News
Meet Justin Lenahansen, Project Environmental Scientist
Where are you from and where do you live now? I was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in suburbs north of the city. I currently live about 10 miles south of Seattle in Renton, Washington. What do you do at MFA? I am an…
Audrey HackettCelebrating Pride Month with LGBTQ+ Leaders in Science and Technology
In honor of Pride Month, MFA is recognizing influential LGBTQ+ leaders in the sciences. Explore the biographies and resources we’ve gathered to learn more about the life and work of these four incredible people. Rachel Carson American…
Jessica LetteneyNew Employees Join MFA and FLO Analytics
Join us in welcoming four new employees at MFA and our wholly owned subsidiary, FLO Analytics! Sean Henderson Sean joins the MFA team as a graphic designer working out of the Portland office. He brings more than eight years of design…
Jennifer King, PE, SPHRMFA Promotes Michael Murray, RG, LHG, PE, to Principal Hydrogeologist
MFA is proud to announce the promotion of Michael Murray, RG, LHG, PE, to principal. Michael is a principal hydrogeologist passionate about helping clients navigate complex regulatory and legal landscapes. His work providing contaminant…
Michael J. Pickering, RG, LGAbout the Project Wildfires burned thousands of buildings and millions of trees across Oregon during the summer of 2020. MFA worked closely with the task force led by the Oregon Department of Transportation to safely address wildfire…
Sidney CountsMFA has served as the lead technical consultant working with Ecology and the Chelan County to develop a model remedy that created a streamlined process for remediating historical orchard lands in central and eastern Washington. The model…
Sidney CountsAbout the Project Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc., assisted the owner of a former pesticide-formulation facility and its legal counsel in resolving environmental issues at the facility site. MFA led all phases of site investigation, risk…
Victoria O'DanielAbout the Project The Successor Coeur d’Alene Custodial and Work Trust, known as the Coeur d’Alene Trust, was created to implement remedial action projects at the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site in northern…
Leora WernerAbout the Project Over the next 30 years, Oregon State University’s Bend, Oregon branch (OSU-Cascades) will create a 128-acre campus accommodating 5,000 students through the innovative reuse of a former pumice mine and former demolition…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project The City of Wenatchee is home to Washington State University’s Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center (TFREC), which supports key agricultural research in Washington State as part of WSU’s mission as a land grant…
Ashlyn SalzmanProject Overview MFA assisted the owner by developing and negotiating a low-risk, cost-effective cleanup that was specifically tailored to address private funding and Oregon Economic and Community Development Department fiscal risk…
Victoria O'DanielSite Background A site in Kent, Washington, had been impacted from a tank release, and the company wanted to act fast. The impact plume was large, was approaching the property boundary, and contained both diesel and gasoline, adding a layer…
Victoria O'DanielAbout the Site Our client’s industrial facility is located on 5 acres of the Columbia Slough, just over a mile from the Columbia River. Two settling ponds that were installed for the treatment of operational wastewater before discharge to…
Victoria O'DanielContamination Overview Soda ash can be difficult to contain. During ship and railcar loading and unloading operations, small amounts of this fine powder can escape, land on the ground, and be picked up by stormwater runoff. This can result in…
Victoria O'DanielContamination History In the past, steel mills in the Portland area and elsewhere gave away waste slag material for reuse. The DEQ approved the reuse conditionally for embankment construction (where it would be encapsulated), but commonly the…
Victoria O'DanielAbout the Site A 40-acre tract of former pastureland was suspected to have been impacted by wastes from a nearby tannery that were used as a soil amendment. Beginning in the 1980s, the original site was subdivided into numerous smaller tax…
Victoria O'DanielAbout the Project MFA oversaw the decommissioning of a 6,000-gallon underground storage tank adjacent to the Central Utilities Plant at this aviation facility. The decommissioning was necessary in order to accommodate construction…
Victoria O'DanielProject Overview As part of MFA’s investigation of a former unpermitted landfill adjacent to the Columbia Slough, MFA evaluated source control at the site and sampled stormwater from a pipe discharging directly from the property to the…
Victoria O'DanielAbout the Project As the Washington Military Department plans to relocate its National Guard facility from Seattle’s Ballard/Interbay manufacturing industrial center, there are significant political, financial, and logistical…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project MFA provides comprehensive air, stormwater, and health and safety compliance services to this industrial client based in Oregon. We have assisted them with developing reports required to comply with state and federal…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project MFA provided assistance in due diligence site selection, permitting, and compliance for a new torrefied biomass manufacturing facility in Oregon. Meet the Client This client operates a lumber mill and wood fuel…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project MFA’s air quality team has supported dozens of Oregon industrial facilities with Cleaner Air Oregon compliance, ranging from wood treating to aerospace parts manufacturing. MFA has provided compliance training, emission…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project MFA often provides permitting assistance to manufacturing facilities, whether they are new to operation or need new permits to remain compliant with updated regulations. Our air quality experts in this case guided a…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project MFA’s industrial hygiene professionals support comprehensive health and safety planning for large manufacturing facilities. For a roofing manufacturing company with multiple regional offices, MFA conducted an assessment…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project The City of Spokane is supporting family-wage, industrial jobs by promoting redevelopment of approximately 300 acres of underutilized land near the former Great Northern Railyard. The area, known as the Hillyard industrial…
Leora WernerMFA assisted the Port of Ridgefield as they took a proactive role in negotiations allowing the Department of Ecology to manage cleanup of a former wood treating site and keeping it off the federal Superfund list. With MFA’s assistance, the…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project The Port of Douglas County, in partnership with the City of Rock Island, is working to revitalize over 100 acres of waterfront property along the Columbia River. The property has distinguishing assets, including highway…
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project Cross-laminated timber presents an emerging opportunity for innovation in the construction industry, providing a sustainable material that allows construction of buildings much taller than with conventional wood framing….
