Mauricio H. Escobar, PG

Mauricio Escobar is a Professional Geologist with over twenty years of experience designing, managing, and implementing environmental soil and groundwater investigations and remediation strategies for public and private clients. He has significant experience with land development projects and evaluation of site constraints, and alternatives for real estate transactions and redevelopment. Mr. Escobar’s experience extends to working on school sites under the oversight of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), in-house consultant assisting with management of a $25MM yearly remediation portfolio for a Fortune 100 Company, and ongoing significant assignments representing clients in Working Group meetings as part of Superfund sites.

Mr. Escobar also has substantial experience evaluating and remediating industrial, commercial, and residential sites impacted with numerous contaminants in multiple media, including crude oil, fuels, volatile organic compounds, chromium VI, 1,4-dioxane, and PCBs. His extensive experience includes managing the implementation of remediation programs that utilize and consider multiple technologies, including soil vapor extraction, dual phase extraction, traditional pump and treat, in-well stripping, air sparging, chemical oxidation and reduction, thermal treatment, and natural attenuation. Mr. Escobar has experience managing large-scale remedial excavations involving the use of heavy earth moving equipment; significant field experience using numerous drilling, soil sampling, groundwater sampling, and soil vapor sampling techniques; expertise in design and field implementation of in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) in hard rock and porous media-flow aquifers; along with extensive experience strategizing, budgeting, negotiating, and coordinating field investigations for facility closures on behalf of public and private clientele.

• Removal Action Workplan – Industrial Developer, Redlands, CA: A Removal Action Workplan (RAW) was prepared for a vacant Site, planned for redevelopment as an industrial park under the oversight of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). The RAW was prepared for excavation and removal of dieldrin-impacted soils after completion of a Preliminary Environmental Assessment Equivalent (PEA-E) report and Human Health Screening Risk Evaluation (HHSRE). The RAW defined the soils to be removed and the screening criteria to be used for both off-site disposal and in the event that additional excavations and/or sampling were required, and provided protocols for statistical analysis (95 Pro UCL). Prior to implementation of the RAW, public participation and public notification protocols were coordinated and satisfied. Excavation and permanent removal of all dieldrin-impacted soils were completed in four rounds of excavations, and confirmation soil sampling and grading/construction were allowed to begin immediately after with approval from DTSC.
• Remedial Action Plan – Residential Developer, Los Angeles County, CA: A Remedial Action Plan (RAP) was prepared for a vacant 7-acre site planned for residential development. The Site included former oil wells and a 3-acre undocumented landfill. Under the oversight of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Site Mitigation Unit, multiple rounds of Phase II investigations and a trenching investigation were completed to: define the limits of the waste prism; define the nature of soil gas impacts from the former oil extraction operations and the landfill materials; define vertical impacts from waste material and the potential threat to groundwater; and define the risk to future residential occupants of the Site from residual contaminants of concern (COC). A Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) was prepared to assess risks from COCs and establish cleanup levels protective to risk-based standards. A RAP was then prepared to establish remedial action objectives (RAO) and put forward a plan to address COCs and be protective of human health and the environment. The RAP included a landfill cap design for construction of a community park over the former waste, excavation plans for oily soils, and vapor mitigation systems for all future structures at the Site. The RAP also included the need for a future land use covenant for the property.
• Expert Opinions, Site Assessment, Settlement Negotiations – Industrial Owner, Irvine, CA: At the request and direction of counsel and for the benefit of a property owner, numerous historical documents were reviewed for a Site where a former industrial tenant had conducted operations for many decades. It was known that the tenant had used chlorinated solvents; however, the tenant and their consultants had concluded that their investigations and a shallow, limited excavation had remediated all tenant-caused impacts and no further action was required. Document review suggested incomplete delineation of soil gas impacts and incorrect interpretation of shallow groundwater conditions. Two soil, soil gas, and groundwater assessments were completed with the intent of delineating the extent of chlorinated solvent impacts both on- and off-site. Meetings were held with the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), both with and without the former tenant, to discuss the inadequacy of the shallow, limited excavation and the technically deficient conclusions reached by the tenants’ consultant. The RWQCB agreed that additional work, including additional remedial actions were necessary, and the former tenant settled with the owners of the Site.
• Vapor Intrusion Mitigation System Evaluation and Redesign – Industrial Developer, Santa Ana, CA: A major developer requested third-party review of a vapor intrusion mitigation system (VIMS) designed by another consultant for future industrial buildings at a former manufacturing facility impacted with chlorinated solvents in Santa Ana, California. According to developer, the cost of the VIMS as designed would have been $3MM and therefore, one the major questions was whether there was flexibility with amending the design to be as effective but less expensive to construct. After review, it was determined that the VIMS design could be changed such that the overall construction cost would be less than $1MM. The design was completed and services were expanded to include VIMS installation oversight and third-party materials review.
• Portfolio Project Control – Fortune 100 Company, Torrance, CA: Three years of experience working as a full-time in-house consultant for a Fortune 100 Company assisting with management of all aspects of a complex multi-site portfolio. General role included communication with alliance partners, vendors, corporate finance, attorneys, public relations/communications, and procurement to track and facilitate progress of 9 major projects ($400,000 to $1 MM/year) and 3 mega projects ($3MM to $10MM+/year) that were unique in nature and complexity. Portfolio included former chemical sites, landfills, aerospace facilities, and other heavy-use industrial facilities that were undergoing State and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) closure, as well as sites under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Superfund actions with potentially responsible party (PRP) commitments. Charged with helping to develop, evaluate, and refine remedial strategies and life cycle costs for sites that utilized various cleanup technologies such as application of oxidants and reducing agents, thermal oxidation, groundwater pump and treat, dual-phase and 2-PHASE™ extraction, soil vapor extraction, air sparging, and in-well air stripping. Major role included verifying adequate funding and maintaining documentation consistent with Sarbanes Oxley.
• Preliminary Environmental Assessment – Charter High School, Los Angeles, CA: Multiple environmental investigations and cleanups were completed on behalf of a charter school client at a site located in Los Angeles, California. The Site was a former oil field property that had petroleum and lead impacts and was under the oversight of the DTSC. The Site was originally mischaracterized by another consultant, and the school had 6 months to navigate from completion of PEA-E/HHSRE and Supplemental Site Investigation, to completion of a RAW, and implementation of the removal action. The client’s timeline was successfully met and the charter school opened on time. Included in the removal action was construction of a VIMS system that included alarms and sensors to be protective for students, as per City of Los Angeles requirements.