Terradex Receives United States Environmental Protection Agency 2008 Environmental Achievement Award |
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On April 14, 2008 Terradex was awarded a 2008 Environmental Achievement Award. In the award the agency cited Terradex’s groundbreaking work in communicating environmental information to the public enables individuals and communities to make informed decisions regarding both exposure and contaminant contributions. Terradex’s innovative prototype of layering real-time air data on top of the powerful imagery of Google Earth was the inspiration behind the EPA’s recent launch of AirNOW. This tool provides communities, including sensitive populations and emergency responders, with up-to-the minute air quality information over specific geographic areas. Terradex also created a carbon footprint calculator that enables communities to measure and understand their greenhouse gas contribution. The innovative communication tool informs and inspires individuals to reduce their contribution to global warming.
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ABC-KGO TV Reports on Terradex in "Fighting Global Warming At Local Level" |
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Reporter Lyanne Melendez of KGO TV reported on the Association of Bay Area Government's effort to confront global warming. San Jose Councilmember Cortese liked the online Terradex emissions models. It calculates the level of greenhouse gases for each major city based on data from the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Enforcement First to Ensure Effective Institutional Controls at Superfund Sites |
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The United States Environmental Protection Agency has adopted an “enforcement first”
policy for institutional controls, which will likely increase both recording and
monitoring of ICs. The USEPA Office of Site Remediation and Enforcement has directed
the agency’s program and enforcement staff, as well as Department of Justice, to
pursue any action needed to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of institutional controls. This policy promotes the “polluter pays” principle. Potentially Responsible Parties shall “play a significant role in supporting a robust
analysis of the effectiveness of Institutional Controls and in implementing necessary controls at Superfund sites.”
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USEPA Releases Study Citing Terradex's Protection of the Los Angeles Public Water Supply |
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Terradex avoided a “disaster” threatening the potable water in Los Angeles, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The local permit agency approved
the installation of a cathodic protection well. This type of deep well, used to
prevent pipeline corrosion, has perforated walls and can thus allow groundwater
to flow downward from a shallow aquitard to a deeper one. The permit agency did
not flag the fact that a benzene contaminant plume existed in shallow groundwater
at the well site. However, Terradex did proactively detect the conflict. The responsible party, alerted by Terradex, prevented an installation that would have become a conduit from the benzene plume to the deeper, potable water
supply aquifer for Los Angeles.
Details of the Los Angeles alert are included in a Summary Pilot Report issued in
February 2006 by the USEPA. The report’s primary focus, however, is a two-year evaluation of Terradex’s institutional controls monitoring system in California’s Silicon Valley. The multi-site case study tested Terradex’s IC monitoring at numerous contaminated
sites, including Superfund sites, BRAC sites, leaking underground fuel sites and brownfield sites. An extract from USEPA’s report:
"A prime example of the potential of an IC monitoring system to protect the public and the environmental from exposure to contamination occurred in January 2006.
While the Del Amo Superfund site was not technically part of the pilot program, many of the same parties using the same process employed in the pilot program, detected
and prevented a disaster from occurring there. Chevron had proposed drilling a 300-foot well for cathodic protection of one of its pipelines. The local permitting agency
missed a conflict with a benzene plume in the area of the planned excavation and permitted Chevron to drill the well. The IC monitoring service used in the pilot program,
Terradex, alerted stakeholders to the conflict and Chevron canceled the drilling. Had the well been drilled, concentrated benzene would have polluted the Lynwood Aquiifer
that supplied drinkable water to Los Angeles County. Chevron is now working with regulators toward a solution that will protect human health and the environment"
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Leading ASTM's Continuing Obligations Practice Standard |
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In October 2005, Bob Wenzlau of Terradex was appointed Task Group Chair to build
a practice standard for Landowner Continuing Obligations. When complete, the
practice standards will systematically improve the long-term public
and environmental safety at brownfields while limiting financial liabilities brownfield
redevelopers. The Task Group includes participation from USEPA, state government,
brownfield redevelopers, environmental professionals and legal counsel.
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Working with Excavators Clearance Systems to Proactively Inform of Environmental and Health Hazards |
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Terradex participation in the excavation clearance systems has revealed the value
of connecting environmental notifications to excavation clearances. Terradex's opinion
reveals that there is a "win-win" relationship between excavators and those stakeholders
holding an environmental safety interest.
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