Specialty: Air pollution control engineering, analysis and permitting
President: Mike Ruby
1999 revenues: $500,000
Projected revenues 2000: $500,000
Location: Seattle (Fremont)
Mike Ruby can sound an optimistic note.
The founder and president of Envirometrics sees a "distinct movement" by business leaders to voluntarily exceed minimum environmental standards, at least in Ruby's field of air pollution control.
"A lot of them are saying let's stop fussing about having to comply and instead say what do I need to do to not create a problem that gets us into the regulatory process in the first place," Ruby said. "People are significantly doing this."
In addition to hoping to avoid regulatory and public relations snafus, the firms have begun noting economic advantages to cleaner living. "Any emission is a chemical you wasted," Ruby explained. "It's money up your stack and out your window, and people are recognizing that."
Ruby started Envirometrics in 1984 after he received his Ph.D. in air pollution control engineering to continue the work that came in while he was studying.
"I didn't really have a grand plan. People just kept calling to say come do our projects," he said.
"We've never really made an attempt to grow or be anything, just follow our noses." The firm ranges between five and seven employees. Ruby is the sole owner. Revenues have hovered around $500,000 for years, he said.
The company's main clients are mid-sized industrial concerns. Large companies like pulp factories generally employ air quality personnel in-house, Ruby said.
Envirometrics recently finished 1.5 years of testing for the Tacoma Steam Plant and is now seeking permits for the plant to change its fuel mix for better efficiency, Ruby said.
The firm also has a contract with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to gather and analyze data about the economic impacts air quality regulations have had there. "We've got to tear all the numbers apart. It's related to a tax credit program," Ruby said.
Ruby is sanguine about the winds of regulatory change, too. The federal Clean Air Act is supposed to be revised every decade and the next revision is due, "but Congress will take four more years to get around to it and six more to pass it," he said. "The EPA is still trying to finish up what it was supposed to do in the 1990 act."
Environmental firms at times have to decide whether to turn down a client that appears objectionable. "I can think of three clients we turned down this year," Ruby said. "About five years ago we turned down the Tobacco Institute for an indoor air modeling project for airplanes. They wanted to show that there was no harm (to other passengers) from people smoking on airplanes."