Leaaf Environmental, LLC (Leaaf) was recently honored by Carl Edlund, the Superfund Division Director for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Brown, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), and Mayor Constant of the City of Gretna in a public ceremony at the Gulf Coast office on Peters Road. Leaaf received recognition for our work in bringing a Brownfields Initiative property on Peters Road back into commerce with the assistance of government funding.
In 2011, Gulf Coast Scrap and Salvage, Inc. (Gulf Coast) purchased a 2.25-acre Brownfield property on Peters Road. This facility historically operated as Haywilk Galvanizing, a “hot-dip” galvanizing facility, for over 60 years. Prior to the closure of the facility in 2005, two molten zinc pits and a hydrochloric acid pit used in the galvanizing process were present on the property. Leaaf performed the initial environmental Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) due diligence for Gulf Coast and assisted them throughout the Brownfield process which identified the potential for historic releases of heavy metals to the property’s soil and groundwater. This initial due diligence made Gulf Coast eligible for Brownfields funding.
With Leaaf’s assistance through this process, Gulf Coast received money from the EPA Region 6 Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) program and the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (RPC) dedicated TBA grant funding to support the completion of Work Plans and Phase II ESAs that allowed Gulf Coast to characterize, quantify, and delineate zinc at the facility. In October 2017, 71.5 tons of zinc impacted soil were classified, excavated from the site, and disposed of at a permitted landfill. Confirmatory sampling of the excavated area was completed and reviewed, and the area was backfilled with clean fill.
Through the combined efforts of the New Orleans RPC, LDEQ, EPA Region 6, Leaaf, G.E.C. Inc, and Aerostar S.E.S., LLC, the former Haywilk Galvanizing site has been remediated, and conditions at the facility have been restored to protect human health and the environment for its intended use as a scrap yard. The site and all parties involved with this Brownfields success story have received recognition for their work from EPA, LDEQ, and the City of Gretna.
