations involves simply monitoring the effects until cleanup objectives are reached, which is called Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA).

Conversely to petroleum releases, the type of bugs responsible for the biodegradation of Perc and other chlorinated solvents thrive in an environment without the presence of much oxygen (anaerobic conditions). The most common biological process that naturally occurring bugs use for breaking down Perc is called reductive dechlorination. In this process, the bugs cause hydrogen atoms present in the groundwater (H2O) to be substituted for chlorine (Cl) atoms in the Perc molecule.

Chemical structure of Perc or PCE degrading into TCE, cis-DCE, and finally VC
Follow the loss of chlorine (Cl) atoms through the degradation process.

That’s why it’s called dechlorination. Each time a chlorine atom is plucked off the parent Perc molecule; Perc, which has four chlorine atoms, is transformed to trichloroethene (TCE), which has three chlorine atoms, to dichloroethene (DCE), which has two, to vinyl chloride, which has one, and ultimately to ethene, which is basically a Perc compound with no chlorines at all. While Perc and all its other daughter products are considered toxic, ethene is non-toxic.

So, cleanup of Perc spills can be performed taking advantage of these naturally occurring bugs, but they aren’t really found in very common places. The conditions present in the subsurface need to be studied carefully and a remediation plan needs to be devised that takes advantage of this complicated, naturally occurring process to help achieve cleanup objectives where spills of Perc have occurred. Many times, naturally occurring conditions in the groundwater must be enhanced to take away the oxygen and we may even need to inject more of the right kind of bugs to speed up the reductive dechlorination process.

FACT: THE PERC DECHLORINATION PROCESSES ADDS SIGNIFICANT COST AND TIME TO REMEDIATION PROJECTS, AS COMPARED TO THE SIMPLE MONITORED NATURAL ATTENUATION OF A PETROLEUM PLUME.

3. PCE VAPORS ARE PERSISTENT AND MOBILE

Not only is Perc resistant to natural degradation, it also can remain in the soil as a vapor for a long period of time without breaking down. As all dry cleaners know, the volatile nature of Perc means that it will evaporate from a liquid to a vapor easily, which is one of the characteristics that make it such a good cleaning solvent. However, once PCE is released to the subsurface it also volatilizes as it disperses through the soil. If the vapors reached an occupied structure, like a house, and migrate into the indoor living space, vapor intrusion (VI) has occurred.

An illustration of perc soil vapors moving through the soil and into the basement of a home
An illustration of vapor intrusion.

VI concerns are at the top of most regulator’s list of concerns since Perc is considered a probable carcinogen. Just like we discussed above, the special kind of bugs needed to break down Perc don’t like oxygen, and the soil where the Perc vapors are is full of oxygen. Perc vapors don’t breakdown, and they can cause VI concerns for a long time. Since PCE vapors do not readily breakdown, they have been known to travel great distances  even from minor solvent spills. Many dry cleaners are located close to their customers in highly populated areas, and as a result the risk of VI occurring from a subsurface release is compounded.

FACT: THE VI EXPOSURE PATHWAY IS AN EXTREMELY COMPLICATED PROCESS, WHICH REQUIRES A SOPHISTICATED AND KNOWLEDGEABLE ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONAL TO ADEQUATELY INVESTIGATE AND ADDRESS THE PATHWAY. BECAUSE OF THIS, COSTLY VI INVESTIGATIONS AND MITIGATION SYSTEMS COME WITH NEARLY EVERY DRY CLEANER SITE WHERE A RELEASE OF PERC HAS OCCURRED.

On the flip-side, VI issues occasionally happen with gas station sites, but it’s not all that common. The petroleum hydrocarbon compound Benzene is a major component of gasoline spills. It is also very volatile and is a known carcinogen, like Perc. The difference is that benzene vapors have been shown to naturally degrade in soils. As a result, the occurrence of VI concerns resulting from releases of petroleum products is limited, and the associated costs are not necessary at gas station sites as often as at dry cleaner sites.

These are only a few of the reasons that releases of PCE from neighborhood dry cleaners are commonly so much more expensive to address than those from the typical corner gas station.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

It’s crucial that owners and operators of dry cleaning operations that have historically used or presently use Perc be aware of all potential funding sources available to them, such as:

  • Historical insurance policies
  • Redevelopment cleanup grants
  • State Trust Funds

In those states that have dry cleaner remediation trust funds available for cleaning up dry cleaner sites, they are commonly stretched thin due to lack of funding, if eligibility is still available.

Historical insurance policies have proven to be the most powerful funding sources for dry cleaners across the country. Dry cleaner sites contaminated with Perc are complicated, expensive, and risky. Your best plan of action is to actually have a plan of action.

Contact us to get your action plan started.

As seen as Cleaner & Launderer

Headshot of Jeff CarnahanJeff 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 focused on being a partner with the dry cleaning industry for the past decade, and he’s a frequent contributor to the national dry cleaning 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.

How Clean is Clean Enough? Regulatory Closure vs. Environmental Remediation

Posted on by Alex Miller

HOW TO MAKE FINANCIALLY SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP DECISIONS

Squeegee washing dirty sky

BY: JEFF CARNAHAN

Many years ago, when I was a younger man just waiting for life to teach me the lessons I’d need, I had a brown, four-door 1976 Ford Maverick. This thing wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t cool, but it got me to school and to work, and occasionally it would deliver a brave girl and I to the movies on a Saturday night. I spent the time needed to change the oil and replace the filters, but for the most part I took for granted how important it was to me. One day on my way to somewhere, I heard an awful clunk and it just died. The first thought through my head was, “Oh no! How much is this going to cost me?” After a $50 tow to the shop and following several hours of waiting, the mechanic asked me this question, “Well son, do you want it to run, or do you want it fixed?”

I’m sure you can figure out the rest of the story. Since I was counting pennies at the time, I chose to have the minimum amount of work done to get my car running and back on the road immediately for the cheapest amount possible, rather than investing the time and money into getting it fixed correctly. I won’t bore you with the details but be assured that when that old Maverick died for good soon after, I was left high and dry with no transportation and wishing I’d have made a different decision a few months prior. That was an important lesson for me, and one that I keep with me.

TIP: FIX THINGS RIGHT, AND THE INVESTMENT WILL MORE THAN PAY FOR ITSELF.

I’d love to say that it only took that one incident for me to learn this lesson. It’s funny how life keeps giving you opportunities to learn.

Most of us have an example of how we’ve experienced this situation in the past, but when these types of decisions must be made in business it’s even trickier. In your experience, was it during a dry cleaning machine repair job or when fixing a leaky roof, or even as you tried to put yet another quick fix on that temperamental boiler? Environmental cleanups probably don’t come to mind for most folks, but the exact same thing applies for them. There are three components to dealing with an environmental contamination problem:

  1. Immediately halting any human exposure to chemicals that may be occurring;
  2. Cleaning up the contamination on-site and off-site; and
  3. Getting a Closure, or No Further Action, Letter from the state regulatory agency.

