E Q — The Environmental Quality Co. recently added a new suite of industrial and environmental services with the acquisition of Allstate Power Vac Inc. (APV), one of the largest providers of industrial and emergency response services in the Northeast. APV’s superior industrial cleaning capabilities; strength in the utilities and energy sectors and key geographies such as the Marcellus Shale region; combined with EQ’s national foot-print, 57 years of experience and extensive set of environmental services position EQ to offer a compelling set of solutions to the oil and gas industry.
“We have been impressed by Allstate Power Vac’s service ethic, strong customer relationships and their ability to deliver innovative solutions to the market,” said EQ President and CEO Dave Lusk. “Since its founding, Allstate has maintained a reputation for delivering extraordinary customer service with a focus on quality and safety.”
Lou Galasso, EQ senior vice president of industrial services and former APV CEO, added, “We look forward to expanding our breadth of operations and being able to offer customers a more comprehensive set of services. Our organizations share many core values including a strong work ethic, focus on safety and industry-leading customer service.”
For more than 20 years, APV has offered innovative solutions focused on meeting the needs of more than 1,200 customers in the petroleum, chemical, municipal and utility sectors throughout the country. It operates more than 450 pieces of equipment via eight service centers throughout the Northeast and employs more than 300 associates focused on delivering best-in-class customer service.
Unmatched capabilities of combined companies
With the acquisition of APV, EQ will offer an expanded set of industrial services solutions to meet its customers’ environmental needs. The combined company will leverage APV’s state-of-the-art industrial cleaning capabilities with EQ’s waste transportation, treatment and disposal services.
“The services offered by EQ and APV are highly complementary enabling us to offer our customers solutions for all their environmental needs with less need for third-party outsourcing,” said Rob Wheatley, EQ vice president of sales and marketing. “This allows us to better serve the customer, better understand their needs and partner with them to meet their environmental and financial objectives.”
Hydro excavation and tank and oil processing
APV is the leader in hydro excavation with the most productive equipment in the industry and the top experts in the United States leading its management team. It has developed innovative technologies to expedite the removal and improve oil recovery from petroleum sludge, all while keeping employees safe. The company’s centrifuge technology reduces the amount of disposable waste while helping clients achieve significant savings.
Upon completion of sludge removal and degassing, APV can also utilize ultra high-pressure water blasting technologies for the cleaning and prepping of floors and surfaces for API 653 inspection. Centrifugal separation of liquids and solids is fast becoming a standard practice in the petroleum refining industry and APV, by utilizing its highly skilled personnel, has been providing this service for more than 20 years.
When it comes to asphalt tank cleaning projects, APV can go in and hydro cut door sheets and do the typical excavation of the heavy asphalt, or the company can use specialty proprietary chemicals to liquefy the asphalt, turning it into a No. 6 oil, which then gets blended back into crude stocks. This results in the customer having a complete recovery of that material. As an alternative, APV can also extract the material from the tank, melt it in specialized heating vats and pump the heated asphalt back off into the customer’s storage system. No matter the method, APV ensures its clients are satisfied with the result.
Ron Howard, who was field execution for HollyFrontier Corp. during APV’s initial bid in 2005 and subsequent projects with HollyFrontier, was impressed with APV’s capabilities and superior service. According to Howard, this can be attributed to APV’s highly skilled supervisors.
“Allstate Power Vac, as far as I know, has the most API certified tank entry super-visors of any tank cleaning company in the industry,” he said. “That is tremendously beneficial when it comes to safety.”
Howard said he would recommend the company to others in the industry.
“I have told friends of mine in the industry about Allstate and have recommended them based on their performance and realistic bid estimates,” he said. “Their safety performance, experience and ability to follow through with what they say they are going to do make them the exceptional choice.”
Emergency spill response
EQ’s Emergency Response Division offers customers nationwide spill response and management programs from an emergency response team staffed with trained, experienced professionals available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The Emergency Response team supported BP oil spill recovery efforts and Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in the Northeast.
The company operates with an extensive fleet of specialized equipment and materials to handle spills of all levels and types, allowing emergency spills to be managed cost effectively, professionally and efficiently.
A representative for an automotive parts manufacturing facility praised the company, saying, “Your company was such a valuable asset … EQ did exactly what was needed safely and on time. We are so thankful for your efforts and the professional, skillful work of your team.”
Expanded services
For the past two years, APV has been working on a drilling mud management project in the Marcellus Shale and has been operating a fully functional service center in the area, in addition to providing a sales staff and business manager who are responsible for enhancing the company’s presence.
EQ offers the largest capacity and widest range of hazardous waste treatment and disposal capabilities in the industry. Specific facilities serving the Gulf Coast region include EQ Oklahoma and EQ Florida. EQ’s Toxic Substances Control Act and Resources Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste permit-ted landfill is also approved to dispose of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), technologically enhanced NORM (TENORM) and other radioactive materials. Common sources of NORM/TENORM include oil and gas extraction and processing operations, mining wastes, energy production wastes, manufacturing and fabrication by-products, and water treatment residuals.
EQ’s extensive fleet of vehicles enables the company to manage customers’ waste from the point of generation to final disposition — minimizing cost and liability. EQ is a licensed waste hauler in nearly every state, transporting volumes from small lab packs to bulk solids and liquids. Its fleet includes specialized stainless steel and glass-lined trucks for the safe transportation of acids. EQ has an extensive network of less-than-truckload routes linking its facilities and effectively assists with profiling waste streams, creating manifests and coordinating transportation.
EQ’s and APV’s shared values
Further supporting the ability to provide premier service is EQ’s and APV’s shared values for safety, operational excellence and best-in-class industry service. At the heart of both companies’ success has been a commitment to these values supported by key processes, policy and procedures, which receive ongoing emphasis and support by executive leadership. EQ’s ISO standards based management system is designed to promote accountability and continuous improvement across the company and enables a strong operational safety record and best-in-class customer experience.
EQ will be able to offer customers in the Gulf Coast, Marcellus Shale region and across the country a full set of industrial service solutions to meet their needs and fulfill the company slogan: “If you’ve got environmental problems to solve, we’ve got answers.” The company looks forward to offering these capabilities to the market along with EQ’s industry-leading hazardous waste treatment and disposal, total waste management, recycling and transportation services.
For more information, visit www.eqonline.com or call EQ’s national customer service center at (800) 592-5489.