Ashlyn SalzmanThe City of Yakima and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) successfully partnered to implement a cleanup plan that has taken a vacant gasoline station to a property poised for development. MFA consulted on the cleanup…
Ashlyn SalzmanThe Truck City Truck Stop in Mount Vernon, Washington, operated as a gas fueling station, truck scale, and truck wash from 1953 to 2015. Over the years, the truck stop’s operations contaminated the property, ultimately resulting in a…
Leora WernerMFA assisted the Port of Astoria with the design and construction of a new rain garden for Astoria Middle School through a Supplemental Environmental Project, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tool that allows organizations to direct a…
Leora WernerAerial maps helped a farm manager understand impacts and patterns of seasonal flooding. Founded in the 1850s, Plas Newydd Farm in Ridgefield, Washington, has been managed as a year-round dairy farm and cattle ranch, as well as for…
Leora WernerLincoln County found that its 20-acre property used for the Lincoln County Fair was underutilized and not producing sufficient revenues to cover the year-round costs of owning and maintaining the site. To identify potential expanded…
Leora WernerWhatcom County Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining the stormwater system in the Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resources Management District. To fund this stormwater system, a fee is levied against properties within the…
Leora WernerWith the recent departure of several long-time staff combined with an inefficient asset management system based on institutional knowledge and paper records, SPUD managers needed a new way to track their water and sewer assets. Snoqualmie…
Leora WernerWhen it comes to topographic mapping, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are an efficient and inexpensive alternative to total station surveys or aerial surveys using aircraft. The high cost of total station surveys or aerial surveys using…
Leora WernerUnmanned aerial systems (UAS) aided a county in efficient and accurate landfill management. As municipal solid waste is unloaded into landfill cells, the waste compacts and settles, reducing the landfill’s surface elevation….
Leora WernerAerial imagery enriched the Port of Ridgefield’s ability to tell a detailed story about the renaissance of their waterfront. From the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, Pacific Wood Treating Co (PWT) pressure-treated wood products with toxic…
Leora WernerA 3D terrain model of a rock quarry created using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) saved the quarry’s owner time and money. When Potlach, a public diversified forest products and real estate company, needed to know the remaining capacity of…
Leora WernerThe WSDOT Toll Division plays a vital role in the community and regional economy by creating toll facilities that fund regional transportation improvements. To help guide facility and division needs, WSDOT hired MFA to provide ongoing…
Victoria O'DanielThe City of Vancouver engaged MFA to implement an area-wide planning project to work with property owners, businesses, and neighbors to identify and prioritize needed improvements to address deteriorating and substandard streets, localized…
Victoria O'DanielIn support of the ambitious Willamette Falls Legacy Project, MFA has been working with METRO since 2016 to assess the former Blue Heron redevelopment site with tasks including hazardous building materials surveys, soil sampling, scheduling for…
Victoria O'DanielFrom pre-application meeting to permits in hand took less than one year for this complex remedial action. MFA anticipated requirements from a litany of agencies, including those associated with water quality, ecological habitat, and endangered…
Kaitlyn BrunoThis 1,800-foot-long failing bulkhead was transformed to provide wildlife habitat, prevent erosion, and restore culturally-significant plants to an area historically used by Native American tribes. MFA’s careful design, extensive grading…