Once the necessary work has been conducted to stop human exposure, the question then becomes, “Now, do you want it clean, or do you just want a regulatory closure?” This may be putting the cart before the horse a little bit, but let’s leave the discussion about why immediately halting human exposure is top priority and non-negotiable for a later edition, and let’s focus on the interplay between cleaning up and getting regulatory closure.

WHAT DOES “CLEAN” MEAN IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP?

When performing an environmental cleanup, there is very little basis to involve the word “clean”. True clean never really occurs. There are only various levels of not quite, and at some point, it’s “clean enough”. In the world of environmental contamination there are numerous people setting the standard for when a property can be called “clean enough”. Most regulators worry mainly about two things beyond the current human exposure component:

  1. Ensuring that the contamination problem is getting better rather than worse
  2. Ensuring that there is no threat of future human or ecological exposure

Believe it or not, your property doesn’t have to be very clean at all for these boxes to be checked. Other parties who will be deciding if your property is clean enough are future purchasers and their financial lenders. They will not only be looking at whether you have a regulatory closure, but they will also be using the general environmental health of the property to help determine its practical value. This is a component that often gets overlooked when deciding how clean is “clean enough”. If the money isn’t spent during the first crack at environmental remedy, it could cost a significant amount of money later in the form of a lower property value when it’s time to sell, or a requirement for additional environmental work to be performed to even attract qualified purchasers.

TIP: THE TRICK IS TO STRIKE JUST THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN SPENDING MONEY ON ACTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP, AND THE FUTURE COSTS THAT COULD ARISE. THIS WILL BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT FOR MOST EVERYONE FACING THESE DECISIONS, BUT THE FUNDAMENTAL THOUGHT PROCESS REMAINS THE SAME.

WHAT DOES REGULATORY CLOSURE MEANS FOR DRY CLEANERS?

Some state environmental regulators have very prescribed cleanup standards that have been put in place for regulated chemicals and are based upon certain human exposure scenarios given various land uses. For example, the cleanup standard for tetrachloroethene (PCE, or Perc) is much less stringent for properties which are and will remain commercial or industrial in nature, as opposed to used for residential purposes. This is because commercial property users spend much less time at the property than a residential user would and are engaging in activities that are much less likely to put them in contact with subsurface contamination than the residential user. So even when regulators strictly apply cleanup standards, their definition of clean is different for commercial and residential properties.

Other states allow for the person or business entity responsible for the contamination (Responsible Party, or RP) to decide how clean is clean enough by giving them the option to determine ongoing land usage more specifically with deed restrictions that limit the type of activities property owners and users can perform. A classic example is turning a contaminated property into a parking lot, and then putting in place a deed restriction or covenant that states that the property must always remain a parking lot, and it must be maintained that way, so no one can come into contact with the contamination. In this scenario, there is no need to perform much contaminant removal beyond what is necessary to keep it from spreading to other properties beyond the owner’s control. The presence of the well-maintained parking lot surface and the accompanying deed restrictions essentially remove the “risk” of human exposure. This type of regulatory closure is called a “Risk-Based Closure”. Many RPs initially love to employ such Risk-Based Closures because they are much cheaper initially than those remedies where a substantial amount of cleanup occurs. But keep in mind the little story about my old Ford Maverick. “Do you want it fixed, or do you just want it to run?” Well, do you want it clean, which restores your property to fair market value and provides you with a more robust set of reuse options, or do you just want a regulatory closure, which doesn’t restore your property to fair market value and limits future reuse options?

Settling for a pure Risk-Based Closure in lieu of a significant active cleanup can negatively impact the value of your property. I’m not saying complete elimination of environmental impacts is wise, or even possible. In fact, most of the time, it’s not even realistic to assume that every molecule of contamination can be removed from the soil, groundwater and soil gas after an environmental release. As such, nearly every remedy contains some component of a Risk-Based Cleanup. As I mentioned a bit earlier, the trick is finding the right balance that incorporates not only your wants and needs regarding post-closure usage of your property, but also takes into consideration your ability to shoulder the significant cost of active remedy.

BUSINESS AND PROPERTY OWNERS SHOULD WANT BOTH THE REGULATORY CLOSURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP

Environmental cleanup is a very costly endeavor, and it can heavily burden a business. Depending on how your business is set up, the liability for contamination could actually lie with you personally. Before you make that decision about how clean is clean enough, carefully consider all that you can afford. If you can swing it, the investment in a cleaner site will pay off in the future. Be sure to consider all your financial assets that can be used to pay for environmental cleanup.

TIP: REMEMBER THAT PAST COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICIES CAN BE TRIGGERED TO PAY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP. ESPECIALLY SINCE MOST ENVIRONMENTAL RELEASES ALSO OCCURRED IN THE PAST.

By levering as much cleanup power and by choosing the best cleanup option, you can add value back to your contaminated property for future reimbursement. I wish the decision I made back with my Ford Maverick had been, “I want it to run, and I want it fixed.” As is the case for many dry cleaners, you’ll be better off if you get a regulatory closure and a cleanup.

Contact us to discuss leveraging environmental cleanup to restore property value.

As seen in Cleaner & Launderer

Jeff Carnahan, President at EnviroForensics
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 focused on being a partner with the drycleaning industry for the past decade, and he’s 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. 

LISTEN: Henshaw Talks about Thermal Remediation, Revitalization, and Reuse on NPR

Posted on by Alex Miller

EnviroForensics CEO, Steve Henshaw, PG, spoke with Chris Nolte, the host of Lakeshore Public Media’s talk show, Regionally Speaking, to discuss the success of thermal remediation technology used at the former Family Pride Dry Cleaner and Laundry in Crown Point. They also talked about the property’s future, now that it’s back on the market and ready for productive use.

Check out the interview to learn more.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Chris Nolte: Well first, for folks who may not remember our last conversation, tell us what EnviroForensics does and how important it is in particular to the project you guys just finished up in Crown Point.

Steve Henshaw: Sure. Thank you so much. EnviroForensics has been in business for over 20 years and we are a full-service environmental engineering firm. We investigate environmentally contaminated sites, and we design and implement the remediation. We get properties through the regulatory process – and get them back in productive hands to develop, reuse and get back on the tax roll.

What’s unique about EnviroForensics is we have the ability to go back and find old insurance policies that were really written for normal slip and falls; these normal slip and fall Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies can be used to pay for the expensive cost of environmental cleanup and investigation. And, that’s what really sets us apart from the competition; we can go and find the money to pay for these cleanups, which can routinely be a million and a half dollars at a normal dry cleaner.

Learn more about CGL policies

 
Nolte: Tell us about this project, which we see here used to be known as the Family Pride Laundry, located on North Main Street in Crown Point. Many people drive by it, even now every day as they’re traveling north and south into and out of downtown Crown Point. This business has been closed for a number of years and I guess it’s been up for sale for some time but it’s not had much luck in finding a new owner because all of its past baggage, so to speak. Tell us what you folks managed to clean up out of that facility to be able to reopen it up again and make it “redevelop-able”.

