Category: Brownfields Redevelopment

Preparing Small-Town Downtown Properties for Redevelopment Under Indiana’s Small Town Opportunity Initiative (STOI)

Posted on by Elizabeth Hemingway

By: Matthew Bono, CHMM

Indiana’s small towns have no shortage of vision. Across the state, historic downtowns offer buildings, streets, and public spaces that can support new housing, small businesses, local investment, and renewed community pride. What many communities need is a clearer path to reinvest in those assets and return long-underused properties to productive use.

That is the opportunity behind Indiana’s Small Town Opportunity Initiative, or STOI.

Established under HEA 1406 and administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, STOI is intended to support qualified community projects that advance historic preservation and redevelop or rehabilitate distressed buildings, underutilized property, or sites where distressed buildings once stood. The program also allows redevelopment tax credits for eligible projects, including credits equal to 20% of the project cost for for-profit taxpayers and 30% for nonprofit taxpayers.

For Indiana communities looking to strengthen their downtowns, STOI represents more than a funding tool. STOI helps communities identify which older downtown properties are best positioned for reinvestment and adaptive reuse—laying the groundwork for long-term community value.

STOI Is Creating New Momentum for Downtown Revitalization

The need for small-town reinvestment is real. The STOI one-pager highlights the challenges facing many Indiana communities, including population decline, distressed downtown buildings, reduced downtown vibrancy, housing needs, and the desire to focus limited public resources where infrastructure already exists.

Downtown redevelopment is one of the most practical ways for small towns to create momentum—because it strengthens what already exists instead of spending limited resources to build outward. With infrastructure and community activity already concentrated downtown, reusing underutilized properties can deliver visible results while preserving the character people value most. STOI helps accelerate that progress by targeting the barriers that often stall reinvestment—blight, ownership challenges, and neglected historic buildings—while supporting the outcomes communities want: market‑rate housing, business growth, and vibrant downtown districts. For towns ready to act, STOI can help turn dormant properties into high‑impact community wins.

For communities that have been waiting for the right moment to act, STOI may provide the spark to begin planning.

The Opportunity Is Not Just Funding. It Is Redevelopment Readiness.

While STOI creates a new opportunity, successful redevelopment still depends on preparation.

Many of the properties best positioned for downtown revitalization are older buildings and parcels with long histories of use. Some may have housed former dry-cleaning operations, service stations, automotive repair shops, manufacturing facilities, or other commercial uses. Others may contain aging infrastructure, underground storage tanks, asbestos-containing materials, lead-based paint, or conditions that require further environmental review before redevelopment can move forward.

These factors should not be viewed as reasons to avoid downtown redevelopment. They are reasons to plan early.

A property does not need to be perfect to be worth reinvesting in. In fact, many of the most important redevelopment opportunities are the ones that require a thoughtful path forward. The key is understanding site conditions before they become barriers to financing, design, construction, or community support.

Many Older Downtown Properties Require Early Environmental Site Assessment

For municipalities, developers, nonprofits, lenders, and community foundations, environmental uncertainty can complicate redevelopment decisions. Unknown site conditions may raise questions such as:

Can the building be safely reused?

Will environmental investigation be needed before financing?

Are there vapor intrusion concerns?

Could past property uses affect future housing or commercial plans?

Will cleanup, mitigation, or regulatory coordination be required?

How should these considerations be factored into the project budget and timeline?

Answering these questions early helps stakeholders make better decisions. It also helps communities prioritize which properties are ready for redevelopment, which need additional evaluation, and which may require a more detailed strategy before moving forward.

Early preparation matters under STOI since state guidance indicates that some early-stage, nonprofit costs tied to readying a site may count toward qualified investment—if specific conditions are met.

Eligible expenditures may include costs incurred to:

  • Acquire real property
  • Hold real property while a project is advanced
  • Prepare real property for redevelopment

The takeaway is straightforward: early-stage preparation is not separate from redevelopment success. Done well, it is part of getting a STOI project ready to move forward.

How Environmental Due Diligence Helps Prepare Properties for Reuse

Environmental due diligence gives communities, and redevelopment partners, a clearer understanding of a property before major commitments are made.

A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment can help identify recognized environmental conditions by reviewing historical property uses, regulatory records, site observations, and neighboring property concerns. If potential issues are identified, a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment or site investigation can provide more information about soil, groundwater, soil vapor, or building-related conditions.

For downtown redevelopment projects, this process can help:

  • Clarify environmental conditions before acquisition or construction
  • Support conversations with lenders, developers, and funding partners
  • Inform project budgets and redevelopment timelines
  • Identify whether remediation, vapor mitigation, or regulatory closure may be needed
  • Reduce the likelihood of unexpected delays once a project is underway
  • Align environmental strategy with the property’s intended future use

This kind of early planning is not just a technical step. It is part of redevelopment readiness.

When communities understand site conditions early, they are better positioned to move from concept to execution with confidence.

How EnviroForensics Supports STOI Redevelopment Efforts

EnviroForensics helps communities, developers, nonprofits, and investors navigate the environmental considerations that often come with older downtown properties.

For STOI-related redevelopment efforts, our support can include environmental site assessments and targeted investigations (including vapor intrusion), remediation planning, brownfield redevelopment strategy, regulatory guidance, responsible party research, funding support for investigation and cleanup, and coordination with project stakeholders. Additionally, EnviroForensics has experience with firms that acquire contaminated properties, manage environmental liability claims and develop properties.

The goal is not simply to identify potential problems. The goal is to help communities understand what is manageable, what steps may be needed, and how environmental planning can support the larger vision for redevelopment.

That larger vision is what STOI is about: preparing downtown properties for new housing, small business growth, historic preservation, and long-term local investment.

When environmental considerations are addressed early, they become part of a practical redevelopment plan rather than a surprise that slows momentum.

By identifying site conditions early and developing a thoughtful environmental strategy, municipalities, developers, nonprofits, and local leaders can reduce uncertainty and focus on the real work ahead: creating housing, supporting small businesses, preserving community character, and building long-term economic momentum.

At EnviroForensics, we help communities turn environmental questions into a path forward so downtown revitalization projects can move from possibility to progress.

Because when small towns are prepared to reinvest in what they already have, they are better positioned to build what comes next. Contact us today.

