Since 2008, SAK Environmental provides 24/7 emergency response and management to high energy line breaks (HELB) to a national energy company that provides CHP in major cities across the United States.
What is a HELB? It's the sudden failure of a energy transmisison line. For SAK, these mostly included underground oil pipelines servicing power plants that leaked oil and underground steam lines where water hammer or joint failures blew asbestos insulation jackets to the surface.
Petroleum: The oil line delivered heated No. 6 oil to a satellite steam facility at the far end of the city. The release was discovered in an adjacent former shipping channel and was determined to have spilled hundreds of gallons of oil into the subsurface. The oil entered nearby utility vaults, contaminated soil, and migrated into the adjacent water channel once used for shipping. The project was complex because of the difficulty in removing thick, viscous No. 6 oil from the subsurface, preventing the oil was seeping between huge buried granite blocks that formed the channel wall, and the busy urban area. Environmental response actions were performed over several years with numerous changes in contractors and frustration by the Owner that the project would never be completed. Then SAK was retained. SAK identified key performance standards where residual contamination could remain in an urban environment and meet regulatory standards. This included no discharge to surface water, no recoverable oil, and no human exposure. SAK’s in-depth knowledge of state and federal pollution regulations allowed the project to be closed out.
Asbestos: A large hole in the ground formed when a steam line expansion joint failed and the rupture spread asbestos debris and fibers over a two city blocks. Public ways and privately owned buildings were shut down due to the contamination. The event involved fire, police, hazmat, state DEP, USEPA, and OSHA, as well as city health and inspectional services. SAK, acting as the owner’s environmental manager, was onsite within one hour and performed round-the-clock work SAK was responsible for notifying City, State and Federal agencies of the event, prepared and executed a decontamination and sampling plan, and provided necessary reports documenting and closing out the project. SAK oversaw remedial actions on paved surfaces, building faces, and building roofs.
