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KENNETH K. HEKIMIAN, Ph.D.,
RCE, REA
EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
REGISTRATION
B.S. -
Aeronautical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, NY
M.S. -
Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
M.S. -
Operations Research/Business Administration, University of
Southern California
Ph.D. - Systems and Environmental Engineering (Management
Minor), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
(Thesis: "A Systems Engineering Approach to Environmental
Quality Management; with Emphasis on Solid Waste Management")
Registered Civil
Engineer - State of California, #29257 (1978 to present)
Registered
Environmental Assessor - State of California, #04398 (1993 to
present)
Contractor's
License A, C61-D40 - State of California (1986 to present)
Hazardous
Substances Removal and Remedial Actions Certification - State of
California (1989 to present)
International
Code Council (ICC) Certifications for:
California UST System Operator, 12/27/04
UST Installation/Retrofitting, 02/26/05
Certified Underground Tank Tester - State of California
(1991-95)
Certificate in Underground Tank Installation and Removal -
University of California and State of California (1989,
refresher courses in 1995)
Certificate in Environmental Site Assessment and Remediation at
University of California - Irvine (1995). Completed
Coursework: Alternative Technologies for Management of
Hazardous Materials; Principals of Hazardous Materials
Management; Site Auditing; Groundwater Hydrology: Monitoring,
Protection and Cleanup; Practical Groundwater Modeling;
Contaminant Hydrogeology; The Remediation Process for
Contaminated Soils and Groundwater; Environmental Aspects of
Soil Engineering; Regulatory Framework for Hazardous and Toxic
Materials; Techniques for Collecting and Analyzing Samples
During a Remedial Investigation, and Environmental Law.
40-Hour
Department of Labor 29 CFR 1910-120 Hazardous Materials Training
(October 1991); 8-Hour HAZWOPER Training (annually since 1992).
Most recently CSU - Fullerton (June, 2005). Certificate of
Completion: Civil Engineer License Review Course – CSU – Long
Beach (1975). Certificate in Construction Project Management –
CSU - Dominguez Hills (2004).
“Methane
Mitigation Designer Interest List” of City of Los Angeles,
Department of Building and Safety (2004 to present).
EXPERIENCE
Over 45 years of
diversified professional experience in a variety of phases of
civil and environmental analysis, planning and engineering.
Pioneered engineering design and environmental studies for
transfer/recycling centers, sanitary landfills and underground
tank facilities. Last thirty years have concentrated on
environmental engineering, primarily associated with hazardous
waste, dry cleaning facilities and underground fuel tank
regulatory compliance, and expert testimony associated with
recycling of hazardous materials, surface and subsurface soil
and water contamination, including planning and supervision of
site assessment of soil and groundwater, remediation by
excavation and treatment, bioremediation and restoration of
petroleum-contaminated and PCE-contaminated aquifers.
Designed/installed many methane gas barriers in Los Angeles City
and Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
In 1998-99, Dr.
Hekimian served as chief consultant and prime contractor to the
Montebello Unified School District (MUSD) and coordinated a
multi-faceted environmental investigation at the Suva Elementary
and Intermediate schools (Suva) located in Bell Garden,
California. Suva is located in a mixed residential/industrial
area and encountered Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs)
including the possibility of air, water and soil contamination
and health risk effects from hazardous substances managed at the
neighboring chrome plating facilities. California EPA's
Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) served as the lead
agency and HVN worked on behalf of MUSD to provide technical
assistance to DTSC, including supervising and managing the
cleanup of chromium-laden soil, conducting soil verification
sampling, air sampling, and water sampling at the SUVA schools
facilities, and providing base maps and drawings relative to the
SUVA schools and surrounding areas.