Turning Challenges into Opportunities: Redeveloping Indiana’s Most Stubborn Properties

Posted on by Elizabeth Hemingway

Every Indiana community has them — the empty lot, the boarded-up building, the old gas station or dry cleaner that’s sat untouched for years. These are our Brownfields.

They’re more than just eyesores. Abandoned, tax-delinquent, or contaminated properties quietly drain city resources, erode the tax base, and discourage new investment.

At the same time, Indiana communities need new housing, stronger economies, and revitalized neighborhoods. Achieving those goals means reclaiming and reinvesting in properties that have been left behind — not expanding outward while the core of our communities sits idle.

The truth is, Brownfields represent one of the greatest opportunities for revitalization in our state. When communities choose to fix what’s broken, they demonstrate leadership, fiscal responsibility, and vision — and they lay the groundwork for sustainable growth from the inside out.

The Problem Beneath the Surface

Beneath every Brownfield lies a complex web of challenges. Environmental contamination is often just the beginning. The costs of cleanup, asbestos abatement, and demolition can be daunting. On top of that, there are serious liability concerns — cities and developers risk being held responsible for contamination they didn’t cause.

Many of these properties are also tied up in bankruptcies, estate probate, or tax delinquencies, making ownership and transfer complicated. And while EPA and state grants are available to support Brownfield cleanup, they rarely provide enough funding to fully address the problem. The result is financial uncertainty — and communities left holding the burden of properties they can’t afford to fix.

These sites are tough to tackle, so they linger. Meanwhile, new development expands outward, requiring costly new infrastructure while prime, well-located land near downtowns and neighborhoods sits idle.

But here’s the good news: with the right plan and the right partners, even the most complicated sites can be transformed — into housing, jobs, and thriving community spaces that once again serve the people who live nearby.

The Opportunity: Rebuild from Within

Redeveloping contaminated or underused properties does far more than clean up the environment — it creates long-term economic, social, and environmental value.

When cities reinvest in these sites, they protect public health, restore the environment, and strengthen local economies. They expand tax bases, create new opportunities for housing and business growth, and revive community pride and neighborhood identity.

In short, it’s not just about fixing land — it’s about reclaiming potential and reimagining what these properties can mean for the future of a community.

A Roadmap to Redevelopment

At the recent AIM (Accelerate Indiana Municipalities) Conference, EnviroForensics CEO Steve Henshaw, LPG, and environmental attorney David Guevara, PhD, Esq., shared a clear roadmap for how Indiana communities can turn contaminated properties into valuable community assets.

  1. Identify viable sites. Focus on tax-delinquent or blighted properties in strategic locations that have strong redevelopment potential.
  2. Fund the investigation and cleanup. There are successful alternatives to traditional Brownfield grants. Cities can leverage historical insurance assets, pursue responsible party litigation, or partner with an acquisition firm to purchase contaminated property, manage cleanup, and sell it back to the municipality once remediation is complete. Property owners also have standing to compel responsible parties to address contamination.
  3. Limit liability. Acquire the property as a Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (BFPP) to protect the city and ensure cleanup activities do not expose the municipality to environmental liability.
  4. Prepare for redevelopment. Align cleanup goals with the property’s future use — whether for housing, commercial space, or mixed-use development — and integrate the project into the community’s broader redevelopment plan.

Across Indiana, cities are already proving that this approach works. Wabash is turning a 62-acre former manufacturing site into new homes and apartments. Lebanon transformed a vacant factory into a new 50,000-square-foot distribution facility, creating more than 20 new jobs. Mishawaka used insurance recovery funds to clean up a metal finishing site. In Indianapolis, a former rail spur along the Monon Trail has been redeveloped into a thriving residential area. In Madison, a former manufacturing facility has been repurposed into an apartment complex for seniors. And Terre Haute is embarking on an ambitious riverfront redevelopment, turning a former manufacturing facility into mixed-use and nature trails.

Each of these projects began with a problem property — and ended with a stronger, cleaner, more vibrant community.

Let’s Turn Challenges Into Opportunities

At EnviroForensics, we help municipalities and developers unlock funding, manage liability, and transform contaminated properties into clean, safe, and valuable assets that fuel growth for generations to come.

Because when communities reclaim what’s been left behind, they don’t just restore the environment — they restore opportunity.

That’s what we mean by turning environmental liabilities into assets®.

Have questions or want to learn how we can help your community get started? Contact us today.

Addressing Indiana’s Housing Shortage: Unlocking Residential Development Opportunities on Brownfield Sites

Posted on by Elizabeth Hemingway

BY: STEVE HENSHAW, LPG

As we’ve traveled across Indiana, engaging with mayors and local leaders, the issue of growing a workforce without an adequate housing inventory continues to be front and center. In response, we’ve launched an initiative aimed at identifying potential residential redevelopment sites within city limits by focusing on Brownfield properties.

Brownfields—sites impacted by past industrial or commercial use—often have the potential to be transformed into thriving residential spaces. With our specialized tools and expertise, we can assist cities in revitalizing these properties, potentially cleaning up environmental contaminants at little to no cost to the city or its taxpayers. At this year’s AIM Ideas Summit, EnviroForensics CEO Steve Henshaw spoke on this topic during his workshop “Finding Your Diamond in the Rough by Looking Closer at Problem Properties.” By rehabilitating these sites, we aim to contribute to the solution for Indiana’s housing shortage while turning underutilized land into valuable community assets.

We look forward to continuing our work with Indiana’s cities to create sustainable, affordable housing solutions that benefit both residents and local economies.

To learn more about our work, explore our Brownfields Redevelopment services.

Chad Pigg Joins EnviroForensics Development Team as Director of Brownfields and Economic Development

Posted on by Elizabeth Hemingway

EnviroForensics is proud to announce that Chad Pigg has joined our redevelopment team as its Director of Brownfields and Economic Development. We have been specializing in the municipal sector to help revitalize brownfields and manage environmental claims.

EnviroForensics’ CEO Steve Henshaw says, “Chad understands the unique challenges that municipalities face in restoring contaminated properties to productive use.  He has a strong knowledge of how the funding mechanisms for municipalities work and how we can clean-up contaminated properties and create large tracks of land, within city boundaries, for developers bringing much needed housing to cities and towns”.

Chad Pigg brings over 25 years of experience in the municipal financing and environmental remediation field, starting at IDEM and later for the City of Anderson as Director of Operations for the Engineering Department, Brownfield Coordinator, and Executive Director of Economic & Community Development. Since 2008, he has been working in the private sector to develop comprehensive solutions to redevelopment challenges in both public and private sectors.

