Environmental Services
O'Donnell & Associates, Inc.'s hydrogeologist* has extensive experience with soil and groundwater contamination issues dating back to 1990. While OAI does not actively solicit "environmental projects", we are available to provide expertise and assistance through teaming arrangements to companies that are faced with regulatory issues resulting from chemical releases. With a strong background of technical review and hands on experience with soil and groundwater assessments and remediation, OAI sees through the problem and directs the effort toward a goal of a "no further action" status.
*Mr. O’Donnell’s experience is rooted in ten years of subsurface geologic mapping work associated with petroleum exploration. His broad range of geologic experience includes subsurface mapping, technical reviews, logging and log correlation from depths of 10 to 29,000 feet in 14 states. Upon this strong geologic foundation, he acquired formal training in hydrogeology and hydrogeologic field methods under the direction of Dr. Wayne Pettyjohn at Oklahoma State University. Since completing the seven-week training program at OSU, he has developed a clear understanding of the regulatory requirements facing public and private sector entities through his eleven years of "environmental" work experience in 12 states.
Environmental projects showcasing Mr. O’Donnell’s experience include:
Technical Review/Consultation
A client's employee had a piece of property he was in the process of selling. On one part of the property was an old gasoline station that had been closed for over 25 years. While OAI does not seek out environmental projects as a rule, we do from time to time accept requests to review ongoing environmental projects and offer insight into solutions. In this case our client's employee had already paid for a Phase 1 Site Assessment which of course recommended an $11,000+ Phase II site Assessment.
After accepting the request for technical review and consult, we went over the Phase I documentation and found it actually contained a copy of a formal closure report completed on the gas station in 1991, the year the station closed. Include with the report were lab results indicating the closure was "clean" in spite of the Phase I report saying otherwise.
OAI contacted the state regulator and requested the 1991 closure report with lab results be accepted with a request that a "No further Action" letter issued to the owner. Nineteen days later the state issued a No Futher Action letter for the site negating the need for the proposed $11,000+ Phase II Site Assessment.
OAI's technical review and consultation for this project was successful saving our client's employ the cost of an un-necessary Phase II Site Assessment. It's only money...your money, so spend it wisely. If you have a troublesome environmental project perhaps a technical review is in order.
Free Product Recovery
Mr. O’Donnell performed field testing to evaluate potential remedial strategies at a bulk fuel facility with 14 inches of gasoline on the surface of a water-table aquifer. Based on the results of his field tests, he evaluated, selected, and installed a pumping system to recover the fuel in an efficient manner. In the initial nine months of operation, over 2,600 gallons of gasoline were recovered from the aquifer with only 300 gallons of groundwater. Due to the efficiency of the system, the pump was only operational approximately nine days, with the remaining time spent waiting for the recovered product to be pumped from the 300-gallon recovery tank. The recovered product was flash tested, found to be suitable for use as a motor fuel, and recycled by the owner.
Underground Injection Control
Mr. O'Donnell prepared UIC permits associated with 25 de-centralized waste-water treatment plants sized from 5,000 to 120,000 gallons per day. Work consisted of completing a Phase I Hydrogeologic Evaluations, completing water well inventories, establishing subsurface geology and installing monitoring wells.
Hazardous Waste
Mr. O’Donnell assisted a lending institution that came into possession of trust property with characteristic hazardous waste present in the soil. He performed a file review on the facility, evaluated work to date, developed an assessment plan based on the review, and performed the subsurface investigation to determine the extent of the contamination. Based on the assessment, he developed and implemented remedial actions designed to separate hazardous from non-hazardous waste. Then, he coordinated disposal of the wastes at hazardous and non-hazardous waste facilities, as appropriate. The site received a "no further action status’’ and was sold by the lending institution. His carefully planned and negotiated actions at this site kept remedial costs under control.
Corrective Action
Mr. O’Donnell developed an innovative correction action plan for a local service agency which "inherited" a petroleum UST release. The plan, which the state regulatory authority (ADEM) accepted, utilized enhanced intrinsic remediation to mitigate the hydrocarbon plume. The project involved comprehensive monitoring to establish a database on the interaction between the aquifer and the contaminant plumes. The data from the monitoring period was used with a computer model to evaluate the effectiveness of intrinsic remediation and to predict the long term movement and threat posed by the release if no other corrective actions are undertaken.
Fuel Storage Tanks
Mr. O’Donnell assisted a major southern telecommunication firm (BellSouth) with implementation of their underground storage tank management plan. As part of the project, he developed the closure sampling process and report format accepted by the firm for utilization on tank closure projects across their nine state area. He personally managed closures at nineteen facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. In total, Mr. O'Donnell has performed 60+ fuel storage UST closures, including several closures in-place, and conducted over 150 contamination assessments at petroleum storage facilities in 12 states from Iowa to Florida. He has prepared over 50 assessment plans, as required by regulatory agencies, to detail planned assessment activities. Corrective actions planned by him included free product recovery at diesel, gasoline, diesel/gasoline mixed sites, and he has provided advice to a firm managing a JP-4 release. He has also developed groundwater monitoring plans at several of these sites. He has performed emergency response abatement actions, monitoring and corrective actions at two AST sites. He has been instrumental in obtaining "No Further Action" status at several sites.
Hazardous Waste
Mr. O'Donnell directed the initial assessment and remedial actions at the site of a crop duster plane crash which released 2-4-D into three cattle watering ponds. The initial assessment activities involved sampling to identify which ponds had been adversely impacted by the crash with the follow-up remedial actions aimed at removing sediments impacted by the release.
Property Assessments
Mr. O'Donnell, who received property assessment training at Oklahoma State University, has performed dozens of Phase I and Phase II property assessments on both undeveloped and developed sites. He has conducted assessments on facilities ranging from an abandoned warehouse to a former felt manufacturing facility. His experience with property assessments taught him how to identify potential liabilities commonly missed by the less informed and present this information to the prospective buyer or lender in clear terms. The results of his work allow the client the opportunity to completely evaluate their potential risks.
