Stop by and visit us at our booth. Gatlinburg Convention Center

Tennessee Solid Waste Conference

Stop by and visit us at our booth.

http://www.ncswana.org/

S&ME Project Role

The power industry is challenged in managing coal combustion byproducts such as coal ash.  Traditionally, many power plants transport and manage coal ash by mixing it with water and sluicing it to ash basins.  Consistent with industry trends, Duke Energy (Duke) was transitioning from the ash basin approach to dry fly ash management at the Allen Steam Station in Belmont, North Carolina and needed a new landfill before start up of a new dry fly ash handling system.

Duke considered three locations for the landfill, two on-site and one off-site.  Major siting considerations included environmental impacts, engineering feasibility, economics, and community/regulatory acceptance.  The ideal location was a brownfield site adjacent to the steam station on a 65-acre ash basin retired in the 1970s.  However, this site posed numerous technical and regulatory challenges because the retired ash basin contained upwards of fifty feet of soft, wet, compressible sluiced ash.  The project was further challenged by intensified regulatory scrutiny imposed after the December 2008 failure of a Tennessee ash basin.

Duke awarded S&ME, Inc. (S&ME) a groundbreaking project to permit, design, and provide construction services for the new landfill over the retired ash basin.  S&ME permitting and design responsibilities included:

• • Conducting geologic/geotechnical site characterizations
• • Preparing a Site Study
• • Gaining a letter of Site Suitability from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR)
• • Completing engineering design for the overall facility plan (landfill master plan)
• • Developing a detailed design for the first five-year development phase
• • Gaining the Permit to Construct.

Duke retained S&ME throughout project construction to prepare bid documents, solicit bids, and monitor, test, and document construction.  S&ME prepared construction documentation submittals to NCDENR gaining the facility’s Permit to Operate.

Other Consultants Role in the Project

S&ME subcontracted Perigon Engineering to provide electrical engineering design services and Pacific Engineering and Analysis to conduct site-specific, probabilistic seismic site response analyses.

Original and Innovative Application of New or Existing Techniques

Developing a new ash landfill over the retired ash basin posed numerous engineering and permitting challenges.  The retired ash basin covered approximately 65-acres and consisted of sluiced ash that was wet, compressible, and up to 50 feet thick.  The retired ash basin was bound by engineered earthen dikes and the site conditions were further complicated because it was located adjacent to the Catawba River.  This project illustrates innovative design in the engineering solutions developed to overcome the obstacles posed by the site.

One innovative solution was the settlement analysis.  North Carolina solid waste rules have strict requirements for post-settlement liner system slopes and vertical separation from groundwater.  Ordinarily, settlement is evaluated at a few locations of interest within the landfill.  S&ME developed a geographic information system (GIS) based settlement model that allowed us to evaluate settlement across the whole landfill footprint and optimize landfill grading design. S&ME combined classic geotechnical settlement formulas with detailed three-dimensional surfaces of the proposed landfill cover, liner, and subsurface stratigraphy using GIS to evaluate settlement on a one-foot grid spacing.  With the power of GIS software, we developed detailed surfaces showing post-settlement contours, slopes, and liner system separation from groundwater.

Settlement analysis results indicated settlement up to several feet.  To validate the settlement model and to better understand the settlement from overlying landfill construction, S&ME proposed an innovative, full-scale instrumented test fill program.  We designed a three-acre, twenty-foot tall test fill with redundant instrumentation to monitor settlement and groundwater response to loading.  Results revealed significant insight into the loading response indicating that: actual settlement was less than calculated; settlement occurred immediately and stopped after loading; and initial groundwater level increase dissipated shortly after loading.

S&ME’s ground-breaking settlement evaluation approach went far in alleviating regulatory concerns about developing over such challenging site conditions.

The project became the focus of greatly intensified scrutiny after the December 2008 failure of a Tennessee coal ash pond.  In response, S&ME conducted slope stability analyses and liquefaction potential evaluations to a level of detail far beyond that ordinarily required.  S&ME used site-specific, probabilistic, seismic site response analysis results for both seismic-slope stability analysis and to evaluate liquefaction potential.  Results indicated the proposed development would be stable and satisfied regulatory design criteria. Our approach was successful at gaining the approval of the NCDENR Dam Safety Section, which was retained by the Solid Waste Section to provide slope stability expertise.

