Industrial Permitting & Compliance

Overview - Industrial Permitting & Compliance

ESS has in-depth understanding and practical experience with environmental policies and regulatory programs throughout the Northeast.

During the past five years we have licensed significant energy, industrial, land development, and environmental restoration projects in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. ESS develops regulatory strategies, prepares local, state, and federal permit applications, and conducts environmental audits and training. Our project-based relationships with regulatory staff facilitate communication and cooperation, key factors when timely and effective resolution is required.

Regulatory Strategies

ESS cost-effectively navigates through complex permitting. Our ability to combine civil/site design with regulatory and natural resource evaluations results in a practical approach to project planning. We work with clients upfront to evaluate regulatory requirements and site constraints, then develop coordinated strategies for completing technical studies, including risk assessments, ecological evaluations, and control technology specifications. ESS helps clients take advantage of opportunities for joint agency review and expedited processing. We also identify interrelationships between programs to ensure that potentially competing schedules or interests are addressed.

Environmental Impact Reports & Permitting

ESS has successfully completed hundreds of environmental impact reports and permit applications. Our project managers and technical staff take pride in their ability to assemble and translate complex environmental and design issues into accessible information and graphics. ESS serves as the client representative for public hearings, agency meetings, and citizen's advisory groups; provides expert testimony in regulatory proceedings; and facilitates the negotiation of final permits, approvals, and implementation plans. Our experience includes permitting under numerous regulatory programs ranging from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to state and local programs regulating all aspects of environmental protection including CERCLA and state Superfund sites, wetlands, water, toxics, hazardous and solid waste, and air quality.

Audits & Compliance

ESS provides integrated multi-media compliance assessments for industrial and institutional clients. Our strong regulatory skills and hands-on experience with many types of clients and facilities provide a distinct advantage when it comes to determining the applicability of various programs to facility operations. This experience also allows ESS to develop practical recommendations for compliance and environmental management, which can range from simple changes in protocol to process modification. Our comprehensive assistance services for operating facilities include reporting, database development, facility monitoring, record keeping, and development of proactive environmental management programs. Our multi-disciplinary capabilities provide the added value of "one-stop shopping" for clients with multiple compliance needs.

On-Site Services & Outsourcing

During the past five years, ESS has experienced an increase in demand for on-site services and the outsourcing of environmental consulting, particularly in the areas of compliance assistance and environmental inspection. These assignments have ranged in length from day-long, quarterly site visits to extended placement of environmental inspectors for contractor oversight during construction. ESS staff have also filled temporary assignments as environmental, health, and safety personnel, taking instruction from designated staff at a client's facility and working directly with other facility personnel.

Air Quality

Our measurements services include diagnostic and compliance emission testing, as well as continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) audit testing, ambient air quality and meteorological monitoring, and visible emissions observations. Where applicable, ESS can develop facility-specific data acquisition and handling systems to address compliance assessment and reporting. We also have in-house emissions dispersion modeling expertise to support air permits for construction or modification of sources, or to evaluate and optimize overall facility performance.