If you have any questions about Brownfields Redevelopment, contact us today.

 

Cleaning Up and Restoring Contaminated Properties for Development— Finding Valuable Property Amongst The Blight

Posted on by Elizabeth Hemingway

BY: STEVE HENSHAW

The American Midwest has been home to industry and agriculture since the beginning of the 20th century. Relying heavily on strong labor forces, accessible transportation routes, and a proximity to a significant portion of the nation’s total population, Indiana was a leader in manufacturing that involved steel, glass, and rubber to support the automotive industry. As plastics developed, so too did Indiana’s place as a leader in its manufacturing.

Factories sprouted up in cities and towns across the state, often built near the town’s center, so workers could walk to the factories. As the recession in the 1970s and 80s took its toll, and companies began moving manufacturing overseas, the lifeblood of these communities ceased, leaving behind decaying factories and decades of legacy contamination. Factories that once provided jobs by the hundreds became eyesores to communities, driving down property values, leaving environmental contamination, and robbing cities and towns of a vital tax base. Mayors, city councils, and economic development departments continue to grapple with these legacy problem sites.

Concurrently, there is a critical demand for housing stock. Virtually every municipality is grappling with a pressing demand for additional housing. Short of expanding the city limits and annexing land, finding 10, 20 and 30-acre tracts of land to build new housing is extremely challenging. It is for this reason that we believe these old legacy factories should be given new life as sites for residential and mixed-use developments.

EnviroForensics has been on the forefront of this resurgence, having remediated old manufacturing sites, while finding the money for the clean-up costs. A great example of this is in the City of Wabash, where Mayor Long, before he became Mayor, urged the authorities to do something with the former GenCorp. (now known as Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.) plant that sat in the heart of Wabash on 30-acres of land.

In 2007, the manufacturing plant’s shutdown marked the beginning of its downfall, culminating in job losses for more than 600 employees and the cessation of property tax payments. The property was then auctioned by the County. The owners stripped the building of its salvageable metals and demolished the building leaving behind piles of rubble. In addition, the soil and groundwater beneath the property is grossly contaminated with hazardous substances including chlorinated solvents and PCBs, posing a significant risk to human health.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management pursued the company that caused the environmental contamination at the property; that company eventually responded by proposing an unsatisfactory cleanup plan that would leave a massive amount of contamination in place, put a deed restriction on the property, and prevent the property from ever being utilized for anything other than a park. While parks are great, Wabash already has a 25-acre park a stone’s throw from this property.

Mayor Long persisted in his efforts to guide the property back into productive reuse, and in November 2020, the City acquired title to the property from the County. The City then put together a team that included EnviroForensics, a law firm, and a development partner to assess what it would take to clean the property to a level that would support a mixed-use development while pursuing the company that caused the environmental contamination for the cost of clean-up. Reflecting on the collaborative effort, Mayor Long remarked, “As a government leader, you cannot be an expert in everything that comes your way. Networking with experts at events I have attended led to me finding the people who could get the job done for the City of Wabash.”

The City is poised to clean up the property, and the City’s development partner is scheduled to build 15 single-family houses, 42 starter houses (bungalows), and a 100-unit apartment complex to help address the City’s housing shortage. Properly addressing the contamination at the property is key for increasing housing opportunities for Wabash’s residences, increasing the city’s tax base, and cleaning up the environment. This optimal redevelopment far outweighs the value of leaving the contamination in place as a park.

This model of cleaning up contaminated properties and restoring them to residential and commercial use is not unique to this site, although you need a commitment from leadership in order to be successful. At EnviroForensics, we have worked to settle tens of millions of dollars of claims that have funded environmental clean-up and legal costs for hundreds of clients.  With the right set of facts, a skilled team, and a strong stakeholder, we can clean up environmental contamination and allow blighted sites new life as redeveloped productive properties. Emphasizing the importance of perseverance in these endeavors, Mayor Long stated, “While this was a daunting task, you have to take action to make cleanup happen, and you have to be in it for the long haul. I am thankful to have assembled a team on the environmental and litigation side with a wealth of experience who can best guide me in making appropriate decisions.”

If you have any questions about Brownfields Redevelopment or any other environmental matter, please contact us at your convenience.

What are Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)?

Posted on by Jackie Cabrera

Do you Have a PCB Issue?

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are man-made organic chemicals that were manufactured from approximately 1929 through 1979 when they were banned. PCBs were included in the manufacturing process of many materials and incorporated into products during this timeframe. At that time, the health risks of PCBs were not well understood or commonly known. PCBs were desired for their non-flammable, chemically stable, high boiling point, and insulating properties. PCB containing equipment, materials, and oils were regularly managed without sufficient care causing personnel and environmental exposures.

12 chemical structures for dioxin-like PCBs. Source

In 1976, the United States (U.S.) Congress passed the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), which included regulations on PCBs and included the ban on the manufacturing or use of PCBs and other chemicals after December 1979. Because of PCB’s extensive use in the electrical utility sector, Congress did leave a caveat in the TSCA rules that allowed for PCBs to be used in equipment in a “totally enclosed manner” such as a transformer.

After the 1979 ban on the manufacturing of PCBs and PCB containing equipment, the most common source of PCB contamination on properties was from spills and releases from old leaking transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment that were left in service after the ban. These were generally addressed in the 1980s through the 2000s. However, unreported historical spills are still encountered to this day due to the chemical stability of PCBs.

Other potential sources of PCBs on your property can be from old equipment or other legacy materials such as: building caulking, window glazing, waste oil tanks, hydraulic equipment, oil-based paints, fluorescent light ballasts, thermal insulation, adhesives, large compressors, asphalt roofing materials, floor finishing, pesticides, printing inks, and wood treatment chemicals.

What are the Health Risks of PCBs?

The most common exposure routes of PCBs are direct contact and ingestion. Direct contact is likely from areas of PCB spills or leaking PCB containing equipment. Ingestion can be from improper hand washing after touching PCB contaminated areas or the consumption of fish or game in PCB contaminated areas. PCBs are a bioaccumulating molecule that collects in organisms and biomagnifies, which means that concentrations become more concentrated as they travel up the food chain.

