Reinventing Ourselves

Ceres Associates is going through an interesting time right now, we are in the process of reinventing ourselves. It is a sincere effort to reach out to our client base and provide them what they really need and what they really want. Instead of being that old-school environmental engineering firm, like most of our industry represents, we want to become the Virgin Airlines of our industry, a company that offers substance and fun. We can do most of this on our own, and we expect that it will take some time. If there is anyone with some great ideas on how we can be the company that clients want to hire, we would love to hear them.

Need Funding, try the OSCA

When a property owner finds out that a underground storage tank (UST) is located on their property, they usually have a mild reaction -- perhaps a cough. But when that same owner is then told that the UST leaked and may costs $100,000s to fix. . . well, they do more than just cough.

Though, in California, the UST Clean-up Fund does provide an incredible amount ($1.5 million) of financial assistance, if the site/owner doesn't meet the Fund's strict guidelines they are DENIED. Here's where the Orphan Site Clean-up Account (OSCA) comes to the rescue. The OSCA (a sub-part to the Fund) is designed to pay for assessment and remediation of sites impacted from petroleum-fuel USTs. The OSCA has the same $1.5 million limit as the Fund, but the strict permitting requirements are foregone.

The key to the OSCA is there can't be financially viable Responsible Parties (RPs) in the title history of the Property. Though it hasn't come to it, the OSCA does provide for priorities of assignment where the property lies within a set distance of sensitive sites, located in a HUD zone, or is a Brownsfield site. Payments from the OSCA are much quicker than the Fund, and all reasonable costs associated with work required by the local regulator are reimbursed (this includes the removal of the problem UST).

The great thing about this funding mechanism is that now property owners with leaking UST issues have financial support to get their sites to closure. The OSCA is a powerful tool for developers and property owners who are looking to redevelop former gas stations, Brownsfield sites, and other infill locations. Don’t shy away from that next property because the Phase I indicates the potential for a UST; do some additional due diligence and perhaps you may find a property that is truly a diamond in the rough.

Click here to apply.

We Need Some Good People

What is it about this industry that makes it so difficult to find good registered employees. Ceres Associates is poised to take on some substantial growth, but we do not want to take on the growth unless we have the right people to sustain that expansion. Not only that, any new employee would have to be fun to be around. Work hard and have fun that’s what we do. Maybe by putting out this simple blog, someone out there somewhere who fits the bill will say “hey, that’s the company for me,” and send a resume to nickpatz@ceresassociates.com. Professional Geologists and Engineers who want to work in the Los Angeles Area or the San Francisco Bay Area, we are looking for you.

Global Warming - A Thing of the Past

There are a lot of concerns with global warming these days. The concept of global warming gets very complex. Politics plays a role, and whenever that happens emotions often take over from knowledge and intelligence. I do not claim to be an expert in how and why climates change. My expertise is in reducing harmful chemicals in the air, soil, and water. In the United States alone two million tons of methane emissions are generated annually by our landfills. Of course, there are many other harmful chemicals being emitted from our landfills, but using methane alone, kind of ads a perspective to the problem. Methane, of course, is a significant green house gas designated by experts as being partially responsible for global warming. So there is a big problem with the way we manage our wastes in the United States. The problem is much worse on a global scale. But there are good and reasonable solutions.

One day landfills will be a thing of the past. There are several technologies that will combust debris, and reduce the amount of trash that needs to buried by 90 percent or greater. In the United States we use the oldest method of all and that is called mass burn. However, significant research is being conducted in this country, as well as in places were a lot of landfill space is not available. Emerging technologies include pyrolysis, gasification, and plasma arc to name a few. It is not too important to describe these in detail, but suffice it to say that these are not burning technologies they are transformational. They transform organic material into gas, and inorganic material to a molten glob, with a little bit of char remaining. The char and the inorganic materials can be reused. The gases are separated out. The bad gases are destroyed or filtered, the good gases are used to power boilers to create electricity.

Of course, these new technologies are relatively expensive. But as the concern for global warming becomes greater, and the technological world looks for ways to shield us from a warmer climate, reducing waste by greater than 90 percent and producing electricity from our waste seems to be a pretty good way to proceed. After all, in using these technologies we will not only significantly reduce greenhouse gases resulting from garbage, but we will produce electricity that currently takes non-renewable resources that are said to add to the problem of climate change. We can accomplish this all with garbage. Isn’t that something?