In this 27th episode I review a current event of "Half A Million Gallons of Liquid Asphalt Spilled into Chicago River."

In an article I ran across, it provided details about this recent event of Half A Million Gallons of Liquid Asphalt Spilled into Chicago River.  Although the article was recently published in The Chicago Sun Times on October 31, 2025 by Brett Chase, it notes that the event took place over nine months ago.

It also notes, that as of the publication date, that a penalty nor a notice of violation had been issued to The Responsible Party.  This was really surprising and this along with the quantity prompted me to want to highlight this event and article on my podcast in hopes drawing more attention to it, so that perhaps the attention might prompt more action.

The article notes that the river travels South from Illinois all the way to The Gulf of Mexico, so there is no doubt that the contamination will be found on both river banks through out the entire southern river route, as the quantity was so significant.

Our podcast "Let's Talk Remediation" is an ongoing effort to have a positive impact on The Environmental Remediation Industry and we thank Our Ongoing Sponsor Hanby Environmental for supporting this effort!   

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"Thank You" for tuning in!

Here's a link to the article:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/environment/2025/10/31/environmental-oily-asphalt-spill-epa-chicago-sanitary-ship-canal-mwrd

In this 26th episode, I discuss how the age old slogan "Time is Money" applies to the Remediation Industry.

A recent dialog I had with a Prospect, prompted me to cover this topic.

During a Remediation project, waiting for analytical results to be returned to know how your efforts are progressing, will cost both time and money.  Having to sit ideal, is not efficient.

Using reliable field measurements prior to sending samples off to a Laboratory for Third Party validation of what you already know from using reliable field measurements is the best approach.

Whether the time lag is 60-90 days, 2-4 weeks, 10-14 days, 2-4 days or 24-48 hours, this time lag, allows for changes to take place where the samples were taken.  So the results are now stale and not a good indicator of the current situation.  Instead, when used as confirmatory, confirming what you knew from having reliable field measurements telling you when to send the sample in for analysis, eliminates the time wasted, which allows for the use of that time for more productive things, like other opportunities.

It just makes good rational sense.  But the field measurements must be reliable or you are wasting time there also.

"Thank You" for tuning in and "Thank You" to Hanby Environmental for the ongoing support of this podcast "Let's Talk Remediation," where we are trying to have a positive impact on the Environmental Remediation Industry!

Send in future topics or questions to [email protected]

In this 25th episode, I discuss "What is a Superfund Site?

Superfund Sites are another term often heard throughout the Environmental and Remediation Industries.  Superfund Sites are locations where The US EPA has determined there is known hazardous materials and contamination that poses a risk to human health and the environment.  Once added to the list of Superfund Sites, The EPA begins to formulate a clean up plan.  This clean up plan includes both the remediation of the property and to hold the Responsible Party or Parties responsible for the remediation costs.

Often times, this can be a long drawn out process, whereby things are in the courts system for years and so huge delays in being addressed.  Sometimes, due to the known contamination and location, this may pose a higher than usual risk to human health and the environment.  If these are the case, the properties can be added to the National Priorities List, whereby they should be addressed before those others on the standard Superfund Sites list.  

In circumstances like these, The US EPA may opt to use federal funds set aside for this purpose to proceed forward with the clean up and remediation plans and then seek reimbursement form The Responsible Part or Parties, after the legal process is completed.

There are approximately 1,400 known Superfund Sites across The US and of those roughly 100 on The National Priorities List (NPL).

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In this 24th episode, I discuss "What is a Brownfield Site?"

From time to time in The Environmental and Remediation Industries, you hear this term "Brownfield," so I wanted to discuss what it means.

A Brownfield Site is previously developed property, that based on its past use, is either known or perceived to have contamination issues and so for it's redevelopment and/or repurposed use, it will require the additional expense of remediation as part of the redevelopment.

Due to this added cost, which can be uncertain, most traditional bank lending is not willing to be available.  For this reason, The US EPA has fund set aside as grants to absorb this added cost.  Most Brownfield Site are old, abandoned properties that are vacant and deteriorating so to encourage the redevelopment, The US EPA has grant funding available for the remediation portion.  Providing the incentive by these grants, getting the contamination addressed, while also revitalizing the subject property, which will increase the value of the subject and the nearby properties and community at large.

In short, Brownfield Sites are properties that have an added expense of remediation associated with the redevelopment of them, due to the prior use of the property.

"Thank You" for tuning in and "Thank You" Hanby Environmental for your ongoing support of this podcast!

In this 23rd episode, I discuss "What is a Representative Sample?"

