Jeff Daniel, PEng, PE
Jeff Daniel is a Senior Principal Engineer based in Ontario with more than 28 years of experience focused on helping clients in Canada and the United States develop and implement solutions to complex environmental issues.
Environmental, Social, and Governance
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Connect With Us Investors and consumers increasingly demand companies improve their operations as measured by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards. Purposeful ESG and sustainability programs demonstrate to stakeholders a company’s commitment to operate responsibly in everything they do. A tailored ESG strategy can mitigate business risks, leverage opportunities, and drive long-term business value. Geosyntec helps our clients identify ways to embed ESG and sustainability goals into their ....
Sediment Assessment and Remediation
Lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and marine environments, especially those in urban waterfront and coastal areas, often have contaminated sediment and surface water and stressed biota from decades of industrial and commercial activities. Sediment contamination can include metals, crude oil and refined petroleum compounds, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Because contaminated sediment sites present complex challenges, site evaluation and cleanup are expensive and can take several years to implement, and the metrics for remedy effectiveness are not often well defined.
Overview of Contaminated Site Assessment and Cleanup
Geosyntec practitioners rank among the world's top professionals in providing site assessment and remediation services at a wide range of impacted sites using innovative technologies and solutions that consistently advance the state of the practice. Through our use of innovative technologies and solutions, we provide our public and private sector clients with a wide array of services to address their toughest challenges. Our contaminated site practitioners guide our clients through a specialized remediation plan, consult on regulatory strategies, and develop a comprehensive cleanup approach. We can address numerous types of media, including contaminated soils, sediments, and groundwater. Advancing the State of the Practice Geosyntec's practitioners are pioneers in site assessment and remediation. Our senior practitioners have developed and authored guidance material and courses for local, state, and national agencies and associations on remediation techniques and technologies. Working with the Interstate Technical Regulatory Council, Geosyntec practitioners taught a training course on vapor intrusion, including mitigation options for the development of vapor-impacted brownfield sites. Geosyntec practitioners also wrote the guidance document on evaluating, optimizing, or ending post-closure care at impacted sites, including brownfield sites, and developed a patented approach for sub-slab vapor migration mitigation allowing residential, commercial, and industrial development on sites impacted by vapor intrusion. Our specialists routinely collaborate with prominent national researchers from academia and government agencies to provide innovative and defensible strategies for sites with contaminated sediments. For example, we collaborated with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to remediate chlorinated solvent-contaminated marsh sediments by applying a bioreactive mat system embedded with a dehalogenating microbial consortium, a technology Geosyntec helped develop. This project and partnership earned our client recognition as a finalist for the Service to America Medal awarded by the Partnership for Public Service. Through a collaborative research project with the University of Florida, Geosyntec professionals helped develop the FLUCL software package for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. This software is used to calculate exposure point concentration statistics in risk assessment and was the first of its kind to contain algorithms for censored datasets. FLUCL has received endorsements from several United States Environmental Protection Agency regions and the California Environmental Protection Agency. Geosyntec scientists also pioneered the use of genetic molecular tools to characterize microbes in environmental media and are engaged in applied research and development with top academic institutions around the world, including the University of Toronto, Cornell University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Infrastructure Planning, Engineering, and Design
Across industries and project types, delivery is increasingly shaped by regulatory complexity, environmental constraints, stakeholder expectations, and the need to accelerate schedules while managing costs.
Conceptual Site Model Development
Developing an accurate conceptual site model (CSM) is paramount to understanding and interpreting contaminant fate and transport in the subsurface. One of the main reasons that site remediation fails or produces less than optimal outcomes is a reliance on an overly simplified CSM.
Regulatory Strategy & Cleanup Goal Development
Geosyntec provides practical solutions and a clear vision for environmental remediation that exceed client expectations and help them earn regulatory approval of the solutions they deploy. Dynamic environmental laws and standards and evolving remediation guidance demand proactive cleanup solutions and a clear strategy for addressing regulatory requirements in order for businesses to minimize environmental risk while maintaining economic benefit. Environmental remediation projects are often complex and multi-faceted. This means reaching regulatory closure is not necessarily just about reducing contaminant concentrations below a defined threshold. A range of stakeholders usually need to be satisfied that efforts have been genuinely spent in an attempt to result in better outcomes. A successful remediation project often requires stakeholders agree and own some of the key performance indicators; understand key milestones and their implications; and gain insight on the uncertainties and contingencies to address these. Geosyntec has acquired considerable experience in regulatory advocacy and stakeholder engagement in a range of jurisdictions across the globe. Our practitioners convey complex remediation strategies in a manner that these can gain support from a range of stakeholders. We work closely with clients to develop risk-based closure strategy and criteria, advise on site closure and reuse options, and negotiate closure criteria with key regulators Stakeholder comments are addressed to achieve consensus and approval from multiple regulatory agencies. Our environmental compliance services include helping clients obtain permits through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program and determining the regulatory compliance of a waste storage facility under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). For example, for a sediment remediation project Geosyntec worked hand-in-hand with our client, the EPA Great Lakes National Program Office, and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great lakes, and Energy on a cost share partnership throughout the investigation and remedial design process. Through this interaction we were able to identify and design a project that not only met federal and state requirements but could be implemented within the client’s available funding. Geosyntec practitioners help negotiate cleanup goals with regulatory agencies during strategy development and, of course, steer clients through the implementation of long-term remediation plans with their goals as our foremost focus.