Henshaw: This was a site that was brought to us through the banks that the previous owner was working with. In many situations, when a business pays a loan to buy equipment and operate they commonly put up the property as a secured asset, and, in the business of environmentally contaminated piece of property, the bank may not realize what the business had as their secured asset. This is because when the business was no longer able to perform on the loan then the bank considered foreclosing on the property, but the bank doesn’t want to be the owner of a contaminated property.

Nolte: Well, yeah.

Henshaw: The bank brought us in and we were able to find a buyer for the note and then pursue the old insurance policy. It’s taken a little bit of time to work out those details, but once we got it all taken care of with the bank and the note was in new hands; we continued to pursue the insurance carrier. Then we investigated the dry cleaning site to determine the extent of the contamination and brought in a unique process of using thermal remediation, which heats up the soil and the groundwater, to fry off the volatile organics that are in the soil and groundwater. Old dry cleaners used chemical solvents, which are carcinogenic, to take creases out of fabrics and the solvents are heavier than water so they fall through the water columns. Really this is just a normal and routine part of the business, but these solvents can enter sewers or cracks in the floors through spills and unfortunately a little bit goes a long way. Many dry cleaners experience this environmental contamination, but in this situation, we brought in and employed a thermal remediation technology that worked with NIPSCO to bring in a high-voltage power line and heated the soil and the groundwater to near boiling. We implemented this in late May 2018 and shut the system down in early September 2018 and we had 99% removal of the contamination in just four months. So that’s what really makes this site unique. These are sites that can go on five, 10, 15 years and then the residual amounts of contamination that are still in groundwater and soil are still at levels that will require long-term monitoring of potentially 15 more years–just to monitor and make sure that the contaminants aren’t migrating off-site. But in this particular situation, we were able to get 99% of the contamination out of the soil and the groundwater in about 90 to 120 days.

Building with cleanup equipment inside fence
Thermal remediation technology reduced contamination by 99% in just four months.

Nolte: Now, Steve, I understand that in this particular site, what used to be the Family Pride Laundry, there on Main street in Crown Point had what they call perc, short for perchloroethylene, which is a solvent that was used commonly in dry cleaning. So, a person takes their clothes in to get the spots taken out; at this point Family Pride was still in business and they’d use the perc in their machines, so what a lot of this was, I’d imagine, were just maybe accidental spills of perc, but somehow or another that didn’t raise concerns, and it still got into the groundwater, didn’t it?

Henshaw: Yes, that’s correct. And the older machines didn’t have the same recycling capabilities, so often times, the perc was transferred to a distillation still to boil down the perc, so it comes overhead, it’s clean again and it gets reused. That’s just the process of recycling. Then you would also have these overfills and spills in the boiler system. You would have inadvertent doors popping open with this solvent. You would have just small releases, but over time, they accumulate into a large enough problem that the state and the regulatory agency gets concerned about the carcinogenic aspects in the soil and the groundwater.

Nolte: This place opened up as a dry cleaner and laundry in 1961, I think if my info’s right, and was open until 2012 when the business finally closed up there, which means that site has been unusable pretty much since then. That is until you folks from EnviroForensics managed to help get the process going and get the cleanup started and finished. How do people feel now that the cleanup is down to 99% clean? You can’t get much cleaner than that short of just pure soil.

Henshaw: Right. Well, we do have some interested parties that are knocking on the doors and would like to use the property. It’s been a bit of an eyesore for some time. So we’re excited about being able to put that back into productive use. That’s the name of the game here; try to get the cleanup done quickly and get the property back on the tax roll.

Nolte: Now for folks that may not be aware what you folks have done. I know this is not the first project you’ve worked on in Lake County or Northwest Indiana. You’ve worked on a number of them before. And some rather environmentally dirty areas, too, I understand.

Henshaw: Mhmm, yes. The dry cleaning industry has been something we’ve been closely involved with, but it’s not exclusive to that. EnviroForensics was involved with the East Chicago Waterway Canal project, the Gary Airport, the sanitary, the old Ralston Street Lagoon to receive wastewater from the sanitary POTW. So, we have been involved in rather large-scale projects, as well, but the interesting thing is these small dry cleaners cause just as much environmental impact as some of these larger manufacturing sites. It sort of goes against the grain of what you might think, but these small dry cleaners, these releases of perchloroethylene, can be upwards of a million and a half to two million dollar cleanups–so they’re really expensive–and, of course, the real problem here is that these small mom and pops just have no way of paying for those cleanups. If it wasn’t for our ability to go back and find old insurance policies that can pay for these expensive cleanups then those sites would end up being orphan sites, that the EPA might have to take over, which means it would be on the taxpayers to eventually clean up.

Image of Downtown Crown Point, Indiana.
Image of Downtown Crown Point, Indiana.

Nolte: That would be a tough place to do a Brownfield project with the EPA because that’s right smack in a residential and a commercial area of Crown Point. Can you fill us in on any other related projects that you and your folks at EnviroForensics are working on now?

Henshaw: Well, we’re now embarking on a number of projects in the area. There are some abandoned sites within Hammond and we’re working with the City of Hammond to restore a couple of those old, abandoned sites there. Probably can’t release their names at this point, but there’s still a number of manufacturing sites that EnviroForensics has been asked to come out and take a look at to see if we can use our unique approach of finding those old insurance policies. We have an insurance archeology division that goes all over the country looking for and finding old insurance policies. These policies, again, are not written for cleaning up contamination. They were written as normal slip and fall policies; normal CGL policies, but because they didn’t have exclusions for pollution, they are able to be used to address environmental contamination, asbestos exposure, and other claims that might come about. So that is something we are active in all across the country, and certainly in Northwest Indiana.

Nolte: Well, Steve. Thank you very much for bringing us up to date here on a pending closure with no doubt soon-to-be new owners of the site that used to be so contaminated it had to close up–until you folks with EnviroForensics were able to get in there, and get the cleanup not only done but also make it available for somebody to be able to take on as a new property someday. Thank you for being with us to talk about it.

Contact us today to restore value to contaminated properties.

Thermal remediation cleans up environmental contamination in just 120 days

Posted on by Alex Miller

For decades, the site in Crown Point, Indiana served as a dry cleaner and was unsuitable for redevelopment. In four months, EnviroForensics has successfully remediated contamination at the old Family Pride Cleaners, 600 N. Main Street, by using thermal remediation. More traditional cleanup techniques can take between five and seven years to complete but using an innovative thermal remediation technology to heat the soil and groundwater beneath the former dry cleaner, levels of contamination in the treatment area were effectively eliminated in just 120 days.

The property has a long commercial history, including being the site of a beverage manufacturer in 1921. A dry cleaner operated at the property between 1961 and 2012, after which time the resulting contamination had rendered the site uninhabitable. As with most dry cleaners, the cleaning process involved using a solvent called perchloroethylene (Perc) to remove grease and stains from garments and fabrics. Perc is a hazardous chlorinated compound that is delivered to dry cleaners as a liquid. Over the years during dry cleaning operations, especially during the time before the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and applicable regulations, small inadvertent spills occurred which caused the soil and groundwater beneath the building to become contaminated.

cleanup equipment in fenced area behind building
Thermal remediation technology reduced contamination by 99% in just four months.

