Future of The Environmental Services Industry

Presentation to the MDNRE (formerly the MDEQ) Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has recently changed its name to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE or just DNRE).  At the same time they merged the Environmental (pollution regulatory issues, etc..) side of things with the Natural Resources (hunting, fishing, etc..) side of things.  Or should I say re-merged them.  They were merged at one time but split apart back during the Gov. Engler administration in the 1990s.  I’m not even going to pretend that I understand why they were split in the 1990s and why they are being put back together now.  Its politics and I’m not that interested in the reasons why.  I just hope it makes them more efficient and it saves tax payer money. The reason I bring this up is because I have been asked to present at a MDNRE District Supervisors monthly meeting on February 18 th , 2010 (next week).  The topic of my presentation...

Progress Or Be Left Behind From the time you are born until the day you die one thing will remain constant, and that is the progress of technology.  Today we live in a culture where technology affects everything.  With technology there is always advancement and until the end of time it will continue to change. Advancing the Technology of Sampling & Reporting SampleServe.com began with a simple concept....make well sampling and reporting more efficient.  That simple concept remains our  core mission .  Nearly every day someone in our company comes up with a process improvement or automation efficiency to shave off a second when sampling a monitoring well. Almost daily someone comes up with an improvement in data management or reporting. Our programmers are currently working full time on rolling out  Version 2.0  of our software and meanwhile even more improvement ideas are filling the suggestion box for  Version 3.0 . Constant evaluation an...

5 Strategies for Cutting Your Environmental Expenses Strategy #1 - Reduce the Number of Wells Sampled. Example of reasons for sampling to many wells: 1)  The desire to please a "Regulator" can often lead to sampling more wells than necessary.  Let's face it, making some Regulators happy is impossible.  However, the boundary between making them "happy" and staying in "compliance" leaves plenty of room for negotiation.  Finding the right number of wells to sample while maintaining a compliant quality to the sampling program is the duty of the Consultant. 2)  Complacency.  Especially on sites monitored for a long period of time, there is a tendency to keep sampling the same wells over and over again without questioning the significance and value of sampling each individual well within the program.  A review and justification for each well being sampled should be conducted at least annually to assure the optimum number of wells is being sampled....

Question:   Why does big business routinely outsource portions of their work? Answer:   In most cases, it saves money and increases profits.   Reasons For Outsourcing Well Sampling:   1)   Equipment.    Environmental sampling equipment can be expensive to purchase and maintain.  Outsourcing sampling means you no longer have to maintain an expensive array of equipment which also requires routine repair and maintenance. Outsourcing means all those costs go away.   2)  Personnel.    As with any employee, there are costs beyond the basic employee cost.  You have payroll taxes, FICA, workmen's compensation insurance, payroll preparation expenses, annual safety training, safety equipment, vehicles for employees to work from, etc..  These costs too go away when outsourced.   3)  Project Management.   Once a project is set up in our system, managing that project and communicating project details an...