Environmental Forensics
Environmental Forensics involves systematic examinations of environmental information to determine sources of chemical contamination, timing of releases to the environment, spatial distribution of contamination, cost recovery actions, liability claims, and potentially responsible parties to allocate remedial costs. Environmental Forensics developed approximately twenty years ago as a result of an effort to distinguish different petroleum hydrocarbon products in the environment.
During the past ten years, environmental forensic investigations have evolved beyond analyses of petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents and environmental fate and transport modelling, to include a wide range of scientific investigative tools and techniques. The techniques are applicable to any contaminant source, i.e. inorganic, organic, metals, surface or subsurface water based contamination, etc.
Why Environmental Forensics?
- Site assessment to address source and ownership of contamination issues
- Cost recovery litigation
- Liability claims
- Identify and differentiate chemical products at contaminated sites
- Regulatory enforcement actions
- Focused chemical analyses
Questions Environmental Forensics attempts to answer:
- Who caused the contamination?
- When did the contamination occur?
- How did the contamination occur?
- How extensive is the contamination?
- Are the test results valid? And, have they been adequately interpreted?
- Who could be the potentially responsible parties?
- How could you allocate remediation costs?