As mentioned in an October 19th IndyStar article, the soil heating technology that EnviroForensics implemented during the cleanup increased the temperature of the soil and groundwater to near boiling, which essentially created a vapor of steam mixed with the Perc that was then captured and collected by above ground equipment. The collected Perc was then disposed of properly. Once subsurface temperatures reached near boiling temperature, the system operated for three months. Within this short time, the site contamination was reduced by over 99%! Now that the property is suitable for use, the property owner is currently working to redevelop the property and make it a part of the dynamic downtown Crown Point community again.

 

Contact us for more information

Fear, Hope and Determination: A Tale of Two Dry Cleaners

Posted on by Alex Miller

MANAGE YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, DON’T LET THEM MANAGE YOU.

BY: JEFF CARNAHAN

The evolution of environmental laws and regulations over the past few decades have resulted in the reality that operators of drycleaners, owners of property where drycleaning has occurred, and chemical suppliers or waste haulers can all be held responsible for an identified release of solvents to the ground, no matter how long ago it happened. I’ve worked with hundreds of drycleaners when the time has come to approach their environmental concerns, and I’ve seen the reasons why they made the decision to do so.

CASE #1 – PROACTIVELY MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION
We have a client who came to us and was interested in addressing their fear that past dry cleaning operations had caused a contamination problem at their property. Let’s call them Happy Cleaners. The business had owned the property since the 1960s, and they had operated a Perc plant until the early 2000s, when they switched to a hydrocarbon solvent. Business was going well, so they wanted to take out a loan to expand operations, using the property as collateral.

When a property is used as collateral for a commercial loan, the lending institution requires that a Phase I environmental assessment be performed, and if the property has a history of dry cleaning operations, a Phase II subsurface investigation will also be required that includes below ground sampling. If contamination is identified during this process, lenders will most likely not allow the property to be used as collateral due to a presumed reduction in property value and the potential that environmental liability could transfer to the lender if a worse-case loan default situation were to arise.

Happy Cleaners understood these facts and they wanted to find out if contamination existed before they approached their lender so that if a problem existed, they could address the issue and get a regulatory closure before they approached their lender. This showed ambitious planning by our client, because if they had rolled the dice with the question of contamination, they could have wasted a lot of time and money dealing with the lender prematurely and potentially upset their business relationship, if things didn’t turn out well.

Happy Cleaners also had fears about how they were going to pay for the environmental contamination issue if one was identified. Fortunately, we were able to consult with Happy Cleaners and we were able to reconstruct their past general liability insurance coverage portfolio, which was worth more than 20 million dollars in coverage that could be used to pay for any environmental issues that may be discovered during due diligence.

With a solid plan in place, along with a healthy portfolio of known insurance assets lined up, Happy Cleaners performed some limited subsurface sampling to determine if a release of Perc had occurred at the property at some point in the past. True to expectations, Perc was identified in soil, groundwater and soil gas samples collected from the property and an adjacent property owned by others. The state environmental regulatory agency was notified of the problem, and the investigation process was started. I’ll spare you the gory details of the environmental investigation process for now, but after a little more than a year, Happy Cleaners was able to estimate the cost of future cleanup, verify that their insurance assets were adequate to cover the cost, and approach their lender about the loan. Once a remediation work plan had been approved by the regulatory agency, the loan was closed and Happy Cleaners was able to perform their expansion.

In the case of Happy Cleaners, they approached their fear of environmental contamination in an ambitious and calculated manner. They were fortunate in that they were in control of the process the entire time. Not everyone has that opportunity, like my second client example who we will call Scrappy Cleaners.

CASE #2 – DON’T LET ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION MANAGE YOU
Due to a series of hard knocks, Scrappy Cleaners was in the process of winding down their business. They had a thriving business back in the early 1980s when they opened, but they had been trying for years to sell their operations. Finally, they had decided just to close shop. During this time, however, an adjacent commercial property was undergoing a re-financing process and a Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessment identified Perc contamination. The source of the Perc appeared to be Scrappy Cleaners, and it had migrated to the adjacent property in soil and groundwater. The adjacent property owner notified the state regulatory agency of the issue, who in turn sent a letter to Scrappy Cleaners demanding that the contamination be investigated and cleaned up. The adjacent property owner also applied pressure.

Once their fear had transformed into determination, Scrappy Cleaners set to the effort of getting themselves out of harm’s way. They knew that they had always purchased the required general liability insurance coverage to do business, but they had thrown away a lot of files and records during the winding down process. They hired our insurance archeology division who was able to find evidence of a few policies. Although their entire portfolio of insurance coverage couldn’t be identified, there was enough evidence to compel the insurance carrier to start paying for the environmental investigation work being demanded. Ultimately, the insurance carrier looked at their own records and identified additional policies that they had written, and enough coverage was identified that the entire onsite and offsite cleanup was funded per the regulatory agency demands.

Now, obviously, business owners would much rather be in the position of Happy Cleaners rather than Scrappy Cleaners if possible. These were two examples, however, that demonstrate that whether you start out in complete control and systematically walk through evaluating and managing your environmental liability, or you are quickly forced into dealing with them; fear doesn’t have to be the driving emotion. Call someone who has been through this before to get perspective, become determined, and put these issues behind you because they aren’t going away. Also, find yourself a qualified environmental consultant who knows your business concerns, as well as your technical needs. Remember, they work for you and you are in charge.

For more information, please fill out our contact form.

As seen in Cleaner & Launderer

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 focused on being a partner with the dry cleaning industry for the past decade, and he’s a frequent contributor to the national dry cleaning 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.

EnviroForensics Team Members Taking on MSECA And NAWIC Leadership Roles

Posted on by Alex Miller

We’re proud to announce that two of our team leaders, Morgan Saltsgiver, LPG, Director of Brownfields and Agribusiness, and Megan Hamilton, Director of Vapor Intrusion and Mitigation Services, have accepted leadership roles with professional industrial associations.

Morgan saltsgiver headshot

Saltsgiver who leads our Brownfields Development and Agribusiness efforts has been elected as Treasurer of the Midwestern States Environmental Consultants Association (MSECA) and is taking on the same role with the Indianapolis Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Board.

 

Megan Hamilton headshot

Hamilton, who heads our Vapor Intrusion and Mitigation efforts, is retaining her position with the MSECA Board of Directors as Consultant Member Director.

 

 

We’re leaders in cutting edge environmental consulting and advancing the scientific technological practices of our industry. We believe our continual involvement in these groups will further strengthen our company and holistically push the environmental community forward. 


