We worked with Alliant Energy to formulate a corporate strategy and site-specific plans for conducting embankment inspections and embankment maintenance. We've been implementing these plans for over three years and are now amending the policies to be compliant with new requirements of the finalized CCR regulations.

Hard Hat hydraulically dredged Coal Combustion Residuals from the lower ash pond at the Lansing Generating Station in Lansing Iowa. Our professional engineering staff certified the clean closure of the pond prior to the promulgation of the final CCR Rule. As result this pond is not subject to the long term monitoring for existing impoundments.

Hard Hat has provided design-build services for a water treatment plant and the associated building. The water treatment plant will clean water from the new Linde Gas hydrogen plant, which services the Citgo Oil Refinery. Construction of the facility was completed in 2009.

Hard Hat prepared design drawings and specifications for a 1.6-MW landfill gas (LFG) electrical generation facility. The project included a pre-assembled LFG compressor skid (including the compressor, air cooler and coalescing condensate separators); a Caterpillar 3520 engine generator (assembled in a container); and associated electrical switchgear, transformers, and MCC. The LFG compressor skid, MCC, and electrical switchgear were enclosed in a siteconstructed CMU building. The gas supply piping was tied into the existing LFG collection piping; condensate was collected in a sump and return to the existing condensate collection system.

Hard Hat has developed a conceptual design for a 120 wet ton-per-day HSAD system that will generate electricity to sell to power companies. Electricity will be generated in cogeneration units using biogas from the HSAD system digesting various feedstocks. The feed materials may be waste food, food processing wastes (e.g., DAF float from meat processing facilities), animal (e.g., hogs) manure, and/or other organic wastes or byproducts.

Similar projects completed at Marshalltown, Iowa, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Alliant Energy generating station uses steam from coal fired boilers for power production, and pulls in water from the adjacent Des Moines River. Hard Hat completed a Pond Maintenance Plan and investigation, which included a bathymetry survey, studying the various flows that were emptying into the settling pond, and sampling the pond sediment to determine how and where the solids were settling out. Hard Hat was able to predict a lifespan for the existing pond based on the solids input, and designed a solution to optimize the use of the settling pond to ensure present and future compliance with the NPDES permit.

The settling pond was redesigned to include three separate basins. There is a primary pond, where approximately 95% of the solids are removed. A secondary s shaped settling basin was designed. By using an s-shape design in the space available, the water is flowing through a much longer path, allowing additional fine solids to drop out of suspension. The s-shape of the basin also allows for easy maintenance, making all the areas accessible for routine dredging.

Hard Hat also developed an innovative concrete ash collection basin to improve bottom ash handling, in order to reduce the amount of bottom ash filling the secondary basin. Water that flushes out ash from the boiler passes through the collection basin, where the ash drops out and can be easily removed before the water enters the settling basin.

Hard Hat provided environmental project management services to Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Westinghouse) at its former fuel cycle manufacturing facility in Hematite, Missouri. The Hematite facility had been in operation for nearly 50 years prior to its acquisition by Westinghouse in 2000. Westinghouse ceased production at the facility in June 2001 and began decommissioning activities at the site. At the request of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services took samples from several private wells in the vicinity of the site. The results indicated that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were present in a drinking water well on the property. In response to the identified contamination, Hard Hat prepared an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis in accordance with the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Hard Hat also oversaw preparation of the design for extension of the local public water supply, bidding, and completion of the project.

Westinghouse also cooperated with MDNR to perform a Remedial Investigation/ Feasibility Study (RI/FS) at the site. Hard Hat managed the RI/FS, including preparation of bid documents, contractor evaluation and oversight, and general project management. The RI/FS includes a human health and ecological risk assessment. Hard Hat personnel are the primary point of contact with MDNR and DHSS. This work is being performed in accordance with the NCP and CERCLA, to preserve Westinghouse’s rights for cost recovery.

Hard Hat’ scope of work for Westinghouse includes:

• Project management
• Construction management
• Regulatory negotiation
• Technical issue resolution
• Litigation support
• Oversight of groundwater sampling including private and monitoring wells
• Community relations

Similar projects completed in Dubuque, Iowa, and Clinton, Iowa. Hard Hat performed an engineering study to determine pH and DO profiles across the horizontal and vertical cross-sections of four process wastewater treatment/settling lagoons. The contribution of biological activity in the lagoons to the effluent pH was also investigated. Hard Hat designed various pH adjustment options to bring the effluent into compliance for discharge under NPDES permit.

