Category: Company News

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.

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.

 

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 (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 (NAWIC)

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

 

 

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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.

For more than two decades, EnviroForensics has been helping dry cleaners and small business owners tackle their environmental liabilities while finding alternative funding sources to pay for cleanup, and now, EnviroForensics will be opening an office in Northwest Indiana.

CEO, Steve Henshaw, had the opportunity to talk about this exciting news with Lakeshore Public Radio, the local NPR station, and his vision to find new ways to fund environmental cleanups and stimulate economic development. 

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Listen to the entire interview

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“Our approach is to look and see if we can find some resources through old insurance policies, normal slip-and-fall type insurance policies, that didn’t have exclusions to these policies for contamination, or environmental pollution,” Henshaw told Chris Nolte, host of Regionally Speaking.

Learn more about CGL policies and how they can be used to fund environmental investigation and cleanup efforts.

While the majority of the company’s work has been with manufacturers and small business owners, Henshaw explained the practice of digging up old policies can also work for larger industrial sites and Brownfields projects that may be lying dormant in Northwest Indiana.

“A lot of these sites might be distressed, sitting there on the tax roll, but not in any kind of active productive use, so they aren’t really benefiting the community,” Henshaw said, referring to the underutilized or, in some cases abandoned, industrial facilities in Northwest Indiana.

“We can also assist municipalities at pursuing the same sort of options of finding these resources to pay for these very expensive long-tail liabilities.”

A large portion of the conversation centered on building a stronger relationship with the communities in the region. The goal isn’t just to have easier access to EnviroForensics’ current project sites. Henshaw says they’re also trying to become a more integral part of the community, by offering their services as a technical resource in good-faith to municipalities under budgetary restrictions, and staffing the office with a Northwest Indiana native who understands the ambitions and needs of the area.

“By having a local heading up that branch in Michele Murday, we’re very excited that this gives us a stronger foothold in the community itself,” Henshaw said.

To learn more about how EnviroForensics can help you revitalize your community visit Brownfields Development and fill out our form.

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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.

 

EnviroForensics®, an Indianapolis-headquartered environmental consulting, engineering and design remediation firm with offices in Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Southern Indiana announced today that they are opening a Northwest Indiana office in Hammond, Indiana. EnviroForensics specializes in Turning Environmental Liabilities Into Assets® through their insurance archeology, investigation and remediation, and legal support services. EnviroForensics is investing in the Northwest Indiana area by strategically launching this new office to clean-up environmental contamination left from historical manufacturing operations in the region and help make way for new site development.

Steve Henshaw, Chief Executive Officer of EnviroForensics says, “We have conducted environmental remediation and oversight on dozens of projects in Northwest Indiana, including work on the Gary Chicago International Airport (GYY), the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, and the Gary Sanitation District. With this local presence, we will be able to work more closely with developers and municipalities to restore property values by cleaning up contamination and make them viable for financing by lending institutions, which will help bring increased investment dollars to the region.”

Northwest Indiana native and EnviroForensics’ newly appointed Northwest Indiana Branch Manager, Michele Murday will run the new office out of the HUB of Innovation, a cutting edge business incubator managed by the Hammond Development Corporation at 5233 Hohman Avenue in Hammond, IN. The office launch will be introduced at the Northwest Indiana Forum’s Summer Networking Event with local economic stakeholders on Wednesday, June 27th at 5:00pm.

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For More Information:
Jackie Cabrera, Marketing Manager
jcabrera@enviroforensics.com
866-888-7911

World Environment Day happens June 5th, and is the primary vehicle for the United Nations to promote a specific cause to protect the environment. This year, they’re focusing on plastic pollution, which is a critical issue around the world. According to the UN, we produce more than 300 tons of plastic waste every year, which is the estimated combined weight of the world population. Plastic can take anywhere between 500 to 1,000 years to break down, and can leach chemicals into our drinking water and endanger wildlife. The good news is you can do something to help solve this challenge.

Here’s a few tips to help you reduce the amount of plastic in your life–and the Earth’s ecosystem.

1. Buy reusable straws

 

500 million straws are used in the U.S. every day. You can cut down on that amount of waste by replacing them with a set of reusable straws like the one pictured above.

 

2. Pack your lunch in reusable containers…

The average American uses 540 single-use plastic ziplock bags a year. Cutting these out of your life is a win-win for you and the environment. Less plastic waste in our landfills, and more money in your wallet!