Learn more about the two organizations:

 

midwestern states environmental consultants association logoMidwestern States Environmental Consultants Association (MSECA)

The Midwestern State Environmental Consultants Association is an organization that works to advance the field of environmental consulting by providing professional development opportunities for its members through education and industry updates related to technical                                         developments, regulations, training and codes.

national association of women in construction logoNational Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC)

The National Association of Women in Construction works to advance educational and professional development opportunities for women in construction through a nationwide network.

 

 

With a passion for storytelling, Alex Miller is EnviroForensics’ Marketing Coordinator leading social media and news reporting. Before joining EnviroForensics, Alex spent four years in television news where he worked for local ABC and NBC affiliates in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis producing morning and weekend newscasts. He loves keeping up with politics, pop culture, graphic design, photography and community enrichment.

The Brownfields Redevelopment Glossary

Posted on by Alex Miller

In the Brownfields redevelopment world, there’s number of keywords and acronyms used throughout the process–from the planning stage to ribbon-cutting stage. We’ve compiled an extensive glossary of commonly used words, so that you can know the industry lingo and can be a Brownfields redevelopment pro.

Use the links below to navigate throughout the page.

All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) – A process of evaluating the historic and current usage and environmental conditions of a property to assess potential liability.  This is usually completed during the purchase or sale of a property.

Abandonment – This happens when a property owner suddenly stops using the property, leaves it vacant, and doesn’t sell it or give it to anyone to resume use.

“As is” Sale – The transfer of a property to a buyer with no promises, assurances, or representations by the property owner about the conditions of the property.

Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) – A tank that commonly stores chemicals like petroleum and is subjected to strict spill prevention regulations due to the potential danger of its contents to affect human health and the environment.

Activity and Use Limitation (AUL) – This institutional control is intended to reduce the time a human comes into contact with a contamination by putting restrictions on how the contaminated property can be reused.

Brownfields Advisory Committee (BAC) – This is a group of stakeholders, including members of the municipality, the community, and the developers  who work to provide grant funding to Brownfields redevelopment sites in their area.

Bluefields – Real estate term to describe a property that is either itself a body of water, or is directly adjacent to a body of water.  

Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (BFPP) – A landowner that knowingly or has reason to know purchases a contaminated property and through the process of the environmental due diligence process (Phase I ESAs, etc.) can establish liability protection from being responsible for the contamination.  A very stringent set of steps are required to establish BFPP status and there are ongoing requirements to maintain this status even after environmental cleanup is complete.

Brownfield –  An industrial or commercial property that is either abandoned, unused, or underused due in part to the presence or perceived presence of environmental contamination.

Certificate of Completion –  This is written verification from a state regulatory agency stating the site has been remediated to satisfactory standards. In some states, this certificate provides the property owner with protection from being sued; however, in most states, a property owner will need to obtain a covenant not to sue to protect them from legal liability.

Cleanup Approval Letter – See Certificate of Completion

Clean Water Act (CWA) – This law was enacted in 1972 and regulates the amount of pollutants permitted to be discharged into US waterways.

Community Advisory Group (CAG) – A group of people who live in or close to a Superfund site and are involved in decisions regarding the cleanup. See Superfund Site

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) – A type of grant that provides money and other resources to address a variety of community development needs, including upgrading building facades, creating public spaces, and addressing infrastructure needs. The CDBG is one of the longest running programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Comfort Letter – A letter issued by the state regulatory agency to a property owner who is affected by, but is not responsible for environmental contamination on their property. The letter establishes liability protection for the property owner. This letter does not typically provide protection from legal suits.

Commercial General Liability (CGL) Insurance Policy – This insurance policy provides coverage to businesses and can defend and indemnify policyholders against claims, such as environmental property damage claims, product liability claims, and claims against employees. See how Commercial General Liability (CGL) Insurance policies work.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) –  This Act provides federal funding to state or local agencies to clean up large contaminations in particular areas. It also empowers the EPA to seek out Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) and assure their cooperation in the cleanup. Notifications from the EPA under CERCLA can trigger an insurance carrier’s duty to defend.

Confidential Insurance Archeology® – This is a service provided by PolicyFind, a division of EnviroForensics, that restores financial viability to contaminated properties by conducting searches for historical insurance that may cover costs associated with contamination. See Historical Insurance

Contaminated Media Management Plan (CMMP) – This documentation, prepared by an environmental consultant, provides information needed to identify and properly manage impacted media at a particular site.

Contaminant of Emerging Concern (CEC) – This is a chemical that may cause harm to human health, but effects are not fully understood yet. The EPA typically takes the lead on the evaluation of these chemicals to establish cleanup levels if necessary.

Community Development Corporations (CDCs) – These are local non-profit groups that work to promote and advocate for urban redevelopment projects.

Eminent Domain Condemnation – This is a legal process that allows the government to acquire the title of a property in order to do something with it for the public good. Condemnation can lead to demolition, environmental cleanup, or a number of other solutions that move the property closer to reuse.

Contractor Certification – This process ensures that contractors meet a certain set of standards and are approved to perform specific tasks.

Contractor-Certified Cleanup – When a state allows private contractors to make cleanup decisions on behalf of the state. Only a small number of states have this cleanup process in place as of June 2018.  

Contribution Action –  When the person or persons identified to be responsible for a contamination take legal action against other liable parties to pay for their share of an environmental cleanup.

Corrective Action – This is the process used to clean up contamination at hazardous chemical treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. This is regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Covenant Not to Sue – This is a written promise by a state government that it will not sue or require further cleanup efforts from a party that has satisfactorily cleaned up their property under a state Brownfields or voluntary cleanup program.

Deed Restriction – This puts limitations on how a property can be used. It appears on the deed to the property.  

Due Diligence – This is a thorough evaluation of the environmental conditions of a property. Banks require this during a real estate transaction to ensure they are protected from taking on the liability of a potential existing environmental issue.

Easement – This is the right to use or limit the use of someone else’s property.

Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) – This act requires companies that handle hazardous chemicals to have contingency plans for emergencies, and increases public access to information about chemicals at individual facilities

Engineering Controls – These are physical barriers that are put in place to prevent people from coming in contact with a contamination. Examples: Fences, pavement, clay caps on contaminated soil.

Enforcement of Compliance History Online (ECHO) – This is a directory managed by the EPA that provides compliance monitoring, enforcement, and demographic data on thousands of actively regulated sites across the country.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Federal agency responsible for the protection of  human health and the environment.

Environmental Assessment – A site investigation conducted to determine the extent, if any, of contamination on a property. They consist of two stages, including Phase I and Phase II.

Environmental Insurance –  This is a type of insurance that a person can buy to protect themselves from the financial costs that can come from a lawsuit related to an environmental issue on their property.

Environmental Liability – A probable, measurable, and reasonably estimable future expenditure of resources for environmental investigation and cleanup costs resulting from past transactions or events.

Environmental Remediation – This step in the environmental clean-up process removes pollution or contaminants from soil, groundwater, sediment, and/or surface water.

Exaction –  When a local government asks a developer for payment or some sort of concession on a project that serves the public good, like the construction of a sidewalk on land that will be developed.

