Case Study
Risk Assessment and Remediation: Texas
By Judi L. Durda, Chief Strategy Officer
OUR CHALLENGE
At the Greens Bayou site near the busy Houston ship channel, our client faced legal and regulatory action to address past releases of hazardous substances—including DDT and PCBs—from historical operations. Concerns included impacts to navigational dredging, as well as human and ecological risk and natural resource damages. The breadth of issues and need for rapid resolution required a fast-track multidisciplinary approach.
OUR APPROACH
We served as expert witnesses in the litigation, directed field investigation and analysis, assessed risks, designed the sediment remedy, and negotiated with the natural resource trustees. We oversaw sediment dredging of approximately 500,000 cubic yards, and designed and implemented a post-dredge monitoring program to document that performance criteria were met.
OUR IMPACT
Our combined efforts effectively resolved legal, regulatory, and trustee issues. We completed risk assessment and engineering tasks, directed successful remedy implementation, and negotiated a natural resource damage settlement in roughly 5 years. The result was elimination of human health and ecological risk, accelerated restoration, and substantial cost savings to our client.
Published
May 14, 2019
Key Contact
Judi Durda is a toxicologist and ecologist with more than 30 years of experience in the health and environmental science... Full bio