Last and Final

The worst of the Big Project is over and now it’s just a matter of taking all 34 draft reports and creating the final versions (“finaling”). It came down to the wire. The insurance underwriters had some concerns about eight of the properties and had proposed some exemptions on the policies. Well the deal wasn’t going to happen with these exemptions. On a conference call we had to talk our way through these issues with the underwriters so they could get comfortable. And at the end of the day it worked out.

One critical piece to deal with was the underground wastewater treatment tank at one of the properties (actually re-termed a “vault” which somehow makes it more palatable). I flew down to San Jose last Monday and Tuesday to watch the tank be pumped out and cleaned. By the time they got to the bottom of the tank there was a foot thick layer of sludge that reeked of solvent. It didn’t look good. We had dropped a couple borings around the tank earlier and the groundwater had some limited impact by TCE (trichlorothene), a chlorinated solvent once used extensively in the electronics industry and as a degreaser. The concentrations of TCE in groundwater were four times higher than what is allowed in your drinking water. Not screaming hot but enough to raise a concern.

After the tank was cleaned, the contractor cored through the concrete bottom of the vault so a soil sample could be collected. The owner’s consultant grabbed a soil sample using a slide hammer to drive a core barrel into the soil. I took a split sample. The soil sample turned out to have some low level impact, but nothing above actionable levels.

Tuesday we began a Geoprobe soil and groundwater investigation to determine the extent of impact from the vault and also to see if any contamination was moving on or off the site. The results of the investigation showed a localized impact to groundwater around the vault but also showed that there was a regional impact to groundwater. In other words, we found groundwater contamination across the site. This part of Silicon Valley has extensive regional groundwater contamination caused by several former electronics manufacturing facilities.

I flew back to Seattle Tuesday evening and left the rest of the Geoprobe work to one of my colleagues from our Irvine office. Meanwhile, the vault was still in the ground and the owner was planning to close it in place. Our client wasn’t very happy about that and he came unglued at me on the phone. Well the contractor wasn’t working for me and my client didn’t own the property yet. And we had told our client what the owner’s plans were for the vault – close it in place if the soil is clean (I had an email documenting that). I grabbed the contractor and told him the vault had to come out and to tell me how soon he could do it. The contractor was a great guy and we had gotten along real well. He pulled out all the stops and made it happen within two days, permitting and everything. He had even pulled one of his key excavator operators off a big job at Fort Ord to make it happen. My colleague from Irvine took care of all the observation and split sampling. It went like clockwork.

When all was said and done the tank came out of the ground, some soil was overexcavated, and the confirmation soil samples came back at less than actionable levels. Our client was happy, the insurance underwriters were comfortable, and the deal closed on all 34 properties – a billion dollars worth of real estate changed hands. It was one of the most stressful weeks I’ve ever had at work.

Last weekend I took a short overnight backpacking trip with my oldest son out to the Olympic Coast. More on that later. Suffice to say it was a great trip for both of us, just hanging out with number one son, no TV or video games, just a billion stars and the sound of the waves.

Next week I’m in Denver to do a Phase I on a downtown office building and hotel. Then the week after that I’m in Albuquerque for a sector meeting with all my other colleagues who do this nutty work. I plan on spending a couple days at Chaco Canyon before the meeting. I am totally fascinated by the Anasazi. And Chaco is the center of the Anasazi universe.

Almost There

The Big Project just keeps on rolling and our other clients and projects don’t stop because of the Big Project. Between the Big Project I wedged in an easy Phase I. The Phase I was of a site down in Sumner, WA currently in the grade and fill phase of development for two large warehouse buildings. It was good to be out of the office walking this site on a gorgeous spring day, sunny blues skies with clearing clouds from the overnight rain. If only the cell phone would shut up.

We went to Phase II soil and groundwater sampling on several of the Big Project sites for various reasons, potential solvent releases, potential former landfill use, potential leaking tank, etc. We also did a geophysical survey of a couple of the sites looking for potential underground storage tanks. We have an expert group of geophysicists in our office and stuff like this is really a cakewalk compared to some of the exotic things they do. Basically they survey the site using a magnetometer looking for large buried metal objects and they also use ground penetrating radar (GPR). A buried cylindrical tank leaves a nice parabolic signature on the GPR scan.

One of the sites has a wastewater treatment tank that, based on our sampling results, has released some chlorinated solvents into the soil and groundwater. The owner (the seller) had scheduled the closure of this tank before the transaction closes. But now the presence of chlorinated solvents in soil and groundwater potentially originating from this tank has the potential to crater the whole 34 property deal. Our client (the buyer) needs to obtain environmental insurance before they can purchase the property. The insurance underwriters won’t issue a policy if the extent of contamination is not characterized. The deal closes April 25.