Foreclosure – This happens when a mortgage lender takes possession of a property because the borrower can’t keep up with their payments.

Feasibility Study (FS) – This is a summary of a site’s contamination, remediation recommendations, and potential reuse.

Greenfield – A property that has no previous development, and therefore does not have an institutional restrictions placed on it.

Heating Oil Tank (HOT) – This is either an aboveground storage tank (AST) or an underground storage tank (UST) that stores oil that powers the furnace of a home.

Hazardous Substance Data Bank (HSDB) – This is a database of chemicals that can cause harm to human health.

Hard Costs –  In a construction project, these are the costs associated with the physical construction of the building and any equipment that is fixed.

Historical Insurance – This is a former policy or evidence of a former policy. See Commercial General Liability (CGL) Insurance Policy

Hot Spots – Specific areas at a project site where the level of contamination is very high.

Indemnification – What a commercial general liability policy does for its policyholder. It’s an agreement between the insurance carrier and the policyholder that the carrier will bear the costs for damages or losses incurred by the policyholder.

Independent Cleanup Program (ICP) – A state regulated program where the consultant provides oversight and certification of the cleanup of environmental contamination to expedite the process. This type of program is not available in all states.

Integrated Data for Enforcement Analysis (IDEA) – The environmental performance data for EPA-regulated sites.

Infill Development – The process of developing a vacant parcel in an urban setting surrounded by development.

Infrastructure – The streets, sidewalks, electrical and water utilities, and other public amenities that allow a society to function

Institutional Controls – The legal restriction put in place to reduce human interaction with an existing chemical contamination by limiting the use of a property. Examples include: Deed Restrictions, Easements, Warning Signs and Notices, and Zoning Restrictions.

Insurance Archeologist – An expert at identifying and locating lost liability insurance policies and assets that can be used to defend or indemnify policyholders against claims.

Insurance Archeology – The practice of retracing historical insurance coverage to identify past owners and operators of companies. See Historical Insurance

Insurer – The person or entity that enters into an agreement with a policyholder to protect the policyholder from potential expenses associated with injury.

Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) – An EPA program that sets guidelines treating hazardous waste order for it to be safe enough to discard in a landfill.

Landowner Liability Protection (LLP) – Legal protections for people who own Brownfields properties.

Liability Relief or Liability Release – This is an official document that prohibits a lawsuit against a company responsible for environmental contamination. This order can be used as an incentive to compel the responsible party to clean up the contamination. Examples include: Covenant Not to Sue, No Further Action (NFA) Letter

Long-term Stewardship – This is a long-term view for environmental remediation on sites, which brings financial and environmental stewardship into the remediation planning stages.

Maximum Allowable Soil Concentration – Standard for the highest concentration of heavy metals in soil that’s still safe for human exposure.

Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) – The maximum amount of a contaminant allowed in public drinking water as set by the EPA and regulated by the Clean Drinking Water Act.

Monitoring Well (MW) –  This is a hole in the ground from which environmental professionals can collect groundwater samples.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) – This is a program under the Clean Drinking Water Act that regulates chemical discharges from the source area.

National Priorities List (NPL) – This is the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of the most serious hazardous chemical releases. It’s a guide for the agency to determine which sites need further investigation and more resources dedicated to address the contamination.

Natural Resource Damages – This is contamination that causes harm to any natural resource including land, fish, wildlife, air, water, groundwater, drinking water supplies, and other resources.

No-Further-Action (NFA) Letter – This is a letter from a state regulatory agency  that says it will not pursue any further legal action against a party because that party has satisfactorily cleaned up their property.

No Further Remedial Action Planned (NFRAP) – This is a declaration from the EPA that no further remediation efforts are needed at a site under CERCLA.

Notice of Violation (NOV) – This is a notice that informs the recipient that the EPA believes they have committe one or more violations, and directs them work towards compliance.

Nonresidential Use Standard – This is the amount of a chemical that is considered safe for human exposure at a nonresidential property. Nonresidential standards tend to be more relaxed because people are only inhabiting these buildings for a small portion of the day during business hours.

Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) – A law that works to prevent oil spills by enforcing the removal of the oil from the contamination site and assigning liability to the responsible party.

Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI) – This is the office at the EPA that manages the Superfund program.

Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) – This office provides policy, guidance and direction for the EPA’s emergency response and waste programs.

Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) – Office at the EPA that manages the guidance and direction for oversight of Underground Storage Tanks.

Preliminary Assessment (PA) – A very elementary review of a known or suspected contamination site.

Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) – A site investigation conducted by an Environmental Professional to learn the current and past history of a property, and determine the possibility of a Recognized Environmental Condition (REC).

Phase II ESA – If it is determined that a REC may be present on a property, a Phase II Environmental Assessment is recommended. This involves soil and groundwater sampling at the property to confirm the presence of contamination.

Policyholder – Person or entity that enters into an agreement with the insurer that says the insurer will protect the policyholder from expenses associated with injury.

Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) – People, companies, or any other organizations that may be responsible for a chemical release at a Superfund site, and may be liable to pay for cleanup costs.

Preliminary Assessment (PA) – This is a very elementary review of a known or suspected contamination site.

Preliminary Remediation Goal (PRG) – Goal to bring concentration of a chemical down to the point that any residual impacts will be within an established standard of acceptability.

Tetrachloroethylene (PERC or PCE) – This is a manufactured chemical commonly used in dry cleaning and in degreasing mechanical equipment.

Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) – A toxic chemical that was once used to insulate electrical transformers, capacitors, and other utility lines. The use of PCB was banned in 1979.

Potential Responsible Party (PRP) – These are the individuals, companies, and organizations that may be responsible for a chemical contamination, and may be compelled to pay for cleanup efforts.

Pro Forma – In a real estate project, this is a carefully calculated estimate of the financial return that proposed real estate project is likely to generate.

Prospective Purchaser Agreement (PPA) – This is an agreement between the government and a prospective buyer of a Superfund site that protects the prospective buyer from certain liabilities for contamination that is already on the site. This agreement normally comes with a promise from prospective buyer to provide something of substantial public benefit.

Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) – This is an outline written up during the due diligence and environmental cleanup process  that states the project objectives and monitoring parameters.

Remedial Action (RA) – This phrase encompasses all efforts to clean up a site including the construction of systems and/or in situ exercises.

Remedial Action Operation (RAO) – Any operation, maintenance, or monitoring in support of the Remediation Action.

Risk Based Corrective Action (RBCA) –   The strategy of cleaning up based on the risk to human health and pushing towards closure using appropriate levels of action and oversight.

Reopener Provisions – These agreements allow the government the right to require further cleanup if a previously unknown contamination is discovered or the remaining contamination is more toxic than originally believed.

Representations and Warranties – Representations are the basic underlying facts in contract law. The Warranties are the promises that a seller makes to a buyer assuring the factuality of the representations about the good being sold.

Request-for-Proposals (RFPs) – This is a document that is put out by a state agency asking developers for their qualifications and credentials and as well as project-specific plans.

