News

The infamous Fresh Kills Landfill, a 150-foot-high mountain of waste material in Staten Island, New York, is getting a makeover. That makeover is Freshkills Park, a 2,200-acre park complete with meadows and wetlands. The project is expected to take decades, but a small part may be open within the next few years.

Projects like this aren’t new; in fact, landfill redevelopment as parks and recreational areas has been around for a long time. Locally, HSA Golden professionals have been involved in similar landfill projects, including the Evans Street Landfill in Oviedo and the Lake Destiny Soccer Field in Maitland. Such reuse isn’t only smart, it’s incented at both the federal and state level through initiatives such as the Brownfields Program.

Read more about the Fresh Kills Landfill HERE.

HSA Golden has been retained by Green Gas International to perform carbon credit feasibility studies for up to eight palm oil mills within the Fedepalma Sectoral CDM Umbrella Project in Colombia, South America.

The project involves evaluations of mill operational conditions, review of palm oil mill effluent (POME) data, and interviews with mill operators. The objective of the studies is to rank the sites based on: (1)  accessibility to existing anaerobic lagoons; (2) site operation readiness; (3) POME effluent specifications; and (4) digester retention time.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Mufson and David A. Fahrenthold – Washington Post
December 8, 2009

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration yesterday moved closer to issuing regulations on greenhouse gases, a step that would enable it to limit emissions across the economy even if Congress failed to enact climate legislation.

The move, which coincided with the first day of the international climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, seemed timed to reassure delegates there that the United States was committed to reducing its emissions even if domestic legislation remained bogged down . . .

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20091208_EPA_takes_step_on_greenhouse_gases.html

Orlando Business Journal
Anjali Fluker
November 27-December 3, 2009

Settlement with environmental groups irk local developers, DEP

. . . the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new stormwater runoff rules that could make doing business more expensive for Florida land developers . . . At issue: Stormwater runoff — when excess water from rain or irrigation flows from land into ponds, lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters — generally contains pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus from pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer and animal manure. These nutrients can render water unfit for drinking, as well as kill wildlife and cause toxic algae blooms.

So Oakland, Calif.-based law firm Earthjustice, which represented the Florida Wildlife Federation, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Sierra Club, St. Johns Riverkeeper and Ecoswift, sued the EPA in mid-2008. The suit alleged the EPA wasn’t enforcing the federal Clean Water Act strongly enough in Florida, which resulted in some of the poorest water quality in the nation.

http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/11/30/story7.html?b=1259557200^2501981

The Miami Herald
Nirvi Shah
November 24, 2009

The federal government has linked some Chinese drywall to corrosion found in homes in South Florida and across the country, but questions remain about what steps need to be taken in order to fix the problem . . . .

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1349057.html

The Ledger / NYT Regional Media Group
Donna Kelly
August 3, 2009

WINTER HAVEN | The owner of the former Vigoro fertilizer plant property on U.S. 17 and Orlando-based Benge Development are working with Winter Haven officials to create a mixed-use development at the location near the Lulu-Shipp canal bridge. When completed, the location will offer an aesthetically pleasing blend of office and retail establishments and multi-family homes . . .

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090803/news/908035079?Title=Old-Vigoro-Plant-Will-Be-Part-Of-New-Development-Plan

WasteAge.com
Michael Fickes
October 2009

WCA Waste is Tom Fatjo, Jr.’s fourth waste startup in 53 years. Five years after taking the firm public, he now has it poised to establish a national market presence.

http://wasteage.com/Collections_And_Transfer/wca-waste-tom-fatjo-200910/index.html

Orlando Sentinel / Associated Press
Bill Kaczor
November 17, 2009

TALLAHASSEE — The federal government will attempt to set Florida’s water pollution standards – the first time it will try that for any state – under an agreement approved [November 16, 2009] . . . .

epaper.orlandosentinel.com/OS/OS/2009/11/17/index.shtml?Search=Y&ArtId=111_003

Orlando Business Journal
Mary Cristobal
July 24-30, 2009

HSA Golden expands into the carbon cap-and-trade international market

Peter Barts, a triathlete and president of HSA Golden — an Orlando-based environmental engineering consultancy — is used to enduring long runs.

This year, he’s celebrating another long run: HSA Golden’s 20th anniversary.

Founded by Philip Hilderbrand in 1989, then-named HSA Technical Services was bought by Barts in 2000. At that time, the company’s net revenue was about $900,000.

Three years later, Barts partnered with Jim Golden, changed the company’s name to HSA Golden and grew revenue to $1.2 million.

Despite its changes during the past 20 years, one thing that’s remained the same for HSA Golden is its key to success: building a good reputation clients trust and doing cost-effective work, Barts said.

“Our customers typically will come with a need or problem. If we fix the problem, then they refer us to someone else,” he said, noting about 80 percent of the firm’s work is from referrals.

HSA Golden offers a variety of services, including environmental resource permitting, foundation design, designing and permitting golf courses, designing and installation of industrial waste treatment systems, landfill investigations, air quality testing and permitting, remedial system design, and real estate and land development.

Barts’ most recently completed project was a 23-year-old cleanup job in Volusia County he started in 1988 when he first entered the field.

Looking forward, Barts wants to expand the firm’s consulting practice internationally through the carbon cap-and-trade market. HSA Golden will work with international clients in their facilities and also assist with project design documents and carbon credit calculations.

If the Obama administration successfully integrates the U.S. in the cap-and-trade market, then carbon credits will increase dramatically, said Barts, whose 2010 revenue goal is about $4.5 million — if things go according to plan with the international expansion.

HSA Golden also retained its consultancy with the Kennedy Space Center, and the company landed a $30 million brownfields redevelopment project in Winter Haven that involves assessment and cleanup of fertilization plants and other facilities.

Regardless of how much it expands its services, Barts sees the company remaining client-focused and small with 25 to 50 employees.

“We’re not looking to take over the world,” he said. “We want to do what we do very well and keep our reputation and quality of our work.”

Read more: An eye on the future – Orlando Business Journal