Cold Weather Operations - Synergy’s Practical Recommendations for Working Outdoors

Brian Loughnane, field staff manager at Synergy Environmental, offers this set of practical recommendations for Synergy’s staff and subcontractors, which applies universally to any environmental contractor working in cold weather: 

People get cold – bring the appropriate clothing, dress in layers, cover your head, feet, hands appropriately.  Monitor each other and yourself for impacts from the cold. 

Remember water freezes – decon water freezes if left out in the truck, groundwater pumped into carbon vessels left out overnight freezes inside the vessel,

Remember samples freeze – on extremely cold days you need to protect the Bottleware.  Remember it should be at 4 C when arriving at the lab.  Frozen bottles pop and leak.  Not good.  Don’t leave samples outside overnight.

Cold saps batteries – left out overnight batteries die quickly: plan for it.  Phones die quickly if not recharged more frequently.

Vehicles slip on ice and snow – don’t be in a rush, drive defensively, keep both hands on the wheel, beware black ice, be prepared to make alternate plans if weather conditions require.

Vehicle windshields ice up – make sure you have an ice scraper and vehicle is supplied with deicing fluid.  Don’t drive until the windshield is totally defrosted.  DO NOT POUR HOT WATER ON A VERY COLD WINDSHIELD.

Trucks/vehicles handle differently in ice and snow – rear wheeling in snow is not good.  Use the 4-wheel drive, drive with a speed adapted to the conditions.  Plan your driving to account for the slower or delayed traffic.

Monitoring wells get hidden under snow – plan for it: how will you locate wells hidden under a little snow?  Use a shovel to get the snow out of the way, use a magnetometer, call ahead and ask if the site was plowed, all are good ideas.  Groundwater Monitoring Wells get stuck under ice – before you head to the site, consider how you are going to pop that lid?  Do you have a hammer or sledge?  Something to pry with? 

Plows sometimes destroy Flushmounts – if you find a damaged flushmount let you PM know immediately.  It will need to be repaired ASAP.

Don’t leave vehicles idling excessively – can’t sample around exhaust (vehicle exhaust can impact samples), remember excessive idling increases the wear on the engine . 
Locks freeze – have a small can of deicer ready if you need it.  Many locks freeze - Vehicle locks, MW locks, Remediation System locks, etc..

The Deadline is Looming - Are Your UST Operators Ready?

The Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated a number of new requirements for owners and operators of petroleum storage facilities.  One of the final implementation steps applies to the management of Underground Storage Tank (UST) systems. The Act, to be implemented at the state level, requires all UST owners/operators to receive state certified training in UST operation, safety, best management practices and emergency response procedures. 

Synergy Environmental, Inc.  and Tanksurance have developed one of the first training courses certified by Pennsylania’s Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP)  for UST Operator Training.  Reciprocal acceptance of the course for certification in NJ, NY, and MD is currently under review.  Some details of the course being offered are listed below.

Class A and B Operator Training - from Synergy/Tanksurance
3 hour interactive classroom instruction, morning and afternoon classes offered.
Registration cost - $225.  Discounts for multiple company personnel.

Registration is open now - sign up today:

Thursday, January 20th -  9:00 AM   or   1:00 PM
Thursday, February 17th -  9:00 AM   or   1:00 PM
Thursday, March 24th   -  9:00 AM   or   1:00 PM

Course Location:
Synergy Environmental, Inc.
155 Railroad Plaza
Royersford, PA 19468
for directions: http://www.synergyenvinc.com/index.php/contact/

Register via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
or by phone: (484) 369-2007

For further information contact:

Bob May, PE                               Tim Donnellon, PE,  CPCU
Synergy Environmental, Inc.                Tanksurance
(484) 369 - 2007                             (717) 393 -3065
     
www.synergyenvinc.com               www.tanksurance.com

Synergy and Petroleum Equity form Strategic Alliance

ROYERSFORD, PA and CHAPPAQUA, NY - (October 11, 2010)

Synergy Environmental, Inc.  and Petroleum Equity Group, Ltd., have announced the formation of a strategic alliance to establish a seamless acquisition financing and due diligence service package for buy side retail petroleum distributors.  The announcement was made on October 7, 2010 from the floor of the Georgia World Congress Center during the 2010 Annual Meeting of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) in Atlanta, GA.

According to Ken Shriber, Managing Director of Petroleum Equity Group, a full service financial and advisory firm,  “The key driver for this alliance is to service the very real needs of our fuel jobber clients.  As they seek to expand their businesses through strategic acquisitions, they have dual needs.  They must identify and value the opportunity, and minimize their acquisition costs which include environmental analysis, testing, and evaluation. Combining the services of financial analysis, environmental due diligence, and the development of financing, insurance and risk management solutions for our buy side clients provides them with a powerful tool for achieving their growth plans and protecting their interests.  We are now a one stop shop for acquisition support in the retail/wholesale gas and c-store/service station sector.” 

Brian FitzPatrick, President of Synergy Environmental, noted, ” at Synergy, we have been helping our clients acquire gasoline station portfolios for 7 years now.  Over the years we have developed a number of methods to improve efficiencies in what we do.  We believe this alliance with Petroleum Equity Group will be another huge step forward in enabling our clients to evaluate and complete transactions in the years to come.”