The water intake structure for the Point Beach Nuclear Generating Station protruded above the Lake Michigan water surface, and was used as a landing area for fish-eating Cormorants. The birds would dive underwater and be pulled in by the current of the water intake. The state of Wisconsin fined the power plant $5,000 for each bird that was killed. Hard Hat personnel developed a plan to lower the intake structure to eleven feet below the water surface. A HDPE screen was designed for the top of the structure. Deflector plates were installed to partially redirect warm water discharge back into the intake during the winter months to prevent freezing.

Hard Hat Services provided design-build services for an oil/water separator system at the Alliant Energy power plant. Responsibilities included site preparation, including surveying, geotechnical analysis, and influent water sampling. Hard Hat installed a 10,000 gallon underground oil/water separator tank, effluent sump pit, and pumping system. Other responsibilities included preparing permit applications, specifying all materials and equipment, and bid evaluation.

Hard Hat performed a discharge pipe system evaluation, including video camera jetting for pipe inspection. Inspections were performed on the lagoons, including inlet and outlet structures, for leaks or breaks. Recommendations were given to improve the system, and the site was evaluated for compliance with the applicable NPDES Permit.

A generating station near Cassville, Wisconsin receives shipments of coal via Mississippi River hopper barges. During the movement from the barge to the hopper incidental amounts of coal may miss landing back in the hopper barge or in the conveyor hopper, falling in the water. This coal accumulated under the dock area so that full barges were unable to be staged against the dock mooring cell at the unloader.

Hard Hat dredged the area immediately under the clamshell to an elevation similar to the surrounding riverbed. The dredge area was about 150ft long along the bank by 100ft wide (from the loader to the channel).

The project area was located near a known historical mussel bed that supports a diverse community of species, including a federally endangered mussel and species listed as rare in Wisconsin. Hard Hat communicated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to determine that a mussel survey of the site should be performed to determine potential impacts to the freshwater mussel resources.

After the mussel study was completed, Hard Hat coordinated the fieldwork activities in order to minimize the delays to the client’s coal unloading process. A barge was spudded adjacent to the area to facilitate dredging. A silt curtain was draped around the project area to keep suspended sediment from affecting habitat conditions downstream. Hard Hat also engineered a solution to control incidental coal fallback into the River during future unloading of coal barges, a flexible chute that deflects the fallback into the hopper barge.

Hard Hat provides on a regular basis, engineering and consulting expertise to GE Water and Beta Steel for upgrades to the Beta Steel EAF mill wastewater system. The system was originally designed for zero liquid discharge, but lacked the capacity to treat the volume and type of contaminants that are now present at the mill. Hard Hat has worked as a team member to upgrade cooling water capacity, sand filter treatment, dissolved air flotation, pumping and storage capacity. Hard Hat also provided a detailed analysis of water usage and discharge from each area within the facility, so an overall system water balance could be accomplished.

Hard Hat reviewed the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures Plans and the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans for seven generating station facilities across the Midwest. Hard Hat inspected each facility for compliance with regulatory requirements, updated the existing plans, and incorporated suggestions for improvements.

In 1973, the Fort Edward Dam on the Hudson River was removed by the dam’s owner. The dam was installed in the 1820’s to divert water into the Lake Champaign Canal. During the life of the dam, slab wood, sawdust, and sediment accumulated behind the dam. In the 1900’s PCBs and heavy metals from upstream industries and sewer discharges accumulated in the sediment and sawdust behind the dam. On removal of the dam a part of the sediments were transported downstream and a large part of the sediment remained behind as remnant bank deposits. The site consisted of four separate remnant sediment deposits totaling approximately 50 acres.

Hard Hat personnel supported the negotiations with the regulatory agencies to develop a remedial solution for the remnant deposits. The work included sampling and testing of the sediments to determine the storm flow suspension potential without remedial action. The testing also included the determination of the upper elevation limit for remedial action. Alternatives from no action to complete removal were examined and the risk of each assessed. The final remedy approved by the USEPA was capping with an armor protective layer to reduce the possibility of future suspension of the sediments during storm flow. Hard Hat personnel were also involved in the management of the construction to install the cap and armor.

