Farallon Consulting
Specialty: Environmental due diligence, site characterization, mediation and litigation support, engineering services
Management: Peter Jewett, Cliff Schmitt, Riley Conkin, Richard McManus, Gerald J. Portele
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Issaquah
2005 revenues: $5.2 million
Projected 2006 revenues: $5.5 million
Current projects: Duwamish steel manufacturing facility cleanup, Yakima fertilizer plant cleanup, downtown Seattle excavation sites, environmental due diligence projects
Photo courtesy of Farallon Consulting Farallon did a site characterization study for the Coffin Butte Landfill near Corvallis, Ore. A drill rig was used to bore holes for gas control wells. |
The active real estate market has been good business for Farallon Consulting of Issaquah.
The environmental consulting firm has seen demand pick up for environmental site assessments as property seekers examine sites for contamination.
Principal Peter Jewett, a cofounder of the firm, describes such work as Farallon’s bread and butter.
Dry-cleaner cleanups
The firm also offers project management services for contamination cleanups.
Jewett compared the process to a general contractor’s design-build work. After investigating a site to determine the extent of the contamination, the firm will work with regulatory agencies to find out what cleanup levels need to be met, and then design a cleanup program and hire the contractors to do the work.
Jewett |
Dry-cleaner cleanups are most frequent, but the 35-employee firm also takes on much larger projects, such as the cleanup of a former fertilizer plant in Yakima for a major railroad company.
The work has its hazards, Jewett said, given the dangers posed by contaminated materials. He said he’s vigilant about liability issues, including safe materials handling and collecting the correct site data.
Jewett said Farallon has enjoyed steady growth, but when it comes to fishing for new employees, the talent pool could be larger.
“Finding qualified people is challenging, particularly at the entry level,” he said. “It’s a very competitive market.”
Government lags behind
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Government regulatory agencies have had a difficult time keeping up with their work loads, a problem that can slow down projects.
“The regulatory agencies are massively understaffed,” Jewett said. “Getting projects to move through the regulatory agencies at the pace required by industry is difficult.”
Technological advances have made some cleanups quicker and more cost effective. Farallon has teamed up with a Boston-area firm, Kerfoot Technologies, that has developed a method of applying ozone as an oxidant to clean up contaminated groundwater without pumping it out first.
Such technologies aren’t effective for every situation, Jewett said.
“You need a quiver of alternatives to select alternatives unique to the site.”