Environmental Contractor Moves Mountains with Aid of Mats

Fifty miles southeast of New Orleans, Empire, Louisiana hugs the Mississippi River as it courses to the Gulf.  Empire and the other Plaquemines Parish towns like Port Sulphur, Buras and Triumph situated along the river rise a mere four feet above sea level.  They took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina; now, more than nine months later, the area is beginning to shape up.

 This was no ordinary debris-removal project:  Mountains of trash have been accumulated in the state from Katrina–estimated at more than 22 million tons–and that was before Rita.  Projects of this complexity and magnitude require national and regional specialists to handle to operations, particularly in areas like Empire where clean-up sites are both difficult to access and environmentally sensitive. 

 Four major contractors have been selected by the Corps of Engineers to spearhead the project, with thousands of subcontractors working throughout the state. One specialist, ECC Operating Services (ECC) has had the kind of disaster recovery experience required to remove debris, decontaminate and restore the land along Louisiana Highways 11 and 23 in the hard-hit parish of Plaquemines.

 While the Corps of Engineers maintains a strict timeline for recovery projects, companies like Houston-based ECC look for safe ways to expedite their activities in the disaster area.  Using the time-tested techniques and some unusual tools, the contractor was able to gain temporary access over the soft soils and storm-ravaged areas to haul and dispose of tons of debris.

 One key product, an interlocking composite mat system, proved invaluable to ECC’s operations, enabling debris trucks to follow a temporary haul route directly to the designated dump-site.  The mats were used as spur roads from the main highway to the containment site and formed staging areas around the perimeter of the debris pit. 

 Known as the Dura-Base Composite Mat System, this temporary roadway system has been employed in the utility construction and oilfield industry for the past few years to enable operators to work in sensitive areas without rutting the soil and disturbing the vegetation.  Special performance-enhancing features like overlapping lips, locking pins and double-sided surfaces provide users with a safe, durable and easily installed system.  Made from high-density thermoplastic, the mats can be cleaned, decontaminated and reused indefinitely. 

 Recently, the Corps of Engineers had approved and recommended the use of this type of matting for sensitive environments particularly where the Clean Water Act would normally prohibit vehicle activity or commercial operations.  Prior to the hurricanes, Dura-Base had been used on hundreds of drilling locations in the wetlands and provided access roads for high-profile utility projects across North America, wherever sensitive or harsh terrain inhibits operations.

 fter Katrina, the strict parameters established by the Corps, FEMA and the state of Louisiana created a very unique situation for ECC and every other contractor in the affected areas.  According to Todd Riche, contract specialist for the company, “Not only do we have to remove tons of debris, haul it out and dispose of it in a very short amount of time, but we need to be careful not to further damage the environment.  The storms have already pushed the water and land to the point of near desolation. We can help mitigate that damage by using mats and selecting stable haul routes,”

 Add to that, the security checkpoints, the presence of hundreds of other trucks and tracked vehicles, and you get the picture that these contractors have know exactly what they are doing to successfully complete this project.

 “We must comply with regulatory agencies like EPA, DEQ and OSHA; safety is particularly important because were dealing with debris of several different classifications in an environment that is in constant flux. Our personnel are trained, certified and refreshed on all of the required procedures, so that no matter what kind of weather conditions we encounter or what type of material is going into the disposal site, we will be prepared to operate safely.”

 ECC has been tasked with specific missions from stump and debris removal to site remediation and asbestos abatement.  The composition of incoming debris can range from vegetative waste to so-called white goods or appliances; some of the debris is simply “black bag,” municipal solid waste (MSW) or construction and demolition waste (C&D). If the company encounters friable material (asbestos containing materials that, when dry, can be crumbled, pulverized or powdered by hand pressure), there are certain protocols that need to be followed.

 Just as important as the debris handling itself is the transportation of that debris to the disposal sites from the storm-damaged areas.  Unlike conditions in dryer parts of the country, South Louisiana soil is soft, wet and unstable.  The water table in low-lying Plaquemines Parish rests a mere six to eight feet beneath the surface, creating a potential nightmare for wheeled vehicles that are built for highway travel.

 “One thing that mats have done is allowed us to deal with these sediment-containing soils that turn to mush after any rainfall, said Eric Nelson, project manager for ECC’s Empire Pit. “We use a lot of trucks and several types of trucks. The mats allow us to continuously operate.  And because the mats link together, they let us operate in the environment without having to using aggregate. The bottom line is, they help us to be more efficient.”

Two main pits handle the debris from the area. The eastern pit was designed for access via four main spur roads that connected to a primary access road.  Matting was used to not only to build those 150 to 200-foot spurs, but also to create work pads and turnarounds, that aided the flow of operations and traffic.  Some of the site could only be accessed through a municipal park, so the mats also functioned as ground protection for the existing hardscape (like play courts and pathways).

The western pit, on the other hand, was encircled with a perimeter road of mats to protect the edge of the debris pit and to give trucks complete access to the site.  Originally, four large pads were configured to serve as offloading points; and later, another one was added.  During operations, groups of mats could be moved and reconfigured to suite the changing needs of the site.  Much of the installation was carried out by SOLOCO, LLC, who was responsible for providing the Dura-Base mats and maintaining them throughout the project.

Vice President of operations for SOLOCO, described his company’s role in the project, “We matted a 3000 foot long access road that’s wide enough (21 feet) for trucks to pass each other.  We built two 80’ x 80’ approaches from the highway and three dump pads that also measure 80’ by 80’.  The approaches and turns will basically encircle the pit so that dump trucks can roll right up to the edge of the pit and unload.”

One of the most important benefits the mats provided was a safe, stable pad for trucks to use while offloading debris.  As truck beds are hydraulically raised into the air, tremendous weight shifts from the forward axels to the rear axels, in turn placing an increased point load on the surface beneath the tires.  With the heavy-duty Dura-Base, that weight is distributed throughout the interconnected mat network and the load remains balanced throughout the process of raising, offloading and lowering the truck bed.

“The mats are a lifesaver—we really couldn’t use anything else other than laminated wood mats, possibly,” claims Nelson. “There are some borrow pits around, where they are taking clay out to use in the rebuilding of the levees; they use wood there, but the composite mats are ideal because the water table is so high that the ground stays soft all the time. And what we’ve done with the mats–building a complete road around the pit where the trucks enter then proceed to the tipping area–provides a stable surface for the trucks.  If it weren’t for them, nothing would happen there.”

“Our customers require safety above all else, for their personnel and their equipment,” concludes Reid.  “We provide that extra peace of mind with our mats that goes beyond just building a roadway. Dura-Base helps keep the worksites clean and uniform; that makes for improved morale for everyone who has to work on and near the jobsite.  Our composite mats use no nails or loose lumber so the risk of injury or any weakness in the road system is greatly reduced.”

For ECC, the project will wrap up when then pits have reached their total capacity, about .5 million cubic yards, according to Nelson. “Were at nearly 80,000 cubic yards capacity left; so at our current rate, we’re looking at closing down the pit and seal it off at the end of June 2006,” he said.  “I’ve seen a lot of debris pits in my line of work and I have to say that this is one of the cleanest sites because of the mats.  With normal operations around borrow pits, you’d usually see lots of mud with trucks tracking it onto roadways; but here, the trucks stay on the mats, their tires remain debris-free and we have operations continuing smoothly.