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Environmental Consultant Assistance

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Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy

Environmental Consultant Assistance

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) provides a directory of environmental consultants as a service to Michigan business and residents.  One of the primary obligations of any business is to maintain compliance with federal, state, and local environmental, health and safety regulations. Often this involves performing one or more of the following activities:

Conducting Compliance Audits
Identifying all applicable federal, state, and local requirements; rules and regulations; codes and permit conditions; and noting the compliance status for your facility.

Processing/Filing Paperwork and Environmental Training
Completing permit applications, general record keeping and reporting, and employee certifications and instruction.

Process Related Activities
Reducing the release of air, ground, and water contaminants through the substitution of raw materials, alteration of operating methods, and modification/upgrade of process equipment and containment devices.

Sometimes a consultant is used to review business operations or discuss the impact of regulations before a problem arises. Most often, consultants are used to:

  • Supplement existing staff or the business’ knowledge base.
  • Provide technical or economic analyses (e.g., quality assurance of company data/reports).
  • Develop alternatives and make recommendations.
  • Complete a one-time project.
  • Clean-up or conduct corrective actions at a site.
  • Assist with equipment selection or purchase, installation, and start-up.
  • Complete tasks such as facility audits, regulatory reporting, permit applications, analytical testing, employee training, emergency response planning, etc.
  • Expedite the permitting process and negotiate permit conditions.
  • Provide engineering support through studies, design, and construction assistance.
Find an Environmental Consultant

NOTE:  By using the EGLE Consultants Directory now or in the future, you agree unconditionally to release EGLE, its employees and agents from any and all liability whatsoever resulting from, pursuant to, or connected with such listing and any future transactions resulting therefrom. Information provided through the EGLE Consultants Directory is supplied by the lister, not EGLE. Neither EGLE, the State of Michigan, nor any advisor or employee thereof is liable for any information, errors or representations, nor make any warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, quality or fitness for a particular purpose of any information, service or product/equipment offered through the EGLE Consultants Directory.  EGLE does not endorse or recommend any of the companies, products or services listed in this directory.

Questions can be directed to Alana Berthold, EGLE Environmental Support Division at BertholdA@Michigan.gov.

CHOOSING A CONSULTANT

Choosing the right environmental consultant is not an easy task because each service provider will approach your particular project with a unique perspective based on the varying degrees of his/her expertise and the experience of the consulting firm. Some of these consultants are “full service” consultants in that they offer a wide range of services, while others specialize in more defined niche areas such as air quality permitting, ground/water contamination and remediation, and underground storage tank removal and clean up.

Remember, the consultant’s role is to aid you in achieving or attaining compliance. Ultimately, the responsibility for maintaining compliance with all of your company’s environmental requirements rests with you, not the consultant.

Here are some additional tips to ensure smooth progress on your environmental project while maintaining an open line of communication between you and your environmental consultant:

  1. Require the consultant to notify you when certain stages or milestones of your project have been completed, and when they will be interacting with the regulatory agency.
  2. Establish a payment schedule that is flexible enough to account for idle or down time during the project’s completion.
  3. Request to be billed at regular intervals and pay only for completed work.
  4. Establish an understanding with the consultant that you expect a level of both professional and quality work.

Below are short descriptions of specific environmental areas, along with some of the typical instances that might require the use of a consultant’s expertise. These descriptions are not inclusive but are meant to be used as a guide to determine which questionnaire is appropriate to use for consultant evaluation and selection.  

Environmental Consultant Services

Air Quality

When you need to complete work in the following topic areas relating to air pollution control:

  • Assessing applicability of permit requirements.
  • Completing applications for Air Permits.
  • Air dispersion modeling.
  • Air toxics evaluation.
  • Analytical sampling, performance testing, or stack testing for pollutants.
  • Design and installation of pollution control equipment.
  • Annual Michigan Air Pollution Reporting System (MAERS) forms.
  • Notification, monitoring, or reporting requirements for compliance with the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for such areas as Asbestos, Electroplating, Halogenated Solvent, Wood Finishing, or Dry Cleaning.
  • Air pollution control violations resulting in enforcement or consent order negotiation. 

Waste and Materials Management

For help managing solid waste, liquid industrial by-product, and/or hazardous wastes that require:

  • Waste characterizations, including sampling and analysis of media and debris.
  • On-site management of hazardous waste accumulation and labeling.
  • Waste minimization or pollution prevention projects.
  • Secondary containment projects.
  • Transportation of waste off-site.
  • Large quantity generator biennial reporting.
  • Landfill construction, permitting, monitoring, and well design.

Environmental Cleanup

When you are required to clean up or revitalize a contaminated site resulting from accidental releases, environmental spills, or the removal of underground storage tanks where there is a need for:

  • Ground or groundwater clean-up
  • Removal and disposal of contaminants;
  • Environmental investigation, sampling, monitoring, and testing.
  • Well construction and/or abandonment.
  • Ecological risk assessments.
  • Feasibility studies.
  • Remedial design and construction.
  • Air, soil, or ground and surface water monitoring or treatment.
  • Financing options for remediation.
  • Brownfield redevelopment activities.

Public Water Supply/Drinking Water

When you need help with a public water supply project for a municipality, campground, public swimming pool, or manufactured housing site which requires:

  • Asset Management
  • Analytical testing for Coliform bacteria, metals, organic, and inorganic compounds.
  • Construction, inspection, and painting of portable water storage tanks and reservoirs.
  • Sanitary surveys.
  • Monitoring and recordkeeping for organic and synthetic inorganic compounds.
  • Certification of drinking water laboratories and well driller/pump installations.

Lakes and Wetlands

When you are completing activities at the land/water interface such as:

  • Dredging or filling a lake, stream, or wetland
  • Constructing or dismantling a dam
  • Constructing a marina
  • Placing shore protection or docks
  • Building in a designated critical sand dune, wetland, or floodplain.

Water Quality

When work must be completed for:

  • National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits.
  • Municipal and industrial pre-treatment development, construction, modifications, and monitoring.
  • Stormwater design, construction, and monitoring.
  • Non-point source system grant proposals and design and construction.
  • Aquatic toxicity testing.