In remediation efforts, it's important to use "representative samples" in order to get a better understanding of the remediation progress.  As the name implies, a representative sample, is a sample that represents the surrounding nearby area, such that it can be assumed that for the most part, the surrounding area should be the same if not very similar.  The purpose is to get a better understanding of the current condition, so that better decisions can be made about progressing forward.

A Representative Sample should provide an unbiased indication of current conditions.  For this reason, I suggest that more data points provides a better understanding.  I'd recommend having more data points of understanding, rather than using a composite sample, which is the combination of several samples mixed together.  Composite samples do not allow for the zooming in and identification of the hot spots that need focused upon.  I argue that composite samples are not and should not be used as Representative Samples.

A good set of Representative Samples, is the best approach for monitoring remediation progress.

If you have a future episode topic or question, drop me an email to [email protected].

"Thank You" for tuning in and to Our Ongoing Sponsor Hanby Environmental for supporting this effort of having a positive impact on The Remediation Industry.

In this 22nd episode, I discuss another Current Event:  EPA Approves Clean Up Blueprint for Berry's Creek.

On October 8, 2025 The US EPA announced the approval of a clean up blueprint for Berry's Creek in Bergen County, New Jersey.

The reason why I wanted to have this current event on the podcast, is to highlight something that jumped out to me.

The Berry's Creek Superfund Site was created by a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in 1983.  That's 42 years ago!  The contamination of Mercury and PCBs have been in place for much longer when you consider, the court ruling was in 1983, there is no telling how long it took to get to that point.  Needless to say, the contamination has been there for well over 50 years.

As part of the EPA announcement, it says that the blueprint plans were submitted in 2017 and 2018.  That means it took 7-8 years to review and approve the clean up plan.  Also in the announcement, was that the clean up work is anticipated to begin in a year and expected to take four years to complete.  So by these estimates, the clean up should be complete in another five years.

It's mind boggling how long it takes to get known contamination addressed that is hazardous to both human health and the environment.

The good news is better late than never to make some progress.

And, it seems that there are more and more announcements coming out about addressing "Superfund Sites."  Superfund Sites are locations of known contamination being stored to be addressed at a future date.

As always, "thank you" Hanby Environmental for your ongoing support of this podcast "Let's Talk Remediation," in our effort to have a positive impact on The Remediation Industry.

If you have a topic you'd like us to cover on a future podcast, please send it in to [email protected].

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In this 21st episode, the topic is "Reliable Field Measurements, Keeping Remediation Moving Forward."

This episode 21, pulls together some details from prior episodes; #4, #5, #6, #15 and #19.

The topic was prompted by a discussion I had with a Client who disclosed the value impact experienced by the accurate and immediate feedback received by the ability to run 5 tests in 15 minutes and make decisions from the information to make remediation decisions to keep the project advancing forward.

During this episode, I discuss how having reliable field measurements like those obtain by utilizing our Ongoing Sponsor's Hanby Environmental TPH Field Test Kits, remediation projects can eliminate the time lag of getting lab reports back, so that equipment and operators can continue advancing the remediation effort forward.  Also discussed, is the fact that trying to rely on lab reports only, not only slows the remediation project, but also due to the time lag of receiving the results back, could cause the data to become stale, meaning the location where the sample was taken from, could have changed and/or spread.

And the word "Reliable" is key here.  "Reliable" Field Measurements.  There are other field measurements, but if they are not "Reliable," which most are not, then they really don't do any good for you and in fact, could cause a bad decision.  So if you are not using a "Reliable" Field Measurement, then it's added liability.

I am providing links to a previously published article that summaries the details on this same topic, entitled "The Fundamentals of Field Sampling."

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19cynDKzUS/

 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hanby-environmental_hanbyenvironmental-fieldwork-fieldservices-activity-7161070931275112448-gaz1?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAAAKJuUBGxFSock5kILANl-OQ5IbsFxkyE0

As always, "thank you" Hanby Environmental for your ongoing support of this effort to have a positive impact on The Remediation Industry.

And "thank you" for tuning in and if you have a topic you'd like covered on a future episode, please drop my an email at [email protected].

In this 20th Episode, I discuss the Current Event of The US EPA's Approval of The Final Clean Up Plan for The San Jacinto River Superfund Site.

On September 9, 2025 The US EPA announced that they approved the final clean up plan for The San Jacinto River Pits Superfund Site.  These river pits are two locations one Northern and one Southern, where the Responsible Parties Waste Management and International Paper dumped hazardous waste dating back to the 1960's.  The primary hazardous waste material is Dioxins which is a known carcinogen.  The Southern Pit remediation was complete in 2024.  The recent announcement was for the Northern Pit.  