Kaitlyn BrunoChemical Fingerprint: This is an example of a principal component analysis showing that site sediments (grey dots) have a chemical signature that is highly similar to industrial point sources (green dots) and are less similar to upstream…
Kaitlyn BrunoMFA deployed high-resolution thermal sensing instrumentation to understand surface water and groundwater interactions along a 1.5-mile stream segment. The data gathered identified areas in which surface water was discharging…
Kaitlyn BrunoMFA characterized sediment and pore water, and evaluated chemical concentrations; bioassay results; and ambient, background conditions to assess risk to human health and the environment and identify the optimal remedy. MFA led the…
Kaitlyn BrunoCommunicating concepts such as contaminated groundwater flow into and under a river can be challenging with traditional plan view figures. During the RI/FS for a combined chlorinated solvent/former manufactured gas plant site, MFA…
Kaitlyn BrunoMFA developed a design that integrated the demands of dynamic river flow, areas of hard and soft riverbed, bank stability, site operations, habitat improvements, and remedy requirements into a multi-component sediment and bank cap. MFA…
Kaitlyn BrunoMFA’s innovative design incorporated “precision dredging,” an approach that limits suspension of contamination; “fish-friendly” gravel to stabilize the bank; and shoreline habitat restoration. These environmentally sensitive…
Kaitlyn BrunoMFA used incremental sampling methodology to effectively characterize concentrations over a large area while minimizing cost. Site-specific sediment core samplers were fabricated to achieve retrieval of consistent volumes of sample…
Kaitlyn BrunoWhen the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality lowered the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permit benchmarks, Hampton Affiliates (Hampton) and many industrial facilities in Oregon had to modify their…
Katie StrommeFrom its opening in 1935 to its closure in 1991, the Leichner Landfill was the primary solid waste facility for Clark County and the City of Vancouver. In 2011, the county became the sole owner of the landfill, with an additional agreement in…
Katie StrommeAn employee of a confidential client was diagnosed with cancer and suggested that it may have been caused by his exposure to chemicals at work. To make matters even more complicated, the industrial process involved more than 70 chemicals of…
Katie StrommeMalarkey Roofing needed to measure silica levels in the work environment to understand the implications of a recently-proposed OSHA silica rule. MFA reviewed a silica sampling plan being used by an industry trade group, which ensured the data…
Katie StrommeMFA was selected as the consulting firm representing Josephine County for construction oversight, data management, and quality assurance during the demolition of the 60,000 square foot, 5-story Dimmick Tower of the former Josephine County…
Katie StrommeMFA worked with EnerG2 to develop a process safety management (PSM) and risk management plan (RMP) for their ammonia refrigeration process at an Albany facility. MFA’s extensive experience with ammonia refrigeration processes and close…
Katie StrommeIn preparing a response to neighborhood odor complaints, MFA helped Amerities by working with the facility and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to develop and implement a naphthalene sampling plan. MFA collected samples during…
Katie StrommeMFA worked with Ajinomoto to develop a process safety management (PSM) and risk management plan (RMP) for their ammonia refrigeration process at a Portland facility. MFA’s extensive experience with ammonia refrigeration processes and close…
Katie StrommeThe City of Spokane is attempting to redevelop the University District. Investments by Washington State University, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga University and other higher education institutions create an opportunity to transfer academic…
Kyle ChinTo remediate their 30-acre waterfront Superfund site in Portland, Oregon, which had been the location of a ship building and dismantling facility, Zidell Marine Corporation (Zidell) needed to consider how best to address the site’s issues….
