The client in this project was a multi-party potentially responsible party (PRP) group consisting of members from various industries involved in transporting petroleum products in river barges. EHS Support was retained to provide several services including project coordination, fund management, and technical consulting.
The site comprises nearly 100 acres and is located in southern-Louisiana adjacent to a major river, historically utilized as a transportation route for several industries. Between the 1960s and early 2000s, the site was primarily utilized for barge and tug vessel construction maintenance, cleaning, and repair. Site operations consisted of work completed over both land and on-site water features and included waste handling from barges serviced at the site via a series of surficial impoundments.
The PRP Group entered into a settlement agreement and order on consent with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to perform a remedial investigation (RI) / feasibility study (FS) in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). EHS Support was brought in to assist with performing the actions required under the agreement. We designed and implemented a complex remedial investigation that consisted of characterizing potential risk to human and ecological receptors in multiple environmental mediums, including soil, groundwater, sediment, and surface water and effectively garnered agency agreement on an investigation approach that greatly reduced the time and sample volume necessary to meet RI/FS objectives. EHS Support’s ability to provide comprehensive project coordination and technical consulting services to the PRP Group has resulted in reduced project management costs and communications between the executive and technical committees that were formed within the PRP Group.