Since 2016, Barr has helped a midstream and upstream fuels client evaluate assets prior to purchase as part of its mergers-and-acquisitions due diligence process. The assets included pipeline and breakout tanks, pump stations, compressor stations, rail and truck terminals, and saltwater disposal wells.

The largest project included evaluation of documents provided by the seller and onsite environmental and engineering evaluation of the property and assets. The company did not have enough personnel to perform an evaluation of numerous potential assets within a short timetable, so it hired Barr to assist.

We began by reviewing documents provided by the seller detailing the assets, after which we prepared questions and issues to address during the ensuing on-site inspections. We then prepared a briefing package for the company’s board of directors summarizing our findings and detailing potential engineering and environmental liabilities. Our evaluation included a cost range and an opinion of material significance.

When the two sides agreed to terms of an acquisition, Barr prepared an ownership change matrix outlining the updates, notifications, and changes required for environmental permits, plans, programs, and notifications. In addition, we provided temporary on-site staff augmentation throughout the transition and assimilation of assets.

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As part of a pipeshed and water-quality project, Barr created a citywide, GIS-based model that provides an estimate of how well stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in the city of Minneapolis are removing total phosphorus and total suspended solids from stormwater runoff. The catch-basin-to-catch-basin, cluster-level model utilizes the city’s stormwater geometric network to describe flow patterns to approximately 500 outfalls and includes more than 1,300 BMPs, 28,000 watersheds, and 70,000 junctions. The GIS data model incorporated stormwater data from Minneapolis, 10 neighboring cities, and the University of Minnesota. Additional land-use, land-cover, and LiDAR data from state and federal sources were used to develop raster surfaces needed for predicting runoff and pollutant loadings, as well as for detailed watershed delineation.

The completed model allows for the evaluation of “what if” scenarios regarding BMP placement, street sweeping frequency, and other potential changes to the city’s stormwater system. Since the model utilizes GIS network and feature classes, pollutant loading and removal can be summarized anywhere within the drainage system upstream of the outfalls. Barr also provided in-person model training and support for city staff.

The city can use this tool to identify, analyze, and prioritize water quality areas of concern and evaluate a variety of city initiatives. For example, this model will allow the city to target high-pollutant-generating areas and incorporate water quality BMPs into planned capital projects. This multiple-benefits approach enables the city to prioritize where water quality projects are implemented to maximize city resources and reduce pollution of surface waters.

Minnesota Power built a 220-mile-long, 500-kV transmission line in northern Minnesota. The line, which imports hydropower from Manitoba, crosses the Canadian border into Minnesota and connects to a new substation near Grand Rapids.

Two critical permits were required: a Presidential permit from the U.S. Department of Energy and a route permit from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Because an Environmental Impact Statement was needed for both permits, the DOE and the Minnesota Department of Commerce decided to reduce duplication of effort by jointly completing a single EIS for the project. 

The agencies selected Barr’s team to provide third-party environmental review and prepare the EIS. Barr conducted studies of water bodies, wetlands, vegetation, and wildlife, and oversaw studies of economic, cultural, and related considerations.

At the heart of the EIS were GIS technologies, which we harnessed to analyze in detail the impacts associated with multiple potential routes for the transmission line. With its ability to represent massive amounts of data visually, GIS allowed us to embed charts, tables, and maps in the EIS document, which in turn helped regulators and the public compare more than 40 route variations and understand the advantages and drawbacks of each.

The Presidential and route permits were issued in 2016, and construction began in 2017. The Great Northern transmission line began delivering power in 2020.

Stream assessment and improvement plan

Eroding and unstable stream banks on portions of the five-mile reach of the Tongue River upstream of Dayton, Wyoming, prompted public requests to the Sheridan County Conservation District (SCCD) and the Sheridan County Public Works Department (SCPWD) to evaluate the problem and recommend solutions. Upstream from Dayton, the river has two distinct stream and valley types with associated susceptibilities to bank erosion and active movement of bed materials. In 2013, the community decided to pursue a stream-improvement plan that would include a landowner engagement process and a stream assessment. Barr was selected to complete this work.

The scope of work included use of the NRCS Stream Visual Assessment Protocol as part of the education and outreach to engage landowners and help prioritize future improvements. The stream survey included longitudinal profile and cross-section survey, pebble counts, bar sampling, and collection of data for use of the BANCS model for erosion risk evaluation. Analysis of survey data using GIS and RiverMorph produced dimensionless ratios suitable for use in future restoration projects along the corridor.

The resulting stream-improvement plan included reach-by-reach recommendations for ways to treat bank erosion and improve fish habitat.

