Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal — Shopping Centers — March 29 - April 11, 2013 — 11B
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s hopping C enteRs By John M. Caccese, p.E., Earth Engineering inc. “FREE FiLL DiRT” or is it? A perspective on Clean Fill Testing
W
e’ve all been driv- ing in our car and have seen the signs
How can we tell if it’s clean fill? The answer is; it depends on where the fill originates
ments for accepting the ma- terial. The requirements for fill material leaving a leaking
quirements than soil from a farm in New York being taken to a residential development
environmental consultant who knows the requirements and rules on both ends. Oh, and do it early enough in the project so the process can be done ef- ficiently and as cost effectively as possible. Otherwise it can result in significant unneces- sary costs and delays. Earth Engineering Incorpo- rated performs these services quickly and cost efficiently so if you have a need for clean fill certification, give us a call to help you through it. John M. Caccese, p.E. is vice president of Earth Engineering inc. n
on the side of the road; “FREE FILL DIRT”. For a long time this was the case. M o v i n g earth from one property
Earth Engineering Incorporated performs clean fill assessments and testing quickly and cost efficiently so if you have a need for clean fill certification, give us a call to help you through it.
John M. Caccese
to another was often as simple as loading it into truck, moving it to another site that required import soil, and dumping it. This, however, is no longer the norm. With regulatory agencies keeping a closer eye on this process and property owners becoming more and more concerned about their li- abilities, clean fill assessments and testing have become the standard. So what does that mean for you? Well, it depends on whether you are a property owner that is looking to export the soil, an owner looking to import the soil, a construction manager, or an earthworks contractor. Each of these par- ties will be affected differently by the clean fill assessment and testing process. Clean fill certification is not about magic, it is about liability. When materials are excavated from site, anything in the fill is leaving with them. That includes any contamina- tion in them, and it will travel with the fill material to be de- posited on another site. If you are the owner of the fill and are looking to export it to another site, having it certified as clean is often the only way to move forward. Depending on the regulatory agency responsible for oversight in your particular area, this may mean a clean fill assessment and/or sam- pling of the soils will need to be performed. As the owner you should hire a reputable consul- tant to provide advice on how to evaluate the fill. In some instances, this may be able to be accomplished through a Clean Fill Assessment with no sampling or laboratory test- ing required which can save significant dollars. Also, exporters must un- derstand that property owner looking to receive the fill may have site specific requirements for the clean fill certification, particularly if they are a regu- lated facility such as a quarry or landfill.
and where it is going. Where it comes from provides the source information of what could be in the fill. Where it’s going provides the require-
underground storage tank site in Pennsylvania, and being taken to a Voluntary Cleanup Program Site in Maryland, will have vastly different re-
site in New Jersey. The best way to find out what is actually required for a particular project is to bring all the information to a qualified
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