Environmental Cleanup Projects:
Most recently, the "hot" environmental cleanup topic has been Vapor Intrusion. This emerging science examines the ability of groundwater affected by historic VOC contamination to evaporate through the soil and become contained in indoor air. Vapor Intrusion is of most concern in areas where there are residential structures above affected groundwater. The team of Alison Spare and Paula Kovacs Ross has had extensive experience working on a 350-acre residential study area in New York. We have coordinated indoor air sampling and ventilation of VOC vapors for hundreds of residential and commercial structures, while managing all facets of stakeholder communications for our client.
In addition to VOCs, PKC has developed and implemented community relations plans for environmental projects involving groundwater, soil, indoor air, and outdoor air emissions. Our practical experience includes projects involving lead, zinc, arsenic, VOCs, PCBs, former defense sites, and Brownfields redevelopment.
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Controversial Siting Projects:
We take on the projects that others avoid. For example, siting a facilty in California to service nuclear power plants, and gaining support from the Sierra Club as part of the process.
Our strength is LISTENING to communities and to our clients, and we know how to do that up front before a potentially controversial project is launched. Working for the Energy Development Group, the team of Paula Kovacs Ross, John Burk and Jon Samuelson successfully launched 8 power facility development projects. Because of our "no surprise" approach, we had no opposition at 7 of those sites. Where opposition arose at one, we worked quickly to contain it, make it appear to be a NIMBY (Not-In-My-BackYard) issue, and gained broad community support based on the benefits of the project.
Paula Kovacs Ross and Alison Spare have also worked to site wireless towers, specifically for a client who builds public-private partnerships to co-locate this equipment with lighting structures on public property, such as at high school football fields. We helped the client to correct misconceptions in nearby communities about the technology and potential health risks, and ultimately succeeded in persuading the public partners to continue the program.
In siting controversial facilities, our experience is largely based in the energy and technology sectors, with power facilities, pipelines, and wireless towers. If brought in before a project is launched, we can take a hands-on approach, and work with the client and the community to successfully site a project so that all parties are comfortable. We also lend our expertise in situations where business and technical constraints leave very few siting options.
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