Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation intensifies focus on Rocky Mountain Region

Most familiar for its ongoing involvement in the $1.6 billion clean up effort at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Foster Wheeler's environmental arm has announced a new operational manager for the region that includes offices in Denver, Albuquerque and Chicago. A seasoned expert in environmental engineering, Mary Gearhart, P.E., is spearheading projects that included UXO surveying and removal, environmental impact statements for the US Forest Service and other contracts with the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence and the Federal Highway Administration.

(PRWEB) January 11, 2002 -- Lakewood, CO – Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation (FWENC) is heading into 2002 with an expanded emphasis on its Rocky Mountain Regional Office, according to Sam W. Box – chairman, president and CEO of the company – who recently announced Denverite Mary J. Gearhart, P.E., was hired to run FWENC’s offices in Denver, Albuquerque and Chicago.

More Projects, New Operations Leader

FWENC is most familiar in the region for its 1997 program management contract with the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to design remediation projects and select the subcontractors needed to perform the $1.6 billion cleanup effort. In addition, FWENC’s Rocky Mountain Regional office is focused on these projects:

-- Unexploded ordnance surveying and removal. It is estimated that in excess of 10 million acres of land in the continental U.S. may be affected. FWENC was awarded two contracts to provide UXO services worldwide.

-- An environmental remediation and construction contract with the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, to provide environmental cleanup and construction services.

-- A contract to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the US Forest Service, including a Rehabilitation Needs Plan, a Transportation Analysis, a Watershed Analysis, a Biological Assessment, Biological Evaluation, and a Socioeconomic Evaluation on the “Viveash Fire” near the town of Pecos, New Mexico.

-- A contract with the Federal Highway
Administration to provide services for a cleanup project at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, Colorado.

Mary Gearhart brings more than 22 years experience in environmental and infrastructure engineering to the position at the Rocky Mountain regional office of FWENC. She has held positions at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, David E. Fleming Company, and most recently served as vice president and area manager for ARCADIS, Inc. She has been responsible for both program management and operations management, and has been instrumental in developing innovative site closure strategies, permitting and compliance programs and long-term operations and maintenance programs.

Gearhart was appointed as a member of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, serving the Commission from 1988 to 1993. She is a Denver, Colorado, native and graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver (CU-Denver) Civil Engineering program. Gearhart is currently chairing the CU-Denver Engineering Advisory Council and is a member of the search committee for a new dean for the College of Engineering. She has served on this Council since 1979. In addition, Gearhart also chairs the Board of Directors of the Sand Creek Regional Greenway Partnership and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Colorado Opera Troupe.

FWENC’s mission is to conduct a global business directed toward cleaning up and protecting the environment while facilitating economic growth, and to do so in a safe, compliant, cost-effective manner. The company assists clients in reducing their environmental liability through proactive planning, risk-based approaches, analyses and corrective action.

The FWENC Rocky Mountain Regional Office is located at 143 Union Boulevard, Suite 1010, Lakewood, CO. The phone number is 303-980-3525, and Mary Gearhart’s e-mail is mgearhart@fwenc.com

Notes to Reporters and Editors at time of release:
Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Foster Wheeler USA, is a leading environmental consulting, engineering, and remediation firm employing 2,200 people expert in the areas of environmental sciences, engineering disciplines and construction. The firm has 25 domestic offices and 19 international locations.

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Further, please note that Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation was acquired by Tetra Tech on March 7, 2003, and is now called Tetra Tech FW, Inc., (go to http://www.fwenc.com for more information).

The media relations campaign for Mary Gearhart's executive announcement (executed in conjunction with Consensus Communications, Lakewood, CO) December 2001-July 2002 resulted in ten placements in the following publications: Denver Daily Journal, Denver Business Journal, Intermountain Jewish News, Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, Defense Cleanup, Colorado Construction, WomenOfColorado.com and Colorado Woman News.

Circulation reach: 1,122,904
Ad Value Equivalent: $3,197.80

In addition, exposure was also achieved at HoustonChronicle.com, CBSMarketWatch.com, Hoovers Online, WorldNews.com, worldenvironment.com, PCQuote.com and Yahoo!Finance.com.