From 1985 to the
present, Dr. Hekimian has been in responsible charge for
analysis, planning, engineering and supervision of hundreds of
projects involving contaminated soil and groundwater resulting
from surface spills and leaking underground tank systems storing
hazardous and toxic substances. During the last 20 years,
hundreds of projects including the installation of water
sampling and extraction wells have been constructed up to 170
feet below grade, with thousands of water samples taken and
laboratory tested following appropriate development and
subsequent purging and sampling of the wells. Contamination of
perched and deeper groundwater has ranged from fuel hydrocarbons
such as gasoline and diesel to priority pollutants such as
benzene, PCE, TCE and MTBE. Contaminated soil and water
sampling and remediation projects variously have included:
Cal-Asia Property Development Company, La Mancha Development
Company, County of Los Angeles - Probation Department and
Internal Services Department, CALTRANS/Santa Barbara, Wondries
Toyota, La Verne (various locations), Cities of Gardena, Newport
Beach, Irvine and Long Beach, CA, City of Los Angeles (various
facilities), Container Corporation of America, City of Glendale,
CA (various facilities), Goodhew Ambulance Co., Continental Air
Lines, Community Linen Co., Orange County Sanitation Districts,
United States Post Office, Fountain Valley, Torrance and
Montebello Unified School Districts, numerous others, working
with various regulatory agencies including: LARWQCB, SARWQCB,
SDRWQCB, OCHCA, LACo DPW UST Unit and Local Oversight Program
(LOP), Kern County Environmental Health Services Department,
Riverside County Health Department, San Bernardino County Health
Department, Imperial County Health Department, Los Angeles
County Health Department, among others.
In the area of
underground tanks, Dr. Hekimian has been in responsible charge
and supervised the planning for and removal of thousands of
underground tanks, sampling and testing, site assessments and
remediation projects throughout the various Southern California
counties, from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Projects have been
successfully performed for cities, counties, the State of
California, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Naval Facilities
Engineering Command, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Post Office and all
manner of private sector commercial and industrial entities,
such as Thrifty Oil Co. and ARCO Petroleum sites. Additionally,
several dozen new double wall tanks, including in-tank
monitoring systems, have been successfully installed under Dr.
Hekimian's direction and supervision. In the area of dry
cleaner facilities, Dr. Hekimian has been involved in over a
dozen limited subsurface investigation of dry cleaner facilities
and site cleanups, leading to "no further action".
From 1978 to
1985, Dr. Hekimian directed and supervised varied work in the
field of waste and hazardous materials management including
landfill design and operational assistance of Chiquita Canyon
Landfill and Antelope Valley Landfill in northern Los Angeles
County, and remedial action at five (5) major hazardous waste
sites in Southern California: Boucher Site (Huntington Beach),
Capri Site (Los Angeles), McColl Dump Site (Fullerton),
Cadillac-Fairview Site (Los Angeles) and Willco Dump Site
(Lynwood); economic analysis and technical evaluation of
municipal and private residential and commercial refuse
collection programs; analysis and preliminary designs to
transfer stations and resource recovery (waste to energy)
facilities; preparation of plans and specifications for several
landfill gas migration control systems from New York to
California; direction of and/or participation in nine (9)
county-wide solid waste management plans, twenty-three (23)
transfer stations designs, and thirty (30) environmental impact
reports for sanitary landfills in and/or for all counties in
Southern California as well as Santa Clara and San Joaquin
counties in Northern California; consulting engineering services
for major privately-owned sanitary landfills; economic analysis
and technical evaluation of waste water treatment systems; and
design and engineering and permit processing of a major scrap
metal physical and chemical processing plant.
Dr. Hekimian has
served as an educational consultant to the American Public Works
Association (1969-70); as a technical advisor to Governor
Reagan's Task Force on Solid Waste Management (1970-71); as a
special advisor to the chairman of the California Solid Waste
Management Advisory Council (1973-75); as a member of the
Advisory Committee for Methane (Landfill) Gas to the State Solid
Waste Management Board (1978-80); as an advisor to the Planning
Commission of the City of Huntington Beach for the hazardous
waste cleanup of the Boucher Site by Mola Development Corp.
(1980-81); and as an alternate on the Los Angeles County Solid
Waste Management Committee (appointed by the County Board of
Supervisors) (1981-1991); Member of the City of Huntington Beach
Environmental Board (1984-1988, Chairman 1985); Member of the
Armenian Engineers and Scientists Association (1988-present);
Member of the District Commissioner's Staff, Pacifica District,
Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America (1988-1990).