An example of biomagnification of PCBs in the food chain. Source

PCBs are metabolized by the monooxygenase system (human metabolism of drugs) causing toxicity and can bond to proteins, RNA, and DNA causing DNA breakdown. Known human effects include dermal lesions, respiratory problems, reproductive and developmental problems, endocrine effects (thyroid problems), liver damage, liver cancer, stomach cancer, intestinal cancer, thyroid cancer, cardiovascular problems, musculoskeletal problems, and neurological problems, to name a few.

What is the Current State of PCB Use and What are My Exposures?

PCBs have not been included in the manufacturing of materials in the U.S. since the 1979 ban. However, legacy issues remain at many properties.

PCB containing equipment that was manufactured before 1979 was allowed to remain in operation as long as the equipment maintained the PCBs in a “totally enclosed manner”. Some of these pieces of equipment can still be found in operation today such as fluorescent light ballasts and electrical transformers.

This is a photo of a former oil-filled transformer that had leaked from an elevated pedestal in an industrial building.
This is a photo of concrete stained with PCB containing transformer dielectric oil.

Though some of the initial PCB cleanup actions concentrated on the most prominent and visible PCB oil spills, other materials have been found to be PCB sources at facilities. Building caulking that was manufactured in the 1950s through the 1970s readily contained varying concentrations of PCBs. Even after the 1979 ban, these materials were stored and sold years after the ban since they met the exceptions of being manufactured before the ban was in place. Therefore, some structures built in the 1980s were subsequently contaminated during construction with PCB caulk. The PCB in caulk has been shown to migrate into the adjacent building materials, and as the caulk weathers that can migrate down to the soil.

Until recently, a prominent practice with a lasting effect can still be found at some sites today, which consisted of spraying down gravel parking lots and drives with waste oil to keep the dust down. Many times these waste oils contained PCBs.

One of the most extensive PCB impacted media is sediments along waterways and coastal areas. PCBs applied and used on land for agricultural, commerce, or industry follow the surface drainage, sewer drain lines, and other sedimentation paths flowing along drainage pathways to water bodies. Waterways receive sediment from multiple sources and subsequently distribute contaminants along their flow paths. PCBs are hydrophobic, which means that they are heavier than water and do not degrade readily, so they tend to settle into the sediments and get picked up by bottom-feeding organisms, which allows them to follow the food chain up to the top predators.

The examples above outline some of the more common legacy issues that can be found on properties; however, there are many other potential pathways and sources for PCB exposure. Knowing the historical operations and maintenance practices on your property will provide some guidance on exposure risks.

Do I Need to Mitigate or Remediate PCBs at my Property?

Though PCB toxicity varies between the different PCB species (carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine combinations), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) looks at the total PCB concentration for regulatory risk assessment and material management. Under the self-implementing cleanup rules [40 CFR 761.61(a)], response actions for PCB impacts and wastes are based on the class of the material (such as bulk PCB remediation waste, porous surfaces, non-porous surfaces, and liquids) and the area occupancy time (such as low-occupancy or high-occupancy). Material class and occupancy should be determined by your environmental consultant following 40 CFR 761.61(a). As a rule of thumb, materials below the threshold limits can generally remain in place while materials that exceed their appropriate threshold limits may need to be mitigated or removed.

Below are some of the most common PCB impact conditions and risk mitigation approaches found today. If you have any of these situations present on your property, you should contact an appropriately trained environmental professional to address your specific site needs.

  • PCB impacts on non-porous materials like metal, glass, epoxy coatings, etc. may be able to be washed off and demonstrated through sampling to be “clean” requiring no further remedial action.
  • Porous surfaces like concrete, porcelain, brick, etc. may be able to be cleaned, but more likely than not, they will need to be sealed with a solvent resistant coating applied in two layers. When the PCB impacts of porous materials exceed 10 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg), the material may have to be removed and disposed of appropriately.
  • PCBs in the soil can remain in place with no action required when concentrations in the soil are less than 1 mg/kg, but when the concentration reaches or exceeds 1 mg/kg the soil will have to be removed or covered with an engineered control such as “clean” soil or pavement. If the PCB concentration in the soil exceeds 10 mg/kg, then it may have to be removed and appropriately disposed of.
  • PCB containing equipment can remain in service as long as it is in good condition. PCB equipment noted to be leaking will have to be replaced. Property owners disposing of PCB equipment will need to do so at an appropriately licensed landfill.

In addition, property owners need to be cautious of PCBs in sewers since the TSCA regulations have a PCB discharge limit of 3 micrograms per liter (µg/L) for liquids and 3 micrograms per kilogram (µg/kg) for solids. Though you may have a gravel parking lot with total PCB concentrations less than 1 mg/kg, requiring no additional action, the surface sediment can be transported to the storm or sanitary sewers during rain events. If this is a potential condition at your property, the sewer sediment and water will need to be sampled. If the materials within the sewer exceed the discharge limit of 3 µg/L for water or 3 µg/kg for sediment, then mitigation and/or remediation actions would be warranted to cease offsite exposure.

Site conditions, property use, and negotiations with U.S. EPA through your trusted environmental consultant will dictate mitigation and/or remedial actions appropriate for your property through a self-implemented approach, a performance-based approach, or a risk-based approach.

Four Types of Brownfields Redevelopment Financing That Are Not Grants

Posted on by Jackie Cabrera

Finding Brownfields funding and securing it can be challenging for municipalities. When applying for EPA Brownfields grants, there’s about a 65% possibility that your request could be denied losing all hope for EPA funding for the coming year. So, whether you’re replacing or supplementing, your EPA grant funding sources, here are four other financing resources.

Municipalities across the country have abandoned industrial and commercial properties—from old manufacturing platers, metal platers, and oil distributors, to dry cleaners, gas stations, and manufacturers—that are affected by environmental contamination. Redeveloping blighted, underutilized, and contaminated properties, while protecting public health and the environment, require a strategic and well-designed plan to ensure the property turns back into a productive piece of the community and an improved tax- base for your city. And to do this, you need funding.

Brownfields Financing Sources

So, you didn’t receive the EPA Brownfields grant that you had hoped to receive for your city. Luckily, there are other funding opportunities for financing your environmental investigation and cleanup. These opportunities can be made available to municipalities and developers through economic development incentives and insurance claim settlements.

Remnants of an old abandoned industrial facility with graffiti on the walls.

What Are the Four Types of Brownfields Funding?

