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Joe Byrnes

President/CEO

JoeByrnes

Mr. Byrnes is the CEO and President of EnviroTrac which he co-founded over 27 years ago. Joe received his BS degree in Geology from SUNY Binghamton and he obtained an MS degree in Hydrogeology from SUNY Stony Brook. His professional career spans over 33 years.

When Joe graduated from college in the 1980s the environmental field was very young and jobs were hard to come by. While working as a carpenter in the construction field Joe got his first opportunity with Roux Associates and was hired to travel the US and sample rivers and creeks for herbicides. Since then he has been fortunate to work on just about every type of environmental project involving a wide variety of contaminants and remedial techniques. Joe’s goals are to continue to grow EnviroTrac organically as an industry leader and diversify our clients. Joe states, “It is very important to me that our employees have the opportunity to grow with the company, that they are professionally challenged and most importantly have fun.”

Although Joe has corporate responsibilities, he is very active in project-related work, including the development of remedial strategies and the implementation of final remedies. Joe is a Licensed Environmental Professional (LEP) in Connecticut, Certified Professional Geologist (CPG), and holds Professional Geologist (PG) licenses in several states (NY, NH, PA, NC, VA, and FL).

  • Professional Geologist, PG-000286-1, State of New York
  • Professional Geologist, PG-0001951, State of Florida
  • Professional Geologist, PG-002656-G, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
    Professional Geologist, PG-00699, State of New Hampshire
  • Professional Geologist, PG-2167, State of North Carolina
  • Professional Geologist, 2801002005, Commonwealth of Virginia
  • Certified Professional Geologist, CPG #8868, Amer. Inst. of Prof. Geologists
  • Licensed Environmental Professional, LEP, Lic. #117, State of Connecticut
  • Certified Environmental Inspector, #13542, Environmental Assessment Association
  • OSHA Certification, HAZWOPER, Confined Space, and Supervisor
  • American Petroleum Institute—API Work Safe Certification
  • MS Hydrogeology, SUNY Stony Brook
  • BS Geology, SUNY Binghamton

 

  • Mr. Byrnes has extensive experience in the selection, design, installation, and maintenance of a wide range of soil and groundwater remediation systems at over 200 sites. Remedial systems have included both active and passive free product recovery, traditional pump and treat, soil-vapor extraction, air sparging, bioventing, bioremediation, excavation, dual-phase extraction, steam injection, oxidation technologies, oxygen releasing compounds, natural attenuation, and the development of innovative technologies.
  • From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Byrnes managed hundreds of environmental investigation and remediation projects for Shell Oil in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Florida. This contract included the management of over 500 retail petroleum facilities. From 1994 to 1998, EnviroTrac was the sole environmental consultant and remediation contractor for Shell Oil in New York and Connecticut (approximately 200 sites).
  • Mr. Byrnes worked with ConocoPhillips to develop and manage a Compliance Audit Program for retail service stations in New York State (Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, Kings, Bronx, Richmond, Manhattan, Westchester, Rockland, and Orange Counties). Approximately 150 retail stations were included in the program that included state and local file reviews, PBS compliance, UST system, and monitoring inspections, onsite waste inspection (drums, soil piles, etc.), potable well survey, remediation system inspection, site sketches, photo-documentation, database management, and reporting. Non-compliance issues were documented and follow-up audits were performed.
  • Jet Fuel Remediation Project in Bermuda where Mr. Byrnes acted as Project Manager for a 50,000-gallon jet fuel spill and a Bulk Storage Facility. Project included completion of a Comprehensive Site Assessment (CSA), Risk Assessment (RA), and Remedial Action Plan (RAP) in accordance with Bermuda MoE Guidelines. Scope of work included soil borings, well installations, soil vapor sampling, ground-water sampling, sediment, and surface water sampling, tidal studies, tracer testing, ground-water modeling, quantitative risk analysis, feasibility study for remedial alternatives, and reporting.
  • Mr. Byrnes lead an EnviroTrac project team contracted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to initiate an investigation to determine the source of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) detected in multiple residential wells in Hyde Park, New York. A Preliminary search of the area identified four potentially responsible parties (PRPs) that consisted of gasoline stations that had documented releases associate with their underground storage tank (UST) systems. EnviroTrac began a private well sampling program that included over 250 homes. Based on the results of the monitoring program, 95 activated carbon filtration systems were installed in private homes to remove the MTBE contamination. In conjunction with the elimination of the immediate threat to the public, EnviroTrac began a comprehensive subsurface assessment of the area that identified several pathways of MTBE migration in the fractured bedrock. Field testing included packer testing to isolate fractures for sampling, dye tracer testing, and geophysical techniques. A Geographic Information System (GIS) database was developed to manage the large database and determine site trends. Mr. Byrnes and EnviroTrac’s design group developed remediation plans for two of the PRP locations that included the installation of a High-vacuum Extraction (HVE) and groundwater Pump and Treat (P&T) system. EnviroTrac continues to provide monitoring, O&M, design, and construction needs for the successful completion of this project.
  • EnviroTrac was contracted to complete a Soil Vapor Extraction Pilot Study for the Region VII of the USEPA, at the 57th and Broadway Superfund Project located in Wichita, KS. The Superfund site consists of multiple responsible parties that have contributed to the contamination that has impacted several private wells in this mixed-use (residential, commercial, and industrial) community. Two of the responsible parties, the Midland Refinery site, and the former Wilko Paints site required active remediation. The contaminants of concern include DCE, TCE, PCE, and VC. The scope of work involved the installation of pilot test wells and performing SVE field testing at both locations to collect site-specific information. Project objectives were to develop sufficient process design and construction of two separate full-scale SVE systems. Design information included radius of influence, SVE well spacing, system layout, and equipment design specifications. Once the design was completed, EnviroTrac was awarded the contract to install both remediation and groundwater monitoring wells, construct and startup both SVE systems and provide O&M services. Mr. Byrnes acted as Project Manager for this project and both systems were successfully installed and operated by EnviroTrac.