In-Depth Expertise in Environmental Clean-Up Is Hallmark of Newly Arrived CE2 Corp.

By Nicole Zaro Stahl, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Current Projects include Environmental Initiatives at Hunters Point and Other Sites throughout the Southwest

One of Hacienda's newest tenants is also one of California's top 100 small businesses. CE2 Corp., an engineering firm specializing in environmental consulting, moved into new headquarters at 4457 Willow Road in August. Its three owners, Robert Ferry, Clyde Wong, and Ed Kilduff, first became acquainted while working for different contractors on a Department of Energy project at Lawrence-Livermore Lab, establishing the firm in 1999.

Each of the three has impressive credentials. Ferry, an expert in contaminant hydrogeology, environmental restoration, and water resources, authored a significant document informing national policy and procedure on aspects of radioactive clean-up. Kilduff is one of a very few geologists in the country licensed to practice in all four of the field's specialties, including hydrogeology and geophysics, a distinction earned only after an arduous sequence of education, experience, and exams. Wong is a Professional Chemical Engineer with a strong focus on projects involving facility compliance, feasibility studies, remediation, and hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal. His Chinese heritage enables the firm to be classified as an "8(a)" minority-owned business. This year it was ranked by DiversityBusiness.com as one of the Top 100 Small Businesses in California.

The diversity designation "gives us extra visibility," Kilduff explains. "The government has to meet minority contracting goals, and this provides a level of trust and assurance for prospective clients who may not know us that we do good work."

The firm's notable client list includes the Department of Energy, the U.S. Navy, and several of the government's national laboratories. Most of them are very familiar with CE2's resident expertise, as exemplified by its current role in the transformation of San Francisco's Hunters Point Shipyard into a vibrant residential and business community, as well as potential site of the new 49ers stadium. The shipyard, which began operating as the first dry dock on the West Coast in 1867, became home to a major naval effort during WWII.

Although the shipyard was closed in 1974, the first reclamation initiatives did not occur until decades later, after Congress authorized transfer of the site to the City and County of San Francisco in 1993. This long delay is not unusual, according to Kilduff. "Clean-up is not just a technical problem but a public participation issue," he observes. "At every step of the way the public must be involved. That's what takes the time, but it is also necessary, including from a legal perspective."

CE2's most recent win is a place on the team implementing a $120 million environmental clean-up project in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah, under contract with the Navy. As a subcontractor in the joint-venture between CH2MHill and Kleinfelder, CE2's revenue will only be a fraction of the total, but the project will be keeping several engineers busy for the next five years.

The company's approximately 60 employees are spread out among the Hacienda headquarters, offices in Livermore and Albuquerque, and on site at client locations throughout the southwest. For more information, visit www.ce2corp.com.

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