2013 SMART Halifax

Buying Best Value – Procuring Remediation Work

The Goose Bay Remediation Project is a long-term multi-million dollar contaminated site remediation project managed by the Department of National Defence, and funded by the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan program. The goal of the project is to remediate or risk-manage contamination at 5 Wing Goose Bay resulting from decades of site operation in a way that does not pose a long-term risk to human health or the environment. Due to the nature, extent, and variety of contamination – such as hydrocarbons, heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs, and PAHs – we will be using a wide variety of different remedial techniques, all of which have specific requirements and unique challenges. Other than project and contract management, and technical oversight, 100% of the activities required to deliver the project require procured services. To meet the schedule and budget constraints of the project, procurement planning for project activities is an essential requirement, and much effort has been dedicated to improving how we tender and manage contracts within a relatively small project team. Planning procurements that are fair, transparent, and good value to the Government of Canada while also being viable, interesting, and attractive to industry is a significant challenge for the project team. It is also not easy to encourage innovation and flexibility in a framework that must follow a common set of standards in order to be fairly evaluated. Specifically, performance-based contracting is a unique challenge in the public sector. It requires a good understanding of the risks that exist for both parties, and finding ways to balance those risks to a tolerable level. This presentation will identify some of the constraints that are unique to procurement in the public sector, and how we use lessons learned, communications with industry, flexibility in our planning, and a balanced approach to risk to generate contracts that meet the project goals while being viable for private industry.

Innovative Plume Stability Analysis & Remediation System Benefit Analysis (RSBA)

In-Situ Treatment of Home Heating Oil Spills

Optimization of Oxidant Delivery for In-Situ Remediation

Use of In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) for subsurface remediation of soil and groundwater has increased dramatically over the past 10 years. ISCO techniques are becoming increasingly recognized and recommended by environmental firms. The reaction chemistry is relatively well understood for common contaminants of concern. However, application of ISCO can be problematic, as there can be improper delivery of the remedial amendment into subsurface resulting in incomplete contact with the contamination. The purpose of this talk is to explore various methods to ensure better contact between the remedial amendment and the subsurface contamination. Two amendment delivery methods will be compared and contrasted, specifically injection into wells and injection using temporary points. Examples of when these delivery methods should be used will be presented. The results of a laboratory experiment will be presented visually showcasing how delivery of a solution occurs in the subsurface in a sand aquifer with clay aquitards.

Brownfield Development and Remediation Technology Selection – An Industry Perspective

This presentation will discuss how Cobalt’s Environmental Management Program incorporates the assessment and management of environmental risk while providing fiscally responsibility from a developer’s perspective. It will also cover Cobalt’s redevelopment of properties owned and under management to a ‘higher and better use’ and the importance of exploring, validating and deploying new technologies and leveraging scientific techniques to further the redevelopment of brownfield sites for all stakeholders.

Soluble Carbon-Iron Product for In-Situ Remediation of Groundwater

Using Environmental Fracturing to Achieve Sustainable Remediation in Difficult Lithologies

The effectiveness of commonly used in situ approaches to site remediation in North America, and indeed much of the world, can be seriously undermined by a site’s inherent lithology. As a result, site remediation practitioners around the world are increasingly turning to environmental fracturing as a means of increasing contact area in the subsurface; contact area in a “typical” fracture-enhanced well in low K soil is usually 600 to 1,000 times greater than that of a conventional well in the same soil. This presentation examines the evolution of environmental fracturing technologies to address these limitations and provides practitioners with a guide to the application of environmental fracturing, based on 17 years of project experience in jurisdictions ranging from across North America to Europe, Africa, and Asia. Following an introduction of the technical history of, and the geotechnical and economic justification for, environmental fracturing, including a review of both hydraulic and pneumatic variations thereof, the presentation highlights a series of project “vignettes” from various environmental sectors (oil and gas, brownfield developers, superfund sites, etc) to showcase the integrated and synergistic use of innovative fracture-enhancement techniques for attaining sustainable and cost-effective remediation. Physical, biological and chemical (reductive and oxidative) treatment technologies are showcased in the context of both subsurface extraction and delivery techniques to optimize contact with contaminants for their conversion to innocuous and natural end products. Examples of remediation technologies in challenging geologic settings and operationally constrained sites are provided to showcase their versatility and small site profile. Complimentary remedial verification tools are introduced to validate and confirm the effective treatment of subsurface soil and groundwater contaminants to achieve remedial goals. The implications of the application of environmental fracturing within the remediation industry are assessed in the context of cost benefits for site owners, efficacy gains for owners’ engineers, and enhancing environmental sustainability for communities.