Solutions right beneath your feet

No single GeoEnvironmental solution fits every industry, let alone every project. It takes the expertise and experience of RETTEW’s team to create a customized, comprehensive solution for your specific project. For more than 30 years, we’ve been listening to our client’s needs and creating tailored programs that go above and beyond today’s complex projects. We help you look toward the future.

At RETTEW, our GeoEnvironmental team focuses on two things: catching issues before they become problems and looking at the bigger picture to understand your goals before beginning a project. Short-term answers aren’t always the best solution. We want to know the whole story in its full context, so we know the end game of your project. What are the possible geological hazards that could impact your project? What does future development look like? How will the surrounding infrastructure or natural areas be impacted? We ask lots of questions to understand your goals from the very beginning.

RETTEW’s approach to GeoEnvironmental services focuses on safety and effectiveness. We start with a comprehensive plan that involves trained employees, developing accurate budgets with built-in contingencies, and creating detailed protocols for regulations and permitting. From wastewater management to drilling, water sourcing, and due diligence evaluations – we have comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) that keep quality at the forefront.

Service beyond expectations

GeoEnvironmental work is more than just mitigating and identifying possible contaminants. We partner with you to create a proactive custom plan for your site, so you don’t need to stress about post-issue clean-up or compliance fines.

Beyond planning, we tackle the day-to-day challenges of environmental supply needs too. Need water routed to meet your fracking schedule during the dry months? We study your operational needs and compliance requirements, source the water, study the flow, get route permitting, and help plan for your future. Need a due diligence inventory of multiple sites? We not only provide all the information you need, but we will also create an inventory database you can access from anywhere. There’s not a challenge we haven’t met yet – and gladly delivered on.

GeoEnvironmental in practice

No one wants to hear the words “contamination” or “spill.” So, when one proactive oil and gas client asked us to review their secondary containment, we quickly jumped in for an integrity inspection. The client already had an SOP in place but wanted guidance on how to improve their ability to keep their pads clean and prevent future spills. They knew even with one incident, the clean-up, inspection, and permits would result in months of downtime and expense. RETTEW’s expert audit advised our client exactly which liners they needed to upgrade, where the pinch points were, how on-site traffic patterns impacted the liners, and we identified other potential problem areas needing increased containment.

The first order of business when acquiring a new company is an asset due diligence evaluation. For an oil and gas operator, evaluating the new land and equipment at more than 30 different locations could have been a daunting task. But the experts at RETTEW knew exactly what to do. We completed initial field inspections to assess for environmental compliance and spill prevention countermeasures and control. We also reviewed state and federal databases for any outstanding permits or environmental violations. Using this information, we were able to advise our client about the issues they would face once the acquisition was complete. The client was able to leverage the information for future budget planning and in their negotiations for the purchase.

Global greenhouse gas emissions concerns; various industries implementing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives; and ever-evolving environmental regulations have brought orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells to the forefront. So, when federal and state investments in well-plugging activities increased, it provided much-needed financial support to the agencies and programs responsible for managing oil and gas wells. Enter RETTEW’s team of experts. Our decades-long experience in oil and gas allowed us to work in lockstep with state and federal agencies to locate hard-to-find wells, assess well integrity and emissions concerns, and prepare the necessary environmental and engineering plan approvals to get wells ready for plugging.

Preparedness is key because emergencies happen – and never when it’s convenient. A large manufacturer knew just who to call to help them plan for the unexpected. The professionals at RETTEW created emergency action plans for the various areas of the client’s business, including industrial, transportation, manufacturing, and commercial incidents – taking the worry out of their “what if” scenarios.

Short-term answers, long-term solutions

Our experts mitigate and resolve issues that affect everyone on the planet – earth, water, and air. We live and work in these communities too, and we are invested in keeping them clean and safe. Whether it’s an oil and gas well pad or a brownfield, buried tanks, or wastewater – we have the expertise to create solid plans for mitigation, permitting, and auditing.

At RETTEW, we make it a priority to get ahead of the issues as industries evolve. We are constantly learning and exploring the bigger picture, so we can advise our clients about future challenges they may face and how to address them. It’s about being present, available, and responsive to our clients and our communities.

GeoEnvironmental Specialties:

  • Due diligence evaluations
  • Environmental compliance (permitting, sampling, and regulatory reporting for air, waste, stormwater discharges, management of fill, groundwater, storage tanks)
  • Hazardous materials surveys (lead, asbestos, PCBs)
  • Hydrogeologic investigations and modeling
  • Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA, EDDA)
  • Management of fill
  • Monitoring well installation and abandonment
  • Remedial alternatives analysis, design, and implementation; PA Act 2
  • Remediation of brownfields
  • Remediation of soil and groundwater
  • Spill, Emergency Response, and Contingency Planning (ERP, SPCC, PPC)
  • Spill response coordination and management
  • Soil and water quality sampling (wastewater, stormwater, surface water, and groundwater, including pre-drill baseline)
  • Underground and above-ground storage tank permitting, inspections, and closures (UST, AST)
  • Vapor intrusion assessments
  • Waste management plans, permitting, and compliance reporting

Niche Services:

  • Pipeline hydrostatic test discharge monitoring/permitting
  • Professional Geologist (PG) oversight of pipeline HDD
  • Professional Soil Scientist services (CPSS)
  • Septic and on-lot sewage facilities testing, permitting, design, and compliance (SEO)
  • Stray gas investigations and mitigation