With nearly 30 years of professional consulting experience, Miles Bolton leads Apex in tackling some of the toughest brownfield redevelopment and engineering projects in the nation. Safety, innovation, efficiency and customer satisfaction are the words that describe Bolton’s project focus, and what drives Apex to provide clients with the highest quality services in the most cost-effective manner.

Under Bolton’s direction and guidance, Apex personnel are performing remediation of a former secondary lead smelting facility in Jacksonville, Fla. The goal of the project is to return this Brownfield property to productive use and remove the existing RCRA post-closure permit, a first for the state. “Our client’s decision to clean up this Brownfield was voluntary” Bolton says. “The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been an excellent partner in making this project a success.”

Remediation at the site involves stabilization of soils containing lead and arsenic using an on-site Pugmill to mix the soils with stabilizing agents to remove the hazardous characteristics of these metals within the soils. Stabilized soils are then removed from the site as non-hazardous waste and the site is reclaimed using clean backfill soils, native grasses and wildflowers.

To date approximately 150,000 tons of soils have been removed from the site. “Numerous challenges, ranging from undetected buried production processes to unique groundwater conditions associated with acids and geochemical changes caused by backfill soils, were encountered,” says Bolton. “The Florida EPA provided insightful support in the development of cost-effective solutions to these challenges, while our client has remained committed to completing this voluntary remediation.”

Coordination with the U.S. EPA was critical in another of Bolton’s success stories involving the de-listing of the ALSCO Anaconda National Priorities List (NPL) Site, a former aluminum products manufacturer in Gnadenhutten, Ohio. Manufacturing processes at this site produced sludge and other wastes that were held in on-site containment pits. Affected media at the site included sludges, soils, groundwater and sediments. Contaminants discovered in groundwater at the site included antimony, beryllium, total chromium, cyanide, fluoride, lead, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate and polychlorinated biphenyls.

Bolton was the project manager for the Groundwater Operable Unit, and was tasked with reducing risks to human health and the environment posed by the contaminants in groundwater. Responsible for directing semi-annual groundwater sampling events, monthly report preparation and required agency submittals, Bolton also developed site-specific cleanup levels for groundwater in a Derivation of Cleanup Levels document. This site was de-listed from the NPL by USEPA Region 5 in December 2001.

The Brownfield revitalization portion of Apex’s business is growing, with opportunities in place from both the private and public sectors seeking to make the most efficient return on investment by redeveloping underutilized and often environmentally stressed properties. Ranked among the Top 200 Environmental Firms by Engineering News-Record Magazine, Apex and its more than 35 offices nationally, is uniquely positioned to assist clients with their environmental and engineering needs.

Apex Cos, LLC is headquartered in Rockville, Md., and has 35-plus offices nationally.