Residential Use Standard – This is the amount of a chemical that is considered safe for human exposure in a residential building. Residential standards are the strictest use standards, and if a property passes these standards it can typically be reused for any purpose.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) – This Act regulates the generation, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste.

Restrictive Covenant – A specific type of deed restriction that prohibits the use certain parts of a property to reduce human exposure to existing contamination.

Risk Assessment – An evaluation of a property that identifies the potential harm an existing contamination will have on human health.

Running With the Land – The rights and obligations attached to the land that remain the same regardless of ownership.

Site Investigation – The practice of sampling soil, groundwater,  to determine the presence and extent of a chemical contamination.

Site Status Letter – A letter issued by the state regulatory agency to a party responsible for an environmental cleanup that the levels of contamination substantially meet screening levels and that the agency does not anticipate enforcement action against the responsible party.

Soft Costs – In a construction project, these are the costs associated with project planning, including architectural, engineering, administrative, legal, and design activities.

Superfund – Formally known as CERCLA, this fund was established by the US EPA to pay for large, long-term cleanup projects. The parties responsible for the contamination are ultimately required to either cleanup the contamination or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) – This allows local governments to use future projected tax revenue to finance current infrastructure projects.

Tax Credits – This is an incentive for a large corporation to develop in a local municipality in exchange for a break on their property taxes.

Toxic Tort Action – A lawsuit brought against a company that seeks damages for an exposure to a hazardous substance.

Uncertainty Premium – The amount a buyer subtracts from the purchase price to reflect the risk of unexpected environmental assessment and cleanup costs.

Use Permit – A type of variance that authorizes an otherwise unacceptable use on a property without changing its zoning.

Variance – This is a mechanism that allows a property owner to use their property for something other than what the zoning ordinance permits.

Voluntary Cleanups – Cleanups of identified contamination that are not court or agency ordered. Most states have voluntary programs that encourage voluntary cleanups and that may provide benefits if volunteers meet specified standards.

It’s estimated that there are over 450,000 Brownfields across the United States, and while Brownfields redevelopment can be a lengthy and complex process, with the right team you can speed up the process and stay on track by turning environmental liabilities into assets®.

Contact us today.

A Roadmap for Brownfields Redevelopment Success

Posted on by Alex Miller

THIS ARTICLE WALKS YOU THROUGH THE BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROCESS TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR OWN ROADMAP FOR SUCCESS AND WILL PREPARE YOU FOR WHAT TO EXPECT IF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ARE DISCOVERED DURING THE PLANNING PROCESS.

A successful Brownfields redevelopment project doesn’t just happen by chance – well-designed and strategic projects often take months if not years of planning and design. A Brownfields project also needs the right project team in place – secure the developer’s creativity, the municipality’s leverage, the community’s collaboration, and the property owner’s consent and you’re well on your way toward a flourishing Brownfields redevelopment project. Finally, beware of environmental liabilities that can often become roadblocks or even throw projects off-track entirely.

This article walks you through the Brownfields redevelopment planning process to help you find your own roadmap for success, and will prepare you for what to expect if environmental issues are discovered during the planning process.

KEY PLAYERS FOR BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT
Let’s start with understanding the Brownfields project’s key players.  

Often called the “stakeholders” of the project, these are the individuals, companies, municipalities, and communities who rally together for the common cause of the project. Each stakeholder plays a different role and adds a unique perspective to the process.

Here’s a list of the key players, their roles, and how and when they fit into the redevelopment planning:

Property Owner

A property owner encompasses the term for the actual owner or the potential owner of the property being considered for redevelopment. The owner can be a public, private, municipal, not-for-profit, or (sometimes) an unknown entity. The property owner’s involvement from the first days of planning will help ensure a smooth redevelopment process.

 

Local Government Agencies

The local, regional, and state governing bodies have a vested interest in the redevelopment of a Brownfields property – bringing an underutilized property into use or back into reuse can provide them with a renewed tax base and a revitalized community. They can assist with securing local funding sources, loans, and tax credits to enhance the potential for the redevelopment project.  

 

Economic Redevelopment Groups

Local and regional economic groups may be involved with Brownfields redevelopment projects from the first planning meeting. They can provide valuable guidance, grant funding assistance, and experience to help the project meet its goals. This group ultimately finds benefit from the creation or growth of jobs and other economic factors after a redevelopment project is completed.

 

Community and Neighborhood Groups

Community-based organizations play an important role in the redevelopment process of a Brownfields property. They serve as the voice of the community poised to gain from the project, and ultimately want to see the neighborhoods where they live and work thrive.

 

Lenders and Financial Groups

Depending on the redevelopment plan, financing might need to be secured through private lenders or investment groups. These key players also want to see a successful project through to completion for community and financial reasons.

 

Developers

The developer often serves as the glue that can help generate and implement the vision for the project’s redevelopment plans. Developers work with the other project stakeholders from the project planning stages to ensure the final concept comes to fruition.

 

Environmental Consultants

An environmental consultant wears many hats during the Brownfields redevelopment process:

  • Assisting the owner with their liability protection needs, also known as due diligence
  • Identifying sources of financing
  • Working with stakeholders to establish and implement an environmental clean up plan that serves the needs of future redevelopment
  • Assisting with the owner’s continuing obligations once the project is complete

Bringing in an experienced environmental consultant at the beginning of your project can help prepare cities and communities and be a recipe for success.

Tip: Strong coordination between the key players is an important step in the success of a Brownfields redevelopment project.

Now that we have our key players defined, let’s get ready to hit the road toward a successful project!

PART 1: THE BROWNFIELDS PLANNING PROCESS / CHARTING A COURSE
There is not one recipe or redevelopment plan that will suit everyone’s or every project’s needs. There are however, a few fundamental steps in the Brownfields planning process that when paired with the right stakeholders and the right economic environment, projects can lead to productive outcomes for cities and communities.

Step 1: Vision to Develop Brownfields Site
The redevelopment planning process begins with a spark: a stakeholder sees the potential to turn a Brownfields project into a thriving property. This vision leads to a discussion and the engagement of various stakeholders, and before you know it, the process is ready to start. It is important at this beginning stage to establish the project framework: what are the property reuse goals, what are the zoning restrictions, can they be changed, and how will the project be received by the community? The answers to these framework questions will help guide the next steps of the process.

Step 2: The Review – Doing Your Due Diligence
The next step typically involves performing due diligence through Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) on the property to provide the stakeholders with valuable information regarding the current and historical environmental conditions and ownership status of the site. The ESA and additional investigations will help identify the presence and magnitude of environmental concerns, and if certain criteria are met, the ESA can ultimately be used to protect the owner and other stakeholders from liability associated with these environmental concerns.

Step 3: Financing – Funding Your Redevelopment Vision
The final and perhaps most important step in the planning process is locating and securing funding for the project. Typically, the planning and construction costs for a redevelopment project are anticipated and be secured from privately-funded or lender sources, but the costs for the cleanup of environmental contamination cannot be taken into account until after due diligence is completed.

