News @ EQ
EQ Helps Ohio EPA Complete Kirby Tire Site Cleanup
On April 15, 2008, the Ohio EPA publicly announced the completion of the 9-year, $32 million cleanup of the 120-acre Kirby tire site in north central Ohio. EQ was the prime contractor on this project, which involved removing and shredding more than 4.5 million tires; disposing of more than 518 million pounds of tire residuals, clay cap material and contaminated soil; and recycling a portion of the shredded tires (10 million pounds). Work began in 2006 and was completed in April 2008. EQ was the original firm that extinguished the Kirby tire fire in August 1999 under the U.S. EPA Region 5 Emergency and Remedial Response (ERRS) contract.
For more information, contact EQ’s John Mullane at 800-229-7495.
EQ Participating in Go Green Challenge
EQ is participating in the “Go Green Challenge” program sponsored by the Hamilton County (Ohio) Solid Waste Management District and partners Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the University of Cincinnati, Christ Hospital, and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful. The mission of this group is to encourage organizations, large and small, to reduce their environmental impact. To participate, EQ must develop at least one environmental goal. Our first long-term metric is to reduce our calendar year 2012 carbon footprint relative to 2007 by 8 percent by reducing energy use, paper consumption, and employee travel.
For more information, visit the Go Green Challenge website or contact EQ’s Tom Robertson at 800-229-5299
EQ Receives a Patent
EQ and EnviroCare International (ECI) have received a patent (No. 7279039) from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on a method and equipment for controlling air emissions from cement plants (dry process, precalciner). Raw feed meal used in cement production is heated in a special heating chamber to drive off volatile compounds. The gases flow to the precalciner where they are combusted and rendered harmless. The process allows the use of feedmeal that contains higher levels of organic material. It also reduces the formation of secondary reactions with ammonia and/or organic species, which reduces total hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, dioxins and sulfur trioxide aerosols in the stack gases. For more information, contact EQ’s Ron Hawks at (800) 229-5299.
EQ Featured in Cincinnati Enquirer
EQ's Recent growth due to an increase in work related to the cleanup after Hurricane's Katrina and Rita was recently highlighted in the Cincinnati Enquirer (PDF version).
EQ was asked to do the work by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through its contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The additional work helped EQ to improves its ranking to 39th on the latest Deloitte Cincinnati USA 100 list of the region's largest privately-held businesses, up from 61st a year ago.
"The contract was significant because it gave us the opportunity to be involved in the largest natural disaster in this country's history, " says Jack Greber, the company's president and CEO. The project lasted for 18 months and required EQ to perform a large variety of difficult and challenging environmental cleanup tasks in adverse conditions.
EQ’s Washington Office Managing Mine Remediation Project in Idaho
EQ’s Seattle Washington office is managing an ongoing remediation project at the Conjecture Mine site in Idaho. The removal action at Conjecture Mine is part of a comprehensive approach by U.S. EPA and the United States Forest Service (USFS) to address mine waste contaminants in the Gold Creek watershed. The purpose of the removal action is to mitigate the release of hazardous substances, including arsenic, lead, and manganese, from waste rock dumps and sediment along Gold Creek. Contaminated mine waste materials (approximately 40,000 loose cubic yards) are being removed from the site for deposition in a nearby waste repository. Mine-waste materials to be removed are identified by field screening, including visual observation and analysis by field portable x-ray fluorescence (FPXRF). Following removal of the contaminated materials, the excavated areas are being backfilled as necessary using fill from borrow sites on USFS land in the vicinity of the site. In addition, a clean stream corridor has been constructed for Gold Creek and its tributaries to restore hydraulic capacity and to prevent erosion and liberation of metals contamination. Construction of this corridor included removal of approximately 7,500 cubic yards of contaminated sediment and reshaping the topography to allow the water to flow through a clean and stable corridor. Regrading efforts are substantial, and include moving roughly 100,000 cubic yards of material to prevent waste rock from coming into contact with surface water. The location is remote, and the entire crew is staying on site in a 25 -room mobile camp complete with two cooks for meal preparation. The site is completely self-contained with lodging, food, satellite internet, satellite phones and cell phone boosters. Please visit EQ’s website for photos and more information on this project, other EQ remediation projects, EQ’s site remediation capabilities; or call Jason Coury at (425) 673-2900 or Bob McCullough at (800) 229-7495.
EQ Uses Remote Sensing Imagery for an Inventory of Vacant Land Soil Stability and Unpaved Private Roads in Nevada
EQ developed an inventory of native desert, disturbed stable vacant land, disturbed unstable vacant land, and private unpaved roads in Clark County, Nevada. This project was performed to meet the environmental commitment of the PM10 State Implementation Plan (SIP) to update the vacant land inventory using satellite or remote sensing imagery and ground truthing. The methodology for developing this inventory used multispectral imagery (from satellite high resolution imagery and aerial photography) and ground truthing to develop spectral signatures of the above land use types. These signatures were used to develop soil stability GIS layers that are compatible with Clark County’s Geographic Information Systems (i.e., ESRI data format and Nevada State Plane Coordinate system). For more information on this project, contact Fred Hall at (800) 229-7495.
EQ Expands Industrial Site Investigation and Remediation Capabilities
EQ recently expanded its service offerings to include a site investigation and remediation practice focused on the industrial and commercial sector. Service areas include state-specific voluntary action programs (i.e. Ohio VAP, Illinois TACO, Pennsylvania Act 2), federal and state brownfield property redevelopment programs, mergers and acquisitions, facility-wide RCRA support, site investigation and remediation activities, and corporate environmental liability support (i.e. FIN 47 asset retirement obligations (ARO), property portfolio management, etc.). For more information or assistance in any of these areas, contact Dan Jelinek or Bob McCullough at (800) 229-7495.