 

3. And with reusable utensils

Instead of plastic utensils, pack one of the many sets of reusable utensils, such as utensils made from potato starch or cornstarch, or these reusable bamboo utensils in your lunch, or bring silverware from home.

4. Take your own shopping bags to the grocery store…

The average American household uses 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year. Make the switch today!

 

5. … And bring your own containers to use in the bulk aisles

For the Indianapolis area locales, click here to see a list of grocery stores in the area that allow you to bring your own containers. Between tips 4 and 5, you can completely eradicate your pantry of all single-use plastics.

 

6. Use biodegradable garbage bags

The average American creates 4.4 pounds of waste each day. That’s nearly a ton a year, which fills a lot of plastic garbage bags. If you are going to create some form of non-recyclable waste, at least throw it into a biodegradable bag.

 

7. Get a bamboo toothbrush

It’s estimated that more than 50 million plastic toothbrushes end up in our landfillseach year, and can take up to 1,000 years to break down. Get those plastic brushes out of your personal rotation and replace them with bamboo.

 

8. Use natural toothpaste or make your own tooth powder

Cut down on plastic waste by using products like David’s toothpaste (pictured) which comes in a recyclable metal tube. You can also make your own tooth powder out of natural ingredients and pack it in a reusable glass jar.

 

9. Actually recycle

91% of all plastic ends up in our landfills. We can significantly cut down on this number if we just rinse and throw our plastic containers in the recycling bin instead of the trash.

 

10. 10. Don’t just jog. Plog!

 

Plogging is the newest fitness craze to hit the United States. It’s a combination of jogging and picking up litter on your route. The trend started in Sweden in 2016 following increased concern about plastic pollution.  

There are so many easy ways to cut down on plastic use and waste. Think about how you can implement some of these tips into your life, and tell a friend or two. Challenge everyone you know to commit to using less plastic and get more tips on how to live a more sustainable life. Together, we can make a difference for our Earth’s ecosystem and for future generations.

 

Jennifer Hallgarth is a Licensed Professional Geologist with over 13 years of environmental consulting experience with a focus in insurance claims expertise. She’s responsible for management of numerous chlorinated solvent and petroleum projects throughout various stages of environmental investigation, remediation and closure with projects ranging from $1,000 to over $2,000,000. Ms. Hallgarth has attained specialized experience related to insurance claims, including claim coverage evaluation, forensics investigation, cost allocating, reserve estimating, third party review, and litigation support.

Hallgarth is an adjunct lecturer for Indiana University – Bloomington, where she teaches a course called Introduction to Risk Assessment and Risk Communication. She is also the head of EnviroForensics’ Sustainability Council.

EnviroForensics®, an Indianapolis-based environmental engineering, consulting and remediation design firm, announced today that Morgan Saltsgiver recently joined the company as a Senior Project Manager and Business Development Consultant to lead their newly formed agribusiness and rural Brownfields redevelopment services.

Saltsgiver brings over 15 years of environmental consulting experience, with a wide breadth of skills including project and portfolio management for sites across the country with environmental contaminants ranging from petroleum to pesticides. Before joining EnviroForensics, Saltsgiver held senior management positions at August Mack Environmental, ATC Group Services and Rubik Environmental. With her unique combination of Brownfields and agricultural expertise, Saltsgiver provides a new perspective for environmental rehabilitation and economic redevelopment projects to small towns and rural areas, which are often overlooked in the redevelopment process.

Saltsgiver is a Licensed Professional Geologist and is one of 30 candidates admitted to the prestigious two-year Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program offered by the AgriInstitute. Saltsgiver is the first environmental consultant to participate in the program alongside colleagues from other agribusiness sectors, including law, finance, academia and agrichemical.

“We are very fortunate that Morgan chose to join the EnviroForensics team. Anyone that has worked with her will tell you that she has a tremendous understanding of the consulting world, is a natural leader and is committed to her clients,” says Steve Henshaw, founder and CEO of EnviroForensics. “We are excited to grow our agricultural science practice and continue to grow as a leader in the Brownfields sector with her expertise.”

Saltsgiver serves as a board member for the Indiana Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), and is the treasurer and a board member for the Midwestern States Environmental Consultants Association (MSECA).

