During the 1980's awareness of the environmental impact of petroleum storage systems was heightened with the enactment of Federally mandated regulations on the operation of Underground Storage Tank (UST) systems. Newly written regulations called for new UST requirements as well as upgrading of existing in place systems. Along with these regulations, owners of USTs were also required to clean up any contamination soils and ground water resulting from operations of these systems.

To deal with the contamination and remediation work, owners of USTs turned to environmental consulting firms to assist in the work. The approach taken by environmental service providers in cooperation with state regulators was very aggressive as well as expensive.

A project engineer at O'Day Equipment Inc. was concerned with the financial impact and business interruption these remediation projects were causing. It was disruptive not only for O'Day's customers, but was wreaking havoc with construction schedules with their associated tank fieldwork. He saw an opportunity to develop more cost effective methods, specifically designed for petroleum spills that would be a benefit all concerned. For O'Day, it seemed like a perfect solution to providing advice and solutions to its customers for this new need.

This idea was the basis of a business plan for an environmental service company. In 1989 O'Day Equipment along with the engineer with the idea founded Great Plains Environmental (GPE). We began GPE with the idea of finding and providing cost effective methods to effectively handle petroleum based contamination of soil and water. We believed the way to approach the problem was using a risk-based analysis to design a solution, rather than a "cookbook" methods popular at the time. Using this thought process we were able to meet the regulatory requirements, remediate the impacted property while reducing both cost and business interruptions to the owner.

Today we continue to specialize in petroleum-impacted properties. We continue to find innovative, cost effective solutions for remediation as well as risk management. There are very few environmental service providers specializing in petroleum remediation and we continue to remain close to our roots providing environmental services to owners of petroleum storage systems.

Ultimately, everyone wants a clean environment. Therefore, everyone needs to do their part. Great Plains Environmental would like to help you in this effort.