EnSafe Inc.'s fast-track remediation of a Cold War-legacy site in Baku, Azerbaijan earned the grand award of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee's 2006 Engineering Excellence competition Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn.  Since 1999, EnSafe has won four grand awards and five other top category awards in this competition, sponsored by the statewide engineering professional organization.
 
In less than two years, EnSafe cleaned up massive, decades-old oil contamination in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, demonstrating advanced western remediation technologies and project management approaches that the emerging democracy can apply to similar Cold War-legacy sites. 
 
EnSafe was prime contractor in a design-build, full-scale remediation demonstration project on a 370+ acre site contaminated with crude oil, brine, and solid waste.  The project represents the first major cleanup effort of this legacy oil contamination using state-of-the-art bioremediation and soil-washing technologies and by an innovative approach of recycling contaminated soil into asphaltic concrete for use as pavement.  EnSafe performed the project for the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic.
 
Tenneco
EnSafe also won the top award in the small projects category for Cost-Saving In Situ Lagoon Closure performed for Tenneco Inc. in Ohio.  EnSafe was prime contractor for the cost-effective in situ closure of four former industrial wastewater treatment ponds that contained phosphate sludge.  Using its knowledge of the science of natural microbial processes, EnSafe saved Tenneco more than $3 million versus the cost of implementing more traditional engineering approaches to close and backfill the ponds.
 
Tenneco had budgeted $1.5 million in its environmental reserves for the multi-pond closure work.  EnSafe estimated, however, that using a traditional closure approach , dredging, dewatering, and offsite disposal of sediment , would cost at least $1.7 million.  If state regulators required backfilling the ponds to grade, Tenneco would face another $2 million in costs, bring the closure total to more than $3.7 million.
 
EnSafe recognized that microbial processes active in the ponds already were degrading the phosphate sludge, which was in a form that was immobile in the environment.  Given that the ponds also were isolated from any waters of the state, EnSafe was able to develop a simpler in situ approach that would protect both the environment and Tenneco's bottom line.
 
EnSafe has a history of success in the statewide competition, winning the following:

• 2006 Engineering Excellence Top Environmental Award for Innovative Remediation of Ferrochromium-Impacted Site, Charleston, South Carolina
• 2005 Engineering Excellence Top Surveying and Mapping Technology Award for GIS Mapping at NSA Mid-South, Millington, Tenn.
• 2005, Engineering Excellence Top Studies, Research, and Consulting Engineering Award for Innovative ICP/SPCC Plans for MCB Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River, N.C.
• 2003 Grand Award for 3D Imaging of Karst Bedrock beneath Engineered Structures, Dickson County, Tenn.
• 2002 Grand Award for Use of Mine Spoils as an Alternative Capping Material for Sanitary Landfill Closure, Grundy County, Tenn.
• 2000 Grand Award for Remediation of Perchlorate Contamination in Soil and Groundwater at NWIRP McGregor, Texas
• 1999 Top Environmental Award for Innovative Remediation of Stamina Mills NPL Site, Smithfield, R.I.

Earlier this year EnSafe won the top environmental award in the American Council of Engineering Companies of South Carolina's 2007 Engineering Excellence Competition.  That award recognized the Macalloy National Priorities List Site Remediation project, which involved fast-track remediation of a Superfund site using innovative remedies.
 
EnSafe is a global professional consulting firm specializing in engineering, environment, health & safety, and technology.  Founded in Memphis in 1980, EnSafe has 22 offices worldwide staffed by 250 employees. 
 
Contact: Philip G. Coop, CHMM, President, or James N. Speakman, PhD, PE, at 372-7962