By Nancy Shields
President, EnviroForensics^®

The calendar has turned to 2018: there is so much to look back on with pride and so much to be excited about in the coming year! Over the years, our team has grown in size and expertise, our revenue goals have gotten increasingly more ambitious, and our office space larger. But, at least one thing remains the same and will continue to be a guiding force in our success: our culture of making a difference.

“Many CEO’s and other leaders tell me about their plans to give back and volunteer after retirement. I tell them, while in your present position you probably have more influence and the ability to help than you ever will.” –Patrick Lencioni

Patrick Lencioni, the author of The Advantage and several other great books for business hit the nail on the head here. I also think it is important to point out that his words apply to everyone within an organization. I believe that most people want to give back, but may feel like they don’t have enough time to do so because of time commitments associated with their careers. Some people spend a significant part of their working lives anticipating a time when they’ll be able to devote themselves to their favorite causes during retirement. At EnviroForensics^®, we take the approach to encourage our employees to make a difference each and every day.

We encourage team members to bring their favorite charities to work and organize regular philanthropic pursuits like our lunch packing for the Pourhouse, our Coat and Supply Drive for the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation (HVAF), our monthly coffee charity, or the number of fundraising events we host for Water for Empowerment each year. But, on days that we aren’t directly giving to a charitable organization, we are still striving to be the heroes in our clients’ lives. One very important and basic premise is to simply live our company’s Core Values and act as heroes for each other. One of those values is to “Rely on Each Other’s Strengths”. To us this means also being there for one another, mentoring from our particular strength, and allowing other team members to mentor us as well. It’s hard to find something more fulfilling than helping someone else grow and develop in their career, especially when they will spend so many hours of their lives at work.

We are a business – so our clients are the focus and those clients would not be able to manage their environmental liabilities without us. However, the same goes for our individual team members who rely on each other to navigate and accomplish the complex tasks often found in each of our projects.

All of our teams make a difference:

• field professionals take care of the work on the ground often working long hours in extremely uncomfortable weather conditions to accomplish company and client goals;
• engineers figure out logistics for mechanical remediation applications;
• geologists examine the extent of contamination in the subsurface and/or biological/chemical remediation applications, and help the team understand the geological conditions in the area surrounding the work site;
• Vapor Intrusion (VI) team members provide expert assessment and direction regarding potential vapor intrusion scenarios and mitigation procedures;
• project managers push the projects and orchestrate all of the moving parts and pieces related to field events, deliverables, and managing resources;
• senior project managers continually coordinate client goals and objectives with other project stakeholder demands and sensitivities;
• sales and marketing teams play a big role in client relationships;
• and every company has the unsung group of heroes who man the phones, fill the copy machines, manage the money and the general office environment.

Every part of the team is vital to the success of our projects and the company as a whole. We work hard to assure that our company culture works towards making a huge difference in the client’s life.

Environmental cleanups can cost millions of dollars and take years to complete. We are committed to helping our clients avoid certain financial ruin by finding their historical insurance assets and pushing for the most thorough and timely remediation plan. Like I said earlier, this does not happen without the concerted efforts of each individual on the team working towards the same goal to make a difference in someone’s life. We know that we’re doing important work for deserving people and that will continue to guide us to even more success in the coming year!

We are excited about yet another opportunity to share our knowledge with our peers in the environmental remediation world. Chief Geologist, Keith Gaskill will present a poster at Battelle’s Fourth International Symposium on Bioremediation and Sustainable Environmental Technologies in Miami, Florida.

Gaskill’s poster is entitled Rapid Reduction of Chlorinated Solvents Using Combined Bioaugmented Enhanced Reductive Dechlorination and in-situ Chemical Reduction Approaches.

The poster, completed in conjunction with REGENESIS, outlines a successful remediation project and the value of designing cleanup strategies comprised of multiple technologies to more cost effectively remediate chlorinated solvent sites.  Gaskill will present the poster late Tuesday (May 23rd) afternoon. If you’re attending the event, please stop by to check it out!

More than a business trip

Tuesday evening in Miami will be special in more ways than one. That night we’ll be catching up with friends and colleagues at a Mojitos and Mixing event hosted by REGENESIS, who have generously offered to promote and raise funds for our partnered water charity, Water for Empowerment. With each guest who walks through the door, REGENESIS has pledged to donate in their name to Water for Empowerment, helping continue the work of bringing clean water access to women and young girls in Nicaragua.