Outside of the EPA’s Brownfields grant program, municipalities do have alternative funding options available, and with the right partners and strategies in place, those options are readily accessible. The top four options include:

1. Confidential Insurance Archeology
Confidential Insurance Archeology® searches for old CGL insurance policies that can be used to pay for environmental investigation, remediation, and legal fees. Insurance archeology restores financial viability to contaminated properties and gives cities an opportunity to fund the environmental cleanup necessary for their Brownfield sites.

2. Potentially Responsible Party Search
A Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) search can identify and locate former property owners and site operators along with the documentation needed to hold them accountable for a potential contribution to the environmental contamination that links them to the site.

3. Municipal Development Incentives
Municipal development incentives are available from local or state sources and can assist with the cost of environmental and infrastructure work. Examples include:

  • The Industrial Grant Fund (IDGF) encourages municipalities and other eligible groups to redevelop properties by providing assistance to fund infrastructure enhancements including sidewalks, airport facilities, rail spurs, fiber-optic lines, etc.
  • The Community Revitalization Enhancement District (CReED) credit allows applicants to redevelop or rehabilitate properties within a CReED, and includes tax credits for costs incurred during environmental remediation activities.
  • The Industrial Recovery Tax Credit (Dino) credit allows applicants to receive tax credits on expenditures related to the rehabilitation of industrial properties that are at least 100,000 sq.ft. in size. Eligible costs include property acquisition, environmental remediation, and other hard costs.
  • The Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is available for local governments to help finance both new development and the development of blighted areas.

4. State Trust Funds
State trust funds are available for sites ranging from underground storage tanks left behind at old gas stations, to PCE (Perc) or TCE remediation for dry cleaning solvents used at old dry cleaning businesses. If your city has old gas stations or dry cleaning sites with contamination, there may funding opportunities that can be tapped into to clean up these sites. Read more about state trust funds for dry cleaners.

If you’ve already completed a Brownfields redevelopment project, you can try to use a cost-recovery claim to be reimbursed for costs already incurred. While there is no guarantee you will recover 100% of what you spent on the cleanup, you should be able to recover some of your costs if you can locate and prove that there were policies in place that would defend you against environmental liability. Each case is specific and depends on each state’s case law to determine how your insurance policies would apply.

How Do I Use These Other Funding Resources?

If you didn’t receive EPA Brownfields grant funding, or only received enough funds to pay for a portion of your Brownfields projects, then you should:

  1. Find an environmental consultant that can locate all available funding options for your Brownfields property, including your historical insurance policies.
    The bottom line is there are billions of dollars in unclaimed assets available to parties looking to defend environmental claims. If you are a municipality or business needing to manage your historical, current, or future environmental liabilities, you can use these insurance assets to evaluate and clean up your Brownfields site.
  2. Find an environmental consultant that can interface with your insurance carriers on your behalf.
    For over 25 years, EnviroForensics has been working with insurance carriers to unlock previously untapped policy coverage. We fight for our clients’ funding needs and have worked with companies and organizations ranging from mom and pop businesses to Fortune 100 companies.
  3. Find an experienced environmental consultant that can take care of your Brownfield sites from beginning to end.
    From site investigation and cleanup to litigation support and site closure, EnviroForensics will handle your environmental liability.
A team meeting to discuss project details.

EnviroForensics helps community leaders convert blighted and contaminated properties into valuable community assets that are ready for redevelopment. From due diligence to redevelopment, EnviroForensics is invested in revitalizing properties to better serve the surrounding communities. We manage all aspects of the environmental cleanup to ensure your redevelopment goals are reached. Our specialty services provide a less costly way to redevelop Brownfields.

Contact us today to begin your path to redevelopment with alternative funding options

How Do You Remediate Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI)?

Posted on by Alex Miller

Hexavalent chromium is a highly mobile and toxic contaminant often found at manufacturing sites. Here we dive into the details and look at how to remediate this contaminant.

While a lot of environmental investigation and remediation work involves chlorinated hydrocarbon impacts, it is important to remember that this class of chemicals is just one of the hundreds that can impact sites. The contaminant that environmental consultants seem to be encountering more often at manufacturing sites is hexavalent chromium or Cr(VI).

Hexavalent chromium is used in chrome plating operations because it increases hardenability and corrosion resistance and has desirable finishing characteristics for industrial manufacturers. Chromite is used as a raw material for the production of chromium chemicals. Chromium alloys are used to make products such as oil tubing, automobile trim, and cutlery.

What is hexavalent chromium?

Like a lot of metals, chromium can occur in various valence or charge states. The two most common states are the trivalent (Cr+3) and hexavalent (Cr+6). While both are chromium, they behave differently. Trivalent chromium has relatively low toxicity, low solubility, and low mobility in the environment. By contrast, hexavalent chromium is toxic, has a higher solubility and greater mobility in the environment. Hexavalent chromium has historically been used in chrome plating operations because it is less costly than plating with trivalent chromium.

Chromium in the periodic table.
Chromium in the periodic table.

What are the exposure concerns for hexavalent chromium?

In addition to chromium plating operations, hexavalent chromium is used in a number of industrial processes such as leather tanning, colored glass making and in paint pigments and inks that color plastics and fabrics. Widespread industrial use can result in worker exposure to toxic hexavalent chromium. It’s estimated that over 500,000 workers are potentially exposed to Cr(VI) in the USA. Typically, people who are exposed to Cr(VI) work in welding and other types of “hot work” involving stainless steel and other materials containing chromium, use pigments or operate chrome plating baths. The public’s use of groundwater resources impacted by hexavalent chrome is another source of exposure.

Hexavalent chromium is known to cause cancer and targets the respiratory system, kidneys, liver, skin, and eyes. It is hazardous when breathed in, ingested, or touched. You might remember this contaminant from the movie “Erin Brockovich” with Julia Roberts, in which it was the subject of a massive lawsuit.

What is the regulatory enforcement for hexavalent chromium?

Regulatory agencies typically have screening levels for total chromium and then even lower screening levels for hexavalent chromium. Hexavalent chromium is heavily regulated to minimize human exposure. According to the EPA, they are continually re-evaluating drinking water standards to ensure that they are incorporating the latest research on the chemical.

How do you remediate hexavalent chromium?

Since hexavalent chromium is an element that cannot be destroyed, it has to either be physically removed by excavating soil or pumping and treating groundwater or transformed to the less toxic trivalent form and stabilized within the subsurface environment by forming insoluble and immobile trivalent hydroxide precipitates and iron and sulfide complex co-precipitates. Luckily, this transformation can be performed using many of the same injectable chemicals that are used at chlorinated sites for in-situ chemical reduction (ISCR) and enhanced reductive dechlorination (ERD).

