Mark Annis

Mark Annis – Founder of Annis Fuel Oil Service (AFOS)

By Mark Annis One of the fastest growing areas of business in New Jersey today is environmental cleanup. As the NJ DEPE continues to present ever stricter regulations regarding storage tanks and related pollution remedia-tion, the environmental cleanup field is becoming littered with a vast array of companies vying for the work. The rapid proliferaiton of companies has led to broad disparities in capabilities and experience among firms.

Everyone seems to want in on the action, and if you’re the one with the problem, where do you turn? Who do you trust to help you negotiate the con-fusing path through DEPE regulations. and possible pollution cleanup?

One option is the environmental consultant, who will perform extensive evaluations of any given problem-and recommend possible courses of action. The consultant will then act as general contractor for the job and subcontract a number of outside firms to perform the actual site work, while he takes on as much as 25 percent as a project man-agement fee.

This is usually the most expensive and time-consuming approach, often including redundant preremediation sampling and investigation. In fact, it has recently been estimated that more than half of every cleanup dollar goes to investigators, sampling and consul-tant before any actual work is even begun.

Another possibility (one often employed by consultants) is to hire a landscaper, plumber, excavator or “yank-a-tank” contractor — in short, just about anyone with a dump truck and backhoe. But these companies usu-ally aren’t familiar with the DEPE reg-ulations and may not be licensed.

Furthermore, if they encounter any prii-t4em or pollution, you’re on your own.

Between these two extremes, how-ever, there can be found_ a handful of reputable, established, complete-opera-tions specially contractors. These are firms that specialize in tank work and can handle environmental jobs in-h. – from beginning to end. Such cc,..kbanies seem to offer the safest, most cost-effective, professional approach to picking your way through the thorny problem of environmental cleanup.

Finding these companies is not particularly difficult, and there are a few guidelines which can make the choice easier.

First, try to avoid the plumbers, landscapers and excavators.

Finally, make sure your contractor is fully insured with a broad base pollution liability coverge, including completed operations and professional liability insur-ance. Environmental cleanup can be difficult. But finding the right company to help you with the problem doesn’t need to be. Investi-gate the firm bet you hire them to make sure they can l t answer your specific needs in the moss cost effective way.

Mark Annis Gilliete is president of Anco Environmental Services, Berkeley as, N.J.

Environmental work of any kind is usually not their field. Even the sim-plest of tank removals is guided by DEPE regulations, and hiring a compa-ny that specializes in this work is defi-nitely the safe approach.

Second, look for an established company, one with at least five years’ experience in the specific field of envi-ronmental work you need done. Envi-ronmental companies seem to come and go almost overnight. An estab-lished firm with a broad, diverse base of products and services is more likely to be around to deal with possible future problems.

Third, look for a company that owns all its own equipment. This avoids a web of subcontractors and lia-bility complications while maximizing operator competence. And by avoiding the use of subcontractors, this firm will be able to keep costs down and keep tight control of its jobs.

Another important feature to look in an environmental cleanup company is a professional, competent staff. The office personnel should include degreed geologists and engineers as well as people experienced in negotiat-ing problems with the DEPE. A staff like this can usually offer the same expertise as a consulting firm for much less money.

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