Specific services available from the Synergy/Petroleum Equity alliance include the following:

Pre-Transaction Services

Financial due diligence to enable informed negotiation for buyers

Analysis of value of environmental liabilities; including site assessment/ document review and development of remedial work plans as needed, and assessing availability of reimbursement funds from public sources and/or private insurance policies

Continuing Operational Services

Financial advisory services and Insurance brokerage to collateralize environmental risk,  fulfill regulatory financial responsibility requirements, as well as ongoing business needs for insurance

Facility and environmental management for UST compliance, inventory, and delivery management using our proprietary web based system, Fuel-View.

For further information:

Tim Donnellon
Business Development Manager                                                                                                        
Synergy Environmental, Inc.                                              .
(717) 393 - 3065     .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)                                             
www.synergyenvinc.com  

Ken Shriber
Managing Director
Petroleum Equity Group, Ltd
(917) 882 - 2702     .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
www.petroleumequitygroup.com

Bob May Presents at National Tanks Conference

Bob May,  Synergy’s Senior Engineer and Director of Synergy’s UST management program presented today at the 22nd Annual National Tanks Conference in Boston, MA.  The focus of Bob’ s talk was an in-depth forensic analysis of an underground storage tank release.  Synergy was able to determine that undocumented adjustments in UST underground piping caused the Automatic Tank Monitoring System to provide a false positive result while performing 3 gallon per hour leak detection.  A faulty T- joint caused by a nearby contractor performing an underground piping rearrangement caused a leak which continued for 2 days as ATM devices incorrectly advised the client that no leak was occurring.

To an audience of state and federal environmental regulators from across the nation and Bob’s presentation evaluated the circumstances of the leak and provided a set of recommendations for improvements in procedures to prevent recurrence of this type of incident.

For a copy of this presentation,  Contact Synergy

Synergy Responds to Vapor Intrusion Issues in New Jersey

Rick Shoyer, Director of Engineering, provided an update today on how Synergy has responded to New Jersey’s growing number of vapor intrusion cases.  In response to an inquiry, Rick highlighted a number of recently completed and ongoing Synergy Projects:

LIBERTY CORNER, NJ – VAPOR DEPRESSURIZATION SYSTEM - Synergy performed indoor and subslab vapor sampling.  Contaminants of concern were PCE and TCE above State and Federal limits.  Synergy performed a pilot study to determine vacuum, airflow, number of extraction points and blower sizing requirements for this 7,600 square ft building.  Due to different basement elevations and subslab construction, two independent systems were installed.  Post vacuum measurements confirmed full vapor depressurization under the subslab. 

WOODBURY HEIGHTS, NJ – PASSIVE VAPOR BARRIER - Synergy designed and supervised the installation of a passive vapor barrier for new construction of a bank building on an impacted Brownfields Site.  The contaminants of concern were volatile organics including TCE.

NEWARK, NJ – SVE TREATMENT OF PCE AND TCE IN SOIL - Synergy has designed, permitted and will initiate startup of a SVE treatment specifically to treat PCE and TCE from subsurface soils.  Obtaining an air permit from NJDEP was part of the SVE system design and installation tasks.

LUMBERTON TOWNSHIP, NJ – VAPOR INTRUSION SAMPLING, SVE PILOT TEST, SUBSLAB SOIL SAMPLING - A former dry cleaners located in a strip mall released PCE beneath the building.  Synergy is performing subslab soil and vapor sampling, pilot testing for SVE extraction and treatment of PCE.

Pennsylvania Storage Tank Advisory Committee Selects Synergy’s Bob May

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Secretary John Hanger has requested the experience of Synergy’s Bob May for an additional two year term as a member of PADEP’s Storage Tank Advisory Committee (STAC).  May was originally appointed to the committee in 2000 by then Secretary James Seif.  May’s background as a consulting engineer and compliance and remediation expert, including 18 years of work in the remediation group of Exxon (now ExxonMobil), has proven to be a valuable resource to the committee, which is charged by PADEP with providing practical guidance to assist in ongoing regulatory issues relating to petroleum storage tanks.

STAC most recently helped provide guidance to PADEP for enabling legislation in the Commonwealth to comply with the Federal Energy Act of 2005, including regulations adopted on December 26, 2009 requiring that all operators of retail petroleum service stations must complete prescribed training and maintain a certification.  For further discussion of this and to obtain training see CLASS A B and C operator training at the Synergy Training Center

Brownfield Properties And Your Business Property Search

Brian Loughnane, PG, a senior hydrogeologist for Synergy Environmental, Inc. was recently published in The Route 422 Business Advisor, the monthly publication of the Philadelphia TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce. 

Brian has over 18 years experience in working on dozens of brownfields investigation and site remediation projects.  Brian’s article provides a brownfields definition and explains the business considerations as well as the technical procedures involved in restoring a contaminated site to a usable property.

For a copy of the article or other questions regarding brownfields/contaminated property redevelopment,  please fill out the “Contact Us”  form on this page.