In Oct. 2017, a series of wildfires swept through Northern California burning more than 245,000 acres across 9 counties, destroying approximately 8,900 structures and causing $9.4 billion in damages. Once the fires were controlled and cleanup efforts began, Global was subcontracted by Environmental Quality Management, Inc. (EQM) to provide remediation assistance, removing household hazardous waste …
While in operation,the Asarco Smelter in Tacoma released heavy metals which have settled onto many yards in the Ruston Way neighborhood of Tacoma. The site is now among the largest Superfund Sites in the Puget Sound.
Global Diving is providing assistance with the removal of contaminated soil from over 60 household yards in the area. The 12 man team operates a variety of equipment including skid steer loaders,dump trucks and excavators to assist with the removal and materials handling.
Existing soils,previously tested,are removed from the designated yards and transported for proper disposal. New materials; including soil,gravel and sod are brought in to replace that material which was removed.
Global Diving & Salvage was contracted by a local dredge company to clean up oil spilled from a sunken tugboat near Pittsburg,CA. The Global crew deployed containment boom,sorbents,and a skimmer to contain and recover the oil that spilled from the tug. After the tug owner re-floated the vessel,Global crews defueled the vessel and removed over 3,000 gallons of oil and water from the bilge to a Baker tank onshore.
Global was hired to measure and weigh sections of a contaminated concrete from a broken up slab to be loaded into containers and transported by barge. Precise measurements were necessary not to exceed maximum crane capacity,but it was not possible to have specific equipment available due to the remote location of the project. To ensure the containers would not be overloaded an engineering firm created a formula using the weight of a few sample pieces of slab based on measurements. Onsite a field tech from Global measured and estimated the weight for each piece. All containers came in under the weight and were picked up by barge company without issue.
In 2000 and 2002,the US Army Corps of Engineers (USCOE) removed discarded pieces of electrical equipment adjacent to the upstream side of Bradford Island,part of the Bonneville Dam complex. These pieces of equipment contained PCBs that had leached out and were found in the surrounding sediment.
After the equipment was removed,a survey was performed to identify areas were the PCB concentration was above allowable limits. In 2007,a proposal was put out by USCOE to remove this PCB contaminated sediment.
We supplied the floating platforms on which the filtration system was assembled,and conducted all maneuvering and handling of the platforms. We also provide all the diving services required to perform the removal of the PCB-contaminated sediment.
Three areas were identified as “hot spots.” These areas totaled over 41,000 square feet. All three areas were dredged with a 6-inch diver-operated dredge. Dredging operations were completed in 23 days.
Working in sediment that contained high levels of PCBs required the implementation of contaminated-diving procedures. Divers wore vulcanized rubber dive suits with special neck seals that are integral to the dive hat,and connected boots and sealed gloves which totally isolate the diver from the surrounding water. When the diver surfaced,tenders wore rain suits and face shields to protect themselves from contaminated sediment that may have attached itself to the diver’s suit.