In addition to the site’s challenging physical characteristics, the project posed regulatory challenges because such a facility had never been permitted in North Carolina and there was regulatory uncertainty related to developing and monitoring the new landfill separate from the underlying ash basin.  We overcame these regulatory challenges in part by designing a double-liner system allowing landfill monitoring separate from the underlying ash basin.  Double-liner systems are uncommon in ordinary landfill containment systems and provide a leak-detection zone to monitor leaking through the primary liner.

The double-liner system design required estimating a threshold action leakage rate to trigger regulatory response.  S&ME developed a two-step response action plan based on detailed engineering design analysis to calculate a threshold initial response leakage rate and a higher action leakage rate.  S&ME engaged regulators early and frequently during project design and we were able to negotiate an agreeable double liner system design approach and response action plan before design submittal.

Future Value to Engineering Profession

Our successful permitting, design, and construction of the new landfill over an existing ash basin established a significant North Carolina and Duke precedent. This design, consisting of a double-liner system located entirely over a brownfield site (retired ash basin) is a “first of its kind” in North Carolina and for Duke.  This project blazed a regulatory trail by successfully setting the permitting framework for similar developments.  This project blazed a technical trail by transferring ordinary and established design methods in a new and multifaceted way (GIS settlement model, full-scale test fill program, beyond-the-ordinary stability analyses, and novel double liner system design approach).

In fact, this project’s value to the engineering profession has been realized already since S&ME has successfully permitted and designed a second similar facility for Duke.  Furthermore, this project brings high value to the engineering profession because there is an increased need and responsibility to effectively manage coal ash in light of the December 2008 Tennessee ash pond failure and resulting proposed regulatory changes advocating dry ash disposal in landfills.

Social/Economic and Sustainable Design Considerations

This project represents a significant achievement in sustainable design because S&ME successfully redeveloped a 65-acre ash basin that was retired in the 1970s.  By overcoming major engineering and permitting obstacles, S&ME helped Duke re-use this site located very near the steam station and waste source.

Even the next best alternatives would have posed negative environmental, community, and economic impacts because they would have required developing greenfield sites, closer to neighbors, with increased development and operating costs due to the distance from the steam station and waste source.  Furthermore, the new landfill provides a significant collateral benefit as the landfill liner system provides a cover system for the underlying ash basin, effectively isolating it from the environment.

Complexity

This project was extraordinarily complex from an engineering design and regulatory permitting perspective.  S&ME successfully navigated the design complexities by demonstrating a high level of technical innovation.  The site conditions were extraordinarily complex due to the retired ash basin under the proposed ash landfill.  S&ME’s rigorous GIS-based settlement model demonstrated without a doubt that the liner system could accommodate anticipated settlements.  Results of S&ME’s innovative full-scale test fill program validated settlement models and further demonstrated estimated liner system performance.  S&ME conducted detailed slope stability analyses and liquefaction potential evaluations withstanding intense scrutiny and demonstrating design criteria were satisfied.  Design and construction of the double-liner system added further project complexities.

S&ME successfully navigated regulatory complexities by actively engaging regulators throughout the permitting, design, and construction process.  We met with NCDENR regulatory personnel regularly to communicate our plans, goals, and schedule; to identify and confirm regulatory issues and concerns; and to address and resolve them.  Through this interaction we successfully addressed regulatory requirements and design considerations before completing permitting and design submittals thereby streamlining agency review and approval.

Exceeding Owner/Client Needs

S&ME exceeded Duke’s needs by developing original and innovative design approaches, setting a valuable precedent with this first of its kind development, providing high value in sustainable design, and overcoming extraordinary complexities to deliver this project on time.  The S&ME design withstood intense regulatory scrutiny as S&ME personnel presented engineering design and analyses to regulatory agencies, laying the groundwork for agency review and approval.

S&ME worked with Duke to focus the construction efforts on the first of two landfill cells, completing the first cell and gaining the Permit to Operate just as the new dry fly ash handling system came on line.  Duke valued S&ME’s leadership and technical insight on the project.  In fact, S&ME has permitted and designed a similar project at another Duke facility.

