Mr. White has supervised environmental characterization efforts at rocket-motor production facilities, petroleum refineries, petroleum pipelines, printed-circuit facilities, abandoned smelter complexes, and other industrial facilities to determine the extent and magnitude of soil and groundwater contamination. In support of this work, he has prepared work plans, QA/QC plans, health and safety plans, contamination assessments, and human-health and ecological risk assessments to establish remediation goals. Based on site conditions, he has developed remedial-action plans to clean up past contamination using a wide variety of remedial measures (including air stripping, vapor extraction, thermal desorption, pump-and-treat, air sparging, dual-phase extraction, excavation and off-site disposal, stabilization/solidification, bioremediation, and natural attenuation). Contaminants of concern have included explosives, inorganics, chlorinated solvents, dioxins/furans, and other organics. Selected projects are summarized below.

 

Multi-Year Assessment, Design, and Remediation – Petroleum Refinery

Supervised and directly assisted in the performance of multi-year assessment, design, and remediation management services at a petroleum refinery located on 600 acres in northern Utah. This work involved the performance of a RCRA Facility Assessment that included detailed characterization of 28 solid-waste management units to determine the need for remediation of hazardous and non-hazardous sludges, refuse, spent refinery chemicals, tank bottoms, and waste waters; performance of bench- and pilot-scale treatability studies to determine the feasibility of various remedial alternatives; preparation of a refinery-wide numerical groundwater flow and contaminant transport model; assessments of the risk of remediation alternatives on human health and the environment; and negotiations with regulatory authorities to classify groundwater as a separate solid-waste management unit, thereby negating the need to remediate groundwater at each individual location where surface remediation was required. The majority of the solid wastes were remediated through solidification and on-site disposal in onsite closure cells, the design of which included combining wastes with widely varying acid-generation potential to support chemical stabilization of the material.

Propellant and Rocket-Motor Manufacturing Client

Supervised and directly provided long-term environmental engineering services to a major propellant and rocket-motor manufacturing client in northern Utah. Contaminants of concern include explosives (nitroglycerin, HMX, RDX, perchlorates, etc.), organic solvents (TCE, TCA, DCE, Freon, etc.), and inorganics (lead, silver, chromium, etc.). Specific tasks managed by Mr. White for this client have included:

  • Performed groundwater quality and hydrogeologic characterizations of the facilities and adjacent areas;

  • Assessed the extent and magnitude of off-site contamination;

  • Prepared work plans and bid documents and supervised installation of over 100 monitoring wells, deep piezometers, and observation wells under tight time schedules to meet regulatory constraints;

  • Determined the effectiveness of monitoring well purging during sampling and assisted the client in changing to low-purge sampling methods, thereby eliminating large amounts of investigation-derived waste;

  • Performed and analyzed the results of aquifer-characteristics tests in over 100 monitoring wells to assess the hydraulic conditions of the groundwater system;

  • Numerically modeled groundwater flow and contaminant transport to assist in determining the effectiveness of various remediation alternatives;

  • Performed human health and ecological risk assessments to establish cleanup criteria;

  • Modeled flow in the unsaturated zone to assess the potential for migration of contaminants from soil to the underlying groundwater;

  • Designed a solid-waste landfill for on-site disposal of non-hazardous solid waste;

  • Performed floodplain encroachment investigations;

  • Designed and implemented pilot-scales tests to anaerobically bioremediate soil and groundwater that was contaminated with perchlorates and organic solvents;

  • Conducted a remote drilling investigation of explosives-contaminated soil in six former industrial wastewater collection basins, exercising special precautionary measures due to the potentially-explosive nature of the contaminants;

  • Designed a water treatment system to remove perchlorate from storm water prior to discharging to an adjacent wetland.

 

Chief Engineer – Evaluation of Options for Remediating Legacy Contamination

Served as chief engineer to evaluate options for remediating legacy contamination adjacent to a drainage canal where it flows through to an oil refinery. Past waste disposal practices at the refinery resulted in hydrocarbon impacts to soils adjacent to the canal. The US EPA expressed concerns that continued seepage of oil into the canal following remediation of the sediments would re-contaminate the canal. Conducted a feasibility study under US EPA guidelines to evaluate alternative approaches to eliminate future impacts from the oil seepage. The design anticipated re-routing approximately 3000 feet of the canal to bypass the area of oil seepage. The impacted soils in the former canal bank would then be mitigated as part of a refinery-wide groundwater remediation effort. Evaluated several options for remediating the residual hydrocarbons in the canal bank, including preparation of conceptual designs and cost estimates for each option, and presented these options to the client for consideration. Prepared a Remedial Design/Remedial Action work plan for the preferred alternative, which consisted of partial excavation of the impacted soil, backfilling of the area to maintain stable conditions, and implementation of monitored natural attenuation.

 

Designed a Soil-Vapor Extraction (“SVE”) Pilot-Scale Test

Designed a soil-vapor extraction (“SVE”) pilot-scale test for a Superfund site near Billings, Montana.  Reviewed data collected from prior subsurface investigations and rendered a positive opinion on the feasibility of SVE as a remediation approach for the site.  Designed the pilot test components, consisting of 14 SVE wells, vacuum pumps, air treatment systems, and monitoring apparatuses.  Assisted the client with the process of obtaining proposals from contractors to install the pilot-test components and served as the project engineer during performance of the test.

 

Proposed Residential Development in Mining Area – Southwestern Utah

Served as chief engineer and manager of a project to evaluate and remediate the impacts of prior mining activities in an area of proposed residential development in southwestern Utah. The area had been the subject of silver and uranium mining from the late 1880s to the mid-1900s, with several areas containing waste rock, tailings, and other contamination of concern. The project included a detailed site characterization investigation, performance of a risk assessment to establish remediation goals, preparation of a detailed work plan for excavation of contaminated soil and waste rock, burial of these materials in an on-site repository, and backfilling the excavated areas with clean soil. Developed a quality assurance project plan, sampling and analysis plan, dust control plan, traffic control plan, and storm water pollution prevention plan and incorporated all of these plans into the detailed remedial action plan for review by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. Interacted with the State during site remediation and prepared a final report describing all remediation activities. This work was conducted under the Voluntary Cleanup Program of the State of Utah.

Water Encountered in an Underground Coal Mine

Evaluated alternatives for treatment and disposal of water encountered in an underground coal mine in southeastern Utah. The primary concern associated with this water was high levels of salinity. Options that were evaluated included underground injection, evaporation, beneficial reuse via irrigation, and reverse-osmosis treatment for desalination. Prepared cost estimates as well as a discussion of advantages and disadvantages for each alternative to allow the client to better evaluate their options.

 

Other projects

  • Designed treatment cells for the bioremediation of contaminated soils, using both bacterial and fungal methods. Contaminants included petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, wood preservatives, and dioxins/furans. Work was conducted in Utah, Wyoming, Michigan, North Carolina, and New Zealand.

 

  • Performed statistical analyses of soil and groundwater data collected from industrial facilities. Used these data to calculate exposure point concentrations and risks associated with contaminated media.

 

  • Designed sampling programs to assess the effectiveness of soil remediation efforts. Prepared work plans, outlining data quality objectives, conceptual site models, sampling procedures, analytical procedures, and human risk associated with residual concentrations of the contaminants of concern.
  • Prepared human-health and ecological risk assessments at locations where the contaminants of concern included solvents, petroleum hydrocarbons, energetics, and inorganics.

 

  • Supervised assessment and remediation of groundwater contamination resulting from leaking underground storage tanks in Utah and Michigan. Responsible for monitoring well installation, soil-gas surveys, remediation system design and installation, and treatment system operation.