Kyle ChinIn-water contaminants from years of barge-building activities had left the Zidell Marine Corporation (Zidell) with a major barrier to development on their Willamette River property. Zidell hired Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc. (MFA) to perform…
Kyle ChinWhen the 20-acre municipal solid waste landfill stopped receiving waste years earlier than expected, Thurston County needed to quickly make decisions and move forward with closing the facility. The County partnered with MFA to design the…
Kyle ChinThe City of St Helens is actively pursuing purchase of individual properties to create a larger, unparalleled property in the heart of downtown. Two formerly active wood product facilities owned by Boise White Paper and Boise Cascade totaling…
Kyle ChinWith a site characterized by challenges including multiple legacy impacts, pending multiparty litigation, and a location within a Superfund site, the client’s challenges were varied, complex, and multi-tiered. To support claims for cost…
Kyle ChinBecause of the complexity of the legacy impacts affecting sediments at the site of a silicon wafer production facility in Portland, Oregon, the client, who operates the facility, had major contamination issues to contend with. Unaware of…
Kyle ChinRapid population growth in Ridgefield, Washington, was putting pressure on the Ridgefield School District (District), whose existing facilities were not adequate to support the recent influx of new students. Four bond measures to approve the…
Kyle ChinThe 40 acre Pacific Wood Treating site forms the City of Ridgefield’s waterfront. After 30 years of operations, Pacific Wood Treating abruptly declared bankruptcy and abandoned the site leaving extensive soil, groundwater, and sediment…
Kyle ChinThe Port of Kalama (Port) desired to redevelop an existing industrial site for administration office use. The redevelopment required civil engineering design and shoreline development permitting, including use of a SEPA checklist. MFA…
Kyle ChinAfter the extent of contamination resulting from a tank release was understood at one of PetroCard’s petroleum cardlock facilities in South Kent, Washington, the company wanted to act fast. They decided to address the contamination…
Kyle ChinAfter a piece of property in downtown Ridgefield, Washington was quitclaimed to the Union Ridge Investment Company (URIC), the Washington State Department of Ecology notified the group of investors that they would be required to investigate…
Kyle ChinThe City of Palouse is a small community in southeastern Washington. They have become a model for rural town capitalizing on the historic charm of their Main Street. After achieving great success in rebuilding downtown streets and sidewalks,…
Kyle ChinThe client, the operator of a metal-shredding facility on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, was in the process of a major site reconfiguration to accommodate a new freight access rail project when they were issued a new, individual…
Kyle ChinThe City of Ridgefield, Washington, had an ambitious vision for an outdoor welcome center to overlook the nearby 5,218-acre Ridgefield National Wildlife Area. Hoping to create a centralized park space that could function as a community…
Kyle ChinThe farmers at High Desert Organix, one of the largest carrot seed producers in the world, saw an opportunity in their operations’ by-products. The company decided to combine their solid vegetable waste with cow waste—an abundant resource…
Kyle ChinOn April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to oil releasing from the ruptured well for 87 days. As the resultant natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) progressed into…
Kyle ChinSince the 1890s, the Mount Angel Abbey campus layout could best be described as disjointed. Home to the Benedictine monks, the owners of 800 acres of land in the Willamette Valley—including some of the last remaining original Willamette…
Kyle ChinWhen Green Gables Design and Restoration, the owner of a private office development in the northwest industrial district of Portland, Oregon needed assistance with stormwater design issues, they sought out support from MFA. The site posed a…
Kyle ChinMFA provides comprehensive solid waste engineering services for Cowlitz County, assisting the county in the cost-effective management of their solid waste system and the associated environmental obligations. Completed projects include:…
Kyle ChinThe Coeur d’Alene Trust has been tasked with managing cleanup actions in the Upper Basin of the Coeur d’Alene River for the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site. Developing a prioritization strategy for cleanup…
Kyle ChinThe Coeur d’Alene Trust’s data management goals are to promote secure, consistent, and efficient management of data throughout the extended timeframe of activities undertaken in the Upper and Lower basins of the Coeur d’Alene River in…
Kyle ChinMaul Foster & Alongi’s landscape architects worked closely with the owners of a growing medical practice and a team of local architects to design a sustainable modern landscape that provided a tranquil natural setting for medical staff,…
Kyle ChinAbandonment of a legacy property owned by Oregon’s Josephine County (County) had led to an unfortunate case of urban blight in the center of a historic neighborhood. Operated as a hospital since 1919, the property became empty after the…
Kyle ChinA former service station built in 1930 but unused since the 1980s and listed on the Oregon DEQ’s Environmental Cleanup Site database was causing problems for the City of Portland. The site had become a popular location for illegal dumping,…
Kyle ChinNorthern State Hospital is an exceptional property, originally designed by the renowned Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm. Nearly 30 of the Spanish colonial revivalist style buildings, as well as the 200+ acre landscape itself, have…
Kyle ChinAmeriTies operates a creosote-railroad-tie-treating facility in The Dalles, Oregon. Production of the ties involves treating them with creosote under heat and pressure. After treatment they are allowed to drip dry while resting on a concrete…
Kyle ChinGreen Diamond Resources (Green Diamond) wanted to acquire 600,000 acres of timberland in Southern Oregon. This is an area roughly the size of half of Rhode Island; the timberland is spread across 25 discontinuous parcels, which are as far as…
Kyle ChinFarmer’s Cooperative Creamery (FCC) was in a bind when the City of McMinnville claimed that the creamery was the source of issues at the city wastewater treatment plant. The city threatened to withhold FCC’s permit to discharge. This would…
Kyle ChinAstoria’s new sports complex exemplifies the many benefits of multiple public and private parties coming together in the redevelopment of a brownfield to benefit their community. In addition to capping and closing an inactive municipal…
Kyle Chin