Due to damage from ice and settlement of the rock-filled crib forming the intake well, the intake pipes had been destroyed. The intake well also suffered from sand accumulation due to the construction of a breakwater wall was of the intake in 1968. Hard Hat personnel performed a bathymetric survey of the Lake Michigan bottom around the well, and developed a computer model to predict the movement of sand relative to the NIPSCO well. Hard Hat personnel designed several alternatives to fix the well, and then prepared a design package for the chosen remedy.

The Dresden Nuclear Plant recirculates cooling water to a series of ponds to bring the temperature below 80 F before reuse. In the summer months, approximately 325,000 gpm of water is lifter by six pumps and passed through a packed bed cooling tower. The water is then distributed into the towers by spray nozzles, which would clog easily. Hard Hat personnel designed a structural frame and screen that would allow for maximum flow. Hard Hat personnel developed a procedure to analyze the screen insert material to insure that the screen would fail before the frame if overloaded, and also designed a system to lift and wash the screens in place without needing to bring in an outside crane.

Hard Hat performed a geotechnical investigation to support the foundation design of a baghouse at the Burlington, Iowa facility, which sits directly adjacent to the Mississippi River. Because the subsurface material is mostly sand and silt and the river is in such close proximity to the site, there is a possibility of liquefaction occurring when the baghouse structure is built. Hard Hat advanced ten borings across the site to characterize the soils and locate the hardpan clay at depth. The soil samples were logged and sent to a laboratory and were tested for grain size, Atterberg Limits, compaction, etc. Cross-sections of the subsurface geology were created, and geophysical resistivity testing was performed onsite. This information will used for foundation and stability design. Hard Hat has provided Alliant with several cost-effective foundation alternatives.

The client wanted to replace the facility’s existing sanitary wastewater treatment plant at its Ottumwa Generating Station with a new system utilizing a recirculating type textile media filter. After completing a survey and data review, Hard Hat prepared a process flow diagram and a site layout for the new plant. Hard Hat performed design-build services for the client, preparing drawings for the bid phase, specifications for all major equipment, and generating the necessary documents and forms for the NPDES permit modification. After all regulatory requirement were fulfilled, Hard Hat completed the construction of the facility.

Developed conceptual design and cost estimate for reusing wastewater from on-site settling ponds for sluicing boilers. Conceptual design consisted of headworks, a duplex vertical turbine pumping system, piping with heat trace and insulation, filtration, and electrical power distribution and protection.

Hard Hat Services acted as the general contractor and construction manager for the design-build of a wastewater treatment system at the Alliant Energy power plant. Hard Hat installed a pre-fabricated building to house the treatment system, and provided an on-site construction manager throughout the project to coordinate multiple subcontractors. The project included the installation of an underground 3,000 gallon fiberglass tank, pumps, electrical, excavation, and structures.

Other responsibilities included preparing the design documents and permit applications, specifying all materials and equipment, and bid evaluation.

Hard Hat Services (Hard Hat) was awarded a Coal Pile Runoff Pond expansion project for a utility company located in Central Iowa. The project scope included removal of runoff sediments from the pond bottom and side slopes (stockpiled onsite), flow diversion and control features installation, access road construction, and pond side slope restoration.

Hard Hat’s scope included:

• Installation, maintenance, and removal of all erosion and sediment migration control features.
• Removal of approximately 5,000 cubic yards of sediment and soils from the pond bottom and side slopes. The last 2-foot of cut was completed at, or below, ground water level. All removed material was staged and managed on-site.
• Two concrete flow diversion structures, and one discharge weir structure, were installed once removal activities were completed.
• Installed approximately 500-lf of pond berm access road (liner and rock).
• Pond side slope stabilization and restoration. This task included the installation of approximately 3,000 tons of 3-inch stone, 3,000 tons of Class A stone, and 300 tons of Rip Rap rock.
• Upon completion of the above activities, all stockpiled material was secured, disturbed areas were fine graded for drainage, and final mulching and seeding were completed.
• Completing this work during the winter months presented some unique challenges. Even given those factors, this project was completed for the contracted amount, with only approximately 2 weeks of schedule lost to the extreme conditions.