Terra-Petra Environmental Engineering now serving Michigan

June 2, 2011 - PRLog -- Terra-Petra’s VP│GM Justin Conaway and Registered Civil Engineer John Conaway recently returned from a business trip to Taylor, Michigan — located just outside of Detroit. A large Mid-West property investment and management firm was in the process of acquiring an apartment complex development in Taylor when the issue of methane gas was brought up.

The entire project had been built out over an old dump/landfill and the buildings had been retrofitted with a passive venting system and monitoring wells after construction was completed. Recent monitoring at the site, however, showed some levels of methane in the soil that made the banks uneasy.

The banks began recommending more methane mitigation measures be taken which costs in excess of $200,000 per building, a potential “Deal-Killer.” Terra-Petra was contacted by the property management firm for their expertise in the methane gas field.

Upon discussing the project over the phone Terra-Petra was retained to review the methane monitoring at the site to date and design an alternate cost-effective solution that would prevent against methane intrusion into the buildings. Terra-Petra recommended a site visit in order to completely understand how to design the new methane mitigation system.

Terra-Petra concluded that the existing buildings were not under any immediate danger from methane gas intrusion. In their opinion, with the addition of some simple and inexpensive mitigation measures, steps could be taken to assure that the buildings would never be in danger from methane intrusion again.

Terra-Petra felt that the approach would also satisfy the State of Michigan’s “Due Care” program, and subsequently met with the program director at the State of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), Redevelopment and Remediation Division (DEQRR) as well as the Air Quality Division (AQD) to discuss their recommendations. Both parties at the DEQRR and AQD Divisions were in agreement and requested specific data be collected for verification.

Terra-Petra is in the process of preparing a work plan to be submitted to the DEQ for concurrence before they move forward on the next phase of this project (site assessment). Terra-Petra's Michigan client is in agreement that the methane issue not a “Deal-Killer” and is moving forward with the acquisition of this property based on the information that Terra-Petra provided.

For more information on Terra-Petra go to: http://www.terra-petra.com

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