Charlotte branch received a Grand Award for its pioneering engineering solutions allowing Duke Energy to construct a coal-combustion byproduct landfill over a retired ash basin. S&ME negotiated a first-ever permit in North Carolina for such a facility and also provided design and construction services. The project was recognized as a significant achievement in cost-effective, brownfield, sustainable, design. Ken Daly, PE, was project manager.

Raleigh branch gained an Honors Award for a complex environmental remediation at the NC Department of Cultural Resources’ Tryon Palace (home of the colonial royal governor). A museum was planned for an acquired, adjacent, riverside property once occupied by a boat manufacturing and refurbishing business. S&ME’s approach addressed concerns of eight state and federal regulators and saved NCDCR millions of dollars. Ed Woloszyn, REM. was project manager.

News & Record
By Amanda Lehmert
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — The state has begun an environmental investigation of an old landfill in northeast Greensboro.

And it’s not the White Street one.

The results of soil, water and gas tests will be used by public health officials to study whether the E.H. Glass landfill could be making residents sick. Crews from the engineering firm S&ME have been working at the site this week. Test results will be back within the next few months. The public health research won’t be complete for at least a year.

“We are doing this because we think it should be done. We should just do a thorough job. People should expect the state to do a thorough job,” said Mina Shehee of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Residents have long worried that the Glass landfill — and the neighboring city-run White Street Landfill — could be making people sick.

Compared to the city landfill, which undergoes regular testing, relatively little is known about the private landfill.

The Glass landfill, on Nealtown Road, was operated in the 1960s and ’70s.

It’s unclear what might be buried there, although some records show it may have been used to bury Vicks Co. products.

The land is now split into three parcels with three separate owners.

Plans by one of the owners — Fresh Start Ministries — to build a church there prompted the state to start its research. The city will not issue a building permit for the church until the state sorts out the environmental questions.

“It’s our responsibility to determine if there are public health risks or risks to the environment, and then to mitigate those to limit the ability of some of the hazardous things out there to harm people’s health,” said Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

S&ME crews will test the area for landfill gases such as methane.

They also will drill 19 temporary wells. Water samples will be tested for potential contaminants such as metals, ammonia and sulfates.

Depending on the results, more investigation may be required, Kritzer said.

The DHHS will use the information collected as part of a planned health study.

The department already studied historic cancer data in the area — around the White Street and Glass landfills — and found higher rates of pancreatic cancer than expected. But it didn’t conclude that the landfill was the cause.

For the latest study, health researchers will analyze groundwater, soil, surface water and gas data. They will determine if the landfill site contains any contamination at levels that could harm people.

They also will look at whether there are any private wells in the area — one way residents could potentially come in contact with tainted material.

“There has never really been much evaluation of that site. If somebody wants to build on it and there will be people around it, we need to know,” said Sandy Mort, from DHHS.

Pastor R.K. Maddox said the work crews had already finished up on the church’s property.

He said as soon as the state gives the go-ahead, Fresh Start Ministries is ready to build a sanctuary and several classrooms on its portion of the land.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com

The Gadsden Times
By Kendra Carter
Times Staff Writer
Gadsden, Alabama

The Gadsden City Council Tuesday authorized an agreement with S&ME Inc. for environmental work with an expansion of the city construction and demolition waste landfill.

The company, according to the resolution, will perform quality assurance, inspection and testing services.

The expansion, which engineers refer to as Cell 2, is five acres. The original Cell 1 is about 14 acres.

The landfill, on Burnsway Drive in East Gadsden, has been operating since at least 1997. City Engineer Chad Hare said the landfill is the only one owned by the city of Gadsden.

The expansion will allow for more capacity at the landfill.

Carcel & G Construction LLC in Cullman began construction on the expansion on Oct. 6.

The contract calls for 90 calendar days for completion.

The project should be completed Jan. 5. Hare said the construction time line ends in mid-December.

The contract cost for the expansion is $331,650.

Hare said S&ME will be doing density testing on the landfill liner.

An expansion of Cell 3 is planned.

In other business, the council:

• approved payment of accounts for the week Oct. 15-21.

• approved a resolution giving an alcoholic beverage license for Kobe Japanese Steakhouse.

• approved an ordinance eliminating insurance as a condition to the issuance of a street to be temporarily closed.

