Johnson Wright, Inc.
3730 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Suite 230
Lafayette, CA 94549
(925) 403-6200
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CEO's Message
Dear Clients, Colleagues and
Friends:
2010 is in full swing, and we are looking forward to another
year of opportunities to help our clients succeed. One way we like to help is to periodically
create newsletters. Each time we do, we ask ourselves: "How can we create a set
of articles on timely subjects that bring high-value to our clients and
colleagues?" One of the ways we answer
this question is to track many technical and engineering cost issues. However, we can only present a small fraction
of the key developments in each area.
Feedback from our clients helps us to focus the topics and content. We appreciate this input since it helps
create a valuable newsletter that sets the stage for additional discussions of
mutual interest.
We hope you will enjoy this newsletter, and that it will
help propel our mutual success in 2010.
Warm Regards,
Peter
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Episode 1 - The Pilot Study - Seinfeld and the Engineer
By Paul M. Nuti, P.E.
Do
you remember the show Seinfeld? There
was a great two part episode at the end of Season 4. It was called "The Pilot". In that episode, Jerry and George pitched to
NBC executives a concept for a new show called "Jerry"; they described it as a
"show about nothing". Their intent was
to show the executives that they had a good concept for a television show by
producing one episode for NBC's consideration.
As you can imagine, it didn't go well and Jerry and George missed their
shot at fortune and fame. The television
industry uses pilots to predict the success of a new show or to gather
suggestions on how to make changes to the show's concept. Well, the television industry got this age
old approach from engineers who have been using pilot studies for decades to
test design concepts or to gather data to scale up projects.
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Lower Passaic River Cleanup Update -
Part I - Background
By John D. Elliott, P.E.
This
article provides a brief description of the Lower Passaic River Restoration
Project (LPRRP) in New Jersey. A study performed in 1983 by the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection (NJDEP) found elevated concentrations of dioxins in
the sediments in the Lower
Passaic River
adjacent to the Diamond Alkali property at 80 and 120 Lister Avenue, Newark,
New Jersey. As a result of the 1983 Dioxin Study, USEPA placed
the Diamond Alkali site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1984 and the
state of New Jersey
issued fish and seafood consumption advisories for the river.
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Allocation of Contribution in Pollution Cases - Part I
By Alborz A. Wozniak, P.E.
For
nearly three decades, parties responsible for cleanup of polluted sites have
struggled to develop a fair and technically defensible way to allocate
liability and damages among themselves.
In a typical multi-party site involving litigation regarding cost
recovery under CERCLA, potentially responsible parties (PRPs) each hire experts
to evaluate the available technical data and opine on the portion of pollution
that was caused by each contributor.
The methodologies employed by these experts can vary significantly and
often times represent a best-guess in the absence of adequate data or technical
analysis. |
Chesapeake Bay's Pollution Diet
By Michael B. Marsden, P.G., C.Hg.
In
November 2009, the federal government released the Draft Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake
Bay for a 60-day public comment period. The Strategy focuses on
restoration of the Bay to address nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution from
sources including agricultural operations, stormwater runoff, and wastewater
discharge into the 64,000-square-mile watershed that includes 17 million people
in seven states. To comply with the Strategy, states will have to develop
"Pollution Diets" addressing inputs to the Bay from municipal and industrial
wastewater facilities; stationary and mobile air sources; concentrated animal
feeding operations; and stormwater. This
article presents a brief overview and the status of efforts to improve water
quality in the Bay.
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Understanding the Role of Environmental Forensics
By Adam H. Love, Ph.D.
Sometimes
the cause and effect relationships that lead to environmental remediation can
be fairly straightforward. In other circumstances, there can be significant
uncertainty about various source contributions and/or the timing of contamination.
In order to address these more complex contamination scenarios, Environmental
Forensics typically involves the integration of various forms of information to
develop a legally defensible basis for identifying sources of contamination and
Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs).
FULL ARTICLE >>
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