Prior to
establishment of his own firm, Dr. Hekimian served in various
engineering and management capacities for several consulting
engineering companies. For three years with Lockman &
Associates he served as vice president and principal engineer in
the design of transfer stations and landfills; preparation
and/or implementation of plans and specifications for landfill
gas migration control and gas utilization facilities at seven
landfills; and the technical and economic evaluation of
residential and commercial refuse collection systems. He was
project director for the first major study on "Methane Gas
Recovery from Sanitary Landfills," funded by the U.S. EPA in
1978. He was the landfill engineer for the Operating Industries
Landfill in Monterey Park from 1975 to 1978.
Prior to joining
Lockman & Associates, Dr. Hekimian served as Director of the
Solid Waste Management for VTN over a 3-1/2 year period. During
this period he directed activities of senior personnel in the
preparation of several county-wide solid waste management master
plans and EIRs in California, Washington, and Wyoming. In
addition, he developed two computer programs for use in solid
waste planning efforts and implemented the HADOPT program as a
planning tool for the counties of Orange, San Bernardino, San
Diego and Riverside. Further, he developed the implementation
schedule and financing requirements.
Prior to joining
VTN, Dr. Hekimian served as a project manager for the
Envirogenics Company of the Aerojet-General Corporation. There
he directed two major solid waste management studies and a
recreational water quality research effort over a 3-1/2 year
period. Under contract to the Southern California Association
of Governments (SCAG), Dr. Hekimian directed the efforts of
senior personnel in a 20-month, $300,000 HUD-sponsored planning
effort for six SCAG areas. Dr. Hekimian initiated requirements
for, and coordinated the activities of, these public agencies
through monthly briefings and decision-making sessions. Prior
to the SCAG study, Dr. Hekimian conducted and coordinated the
solid waste management planning effort for the Kansas City
Metropolitan Region.
Dr. Hekimian's
research and professional efforts have encompassed many aspects
of environmental quality management and resulted in over 60
professional papers. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "A
Systems Engineering Approach to Environmental Quality
Management: With Emphasis on Solid Waste Management." Recent
papers include “Role of Environmental Professionals in Eminent
Domain Evaluations” presented at the 7th Annual
Conference on Eminent Domain, Los Angeles, CA, June 20 – 21,
2005. “Synchronized Pulsed Air Sparging and Soil Vapor
Extraction for Cost Effective Recovery of Residual Hydrocarbon”
(co-authored with Dr. F. Daoud Alsawaf), and “Case Study of
Pulsed Air Sparging/Soil Vapor Extraction of a Former Gas
Station, Hawthorne, CA” presented at the Petroleum Hydrocarbons
and Organic Chemicals in Groundwater: Prevention, Assessment
and Remediation Conference, Costa Mesa, CA, August 17 – 19,
2005. Other key papers include: "Methane Gas Recovery from
Sanitary Landfills" in Waste Age Magazine,
December, 1976; "Methane (Landfill) Gas Recovery Status in the
United States," presented at United Nations Institute for
Training and Research (UNITAR) held in Montreal, Canada,
November 26 to December 7, 1979; "Field Detection Techniques for
Estimating Levels of Soil Contaminants" (co-authored with Dr.
John Amoore), presented at HAZMACON, Anaheim, California, April,
1987; "Problems in Underground Tank Removal and Soil
Remediation" (co-authored with Stanley L. Katten), presented at
HAZMACON, Santa Clara, California, April, 1988; "Environmental
Perspectives in the Republic of Soviet Armenia," presented at
the First World Congress of Armenia Engineers Scientists and
Industrialists, Los Angeles, California, August, 1989.
From 1971 to
1988, Dr. Hekimian was a adjunct faculty member of the Systems
and Environmental Engineering Departments at the University of
Southern California. In this position, he developed curricula
and taught courses in solid waste management, resource recovery,
environmental assessment and hazardous waste management to
undergraduate and graduate students in the systems, civil,
sanitary, and environmental engineering programs. From 1974 to
1978, he coordinated and lectured at a week-long seminar at
U.C.L.A. on "Resource Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste."
Dr. Hekimian is
a member of several professional organizations: Air and Waste
Management Association, American Public Works Association,
Forensic Expert Witness Association, Groundwater Association of
California, Environmental Assessment Association, Hazardous
Waste Association of California, Professional Environmental
Marketing Association, National Environmental Health Association
and National Ground Water Association. |