It's unclear when the remediation work will begin, but is expected to be in the next two years.  Then the remediation effort will take a year to two years to complete.  After numerous years of delays, this comes as welcomed news for the community.  The Community has become known as a "Cancer Cluster," for it's elevate levels of numerous types of cancer affecting The Community.

The Northern Pit has 230,000 tons of contaminated materials to be remediated.  It's estimated that 60% of this remains under water, which is why the building of a dam will be required to help prevent the further spreading of the contamination as the remediation efforts commence.

The fact that this recent announcement pushes the project forward in the right direction toward addressing this Superfund Site to be remediated, is a huge positive for The Houston Texas area!

If you have a topic for a future episode or a question you'd like discussed, please let me know by sending it into [email protected].

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In this 19th episode, I discuss the question, "Why are we still using inferior field measurements from "Sniffers?""

In this Episode 19, I talk about how "Sniffers"; "PIDs" (Photo Ionization Detector), FIDs (Flame Ionization Detector) and OVAs (Organic Vapor Analyzers) provide unreliable results.  As such, I ask the question, "why are we still using these?" 

When you get results are starkly different from laboratory results, sometimes more and sometimes less and in both cases, vastly different to the tune of 2-10x different, does the information they provide have any value?

I'd argue that the information not only has no value, worse, relying upon that information, could be a horrible decision.

Some reasons for why these detectors aka "Sniffers" could provide bad information, is the filter could be dirty, the device wasn't recently calibrated or the wind is blowing.  Regardless of the reason, they are still used because they are easy to use.  But being easy to use, to get an answer, doesn't mean the answer is right.  And having the wrong answer could be very costly.

In this episode, I go over some report results that prompted this topic, whereby, in the same report of results, the PID used was sometimes lower by 10x and sometimes higher by 2x.  Not even consistently one way or the other.  Flip-flopped back and forth.  This suggests that the data is completely unreliable from the PID and using it for anything could cause very bad decisions.

So I ask why, "why are these still being used?"

Use a reliable field measurement, like that provided by our Ongoing Sponsor Hanby Environmental's Field Test Kits.  They have been providing results for the last 39 years all across The World, providing results that can be relied upon!

"Thank You" Hanby Environmental" for continuing to support this podcast's effort to have a positive impact on The Remediation Industry.

If you have a future topic you'd like to hear on a show or a specific question you'd like to hear addressed, reach out via email at [email protected] and we'll get it.

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In this 18th episode, I discuss the Current Event of The Cuyahoga Ohio $130M Sediment Clea Up and Gorge Dam Removal.

In this episode 18, I discuss an article I ran across published August 28, 2025 by The Akron Beacon Journal by Derek Kreider.

The article discusses the details of this large project that is set to begin any day.  This $130M project has two parts.  The first part is the removal of the contaminated river sediment from the Cuyahoga River bottom and then pipelined out to a prepared park area, where the remediation will take place.  This part is set to utilize $100M of the project.  The amount of sediment to be removed and remediated from the river bottom is described as being 11 football fields in size and stackd upon those 11 football fields to be stacked 10-12 feet high.  That's a lot of sediment to be remediated.  

The second part is to remove the Gorge Dam which is set to utilize $30M of the project.

Each part is estimated to take two years to complete.

The project is funded by a combination of Federal (65%) and State funds (35%).

This is a large project that is beginning and will result in the Cuyahoga River flowing freely for the first time in 100 years.  The Environmental Impact of the free flowing river and the remediation of it sediment contamination are obvious.  But additionally, this project will have a huge economic impact on the region, as this river is used for outdoor recreation and runs through the middle of downtown in Cuyahoga Falls.  Additionally, this will spark all kinds of new development, both commercial and residential for The Cuyahoga Falls and Akron Ohio areas.

This is money well spent and a long and overdue project!

"Thank You" Hanby Environmental for the ongoing support of this podcast to have a positive impact on The Remediation Industry.  The Hanby Environmental Field Test Kits are extremely valuable tools that could be implemented in projects like this one.  Also mentioned in this episode, is OMG Solutions' ELMN8 Soil Remediation product that could also be implemented in projects like this one.  Combined, the real time feedback to monitor real time and in-situ (in place) remediation, really cut down on the remediation costs in projects like these.

As always mentioned, if you have a topic you'd like covered on a future podcast or a specific question, drop me an email at [email protected] and we'll get it in.

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Here's a link to the article reviewed as originally published:

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/local/2025/08/28/dredging-of-the-cuyahoga-river-in-preparation-for-dam-removal-to-begin-soon/85818236007/