LEA News

LEA�s Bill Schaal, PG, recently made a presentation related to metal element contamination to regulatory staff at the California Department of Substances Control (DTSC) in Chatsworth, California. Bill was joined Jeff Hess, PG, Technical Director of Gilbane Company. Bill and Jeff, together with colleague, Mark Sorensen, PG, are advancing the state-of-the-art within the environmental industry by applying geochemical methods to determining whether metal elements are naturally occurring or anthropogenic (man-made). The present state-of-practice within the environmental industry relies heavily on professional judgment, limited statistical analysis, and analytical methods that were developed to evaluate bioavailable compounds thus were not intended for this purpose.

L. Everett & Associates welcomes Bill Schaal, PMP, PG, to our team. Bill�s appointment as Vice President for Business Development marks his return to our growing firm. Bill brings more than 25 years of domestic and international experience providing litigation and engineering services to law firms, commercial and industrial companies, and the US federal government. Bill is directly responsible for $40M in sales and executed nearly $90M in projects, including some of the toughest environmental challenges encountered at commercial properties and military bases.

Our CEO, Dr. Lorne Everett has published a new book from ASTM, "Continuous Soil Gas Measurements: Worst Case Risk Parameters" coedited with Dr. Mark Kram of Groundswell Technologies. The book summarizes state-of-the art thinking on vapor intrusion by an international team of authors from the USA, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany and other nations. Interest in vapor intrusion has intensified by recent studies which suggest that prevailing sampling programs may fail to fully characterize vapor intrusion problems due to extreme spatial and temporal variability of VOCs and methane at contaminated sites.

Endocrine disruptors are a class of synthetic chemicals that may mimic the action of hormones in animals and humans. Recent statements by scientists and policy makers highlight the controversy over how these chemicals should be regulated.

Dr. Troast provides environmental consulting and expert witness services in the areas of risk assessment, lead toxicity, childhood lead exposure, asbestos, and toxicological risks associated with hazardous substances.

Dr. Lorne Everett is chairing the Pollution Permanent Monitoring Panel Meetings of the 46th Session of the International Seminar on Planetary Emergencies of the World Federation of Scientists.

A recent study in western Pennsylvania found a high incidence of methane in private drinking water wells at homes near natural gas drilling operations. Homes closest to natural gas wells had (on average) methane concentrations six times higher than homes farther away.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has issued two draft guidance documents concerning vapor intrusion. Vapor intrusion is the migration of volatile chemicals from contaminated soil or groundwater into overlying buildings. One important concept that is emphasized by EPA is spatial and temporal variability of indoor air concentrations. LEA has been a vocal advocate for appreciating and accounting for this variability when addressing vapor intrusion problems.

Dr. Lorne Everett, PhD, DSc, is CEO of L. Everett & Associates (LEA). LEA is an environmental litigation support and consulting firm. In this video Dr. Everett introduces the firm and speaks about emergent concerns related to vapor intrusion (VI). VI generally occurs when there is a migration of volatile chemicals from contaminated groundwater or soil into an overlying building. LEA is intimately involved in the development of national standards by ASTM International, and Dr. Everett chairs the committee that is currently developing the standards.