1. Successful planning for resolving an environmental liability involves deploying expertise in several disciplines. You should insist on a systems approach which considers all impacts of a technical solution, has cost certainty and satisfies financial reporting requirements, and understands the likely regulatory implications of your decisions.
2. Changes in accounting standards over the past several years have dramatically changed contaminated site owners' responsibility for reporting and addressing environmental liabilities.
3. Most environmental problems have multiple technical solutions. Determining the most effective solution works best when the party assisting you in making the determination does not have an interest in the type of technology selected.
4. Pump and treat systems for multi-phase DNAPL in groundwater , a common treatment strategy in the late 80's and early 90's, is one example of a remedy for which more effective solutions may exist. Yet many of these systems continue to operate, and incur significant recurring O&M costs for their operators.
5. Environmental Insurance is still available and relatively affordable for capping remediation costs, as well as for first and third party liabilities.
6. There are many other financial instruments which can be deployed. A trust fund backed by a corporate guarantee from a transaction partner is one such example.
Registered Professional Engineer