Buzz up!

City seeks cleanup of site

Havelock city officials stepped up efforts to get the old Phoenix recycling site near Tucker Creek cleaned up.

Officials from the N.C. Division of Waste Management’s Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch began an initial assessment of the site on Aug. 19.

County and state officials and legislators toured the 34-acre property on Aug. 26.

The site had been abandoned for 10 years with more than 150,000 cubic yards of unprocessed waste scattered about the area.

Sand Inc. of Havelock, whose president is Teresa R. Coleman, of Lenoir, owes thousands of dollars in back taxes on the property to Craven County.

DWM gathered samples of water wells Sept. 7 at residences on Pine Grove Road near the site and announced in early October that the water was safe for human consumption.

DWM hired the firm Soils and Materials Engineering of Raleigh to gather samples from seven ground water test wells and six vapor monitoring wells for testing beginning Oct. 5. S&ME removed about 1,600 pounds of electric capacitor parts and debris from the site and found no PCBs in the adjacent soil but did find high levels of arsenic and benzo(a) pyrene.

Groundwater tests found levels of arsenic, manganese and chromium in excess of state groundwater standards. Vapor samples were found to contain methane and hydrogen sulfide in excess of state standards. Other tests of surface water found three volatile organic compounds, five semi-volatile organic compounds and evidence of 14 metals.

DWM officials said that the findings do not indicate any health hazard for nearby residents, and more tests are planned.

The city hopes to one day turn the site into a park.

Elizabeth Star, Kingsport, TN-”Committee Chairman Gebe Ritchie said a one-year contract has been signed with S&ME Engineering of Kingsport for chemical analysis services at the landfill. The committee voted last month to switch to S&ME following a long-term relationship with Draper Aden Associates of Blacksburg, Va., saving the county $9,585 a year. Lyons said S&ME will be mapping the wells at the landfill Friday and begin testing next week.”

Landfill Committee discusses cost-savings of compactors
Elizabethton Star

By Steve Burwick, Star Staff

December 9, 2010
The committee voted last month to switch to S&ME following a long-term … Lyons said S&ME will be mapping the wells at the landfill Friday and begin …

Previous Press Release-November 11, 2009

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has named S&ME, Inc., a Raleigh-based engineering and environmental firm, an Industry Partner in the agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP).

The LMOP program is designed to reduce methane emissions from landfills by encouraging development of cost-effective and environmentally sound landfill gas (LFG) energy projects.

Thomas Raymond, P.E., environmental services manager for S&ME’s Raleigh branch, said S&ME’s recognition from the EPA comes on the heels of the firm’s recent efforts in providing LFG services to Edgecombe County, North Carolina for the county’s landfill.  S&ME used an EPA-developed software to calculate the rate of the naturally occurring gas produced by the landfill based on site-specific characteristics.

“With appropriate systems and technology design, LFG can be converted into useful energy forms such as electricity, steam, heat and even vehicle fuel, while reducing emissions of methane – a potent greenhouse gas,” Raymond said.  S&ME’s approach centered on design of LFG and condensate collection systems with a flare to burn off excess gas.

S&ME prepared a preliminary LFG system design, specific for the landfill as well as estimated costs for sampling, testing, permitting and system operations and maintenance. The firm then assisted the county with strategies for establishing an LFG task force.  In this effort, S&ME worked with the Appalachian State University Energy Center.  Through ASU’s Community TIES (Trash Into Energy Savings) program, the university was successful in obtaining funding from the Golden LEAF Foundation.  S&ME also consulted with ASU, Golden LEAF and the County on obtaining carbon credit options and funding.

S&ME provided links to potential carbon brokers through relationships established in previous projects of this nature.  The company further provided various system tests and reporting designs. “It’s satisfying to gain the Industry Partner recognition from EPA and to help entities such as Edgecombe County find green and economical solutions,” Raymond said.

Grant funds will be used to support design, planning, permitting, equipment purchases, contracting, installation, and other items directly necessary for the successful installation and operation of landfill energy systems, including landfill gas collection, gas conditioning, or end-use equipment such as boilers, generators, or turbines.

Edgecombe County, one of S&ME’s long-standing municipal solid waste clients, was awarded one of these grants with grant writing assistance from S&ME.