Over a period of 20 years, Verdantas (formerly Project Navigator, Ltd.) staff were instrumental in managing and driving the technical and strategic closure of the challenging OII CERCLA site in the Los Angeles basin. Verdantas’ management of negotiations, engineering and construction activities was performed for a group of more than 80 Responsible Parties who had previously disposed of wastes at the landfill from 1948 to 1984. Total expenditures are estimated to be about $800 million. About $250 million of these costs were under the direct supervision of Verdantas personnel. 

For example, from 1997 to 2004, Verdantas’ Dr. Ian Webster, as President of the PRPs’ work entity, New Cure Inc., led the technical negotiations with US EPA and performed as the general manager of the $150 million design and construction program for the installation of the cap and gas collection system on the 145-acre landfill’s South Parcel. A renewables feature included the installation of a 3MW landfill gas to power, gas turbine system. 

Later, another group of Verdantas staff managed a similar scope for the design and construction of a cap system for a 10-acre portion of the site’s North Parcel. The work in this area was complex for two main reasons: (a) the area abutted a busy freeway with wastes, including unexploded ordnance, in the Caltrans right of way, and (b) since the North Parcel acreage had subsequent retail development potential, the installed cap was designed to allow later vertical development. 

Key Take-Aways 

• 45-acre “development-opportunity” North Parcel 
• Western 10-acres, capped, and ready for tilt up development 
• 145-acre South Parcel 
• Capped, with a landfill gas control system, under Verdantas management in the late 90’s