Mohammad Estiri, Ph.D.

is serving as Project Manager and has over 25 years of experience engineering, soil physics, and irrigation engineering. He has served as Program Manager for several public and private programs and projects including the program manager for the ACTA environmental department. In the past several years he has managed several multi million dollars environmental and construction projects for the USACE and Navy. He has also provided peer review services to several redevelopment agencies including MTA, ACTA, LACTC, and ACE. Dr. Estiri has provided expert witness services to these agencies as well as several law firms in Southern California.

Dr. Estiri has been involved with assessing sites impacted with hazardous materials (i.e., Phase I, II, and III site investigations), remediating soil and groundwater impacted by hazardous waste, and biologically treating hazardous materials. He has assessed and monitored the mobility of chemical compounds and movement of water and solutes in soil, developed analytical and numerical models, and assessed the effects of oily waste on the physical properties of soil. Additionally, he has conducted mutagenicity studies of municipal and industrial sludge and determined hydrological balances.

Dr. Estiri has designed and implemented several on site and in-situ remediation projects, including on site bioremediation for abandoned oil fields where petroleum hydrocarbon products were present, vapor extraction systems for sites impacted by volatile organic compounds including chlorinated compounds, in-situ bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon soil and groundwater, and in situ bioventing programs. He has been involved in conducting research on infiltration of water into soil, evaluating diesel oil movement in soil, evaluating the bioremediation rate under aerobic conditions, assessing the permeability of clay liners, and conducting literature work in nondestructive testing techniques for detection of soil contamination by hazardous wastes.

Dr. Estiri has taught baseline risk assessments, advanced waste disposal on land, soil physics, and introductory soil science. He has assessed cleanup levels for soil impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons, managed data, selected remedial alternatives, developed site-specific sampling plans, and conducted a climatological assess-ment study for the El Paso Natural Gas Company's San Juan River plant.

Project Director – Site Characterization / Remedial Investigation / Feasibility Study,
Superfund Site, Arvin, CA:

Dr. Estiri conducted a remedial investigation and feasibility (RI/FS) study under EPA, Region IX for a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) site in Arvin, California.
The site is a former pesticide reformulation facility that ceased operation in the mid-1980s. Contamination at the site consisted of pesticide and herbicide residuals in a complex soil and groundwater matrix. In addition to the completion of the RI/FS reports, work involved installing monitoring wells, soil borings, quarterly groundwater monitoring, data analysis, and chemical fate and transport modeling. Characterization of liquid and sludge wastes in on-site aboveground storage tanks (ASTs), and maintenance of the RCRA cap covering a portion of the site were also performed.

Project Director – Site Y at Camp Haan,
Riverside County, CA:

Camp Haan is a former prisoner of war/troop assembly area located next to March Air Reserve Base, and is part of the USACE Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) Program. Site “Y”, at former Camp Haan, consists of a former landfill that contained an incinerator associated with waste and ash.
As the major subcontractor to Panacea, Inc., Eco conducted a preliminary assessment/site inspection for the 76-acre site. The total contract value for Eco was $1.2M. In March 2007, Eco, under Dr. Estiri’s direction, was selected by USACE to continue working at Camp Haan by conducting quarterly groundwater sampling. So far, Dr. Estiri has provided oversight to 22 groundwater samplings.

Project Director – Real Estate Development Authority (RDA), Phase I ESA and Phase II Site Investigation,
City of Carson, CA:

Dr. Estiri performed as project director for an undeveloped property located in the City of Carson, CA that had been identified as a hazardous waste site during a Phase I ESA conducted in 1990. Eco’s excavation activities revealed that the contaminated soil was far in excess of the 5 feet depths estimated by the previous contractor. With the concurrence of the client, Eco collected seven soil samples, which were analyzed for TPH and VOCs, and then excavated six exploratory trenches adjacent to and within the site to delineate the horizontal and vertical extent of impacted soil. Visibly contaminated soil was encountered within four trenches at depths of 17 feet bgs. Based on the results of soil sampling from 11 boring locations analyzed for TPHs and BTEX using photo-ionization, Eco is preparing a conceptual model and high-level-of-confidence Remedial Action Plan for this site.

Project Director – Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) for Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA),
Orange County, CA:

Dr. Estiri directed production of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) for each of 14 properties located in Orange County, California within the OCTA Environmental Mitigation Program. Each Phase I environmental site assessment (ESA) was conducted on behalf of Paragon Partners, Ltd. The purpose of the investigation is to gather sufficient information to develop an independent professional opinion about the environmental condition of the parcels as well as identify actual or potential environmental contamination impacting the sites.

