Following four decades of contamination, the site of a former wood preserving plant near Jacksonville, Florida, needed a swift remedy. With deadline pressure looming, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needed a cleanup partner that could work rapidly. Black & Veatch stepped up to help the EPA meet its goals.

In 1982, the EPA gained passage of what is known as the Superfund Act, a measure to clean up hazardous waste sites. The Coleman-Evans wood preserving plant near Jacksonville was listed by the EPA as a Superfund mega-site. The site was active from 1954 until 1994. Due to poor waste management practices, the site was contaminated with harmful chemicals. With future funding in the region based largely on meeting aggressive U.S. Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goals, EPA Region 4 needed work completed on a fast schedule.

Specialized Solutions

Black & Veatch assembled a diverse project team to develop specialized solutions for the site. The project team worked closely with industry experts and multiple stakeholders. Local and federal government officials were involved, as well as project subcontractors. In addition, the team used innovative statistical analysis.

To set a fast pace, the project team used an approach called congener profiling. This method aided the analysis of the site’s amount of dioxin. The approach not only quickened the investigation, but also resulted in significant cost savings to the EPA. The EPA is now considering formal adoption of this inventive profiling technique.

Black & Veatch’s team approach, combined with the innovative congener profiling, allowed EPA Region 4 to achieve precedent-setting milestones. The Coleman-Evans site was the only Superfund site in the nation to achieve three GPRA goals in three years.

The Coleman-Evans site was the only Superfund site in the nation to achieve three GPRA goals in three years.