Vapor Intrusion Experts. Soil and Groundwater Experts. Contamination Consultants.

220 West Gutierrez Street. Santa Barbara, CA 93101  |  (805) 880-9302

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Who We Are

Lorne Everett, Jim Wells, Jill Beniak & Jorge Matos
Lorne Everett, Jim Wells & Jorge Matos

Senior members of LEA Environmental, Inc. are Dr. Lorne Everett, Dr. James Wells and Mr. Jorge Matos, PE.

Lorne G. Everett, CEO of LEA
Lorne G. Everett, PhD, DSc

Lorne G. Everett, PhD, DSc, is the CEO of the firm. Dr. Everett was the Chief Scientist at Haley & Aldrich, Shaw Environmental, ARCADIS and Metcalf & Eddy Inc. He is a retired Professional Researcher (Level VII) in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Past Director of the Vadose Zone Monitoring Laboratory at UCSB. The University of California describes full professor Level VII as “reserved for scholars of great distinction.” He has a Ph.D. in Hydrology (1972) from the University of Arizona in Tucson and is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. In 1996, he received a Doctor of Science Degree (Honoris Causa) from Lakehead University in Canada for Distinguished Achievement in Hydrology. Dr. Everett was the 6th Chancellor of Lakehead University in Canada.

He is an internationally recognized expert who has conducted extensive research on subsurface characterization and remediation. He is Chairman of the ASTM Task Committee on Groundwater and Vadose Zone Monitoring (D18.21.02). He also chaired the Remediation Session of the First USSR/USA Conference on Environmental Hydrogeology (Leningrad, 1990). Dr. Everett has received numerous awards, published over 150 technical papers and reports, holds several patents, developed 11 national ASTM Vadose Zone Monitoring standards and authored and edited over 10 books including: Vadose Zone Monitoring for Hazardous Waste Sites, and Subsurface Migration of Hazardous Waste. His book entitled, Groundwater Monitoring was endorsed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as establishing “the state-of-the-art used by industry today” and was recommended by the World Health Organization for all developing countries.

Dr Everett is a Fellow of ASCE, a Fellow of AWRA, and a Fellow of ASTM. He has been named an expert in over 70 environmental cases.

James Wells, PhD, PG
James Wells, PhD, PG

James T. Wells, PhD, PG is an environmental geologist with 20 years of experience in hydrogeology and geochemistry and is a Professional Geologist, registered by the State of California. Dr. Wells is the Chief Operating Officer of L. Everett & Associates. He earned a BA in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College and MS and PhD degrees in Geological Sciences from the University of Washington. He serves on the editorial board of the academic journal, Environmental Forensics. His area of expertise includes groundwater hydrology, environmental forensics and fate and transport of contamination in soil and groundwater.

Dr. Wells has worked on over 100 sites around the country, each with unique issues related to soil or groundwater quality. He serves clients in the areas of site investigations, soil and groundwater remediation, risk-based studies of soil and groundwater contamination, and litigation support. His environmental forensics practice focuses on using advanced analytical techniques to solve questions related to the origin, cause, timing and evolution of subsurface contamination.

He has authored and coauthored numerous scientific publications, including the recently published forensic review articles in Environmental Science & Technology (U.K. Edition) Special Issue dedicated to Environmental Forensics.

Dr. Wells was appointed by the State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control and South Coast Air Quality Management District to serve as the Technical Advisor to the Exide Community Advisory Group. He serves as technical liaison between community stakeholders and state regulators for this project involving evaluation and cleanup of up to 10,000 homes impacted by lead emissions from a secondary lead smelter. In this capacity Dr. Wells gave testimony before the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials at the state capitol in Sacramento.

Jorge Matos, PE
Jorge Matos, PE

Jorge Matos, PE is a professional civil engineer, registered by the State of California, and oceanographer with twenty years of diverse experience in environmental engineering projects. Mr. Matos is the principal engineer for L. Everett & Associates. He specializes in the design, analysis and presentation of groundwater flow and solute transport models, and three-dimensional (3D) visualization of environmental data. His experience includes site characterization of tidally influenced groundwater flow systems, and determination of groundwater flow into surface water bodies through the measurement of submarine groundwater discharge. Mr. Matos holds B.S. degrees from Humboldt State University in Environmental Engineering and Oceanography.

Mr. Matos has worked on over 50 sites all over the US. A majority of the sites involve addressing environmental quality issues related to soil, soil vapor, vapor intrusion and groundwater. He serves clients in the areas of site investigations, soil and groundwater remediation, risk-based studies of soil and groundwater contamination, and litigation support.


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