Project Director – Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base (FJTB), Los Alamitos, CA:

The JFTB is located in the city of Los Alamitos, California in northwestern Orange County in the Los Angeles basin of southern California. USACE retained Eco to remove and dispose of two underground storage tanks (UST) within the JFTB.
Dr. Estiri directed the locating and removal of USTs from the site, as well as the removal of impacted soils surrounding the tanks. Tasks included removal and capping of electrical lines and piping, UST cleaning and removal, confirmation soil sampling and analysis, suppression of odor/vapor emissions, decontamination procedures, and management of investigation-derived wastes.

Project Director – Asbestos, Lead, Mercury, and PCBs, Buildings Survey for March Air Reserve Base (MARB),
Riverside County, CA:

Eco was retained by USACE, Los Angeles District, to conduct an asbestos, lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) survey at four buildings within the March Air Reserve Base (MARB) in Riverside County, California. This project, under Dr. Estiri’s direction, was to assess the likelihood that asbestos was present in concentrations greater than 1 percent in suspect, accessible construction materials in the buildings and whether lead was present on the painted surfaces of the site buildings at concentrations greater than or equal to 1.0 mg/cm2 using a portable, XRF analyzer. In addition, inventory of MCM and PCB materials at the sites was provided. A minimal intrusive sampling technique to sample suspect construction materials was used for one occupied building. An abatement priority system was developed to delineate the condition of various materials reported to contain asbestos. Results provided the likelihood of contaminated materials and the appropriate (according to regulatory standards) precaution/procedures as well as the possible need for further investigation.

Project Manager – Phase I Temple Avenue 4th Rail ACE Project,
Pomona, CA:

Dr. Estiri was the Project Manager for Eco & Associates who was subcontracted by Paragon Partners, Ltd. to perform Phase I environmental studies at planned construction areas within the Union Pacific Railroad corridor included in the Alameda Corridor East (ACE) construction project. The ACE project consists of railroad improvements along approximately 2.5 miles of railroad corridor in the City of Pomona, California. The site consists of 37 right-of-way takings planned for temporary or permanent easements.
Based on the findings of the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment performed by Eco, a soil investigation was recommended for all areas of planned construction that required excavation of soil beneath the site. Due to the intrusive soil investigation, elevated lead concentrations were deemed to be present in shallow soil at the site. Special handling and placement for lead impacted soil was recommended by Eco. Recommendations for the handling of impacted soil were based on Caltrans variances since the site follows Caltrans construction-related guidelines. Eco also provided recommendations for any excess lead-impacted soil generated during future site construction activities.

Project Manager – Environmental Site Assessment & Aerially Deposited Lead Investigation Workplan,
City of Monterey Park, CA:

Dr. Estiri was the Project Manager for the City of Monterey Park Redevelopment Agency Phase I ESA for the Paramount Boulevard On/Off Ramps of State Highway 60 (SR60) in Montebello, Los Angeles County, California. The project was to improve the interchange by expansion of the existing on/off-ramps to the Pomona Freeway. The Phase I ESA was conducted in general accordance with the scope and limitations of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E1527-05 standards.
No environmental concerns or associated with the property were identified. However, based on experience with similar projects, Eco recommended investigations for aerially deposited lead (ADL) and weed control chemicals for the unimproved areas adjacent to the roadways where excavations were planned during project improvements. Subsequently, Eco was retained to prepare a Workplan for a Phase II ESA on the site and an investigation into ADL. Eco prepared a Workplan and Health & Safety Plan for the scope of work in December 2007. The lead testing was to be done in accordance with the California Department of Transportations’ (Caltrans) guidelines. Over 100 samples were proposed from both sides of the highway.

Project Manager – Aliso Canyon Sumps,
Northridge, CA:

Dr. Estiri was the Project Manager for the Aliso Canyon Sumps Project. He has completed several tasks at Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon Storage Facility located in Northridge, CA. Eco has performed identification, investigation, and remediation of abandoned oil field sumps at the facility. Activities to complete the scopes of work have included but not been limited to the following:

• Site reconnaissance
• Historical aerial photograph and map review
• Subsurface soil sampling
• Degrubbing & Revegetation
• Impacted soil removal and disposal
• Investigation in difficult access areas
• Oversight of remediation contractor
• Health & safety monitoring
• Assessment and closure reporting