Again I am finding myself jumping onto a plane Monday morning for San Jose so I can observe the tank closure activities and collect split samples. The owner has a contractor who in turn has hired a consultant to collect samples. The owner has also hired a consultant to watch the contractor (and us). This should be fun – consultants watching each other.

We’re also doing some soil and groundwater sampling to characterize the impact around the tank. We’re using direct-push probe equipment (“Geoprobe”) to collect the samples. Basically this involves driving a core barrel sampler into the soil and retrieving a nice soil core. Groundwater samples are obtained using a PVC well screen inserted into the hollow drive rods or a hydropunch (basically a stainless steel well point driven into the water table). A small bailer lowered into the well screen is used to collect the water sample or the sample can be obtained using PE tubing and a peristaltic pump. There are many variations on this theme.

I’ll be kicking off the soil and groundwater sampling on Tuesday with one of my colleagues out of our Irvine office. I’m sure we’ll have Mr. Owner’s Consultant watching over us. I’ll fly home Tuesday evening while my colleague wraps up on Wednesday.

Home Again

Finally home again. In reality, I’ve been home for almost two weeks. But now, it really feels like I’m back. After a full week down in Silicon Valley, a short weekend at home, I flew back down for some wrap-up work for a Monday and Tuesday. Then, for the last almost two weeks, I’ve been catching up with other clients and projects plus tackling five of the 34 property reports for Silicon Valley. All of these properties had “issues,” either historical on-site releases or contamination from off-site. I had to wade through a stack of prior reports and documents in order to glean relevant information and flag the “red flags.” We’ll be back for some Phase II soil and groundwater investigation on several of the properties.

Over the last week I’ve been at my desk until 11 or 12 at night, reviewing documents, reports, maps, photographs, and hammering out reports. I finally wrapped up late last night. My ass hurts and I’m exhausted. But it’s good to be home this weekend. The crocuses are fading and the daffodils are peaking. Spring is here in the beautiful Northwest. Spring weeds are here, too. I’m looking forward to pulling them. I’m home.

“Home, home again.
I like to be here when I can.
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire.
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.”

Breathe (reprise) – Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon

The Big Project

The last two weeks have been extremely busy. We were awarded a huge portfolio project down in the Bay Area consisting of over 30 industrial properties with over 5 million square feet. The work is standard Phase I ESA with asbestos sampling and visual mold assessment. Our client is one of the largest real estate investment advisors in the country. This potential acquisition exceeds $1 billion and our fees alone are somewhere in the quarter million dollar realm. The due diligence period runs to the end of March. This is a huge project with a fast burn.

We did a lot of preparation before going in the field. We set up field folders for each property that included property information, map and directions to the property, a site plan, an aerial photograph, an environmental database report, tenant review forms, and asbestos bulk sample logs. This way each field team had everything they needed for the field – just grab a folder and go. We also set up a website on our company intranet where we could store and dump documents, photos, and other relevant project information. Everyone on the team has access to the website so information is easily shared and accessible. And this not only includes the field team but also support staff back in the office.

We assembled a team of 10 for the field that included folks from three different offices. We have four teams of two for the site visits and a project manager and admin person for support. I’m on one of the field teams and also acting as an assistant project manager. I have years of experience working with this client and on these types of portfolio projects. The assembled team is truly the “A” team with experienced senior professionals and talented staff.

I’ve been down in the Bay Area for the last week. I flew down last Sunday to get a good jump on the project. I had bruised or cracked ribs as a result of a fall during my CityLeague recreational ski racing on Thursday night. I went skiing again Saturday afternoon with my boys. Needless to say, by the time I left Sunday, I was in a little bit of pain. The wrong move, a laugh, a cough, or a sneeze would induce a knife-like pain in my side. To make matters worse, I was lugging two file boxes in a big suitcase plus a smaller suitcase for my clothes, my laptop case, and a daypack with my personal gear including a jacket, water bottle, snacks, book, and other stuff to get me through a delay or lost luggage. At SeaTac, I tipped the Doug Fox Parking shuttle driver extra. I asked him if he could give me a hand with my luggage. He said “I have two hands.” Good answer.

The Bay Area had wind warnings up and it was a bumpy thrilling ride on approach to SJC. I dislike SJC. It’s a cramped terminal despite expansions. It’s a far walk to get the rental car shuttle (wheeled luggage – best thing since sliced bread). The shuttle buses are always stuffed with people. I have Budget FastBreak – show my drivers license and go to my car - this time a Pontiac Vibe hatchback wagon. Perfect.

