Client: Real Estate Owner of Shopping Center with Dry Cleaning Facility
Project: SECUR-IT® Guaranteed Cleanup for Refinance/Litigation Settlement
Location: New Jersey
Description: A prominent regional real estate management company hired EWMA to provide a guaranteed fixed-price cleanup for a tetrachloroethylene (PCE)-contaminated dry-cleaning facility located at an active shopping center. The facility had an operating soil vapor extraction (SVE) remedial system that had been previously installed by another company, which addressed a relatively small area of the PCE-contaminated soils situated behind the Cleaners’ leasehold. After approximately fifteen (15) months of system operation, there was no end in sight and no exact quantification of future time or remedial expenses, which was delaying our client’s litigation settlement and totally obstructing refinancing activities.
Shortly after retention, EWMA determined that the maximum effectiveness of the SVE system had been achieved, and the operation of the SVE system was suspended, with the consent of the NJDEP. After EWMA finished evaluating the site for a fixed-price proposal, it was determined that the horizontal and vertical extent of the PCE-contaminated ground water plume at the subject property had been successfully delineated. A continuous silty-clay layer beneath the subject property served as an effective barrier to downward vertical migration of the contamination. EWMA then identified that the portion of the contaminant plume that contained the highest level of PCE, and made that area the primary target of ground water remediation efforts. By aggressively pursuing the most significantly contaminated portion of the PCE plume, EWMA was able to dramatically reduce the overall contaminant mass and achieve the desired site remediation objectives.
We were also able to provide our client a projected time frame of five years for completion of the project, by expediting the remediation process via the utilization of an in-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) remediation technique provided by In-Situ Oxidative Technologies, Inc. (ISOTEC) to address the remaining ground water contamination at the property. The ISCO remediation technique destroyed organic contaminants within the subsurface, utilizing a proprietary blend of catalysts, oxidizers, viscosity enhancers and mobility control agents. ISOTEC oxidants and catalysts generated hydroxyl radicals, which reactrf with the organic contaminants within the subsurface at the site, which produced carbon dioxide and water. ISOTEC did not utilize any acids or pH modifiers as part of the treatment process.
By providing a guaranteed maximum cost for remediation and obtaining Pollution Legal Liability/Cleanup Cost Cap insurance coverage, the uncertainties surrounding remediation cost were eliminated thus helping to facilitate the litigation settlement and refinance for our client.