The chemical reaction between hexavalent chromium and ZVI reduces the concentration levels of hexavalent chromium and creates a less toxic daughter product, or transformed version of the contaminant, called trivalent chromium. Trivalent chromium further reacts with other minerals in the subsurface to create less water-soluble compounds. The result is that the remaining chromium is less toxic, less soluble and less mobile in the environment. The resulting trivalent chromium impacted soil can remain in place without removal and with less concern of further migration of any remaining contamination. 

EnviroForensics recently pilot tested some of these injectable compounds with zero-valent iron (ZVI) at a hexavalent chromium contaminated site in the Midwest. A full implementation design plan was prepared for the reduction of hexavalent chromium and stabilization in both soil and groundwater.

Case Study: Remediating Cr(VI) at a Former Wire Plating Site

At a wire manufacturing company, hexavalent chromium plating operations were performed from 1963 to 1981. The operation was discontinued in 1981 and the chrome plating equipment was dismantled and sold in 1982 as part of the decommissioning process. In 1985, the site was sold to new owners that do not perform chrome plating operations. Prior to the sale, the inside of the plating facility was cleaned of all chrome plating residue; however, releases to the subsurface environment had occurred during past plating operations.

In 1985, a sump pump in the former plating facility failed and the water that began seeping into the basement was stained yellow. The water was tested and was found to contain high concentrations of hexavalent chromium.

Since 1985, several rounds of subsurface investigations have been performed by multiple environmental consultants to better determine the extent of chromium impacts in soil and groundwater. A groundwater recovery and treatment system was initially installed in 1988 to collect and treat groundwater. The treatment system removed some chromium over time, however, it had been inefficient at addressing the source of groundwater impacts. This means there’s still chromium in the soil and groundwater.

In 2013, EnviroForensics was contacted to work on this site. After evaluating all likely remedial options, a ZVI option was chosen as the most practical and effective for reducing source area impacts within a reasonable time.

A ZVI pilot test was performed at the site and has already shown large decreases in groundwater hexavalent chromium concentrations. A plan for full-scale in-situ mixing has been presented and approved by the environmental regulatory agency. The result of choosing ZVI as the remedial action will likely lead to site closure within the next two years.

Staying ahead of environmental contaminants

There is a lot to know about the sampling, chemistry, and remediation of hexavalent chromium to stay at the forefront of monitoring this environmental contaminant.

We’re proud to have some of the smartest minds working hard to find remediation solutions for these sites.

Contact us to learn more about environmental contaminants like hexavalent chromium.

 

Brad Lewis, CHMM, Principal Scientist at EnviroForensics

Brad Lewis is a detailed-oriented and collaborative leader with 30+ years of environmental consulting experience that covers a variety of projects ranging from due diligence, environmental compliance, landfill, Brownfields, underground storage tank, and chlorinated hydrocarbon investigations and cleanups. As Principal Scientist, he oversees investigations and cleanups. He helps project teams set the technical and regulatory strategies that will meet their client’s goals. Lewis has implemented many innovative site investigation strategies including the use of down-hole sensing equipment, mobile laboratory, and an immunoassay to characterize sites.

He has consulted on many high-profile projects dealing with petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, hexavalent chromium, chlorinated solvents, bedrock impacts, vapor intrusion investigations, and vapor mitigation. 

9 Cool Historic Places in Indiana

Posted on by Alex Miller

Every May, the National Register of Historic Places celebrates National Preservation Month for the purpose of instilling community pride and to show the social and economic benefits of historic preservation.

As an environmental consulting firm with a deep respect for history and community, EnviroForensics promotes the adaptive reuse of historic buildings. We believe that redevelopment often times brings much-needed economic relief to depressed areas, and when possible the preservation of timeless architectural design provides a beneficial window to the past.

To show our support for National Preservation Month, our Indianapolis team has compiled some photos and stories of our favorite historic structures right here in Indiana.

picture of Indiana Statehouse

1. Indiana Statehouse

Indianapolis, Indiana | View from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument.

Designed by Hoosier architect Edwin May in 1888, the Indiana Statehouse is the fifth iteration and sits at 200 West Washington Street. It houses the Indiana General Assembly, the office of the Governor of Indiana, the Supreme Court of Indiana and other state officials. The interior was modeled in the Italian Renaissance style. When possible, native Indiana materials were used. Doors are made of Indiana oak, and Indiana limestone was used throughout the structure. Over 40 pieces of public art spanning more than 130 years is available to the public. There’s also a time capsule bored into the cornerstone with forty-two items.

📸: Elizabeth Hemingway, Director of Brand, Marketing & Communications

 

Picture of willard carpenter house2. Willard Carpenter House

Evansville, Indiana

Completed in 1849, the Willard Carpenter House at 405 Carpenter Street is built of brick and stone, a fine example of Georgian architecture. Materials came from nearby or were shipped down the Ohio River from Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Willard Carpenter was known as Evansville’s “pioneer of public charity,” who acted as an agent for the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. The house was one of the first stops after making it across the Ohio River. A stone tunnel led from the river three blocks away north to the Carpenters basement, where people hid until they could be relayed to stations further north. The Carpenter House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

📸: Elizabeth Hemingway, Director of Brand, Marketing & Communications

 

inside pearl laundry3. Pearl Laundry

Evansville, Indiana | View from inside.

Pearls Laundry started in 1896 by Al Rust and Daniel Korb and it has been based at the 414-432 Market Street since 1912. It did deliveries by horse and buggy until 1938.  In 2017, Pearl Cleaners closed its century-old Downtown Evansville location, amid litigation by the neighboring property, which says it is owed a reimbursement of environmental contamination costs. The business license was purchased, and customers were directed to a new location on Evansville’s East Side.

Like many dry cleaners, Pearls had chlorinated solvent contamination. The contaminated property was purchased by an investor, who retained EnviroForensics to conduct insurance archeology and the environmental investigation and cleanup.  The environmental cleanup is almost complete at the historical Pearl Cleaner building in Evansville’s downtown TIF district. It’s undergoing adaptive reuse to become a part of the dynamic downtown community, while EnviroForensics conducts remedial actions necessary to get the site through the regulatory closure process.

📸: Elizabeth Hemingway, Director of Brand, Marketing & Communications

 

EnviroForensics HQ before (right side of picture) and after (left side of picture) redevelopment.