For the site visits I’m teamed with a younger guy project engineer from one of our other offices. We hit it off from the start and I knew the week would go well. And it did. We fell into an easy groove going from property to property, building to building, and tenant to tenant. He does the tenant interviews and I collect samples of suspect asbestos-containing building materials (he’s not qualified to collect samples). I chime in a few questions to the tenant where appropriate to focus and keep things moving. He’s thorough and detail oriented, maybe a little too much for the pace we need to keep. But he’s personable and good so I let him go with it. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I size up tenants quickly and focus right in on the important information. We don’t have a lot of time and we need cut to the chase, figure out the deal killers or what will need further investigation.

We’re all staying in a fancy-schmantzy suite hotel for a really good government contractor rate. There’s a happy hour with free drinks and breakfast made to order. The rooms are large with a front room, kitchenette, and a bedroom. There are even two TVs, one in the front room and one in the bedroom. My room was on the fifth floor with a great view looking east to the front hills of the Diablo Range.

The weather was good for the most part, with a mix of short-lived showers and sun breaks. On Friday a cold air mass invaded the Bay Area dropping the snow level to around 1,000 feet. It was beautiful seeing the green hills topped with a dusting of snow.

The team all gathered on Friday afternoon to put together property summaries for the client. I focused on one of the properties that had a historical release of organic solvents. The property owner (seller) is listed as a responsible party (RP) in the cleanup. If our client buys this property, they could also become an RP. These are the types of “big picture” items that are important to convey to the client.

The hard part about these huge projects is that the other work and client responsibilities don’t stop. I drafted two proposals during the evenings, responded to many emails, and fielded phone calls. With my laptop I’m always connected. We have a company VPN that ties me in to our system. My laptop also has IPass that allows me to connect from just about anywhere in the world with a hotspot, plug-in, or phone jack.

I flew out Friday evening back home to Seattle for the weekend. Some of the team are staying over the weekend. I’ll be back Monday morning as we wrap up the field work.

Solitude

I finished up the field work looking in all the nooks and crannies for mold and water intrusion. I had the report pretty much wrapped up that evening. The site contact was a good guy, a native Utahn, hunter and outdoorsman. We hit it off pretty well, especially when I noticed the LED conversion on his Mini-Maglite. I must do the same with my own flashlight.

Wednesday I played a little hooky and headed up to Solitude for some skiing. I rented some Nordica Hot Rod all mountain skis and proceeded to tear it up. It was lightly snowing with some sun breaks. I stayed mostly on black groomed runs carving big fast GS turns. I did some exploring on the fringes and hit a few turns of untracked and windpacked – nice and deceivingly light snow. I did inadvertently run into some soft bump runs and managed to turn through them and managed some OK knees absorption. I couldn’t do that all day, especially with the altitude (gasp!). I saw some enticing double-blacks that required some traversing but I was by myself and the mountain was pretty uncrowded. It would have been nice to ski with someone who knows the mountain. But all in all it was a fantastic day of skiing. I realized just how much I love skiing and how I miss those 30-day seasons of my youth. I skied pretty well for an old fart.

I returned my gear to the shop, CanyonSports and grabbed a bite to eat before catching my plane home. I found a nice little place called Wriggles across from my hotel in Murray. They roll up a tortilla with a variety of meats and veggies and call it a Wriggles, a wrap by any other name. Like a homeless person, I had to change out of my ski clothes in my car.

I made it to the airport in plenty of time to put the finishing touches on my report. We took off from SLC and leveled off prematurely. The pilot came on and said a landing gear light was stuck on and that he’d lower and raise the gear and that would probably cure the stuck-on light. He did that and came back on and said the light was out. Very soon the engines revved up to take us to cruising altitude and home to Seattle.

Return to the Scene of the Crime

I've worked on several projects over the years in Salt Lake City. Like a serial killer I always return to the scene of the crime to relive those past experiences. Past project locations have a strange lure for me. I enjoy returning to see how things have changed over time and to walk the same ground I walked years before.

One of my first projects I worked on in Salt Lake was a couple of Phase I ESAs down around West 2100 South between Bangerter Hwy and I-215. This is an industrial area of concrete tilt-up business parks, warehouses, and factories. This is also near the former Remington Arms Company site, a small arms plant where 30- and 50-caliber ammunition was manufactured during World War II. Many of the old plant buildings are still present and in use for other purposes these days. The old alum ponds are also located nearby where Engelhard discharged wastewater from their catalyst manufacturing operations. Both the Remington Arms and Engelhard sites have known contamination.

I once did a quick one day in-and-out site visit of a vacant parcel in this West 2100 South industrial area. It was a wet day and all I had for protection was a rain jacket. I had to walk the site through wet grass and shrubs. My jeans and hiking boots were soaked by the time I finished walking the 20-acres. I didn't have a change of clothes and had to fly home in my wet clothes. It was a miserable flight back in wet jeans. This vacant parcel is now developed with three big concrete tilt-up industrial buildings.