Once the cleanup costs are established, a common way to partially pay for these environmental services needed to bring a Brownfields site back to life is through local, state, and federal grant and loan funding; however, even if a project is awarded a grant or loan, those funds come with restrictions and can run out before any meaningful progress is made towards revitalization of the property.

What’s typically missing from a Brownfields Funding Plan is an insurance archeology strategy. PolicyFind, a division of EnviroForensics, locates historical Commercial General Liability insurance policies as a funding source to ensure that the resources needed to complete the investigation and cleanup of a redevelopment project are sufficient and accessible.

Here’s what historical Commercial General Liability policies can be used to fund:

Insurance archeology can recover historical insurance coverage, which can pay for environmental investigation and remediation efforts, and legal counsel costs. Read more about how insurance archeology and CGL policies work.

Tip: Visit EnviroForensics’ insurance archeology services and fill out the form for more information.

PART 2: THE ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP AND REDEVELOPMENT PROCESS / THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Once the key components are assembled and the process has been reviewed by all stakeholders, it’s time to get underway.

Tip: It’s important that all environmental cleanup and construction activities are carefully planned as described above, and that all stakeholders are in agreement with the plan in the beginning and throughout the entire redevelopment process.

This process is very time-sensitive and delays may cause overall increases in redevelopment costs.

Step 1: The Environmental Cleanup
Typically during this phase of the project, the Brownfields property is prepared for redevelopment by implementing the selected environmental cleanup activity. Whether through traditional methods such as:

Soil Excavation

Soil excavator removing contaminated soil from environmental cleanup site.
Soil excavator removing contaminated soil from environmental cleanup site.

 

Engineered methods such as active soil and groundwater remediation systems

Conduit tubes buried underground for a Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) System
Conduit tubes buried underground for a Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) System

In-situ methods such as injection of microbes into the ground

Geoprobe drill used to inject remedial chemicals into ground for in-situ remediation.
Geoprobe drill used to inject remedial chemicals into ground for in-situ remediation.

Institutional controls such as property use restrictions

no trespassing sign
Institutional controls like land use restrictions enforced by the sign above can help reduce human interaction with a potential environmental hazard.

 

Innovative remediation design methods

Such as zero-valent iron the environmental contamination is removed or destroyed, or access to the contamination is limited to protect the future occupants of the property from exposure to it.

field professional overseeing mixing of remedial chemical
An EnviroForensics Field Engineer oversees the mixing of a remedial chemical, PlumeStop® by Regenesis

This is where EnviroForensics’ team of expert environmental scientists, geologists and engineers gets to work. Our experienced project managers and scientists then work hand-in-hand with the project stakeholders to make sure the remediation efforts are completed to the satisfaction of the stakeholders and that the property is ready for redevelopment.

Step 2: The Construction – Bringing Your Vision to Life
Construction activities can often be implemented at the same time as or shortly after the environmental cleanup work is performed. This is often the most exciting part of the process because it provides visible signs that the property is being developed through the construction or remodeling of onsite buildings.

Tip: Remember to keep all stakeholders engaged through the construction process – it can often be a dynamic and thrilling time for the project!

There may be ongoing responsibilities for the owner or tenants of the completed project, including vapor intrusion monitoring, remediation system operation, or other long-term stewardship efforts. These are often coordinated between the owner, the environmental consultant, and the regulatory agency to ensure that the occupants or users of the property will continue to be protected from exposed to any residual environmental contamination.

To learn about how a more aggressive cleanup can save you money in the long run, visit A Business Case Approach to Site Cleanup.

The road to a successful Brownfields redevelopment is a dynamic and exciting one – it’s essential that the key stakeholders are engaged and that the project goals are established during the early stages of planning to stay on course. Good planning by a well-experienced team can lead to a very rewarding project! This roadmap for Brownfields Redevelopment Success can be your guide.

For over 20 years, EnviroForensics has been turning environmental liabilities into assets®. We have the environmental expertise and knowledge of historical site coverage to partner strategically with businesses, Brownfields coordinators and developers. We help community leaders convert blighted properties into valuable community assets for redevelopment and provide better reuse planning options through long-term stewardship after the site is closed and developed. See how we applied our business model to the redevelopment of our own headquarters by reading How EnviroForensics Transformed a Brownfields Site into Their HQ.

Contact our Brownfields Redevelopment team today to see how we can revitalize your property and city.

Why Spending More Environmental Cleanup Dollars Now Is Smart for Business

Posted on by Alex Miller

When dealing with environmental issues, exposure control and regulatory closure are often seen as the end goals. After fully assessing current and future risk, it’s clear that regulatory closure should only be viewed as an interim milestone. When it comes to environmental liability, regulatory closure is seldom the end of the story. It’s often just an interim step in the process of protecting yourself from risk, communities from exposure, the environment from harm, and ensuring your new development is prosperous.

The various strategy options for eliminating exposure pathways and attaining regulatory closure can have vastly different costs when it comes to future liabilities, long-term stewardship (LTS), and Brownfields development.

This eBook Covers 

  • Why evaluating remedial efforts vs. long-term stewardship is smart for business
  • How point of exposure assessments helped identify where remedial and LTS program would be most effective
  • How spending more on active cleanup and relying less on long-term stewardship saved three business a combined savings of $1.595M

Download A Business Case Approach to Site Clean Up

picture of business case ebook cover

Takeaways

  • Too often environmental remediation strategies focus on short-term costs without factoring in requirements for proper long-term stewardship and the associated costs of implementation.
  • With recalcitrant compounds, such as perchloroethylene (PCE) and other chlorinated solvents, the threat of future exposure does not readily go away. If engineered or institutional controls fail, these lingering contaminants may present serious problems.
  • Proper cost-analysis takes all the factors into account so that you can find a balance between short-term and long-term costs and make decisions that are right for you.
  • By taking real costs into account it will be possible to find a well-informed balance between short-term and long-term expenditures that will help you maximize your potential savings.

 

Jeff Carnahan is a Licensed Professional Geologist (LPG) with over 20 years of environmental consulting and remediation experience and is currently serving EnviroForensics® and our clients as President. Jeff has contributed to the success and growth of EnviroForensics through strategic market analysis and corporate risk management, as well as encouraging and upholding the superior level of technical expertise found at EnviroForensics. Jeff focuses on controlling risk and costs to all of our clients. He has expertise in working with releases of chlorinated solvents and other industrial chemicals within voluntary and enforcement cleanup programs for various State agencies and the U.S. EPA. He has also been at the forefront of vapor intrusion exposure issues over the past 15 years by contributing to the scientific community nationwide, and by forming the EnviroForensics Vapor Intrusion Group of experts. Throughout his career Jeff has provided technical support to the legal community. He has served as a consulting and testifying expert regarding the cause, origin, timing, and cost of environmental releases, as well as cost-recovery claims on behalf of insurance policyholders. Jeff’s passion for redeveloping and re-using contaminated properties aligns with the company’s commitment to restoring environmentally impacted properties on behalf of our private and municipal clients.