The Shaw Group Inc., a locally based environmental and industrial services business, recently announced it won a contract potentially worth $354 million over the next eight years from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. According to Jo Ann Gee, project officer for EPA’s Region 6, the contract involves emergency response and cleanup of oil-based and hazardous substance spills throughout Region 6. Region 6 spans Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. “[The contract] is one of our emergency and rapid response services contracts,” Gee said. “They’re regional contracts that respond to oil and hazardous waste spills, so it could be any type of event that would involve oil and hazardous materials that would impact [the public’s] health or the environment.” Dave Bary, spokesman for the Region 6 office, said emergencies Shaw will be responsible for cleaning up are man-made problems, such as train and automobile spills, as well as natural occurrences, such as hurricanes and floods. “Regardless of how a hazardous substance or oil is released into the environment, the EPA is often called to assist local and state authorities in dealing with the cleanup in the aftermath of a spill,” Bary said. “We would rely on the services of The Shaw Group through this service contract to support us in assisting with the cleanup.” Bary said the EPA focuses on emergency response being quick and efficient. Because of the increased risks of prolonging the cleanup of hazardous substances, the need for rapid response played a part in the decision to grant Shaw the contract. “The threat is in direct correlation to the toxicity of the hazardous materials that may have been released in an accident or a spill,” Bary said. “When dealing with an emergency, the EPA mobilizes its resources as quickly as possible.” Marylee Orr, executive director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, said the cleanup of spills is important to the conservation of the environment. “It’s imperative to cleanup oil spills promptly and correctly,” she said. “They can harm the ecosystem for many generations to come.”
—Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]