EBJ Award Winners
PROJECT MERIT: Abandoned Uranium Mine Cleanup
The Four Corners Region of the Navajo Nation is where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. A tourist destination to many, pristine desert views of the ancestral lands of the Dine’ people are comingled with legacy abandoned uranium mine (AUM) contamination. For over 10 years, Weston Solutions, Inc. (West Chester, Pa.) has worked with EPA Regions 6 and 9 and USACE Districts to identify cleanup options, while being committed to cultural sensitivity and safety, especially through the pandemic. Weston also provides construction oversight and regulatory and technical support to accelerate cleanup actions and has worked at over 500 AUM sites to date. In 2021, these cumulative efforts merged in project work at the Northeast Church Rock (NECR) and Quivira sites. NECR is the largest underground uranium mine in the country, and both sites are among Region 9’s highest priority mines for removal, as they are adjacent to a residential community. Contaminant sources are drinking water and exposure pathways that are inherent with the residents’ way of life. Weston also supports EPA’s voluntary alternative housing program, responsible to help transition seven families safely prior to the mine remediation work.
TECHNOLOGY MERIT: Munitions Response
Weston Solutions, Inc. (West Chester, Pa.) for developing a repeatable project framework to deliver munitions response services under austere conditions using an innovative blend of advanced geophysical classification (AGC) and positioning technologies as the remediation solution where previously not plausible. The framework is successfully used in densely forested terrain at Camp Croft and in residential neighborhoods at Spring Valley and Camp George West. DOD’s preference for AGC regardless of site conditions requires a flexible approach and progressive adaptation and ruggedization of the electromagnetic induction sensor hardware design for data quality and durability. Six APEX dynamic AGC systems are deployed across 1,200 acres of Camp Croft as a valuable engineering solution over a multi-phase data collection approach, reducing impacts to park visitors. Three Man-Portable Vector systems were deployed in dynamic and cued modes at 130 residences in Spring Valley and Camp George West to increase data coverage and overcome urban electromagnetic noise. When tree densities at Camp Croft impaired the effectiveness of laser positioning, the flexible framework enabled rapid integration of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) with KAARTA Stencil to generate and navigate within a high-precision 3D laser point cloud that is agnostic to line-of-site and satellite connectivity. SLAM integration increased production by nearly 50%.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Data Management
When wildfires ravaged several California counties during a global pandemic in August 2021, the strategic implementation of enterprise geospatial data management workflows and tools improved decision making and stakeholder communication, increased project efficiency, and supported operational health and safety. Through its Region 9 contract, the information management (IM) team at Weston Solutions, Inc. (West Chester, Pa.) supported EPA in its mission under FEMA, the State of California, and other local response partners on this project that involved household hazardous material assessments and removal at over 1,000 residential properties. Expert data workflows provided by Weston established a framework that maximized the effectiveness of both mobile data collection tools in the field and publicly available ArcGIS StoryMap for all stakeholders. Field team staff reported high quality, real-time data daily, providing situational awareness. When in-person public meetings were limited or not possible due to the pandemic, operational data were reported through the StoryMap that had near real-time cleanup status updates and links to county-specific resources. These IM systems and their seamless integration directly supported a compressed project schedule, data-driven planning and decision making, health and safety, and a strong data quality transfer for the next phase of work during these critical operations.
See all 2021 EBJ Business Achievement Award Winners:
2021 EBJ Business Achievement Awards (ebionline.org)
CCBJ Award Winners
A custom mobile application is making coastal New Jersey communities more resilient in the face of severe weather events and flooding caused by climate change. In a project supported by FEMA grants, Weston Solutions, Inc. (West Chester, Pa.) is recognized for developing the emergency mobile app for the New Jersey Coastal Coalition, Inc., a non-profit organization with over 30 New Jersey member communities. The tool enables the targeted distribution of real time information and sophisticated map-based insights. Distributing a text message or email alert to registered users, it features live precipitation radar maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, current maps of local frequently flooded areas, safe places to park vehicles, and live evacuation route maps. Nuisance flooding occurs in many communities weekly, which creates dangerous road conditions. In addition to these protections, the power of data further empowers these communities to partner in their resiliency. Each record of flooding is archived and accessible by FEMA to focus any needed response actions during a major storm. Archived flooding occurrences can be used to justify grant requests for FEMA to construct solutions to prevent future flooding. By the end of 2022, the app will be used by more than 10 communities along the New Jersey coast.
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2021 CCBJ Business Achievement Awards – 2018 Winners Announced (ebionline.org)