4. EnviroForensics Headquarters

Indianapolis, Indiana

EnviroForensics’ headquarters at 825 N. Capitol Avenue was originally a transmission repair shop dating back to the 1930s. The 23,000 sq. ft. structure had environmental contamination left behind by auto repair operations. This complicated redevelopment for real estate developers, but, as an expert environmental engineering company, we knew how to remediate the environmental contamination and saw the value of investing in the property and the North Meridian neighborhood. We conducted insurance archeology to locate the historical insurance policies to fund the site investigation and cleanup of the contamination. Once mitigation infrastructure was in place, we started to bring our vision for a revitalized headquarters to life. Now, the building houses more than 70 employees who are committed to our surrounding community.

For more on how we revitalized the historical building, visit http://tvz.eb0.myftpupload.com/blog/enviroforensics-hq-brownfields-site/

📸: Alex Miller, Communications Coordinator

 

central library in downtown Indianapolis6. Indianapolis Central Library

Indianapolis, Indiana

The original Central Library Building, located just a few blocks east of the EnviroForensics Headquarters, was completed in 1917. The library was designed by French-born architect Paul Philippe Cret, whose other famous work includes the Main Building on the Campus of the University of Texas and the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. A new six-story curved-glass and steel addition was built onto the original structure in 2001, but issues with the project forced the grand opening of the new atrium back. The new addition opened in December of 2007. The Central Library is home to the Nina Mason Pulliam Indianapolis Special Collections Room, which houses a collection of archival manuscripts and autographed editions from some of the area’s most famous literary minds, including Kurt Vonnegut, James Whitcomb Riley, and Booth Tarkington.   

📸: Alex Miller, Communications Coordinator

 

7. Hirschman-Bryan House

Indianapolis, Indiana

Andrea Bryan’s great-grandfather, Conrad Hirschman, was born in 1854 in Wurttemberg, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1880.  He built this house for his wife, Emma, and their children, one of which was Andrea’s grandmother, Ursula. She married and lived in this house her entire life (after her emigration) and all three of her children were born in the back bedroom of the house, one of which was Andrea’s Father.  Ursula’s husband, Andrea’s Grandfather, fought in WWI and came home after the war. He died in the flu epidemic shortly thereafter and my Grandmother never remarried. All three of Ursula’s sons went into the Navy and served in WWII.

The house was built in 1900 at 3100 sq. ft. with an attic, a basement, and a crawl space. The current owner is Angie’s List who used it for office space at one time. There is a plaque inside with the historical information related to Andrea’s family.

📸: Andrea Bryan, Reception and Office Support

 

8. Indiana University Auditorium

Bloomington, Indiana

The Indiana University Auditorium opened in 1941 as a part of the Federal Works Agency Project. At the time, the country was still recovering from the Great Depression, and most universities were making cuts to their arts programs. Indiana University went in a different direction, building the Lilly Library, the Fine Arts Building, and the Jacobs School of Music; widely regarded as one of the world’s top music schools. The IU Auditorium was the first planned and constructed of this era. It was constructed out of locally quarried Indiana Limestone. The venue seats 3,200 people and has hosted acts from all over the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, the touring troupe of Les Miserables, and Jerry Seinfeld.

📸: Joe Miller, Account Executive

 

9. Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument

Indianapolis, Indiana

The Soldiers’ and Sailor’s Monument is one of the most iconic structures in Indianapolis. The neo-classical obelisk was built over a 13-year period between 1888 and 1902. It was constructed in honor of Hoosier veterans of the American Civil War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American War, and the Spanish-American War. During the dedication ceremony, a group of musicians played “The Messiah of the Nations,” a piece written for the occasion by the famed composer, John Phillip Sousa. The monument is located at the intersection of Meridian and Market Streets at the center of Downtown Indianapolis. During the holiday season, it is transformed into a giant Christmas tree known as the “Circle of Lights” (pictured), which at 284 ½ feet tall, makes it the tallest Christmas Tree in America each year. The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

📸: Joe Miller, Account Executive

 

10. Gary Aquatorium

Gary, Indiana

The Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium was constructed in 1921. It sits at the southernmost point of Lake Michigan in the Miller Beach neighborhood of Gary. It was originally built to serve as a bathroom and changing area for beachgoers but was shut down to the public in 1971 due to a lack of upkeep and disrepair. The building was renovated and reopened as the “Chanute Aquatorium” in the late 1990s and houses a museum honoring the achievements of Octave Chanute, the grandfather of modern flight, and the Tuskegee Airmen. The Gary Aquatorium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

📸: Michele Murday, Northern Indiana Regional Manager

 

Support Preservation

Other ways you can support National Preservation Month is frequent businesses in historic buildings, such as shopping at your local main street stores, eating at restaurants housed in historic buildings, sharing photos of your favorite historic places with the hashtag #ThisPlaceMatters, and when traveling book rooms in historic hotels and visit historic sites.

 

LISTEN: Henshaw Talks about Thermal Remediation, Revitalization, and Reuse on NPR

Posted on by Alex Miller

EnviroForensics CEO, Steve Henshaw, PG, spoke with Chris Nolte, the host of Lakeshore Public Media’s talk show, Regionally Speaking, to discuss the success of thermal remediation technology used at the former Family Pride Dry Cleaner and Laundry in Crown Point. They also talked about the property’s future, now that it’s back on the market and ready for productive use.

Check out the interview to learn more.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Chris Nolte: Well first, for folks who may not remember our last conversation, tell us what EnviroForensics does and how important it is in particular to the project you guys just finished up in Crown Point.

Steve Henshaw: Sure. Thank you so much. EnviroForensics has been in business for over 20 years and we are a full-service environmental engineering firm. We investigate environmentally contaminated sites, and we design and implement the remediation. We get properties through the regulatory process – and get them back in productive hands to develop, reuse and get back on the tax roll.

What’s unique about EnviroForensics is we have the ability to go back and find old insurance policies that were really written for normal slip and falls; these normal slip and fall Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies can be used to pay for the expensive cost of environmental cleanup and investigation. And, that’s what really sets us apart from the competition; we can go and find the money to pay for these cleanups, which can routinely be a million and a half dollars at a normal dry cleaner.

