Roux Office Spotlight: Buffalo, New York
Our newest office in Buffalo, New York, was established less than a year ago following the merger of Benchmark Civil/Environmental Engineering & Geology, PLLC and TurnKey Environmental Restoration, LLC (collectively known as Benchmark TurnKey) with Roux in July 2023. Benchmark TurnKey was founded in 1998 and was majority owned by Thomas Forbes (President of Benchmark) and Michael Lesakowski (President of TurnKey). Our Buffalo office, comprised of thirty-five environmental professionals, is a strong advocate for their clients’ business interests and projects; many of their client relationships span over twenty-five years.
Historically, Western New York was covered in rail yards and steel plants, leaving behind chemical remnants of past manufacturing processes, which paved the way for brownfields redevelopment. Due primarily to tax incentives and liability releases from New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, Buffalo welcomed a boom in completed cleanups and successful redevelopments of many brownfield sites over the past decade. Thomas Forbes and Michael Lesakowski regularly hear from developers who are specifically looking for brownfields to build on, as mentioned in their recent interview with Buffalo Business First (click here for subscriber access). Read more about some of our founding members of the Buffalo office below.
Thomas H. Forbes, PE is a registered professional engineer licensed in New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. He has over thirty-six years of experience focused on brownfield and hazardous waste site investigation and remediation; petroleum-impacted site remediation; due diligence for environmentally-impaired properties; groundwater and industrial wastewater treatment; and environmental regulatory compliance services. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University at Buffalo. Mr. Forbes’ investigations and cleanups have included well over 250 sites contaminated with a wide range of materials, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), chlorinated solvents, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, heavy metals, cyanide, radioactive isotopes, and petroleum contamination.
Michael Lesakowski encompasses twenty-five years of professional experience in environmental engineering, science, and consulting at numerous contaminated sites throughout the northeast United States. He is an expert in all aspects of the New York Brownfield Cleanup Program, including technical assessment and analysis of the site investigation/remedy selection process, and site remediation. Mr. Lesakowski has investigated and remediated over 100 New York brownfield projects, including ten renewable energy redevelopment projects on remediated brownfield sites. He has managed assessments, investigations, and remediation projects on properties with a multitude of historic uses, media types, and contaminants. Mr. Lesakowski has managed remediation projects, ranging from simple underground storage tank removals to large-scale soil excavations, in situ soil stabilization, and complex groundwater remediation programs, such as biological and/or chemical in situ groundwater treatment and permeable reactive barriers for volatile organic compounds and PFAS.
Lori E. Riker, PE is a Principal Engineer at Roux with over twenty-nine years of environmental and civil engineering consulting experience, and a New York Licensed Professional Engineer. Ms. Riker’s areas of expertise include federal and state environmental regulatory compliance assistance and remedial investigations, design, and implementation under various state and federal cleanup programs. Ms. Riker’s regulatory compliance experience consists of petroleum bulk storage (PBS) and chemical bulk storage (CBS) auditing and the associated spill prevention reporting; Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Tier II and Toxic Release Inventory (Form R) reporting; air permitting (Title V, State facility, air facility registrations), compliance reporting, and emission statement preparation; stormwater permitting, reporting, Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs), and Best Management Practices (BMP) Plans; industrial wastewater design and pretreatment permitting; and hazardous waste auditing, annual reporting, and reduction planning.
Have questions on Roux’s work in Western New York or looking to get in touch with our experts? Feel free to reach out to Dan below!
