Hard Hat acted as the Agent Manager for 19 closed solid waste facilities located in the Midwestern United States (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri). In its role as Agent Manager, Hard Hat performed, or managed through its subcontractors, a wide range of operation and maintenance tasks that originated as regulatory or permit requirements. The scope of work included routine monitoring (groundwater, landfill gas, leachate), regulatory reporting and permitting, and site maintenance and repair (landfill cap, leachate collection system, and landfill gas collection system). The sites included; Greene County, Woodford Marshall, Wheatland Prairie, Tri County, Kahle, Eaton, Neosho, Polk, Reclamation, Hayward, Ladysmith, Thorp, Hagen Farm, City Disposal, Centerpoint, Pines, Fivecoate, North Wells, and South Wells.

Design-build of a leachate collection treatment system to remove arsenic from the leachate at Autumn Hills Landfill by oxidation and precipitation. The system consisted of a lift station, rapid mix tanks for hydrogen peroxide and ferric sulfate addition, a lamella clarifier with rapid and floc mix vessels, associated chemical feed systems, sludge storage and transfer systems, instrumentation and controls system, mechanical systems, weather protection, and structural systems.

Hard Hat was the Project Manager overseeing the implementation of remedial actions included in a Consent Decree with the U.S. EPA. The duties included those of the Supervising Contractor and Project Coordinator. The remedial actions included connecting nearby residents to the municipal water supply, groundwater and landfill gas monitoring, and landfill cap maintenance. The scope of work included routine reporting, in compliance with the Consent Decree.

Hard Hat currently performs operation and maintenance of the the landfill and landfill gas system at the site. The work includes landfill gas monitoring at perimeter probes and nearby structures, and operation and maintenance of blower and flare system and several ancillary extraction blowers. Prior work at the site has included engineering and construction (design/build) of modifications to the gas management system to improve the operational efficiency. Additionally, Hard Hat troubleshoots and performs any non-routine issues at the facility.

Hard Hat reviewed the applicants’ siting submittals with regard to Criterion 2, 4, 5, and 9 of Section 39.2(a) of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act and the Kendall County Site Approval Ordinance. Hard Hat provided geological and engineering support to Jeep and Blazer, counsel representing the County, for the Waste Management, Inc. Willow Run Landfill siting process and the Lisbon Development, LLC Willow Hill Landfill siting process. Hard Hat provided questions for the expert witnesses, attended the hearings to provide additional support based on the testimony, and contributed expert witness services.

Hard Hat acted as the Project Manager to oversee and document the cap installation at two (2) former landfills. The work included installation of leachate and landfill gas collection systems and RCRA-equivalent multi-layer caps. The cap construction included installation of geocomposite, GCL, FML (HDPE), and soil layers. Erosion control and landscaping were also overseen by Hard Hat. Reporting and documentation, including QA sampling and certifications, were performed by Hard Hat.

Hard Hat personnel fulfilled the role of lead design engineer for a composite cap for 4 former landfills, as part of the remedial action in Rantoul, Illinois for the U.S. Air Force. Design components included waste excavation and consolidation, leachate collection, passive gas collection and venting, composite capping, cover drainage systems, and storm water control systems. Hard Hat acted as construction quality control engineer and 3rd party, independent CQA Officer for the landfills which are approximately 75 total acres. The work included all quality control aspects on the landfill gas collection system, compacted clay, geomembrane, geocomposite drainage and vent layers, and root zone soils, as well as the leachate piping and pumping systems.

Hard Hat personnel performed start-up (i.e. pilot test) and troubleshooting, including repair, of the in-situ vapor extraction (ISVE) system at the site, which was constructed as a remedial measure to treat waste and contaminated soil beneath a cap.

Hard Hat personnel performed O&M of the landfill gas collection system at the site, including coordination and implementation of necessary repairs.

Hard Hat personnel served as project engineer and manager for installation and start-up of multiple remedial components at the site, including three active landfill gas collection and treatment systems and two alternative RCRA-equivalent landfill caps. Hard Hat personnel were responsible for design work plans, oversight during installation, negotiations with regulatory agencies, and collection of quality assurance (troxler, materials verification, destructive test) samples. The cap construction included installation of composite and soil material layers.

Designed and installed a pilot system for collection of landfill gas from the eastern side of the landfill, as part of a corrective action at the site. The system included a piping header, pressure monitoring probes, and a blower system. Hard Hat performed the pilot test, compiled the data in a design report, and made recommendations for future work, based on pilot test data. Hard Hat personnel completed the design and construction of the improvements which included connecting the gas migration control system to the newly installed blower system. The work included start-up and training of operators.

Hard Hat acted as the General Contractor for work at the Kankakee RDF that included installing a system designed to reduce off-site migration of landfill gas. The work included clearing and grubbing, erosion control and storm water controls, excavation of a 16- to 18-foot deep trench, and installation of a series of vertical wells to create an effective gas extraction system. Hard Hat also installed extraction header pipes, and a new blower shed, valves, monitoring ports, gauges and fittings as necessary to produce a complete operable system. The project was performed as design-build, thus Hard Hat also produced design documents suitable to support a permit application, and a completion report for documentation of the installed system.

Hard Hat personnel served as project engineer and certifying engineer-of-record for installation of a landfill gas collection system, RCRA-equivalent cover, leachate collection system, and subsurface containment wall. The work included design and certification of all quality control aspects of landfill gas header system and wells, blower system and gas discharge, RCRA-equivalent geomembrane cover, drainage layer, root zone soils, vegetative layer, and leachate collection system.