Learn more about CGL policies

 
Nolte: Tell us about this project, which we see here used to be known as the Family Pride Laundry, located on North Main Street in Crown Point. Many people drive by it, even now every day as they’re traveling north and south into and out of downtown Crown Point. This business has been closed for a number of years and I guess it’s been up for sale for some time but it’s not had much luck in finding a new owner because all of its past baggage, so to speak. Tell us what you folks managed to clean up out of that facility to be able to reopen it up again and make it “redevelop-able”.

Henshaw: This was a site that was brought to us through the banks that the previous owner was working with. In many situations, when a business pays a loan to buy equipment and operate they commonly put up the property as a secured asset, and, in the business of environmentally contaminated piece of property, the bank may not realize what the business had as their secured asset. This is because when the business was no longer able to perform on the loan then the bank considered foreclosing on the property, but the bank doesn’t want to be the owner of a contaminated property.

Nolte: Well, yeah.

Henshaw: The bank brought us in and we were able to find a buyer for the note and then pursue the old insurance policy. It’s taken a little bit of time to work out those details, but once we got it all taken care of with the bank and the note was in new hands; we continued to pursue the insurance carrier. Then we investigated the dry cleaning site to determine the extent of the contamination and brought in a unique process of using thermal remediation, which heats up the soil and the groundwater, to fry off the volatile organics that are in the soil and groundwater. Old dry cleaners used chemical solvents, which are carcinogenic, to take creases out of fabrics and the solvents are heavier than water so they fall through the water columns. Really this is just a normal and routine part of the business, but these solvents can enter sewers or cracks in the floors through spills and unfortunately a little bit goes a long way. Many dry cleaners experience this environmental contamination, but in this situation, we brought in and employed a thermal remediation technology that worked with NIPSCO to bring in a high-voltage power line and heated the soil and the groundwater to near boiling. We implemented this in late May 2018 and shut the system down in early September 2018 and we had 99% removal of the contamination in just four months. So that’s what really makes this site unique. These are sites that can go on five, 10, 15 years and then the residual amounts of contamination that are still in groundwater and soil are still at levels that will require long-term monitoring of potentially 15 more years–just to monitor and make sure that the contaminants aren’t migrating off-site. But in this particular situation, we were able to get 99% of the contamination out of the soil and the groundwater in about 90 to 120 days.

Building with cleanup equipment inside fence
Thermal remediation technology reduced contamination by 99% in just four months.

Nolte: Now, Steve, I understand that in this particular site, what used to be the Family Pride Laundry, there on Main street in Crown Point had what they call perc, short for perchloroethylene, which is a solvent that was used commonly in dry cleaning. So, a person takes their clothes in to get the spots taken out; at this point Family Pride was still in business and they’d use the perc in their machines, so what a lot of this was, I’d imagine, were just maybe accidental spills of perc, but somehow or another that didn’t raise concerns, and it still got into the groundwater, didn’t it?

Henshaw: Yes, that’s correct. And the older machines didn’t have the same recycling capabilities, so often times, the perc was transferred to a distillation still to boil down the perc, so it comes overhead, it’s clean again and it gets reused. That’s just the process of recycling. Then you would also have these overfills and spills in the boiler system. You would have inadvertent doors popping open with this solvent. You would have just small releases, but over time, they accumulate into a large enough problem that the state and the regulatory agency gets concerned about the carcinogenic aspects in the soil and the groundwater.

Nolte: This place opened up as a dry cleaner and laundry in 1961, I think if my info’s right, and was open until 2012 when the business finally closed up there, which means that site has been unusable pretty much since then. That is until you folks from EnviroForensics managed to help get the process going and get the cleanup started and finished. How do people feel now that the cleanup is down to 99% clean? You can’t get much cleaner than that short of just pure soil.

Henshaw: Right. Well, we do have some interested parties that are knocking on the doors and would like to use the property. It’s been a bit of an eyesore for some time. So we’re excited about being able to put that back into productive use. That’s the name of the game here; try to get the cleanup done quickly and get the property back on the tax roll.

Nolte: Now for folks that may not be aware what you folks have done. I know this is not the first project you’ve worked on in Lake County or Northwest Indiana. You’ve worked on a number of them before. And some rather environmentally dirty areas, too, I understand.

Henshaw: Mhmm, yes. The dry cleaning industry has been something we’ve been closely involved with, but it’s not exclusive to that. EnviroForensics was involved with the East Chicago Waterway Canal project, the Gary Airport, the sanitary, the old Ralston Street Lagoon to receive wastewater from the sanitary POTW. So, we have been involved in rather large-scale projects, as well, but the interesting thing is these small dry cleaners cause just as much environmental impact as some of these larger manufacturing sites. It sort of goes against the grain of what you might think, but these small dry cleaners, these releases of perchloroethylene, can be upwards of a million and a half to two million dollar cleanups–so they’re really expensive–and, of course, the real problem here is that these small mom and pops just have no way of paying for those cleanups. If it wasn’t for our ability to go back and find old insurance policies that can pay for these expensive cleanups then those sites would end up being orphan sites, that the EPA might have to take over, which means it would be on the taxpayers to eventually clean up.

Image of Downtown Crown Point, Indiana.
Image of Downtown Crown Point, Indiana.

Nolte: That would be a tough place to do a Brownfield project with the EPA because that’s right smack in a residential and a commercial area of Crown Point. Can you fill us in on any other related projects that you and your folks at EnviroForensics are working on now?

Henshaw: Well, we’re now embarking on a number of projects in the area. There are some abandoned sites within Hammond and we’re working with the City of Hammond to restore a couple of those old, abandoned sites there. Probably can’t release their names at this point, but there’s still a number of manufacturing sites that EnviroForensics has been asked to come out and take a look at to see if we can use our unique approach of finding those old insurance policies. We have an insurance archeology division that goes all over the country looking for and finding old insurance policies. These policies, again, are not written for cleaning up contamination. They were written as normal slip and fall policies; normal CGL policies, but because they didn’t have exclusions for pollution, they are able to be used to address environmental contamination, asbestos exposure, and other claims that might come about. So that is something we are active in all across the country, and certainly in Northwest Indiana.

Nolte: Well, Steve. Thank you very much for bringing us up to date here on a pending closure with no doubt soon-to-be new owners of the site that used to be so contaminated it had to close up–until you folks with EnviroForensics were able to get in there, and get the cleanup not only done but also make it available for somebody to be able to take on as a new property someday. Thank you for being with us to talk about it.

Contact us today to restore value to contaminated properties.