The MPCA’s Closed Landfill program oversees more than 110 old landfills in Minnesota. Freeway Landfill, which sits adjacent to the Minnesota River and a deep rock-quarrying operation in Burnsville, is currently their highest priority for addressing risk. One of Minnesota’s first landfills permitted by the MPCA, Freeway Landfill was constructed in the early 1970s before liners were required beneath municipal waste landfills. The existing groundwater conditions have been heavily influenced by the quarry’s long-term dewatering, leaving the water table artificially depressed in the bedrock below the landfill waste. Concerns have emerged that groundwater will come into contact with the waste in the future when quarry operations end, posing new risks to the river and nearby public water-supply wells. Another concern is the presence of emerging contaminants of concern, including 1,4-dioxane and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Barr assisted the MPCA with site investigation, alternative assessment, and preliminary design, including developing several preliminary layouts and budget estimates for landfill closure. We also conducted an analysis of potentially relevant federal, state, and local regulations and technical requirements for the alternatives under consideration. Barr’s supporting efforts include evaluating costs, benefits, and regulatory compliance for a range of liner designs for the on-site alternative. To assist the environmental review and permitting for the project, we completed field studies, including wetland delineations, tree and raptor surveys, and a floodway evaluation. Barr completed a detailed design for MPCA’s selected approach and assisted with community engagement and environmental permitting in support of the planned project construction.

The Minnesota Land Trust urgently needed to collect topographic and surrounding bathymetric data from the Interstate Island wildlife management area (WMA), located along the Minnesota and Wisconsin border in the St. Louis River. The data would help support an Outdoor Heritage Fund habitat-restoration project slated to start as soon as possible.

However, Minnesota weather in December can be challenging and unpredictable. When the project began, there was only limited ice in the river, and launching a boat from a nearby landing to transport staff to the island seemed feasible. However, the night before the planned fieldwork, the wind switched directions and compacted a 2-inch-thick layer of ice around the landing and Interstate Island WMA. The ice proved to be too thick to navigate with a boat and too thin to safely walk the half-mile to the island.

Barr offered to use an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) quadcopter to capture topographic data. Upon client approval, one of Barr’s licensed drone pilots and an employee acting as an observer quickly planned the ground-control layout and conducted the UAS flight to capture the necessary data safely from shore. The work, completed in less than six hours and for well under the initial scope’s budget, yielded high-resolution orthoimagery that the Minnesota Land Trust could immediately use to begin developing restoration designs and to identify locations for conducting bathymetry surveys.

When a manufacturing client began implementing a corporate risk-management process for several facilities in its portfolio, an assessment of suspected environmental concerns and physical assets was needed. Barr helped review conditions at the client’s facilities, including several midwestern U.S. facilities with multiple ownership transitions that resulted in a loss of institutional knowledge about legacy issues.

Barr conducted a site reconnaissance of all major structures; reviewed current facility operations and hazardous-material storage and handling, and waste-management practices and infrastructure; interviewed current and former employees and environmental consultants; and reviewed environmental conditions and monitoring and remedial systems. We also reviewed a geocoded environmental database, historic aerial photographs, topographic maps, and city directories. We then prepared a summary report of findings for each facility that included recommendations for additional assessment activities to address data gaps as well as uncertainties and opinions about potential business environmental risks to consider when evaluating future uses of the site.

Barr’s work informed the client’s decision-making and liability-reserve processes and alerted them to site conditions that they could encounter in making modifications to their facilities. At one facility, our work helped identify the potential source of an extensive groundwater contaminant plume, allowing our client to assess remedial measures.

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Macalester College set a goal to generate zero waste by 2020 and become carbon neutral by 2025. The college hired Barr to create a sustainable landscape master plan to help it achieve these goals. Working with school administrators and with input from students and faculty, Barr created a plan that:

Large areas of turf were converted to low-maintenance plantings to shade buildings, provide wildlife habitat, clean stormwater, and build soil. Pervious pavement and rain gardens increase runoff-water quality and reuse water for irrigation purposes. The campus plan is currently being implemented and serves as a demonstration of sustainable landscape design principles.

Barr has served as the NMCWD’s district engineer since 1960, providing engineering and water resource management services. For nearly six decades, we have assisted the district with developing four management plans that have guided water management within the 50-square-mile Nine Mile Creek watershed. The district was first established to provide flood control; however, its regulatory process has evolved to include water quality management, wetland management and protection, and stormwater management.

The district requires permits for all projects that will disturb more than 50 cubic yards of material or alter an area that is 5,000 square feet or more in size. Since 1973, Barr has been reviewing these permits to assess how development proposals will affect floodplains, stormwater management, wetlands, erosion and sediment control, waterbody crossings and structures, shoreline and streambank improvements, and surface-water appropriation. Barr conducts ongoing monitoring to provide data and information to supplement the district’s regulatory program.

Barr staff conducted compliance, resource, and process evaluations at multiple potential mining sites to assist Preferred’s due diligence efforts. Barr’s scientists and engineers visited sites in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Wisconsin to conduct geologic assessments and provide a complete review of the process flowsheet and production capacity at each site as well as an assessment of the condition of equipment and infrastructure. We documented findings in a comprehensive report prepared for Preferred’s management that contained written evaluations as well as a pictorial walkthrough of all the equipment. 

At the Wisconsin site, Barr’s environmental engineers and compliance specialists also reviewed the facility’s environmental permits and other applicable compliance documents. We performed a site visit and interviewed key employees in order to assess actual conditions. Environmental programs reviewed included air emissions, stormwater and wastewater discharges, oil spill and tank compliance, and compliance with local conditional-use permits. Any gaps identified were outlined in a comprehensive report prepared for company management, along with cost estimates for compliance.