Hard Hat personnel served as project engineer for the feasibility study at site, which included evaluation of cap upgrades, installation of new leachate collection system, upgrade of combination leachate/gas venting system, and deep groundwater monitoring system.

Hard Hat personnel acted as review engineer for cover design and construction work plans for numerous capping systems planned for the Joliet Army Plant. The design included 35 IAC 811-compliant composite caps, drainage systems, and monitoring systems. Hard Hat personnel also performed engineering reviews and critical work plan reviews for site engineer(s).

Hard Hat personnel served as construction manager for two 10-acre cell expansions. Construction activities included excavation of 1,000,000 cubic yards of clay and sand, and placement of a composite liner. Site work also included inspection of clay compaction, installation of 60 mil HDPE geomembrane, leachate collection system piping, and granular drainage layer.

Hard Hat personnel performed construction of a 12-acre landfill cap over a former foundry and transfer station. The cap included a 6 inch grading layer, 2 feet of compacted clay, 1.5 feet of root zone, and 6 inch topsoil/vegetation layer. A site-wide storm water drainage system was also installed to manage run-on and run-off at the site from a 100-yr storm event.

Hard Hat employees constructed the cover system on a former 5-acre trinitrotoluene (TNT) burning and burial area. The cap construction complied with state regulations and included multiple soil layers (2-foot thick compacted clay, 1.5 foot root zone, and 6” of topsoil).

Hard Hat personnel performed the role of Project Engineer and general contractor for the design of a 6 acre expansion of an existing sanitary landfill. The design included a composite liner system tied into the existing landfill liner, leachate collection side-slope risers, drainage layer, and stormwater controls including a new sediment pond.

Hard Hat personnel acted as Project Engineer of record for design of two contiguous landfills, with over 60 acres of composite landfill cap. The design included compacted clay and 40-mil LLDPE geomembrane layers, drainage layers, root zone and vegetative layers.

Hard Hat personnel designed a composite clay/geomembrane cap with erosion control for an 8-acre disposal area. The design included integration with surrounding land, incorporation of SVE system headers and wells, and flood protection from adjacent creek. The scope also included oversight and inspection during grading and cap installation, and certified construction of cap for Iowa Department of Natural Resources requirements.

Hard Hat personnel acted as Project Engineer, engineer-of-record, construction supervisor, and certifying engineer for new landfill construction. The Site was a 40-acre sand-and gravel pit, which was developed into an industrial landfill for fly- and bottom-ash disposal. The design included a groundwater geocomposite underdrain, 4-foot compacted clay liner, leachate collection system, and geocomposite/granular drainage layer.

Hard Hat personnel served as Construction Manager for the construction of Subtitle C landfill liner at the site. The scope of work included supervision of installation of all aspects of liner construction and stabilization of 400,000 cubic yards of electroplating sludge. The liner design consisted of 3-feet compacted clay, a secondary 40 mil HDPE geomembrane, a lysimeter layer, 2 feet of compacted clay, a primary 40 mil HDPE geomembrane, leachate collection piping, and a drainage layer.

Hard Hat personnel performed engineering design and storm water control design for numerous landfill caps at California AFBs. The cap design ranged from re-graded compacted clay to composite RCRA clay/geomembrane with drainage layers and gas vent layers.

Hard Hat personnel performed project engineering and oversight for landfill development and final cap placement at several small landfills in Iowa. Liners and caps were compacted clay and geomembrane composites, with integral drainage layers, including leachate collection and stormwater drainage.

Hard Hat personnel performed engineering and reporting for cap repair at an industrial landfill, including recompacted clay layer, root zone, vegetative layer, storm water control and erosion control.

Hard Hat employees designed and provided oversight for compacted clay cap upgrade and slope repair after flooding had damaged the existing cap. The design included quality control procedures and erosion control elements to protect riverside bank from Mississippi flood waters.

Hard Hat personnel acted as the field supervisor for the hydrogeologic investigation used to gather data for the siting application. Field work included logging and interpreting soil and rock borings, overseeing construction of monitoring wells, and performing hydraulic conductivity testing. Work on the siting application included researching regional and local geology and hydrogeology, and performing field and laboratory data reduction for inclusion in the document. Preparation of the hydrogeology section of the local siting application included generation of reports, figures, tables, boring logs, cross sections, potentiometric maps, and running groundwater flow models.

Hard Hat personnel assisted in two hydrogeologic site investigations used to gather data for the siting application. Field work included logging and interpreting soil and rock borings, overseeing construction of monitoring wells, and performing hydraulic conductivity testing. Work on the siting application included researching regional and local geology and hydrogeology, and performing field and laboratory data reduction for inclusion in the document. Preparation of the hydrogeology section of the local siting application included generation of reports, figures, tables, boring logs, cross sections, potentiometric maps, and running groundwater flow models.

The owners asked a contractor to remove the upper sediments in the Niagara River and place the sediments in an adjacent landfill. The sediments were in a cove area with shallow water. However, the sediment below the shallow sediment was very soft and similar to the sediment requiring removal. Hard Hat personnel designed a soil cofferdam to separate the shallow water cove from the main channel of the Niagara River. The cofferdam was designed to allow for settlement of the underlying soft sediment without risking overtopping of the cofferdam. The area inside the cofferdam was dewatered and the sediment was excavated using conventional construction equipment. The earth cofferdam design was more cost effective than steel sheet piling. Because of Hard Hats expertise in soil mechanics, the owners saved considerable expense on the project.