One of the more fun projects was at the FAA Regional Air Traffic Control Center next to SLC. We pulled a waste oil underground storage tank and replaced it with an aboveground tank. The waste oil was from four huge diesel emergency power generators. I had hired a local subcontractor who was fortunately top-notch. The FAA had resident engineer to watch over us. His name was Cody out of Pocatello, Idaho. He was a real cracker. He looked at first like he was going to be a real asshole but at the end he turned out to be an OK guy. So I watched over the subcontractor and Cody watched over all of us. This turned out to be a nice little project.

I also did a Phase I ESA of the Triad Center, an office building complex at North Temple and South 300 West. The main tenant in the center is Bonneville International Corporation, a media company who owns a number of television and radio stations across the country, but mostly in Utah. Bonneville International Corporation is, I believe, owned by the LDS Church.

Back in December 2004 I did a Phase I of a facility that manufactures diamond core drill bits. It was interesting to see the manufacturing process. During that trip the whole of the Salt Lake Valley was covered in a thick layer of low clouds. It was cold and everything was covered in hoarfrost. I made a side trip out to Antelope Island and, except for the bitter cold, it was a beautiful area.

Whenever I'm in town again I'll swing by these old project sites, returning to the scene of the crime.

Salt Lake City

Up at 4 am - shower - shave - load - kiss my wife goodbye - hit the road to SeaTac. I've done this routine countless times. I've brewed a latte for the road. The home espresso machine has paid for itself many times over. I park at Doug Fox and hop on the bus with my fellow road warriors. Silence rules.

The airport is not too crowded considering the holiday. The security line is only a few minutes wait, plenty of TSA today. They are always refreshingly and thankfully cordial. Laptop out - shoes off - belt off - walk through. I am now in the enchanted land behind security. My gate is on the far end of the A Concourse. Plenty of time for a grande non.

The plane is full. I'm sitting next to a women about in her sixties. We exchange pleasantries and then become lost in our thoughts for the rest of the flight. A baby cries in the next row for nearly the entire flight. I'm immune. I'm a dad, though my boys are way beyond baby stage.

Is it me or are the female flight attendants all getting older?

I catch peekaboo views of Rainier through the clouds - the Wallowas, Hell's Canyon, the mountains of Idaho, and finally the relict shorelines of ancient Lake Bonneville tell me we're almost there. We pass SLC airport on our left and head south for what seems like a considerable distance, finally turning 180 degrees to the north for a smooth landing at SLC.

The car rental is a bit of a zoo. Harried are the attendants with cars coming in off the long weekend. A line is forming. I'm finally off in a utilitarian Ford Focus.

Salt Lake City is crisply cold, sunny, and covered in several inches of snow. The roads are clear. I make my way to my meeting.

From the woods to Salt Lake City

The family (wife, the two boys, and I) took a stroll in the woods behind our house, a 120-acre park undeveloped except for a few trails. The walking was easy since we’ve had freezing weather the last few days. The usual mud this time of year was frozen and all the leaves are gone except for the tall firs, cedars, and hemlocks that form the bones of these woods.

Early tomorrow I fly to Salt Lake City to do a mold assessment of a shopping mall. The client acts as a fiduciary for accredited investors and small pension funds and this project is for one of their acquisitions. We do most, if not all the due diligence mold assessments for this client. One of our competitors does the Phase I Environmental Site Assessments.

I’ve checked the aviation forecast and it looks like a smooth flight. The weather in Salt Lake looks good, with a clearing and warming trend through the week.

I’ve scheduled the work for Monday and Tuesday having made arrangements with the site contact whose name sounds like he should be an actor in Westerns. This should be interesting. Unfortunately, Monday is a holiday and likely to be a busy shopping day. That might hamper the work somewhat. The place will be crowded and the retail tenants will be fussy.

I’ll be staying over into Wednesday to pick up a day of skiing. This is one of those little side benefits of trips like these. How can you travel to Salt Lake City in February and not ski? I haven’t skied there since the 1980s. I’m not sure where I’ll ski but I’m leaning to Solitude or Brighton. The weather for Wednesday looks perfect.

Now I just have to finish packing.

The Opening

The focus of this blog is my life as an environmental consultant and the environmental consulting industry, primarily die diligence with respect to commercial property transactions. This has been an exciting career over the last 18 years. I’ve traveled all over the country and met many interesting people. No one day is the same and a day can change with a phone call. It’s not as exciting firefighting but at least I’m not chained to a desk.

So come along and join me if you will.

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