Update on Terra-Petra’s Pacific City Oil Well Abandonment Project

Joe Morelli, Fire Protection Analyst of the HBDF, and Terra-Petra's Larry Barnes consulting near an abandoned oil well trenchNearly two years after commencing environmental work on the Pacific City project in Huntington Beach, California, the site is prepared for further construction. After intensive environmental work to verify the integrity of the on-site oil and water well abandonments, all necessary permits are in place to start constructing the foundation of the approximately 190,000 sq. ft. property. Terra-Petra is proud to have taken part in such a notable development project while contributing to tremendous cost savings for the client.

In order to bring incredible value to the project, Terra-Petra came to a practical remediation plan contradictory to one which may have been reached by blindly conforming to re-abandonment codes and procedures. After a careful review of all information obtained from field explorations and well documents from the DOGGR, Larry Barnes – Terra-Petra’s Senior Petroleum Geologist – determined that a minimally intrusive remediation approach would be sufficient for the site. This approach involved shortening all wells to a depth between 6 and 10 feet below grade, recapping each well head with a circular metal plate, and installing a methane mitigation vent cone at each well head. Rather than disturbing the abandoned wells and replacing all cement plugs with costly drilling expenses, this much more non-intrusive approach was deemed more than adequate for preventing any future leaks and site contamination.

In convincing the governing agencies that is safer to leave the wells relatively undisturbed and proceeding with the aforementioned action plan, Terra-Petra was able to successfully save the client millions of dollars while simultaneously reducing their risks on this sizeable development project. With the combined expertise of the construction team Terra-Petra was able to meet the expedited construction schedule. The client is now in the process of grading the site in preparation for foundation construction. Terra-Petra will be on hand to proceed with the necessary methane gas mitigation measures on the foundation of the site for the safety of future site residents.

[PHOTO: Joe Morelli, Fire Protection Analyst of the HBDF, and  Terra-Petra's Larry Barnes consulting near an abandoned oil well trench.]

Terra-Petra at ICSC RECon 2015 – Las Vegas – May 17-20

#recon15Environmental Engineering firm, Terra-Petra, will once again have a booth in the “Green Zone”  booth N1665 on the Exhibition Floor at ICSC RECon 2015 in Las Vegas (May 17-20). For more information visit: https://lnkd.in/bDrCKKS.

Contact Terra-Petra VP/GM, Justin Conaway,
to request/arrange a meeting day/time while at the convention.

Terra-Petra team attends Introduction to Brownfield Redevelopment seminar

An Introduction to BrownField RedevelopmentTerra-Petra's VP/GM Justin Conaway recently attended the “Introduction to Brownfield Redevelopment” seminar with Terra-Petra's Nate Shamosh.

The seminar (held in Oakland, California on February 11, 2015) was sponsored by the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR). Advertised as being for “individuals new-and not so new-to brownfield redevelopment," the workshop provided an interactive series of presentations, panels, and case studies. Both Justin and Nate found that the CCLR seminar did a great job of living up to its billing. There was a diverse group of professionals from many different levels in the redevelopment process including governing agencies, developers, environmental engineers and environmental attorneys in attendence.

According to Justin Conaway: "In the environmental construction and engineering industry there is always something new to learn and we acquired valuable information by attending this seminar. CCLR did a great job as the sponsor and host of this event. The speakers were very knowledgeable and experienced. They all provided great insight into the brownfields management process. The seminar was well attended and the audience was engaged throughout the event."

Terra-Petera Methane begins mitigation system installation project for The Irvine Company in Playa Vista, California

Terra-Petra is excited to announce that the methane mitigation system installation is in progress on three new apartment complexes in Playa Vista being developed by The Irvine Company.

The Irvine Company selected the architectural firm of McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners (MVE) out of Irvine to realize their vision of bringing a premier apartment community to the west side of Los Angeles. MVE has designed three mediterranean style apartment complexes each having one level of subterranean parking with on grade parking and four levels of apartments above grade. The building footprints increase in size moving from west to east from 187,067 SQ.FT., 256,866 SQ.FT. and 333,827 SQ.FT. 

MVE’s design team for these three projects included the following prestigious firms:

Structural Engineer: Englekirk –  Los Angeles
Civil Engineer: Fuscoe – Irvine
Geotechnical Engineer: Group Delta – Torrance

The project are located in the City of Los Angeles Methane Zone, thus Terra-Petra was selected by The Irvine Company as the methane design engineer for these projects given our strong Terra-Petra personnel witnessing the installation of Treco Barrier Solutions Vapor Lock-M. Left to right Andrew Alvarran, Jesus Mora, Danile Valdez and Eduardo Rangelreputation as a high quality methane consulting firm as well as our ability to simultaneously design three large scale complex projects in an expedited fashion. We were brought on to the design team in February of this year. We completed the methane mitigation system design work along with all permitted systems by the beginning of October, and way ahead of schedule.

The construction phase of this development began under Western National, serving as the General Contractor on the project. All three buildings are being constructed concurrently and Terra-Petra will be responsible for carrying-out all Deputy Methane Barrier (DMBI) inspection work for each one. The arduous task associated with performing continuous inspections of the methane mitigation system for three projects being constructed simultaneously can only be achieved by Terra-Petra given that we maintain the largest and most experienced staff of DMBI Inspectors in the industry.  

We're looking forward to completing another successful methane mitigation project!

Related articles on the Playa Vista Development.   

http://www.ocbj.com/news/2012/oct/28/irvine-company-eyes-playa-vista/
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324784404578145572308360156
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/26/business/la-fi-mo-playa-vista-sale-20121121