Treatability & Pilot Studies
Geosyntec provides treatability testing services to support a wide variety of environmental remediation projects around the world. The results of our studies and pilot tests provide important, actionable data about environmental challenges presented by contaminated soil, sediment, groundwater, surface water, and waste. Armed with accurate data on the impacts facing a given study area, our design engineers and our clients are better able to understand the physical, chemical, and biological processes present at a site that can help mitigate potential risks associated with contaminants in various media. The performance data produced by our treatability studies and pilot tests also allow Geosyntec to assess the applicability of specific remediation technologies or solutions under a variety of conditions present in a particular study area. The results of our studies are critical for understanding and demonstrating, for example, an attenuation process that can occur in sediment if natural conditions are maintained at the site. The data may also demonstrate the potential results if cap material is placed on top of impacted sediment, or they may help us understand the potential benefits of adding enhancements to either the existing sediment or cap material. Treatability and pilot studies conducted by Geosyntec's engineers and scientists begin by determining the data quality objectives of an investigation and the most appropriate sources of the data. We then complete a thorough work plan for the study area that includes sampling and analysis plans for collecting the data and interpreting its results. This systematic approach to sample collection and analysis ensures we gather the most valuable, site-specific data necessary — data that, ultimately, aids in the screening, selection, and implementation of remediation technology or solutions for impacted sites regulated under local, state, and national criteria. Well-documented treatability studies are an important component of the contaminant removal process, for remedial investigation/feasibility studies, and the remedial design/remedial action process required under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Our treatability studies and pilot tests also provide the detailed design, cost, and performance data needed to optimize treatment processes and to implement full-scale treatment systems. Additionally, Geosyntec's in-house laboratories provide physical and chemical testing that effectively monitors the performance of treatment processes, technologies, and systems. We also produce field application quantities of naturally occurring consortia of microorganisms that target specific recalcitrant compounds. Using genetic testing we can demonstrate the efficacy of these consortia in achieving containment reduction targets. Our technical evaluation facilities regularly conduct chemical oxidation and bioreactor tests; examine the presence of organics and inorganics in wastewater; evaluate the effectiveness of remediation products; simulate the performance of conceptual designs; and analyze the likely behavior and end point of various treatment processes. All of our lab teams communicate regularly to share knowledge and direct internal and external client projects to the most appropriate technology solutions.
Remedial Design
Geosyntec is a preferred partner for innovative, cost-effective, and successful remediation solutions because we approach each project with technical expertise and creativity. For every client, we develop a clear understanding of how to achieve best-value outcomes using the most appropriate technologies and management strategies for individual projects. When the nature of the problem, like an emerging contaminant, requires a new type of remedy, our professionals set the standard for developing innovative science into novel and effective solutions for environmental remediation. From advanced vapor intrusion evaluation strategies to sophisticated bioaugmentation techniques and beyond, Geosyntec delivers practical environmental management solutions that meet project-specific needs and achieve our clients' objectives. Along with our expertise in treatability and pilot tests, Geosyntec practitioners are adept at conducting feasibility studies that develop, screen, and provide detailed evaluations of alternative remedial solutions for impacted sites. Our studies help clients determine the optimum performance they can expect from a remediation system and the expected cost of implementing a remedy. We also provide detailed remediation system design and design/build services for a wide range of innovative and traditional remediation strategies, including those that employ groundwater pump and treat systems; bioremediation and bioaugmentation solutions; chemical oxidation; the injection of nanoscale zero-valent iron; soil vapor extraction; indoor air venting and treatment; and much more. Geosyntec applies the principles of future optimization at the forefront of the design process, positioning the client for long-term savings opportunities, with strategies like modular unit operations of an ex situ treatment train to reduce chemical and energy costs as influent concentrations decrease, or incorporating flexibility into injection systems such as allowing for alternating passive and active flow fields or the ability to add additional components to target residual source zones. Geosyntec is the leading provider of remedial design services, particularly for complex sites where the challenges – whether from unconventional contaminants, difficult geology and site setting, multi-party groups of responsible parties, or all of the above – make the exit strategy difficult to envision. Our collaborative, global network provides our clients with access to the most talented group of environmentally-focused professionals in the industry. We also approach every project as a time-critical action, recognizing that when our clients require remediation services, they should expect to see the positive results of those actions in a timely manner.
