<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2068773736745421&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">

What Is Treatability: An Important Asset in Environmental Dredging

Posted by Amber Wilson on February 29, 2024

Treatability testing uses bench-scale demonstrations and analysis to determine if a material can be effectively treated with a specific chemical or process. At Brennan, we use treatability testing to develop sound technical approaches for dredged material dewatering, in situ or dewatered dredged material stabilization, and water treatment. 

Treatability data can be used to price a job more accurately and find cost savings for our clients. Treatability testing allows us to select chemical and mechanical processes for treatment and evaluate less costly alternatives. Here's how we do it.

Read More

The Year's Best: Our Most Impactful Marine Industry Articles You Won't Want to Miss

Posted by Kimberly Walters on December 22, 2023

This year, Brennan's blog posts garnered an impressive readership of over 27,000. An analysis of our most searched topics identified the most significant issues in the environmental and marine construction industries, including those most relevant to our company's operations. This leads us to the question: What were our industry's most frequently researched topics?

We've examined Brennan's most popular articles of the year -- let's count them down!

Read More

The Advantages of Amphibious Equipment: No Roads, No Problem

Posted by Kimberly Walters on November 16, 2023

Our equipment safely navigates where barges can’t float and where ground equipment can’t trek. Brennan’s specialty amphibious trucks can float fully loaded with a 20-cubic yard payload or be configured to support geotechnical drilling equipment. See our equipment in action with this video! 

Read More

Island Building and Habitat Restoration: Utilizing Dredged Material for Environmental Benefits

Posted by Kimberly Walters on October 19, 2023

Island building and habitat restoration have significant environmental benefits, improving aquatic and land-based ecosystems. Working under LS Marine alongside Ramsey County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Saint Paul District, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Brennan built up islands at Pigs Eye Lake in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The project's master plan features seven islands, sand beaches, marsh habitat, and land plantings. We utilized dredged material from the Mississippi River in an environmentally beneficial way to build the islands. Here's how it happened and why it works!

Read More

Remediating Sediment Contaminated With PCBs, PAHs, Mercury, Chromium: A Successful Clean-up Story

Posted by Kimberly Walters on October 12, 2023

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) signed a project agreement to remediate contaminated sediment in the “ponds behind Erie Pier,” two ponds surrounded by shallow marsh wetlands in the St. Louis River Area of Concern (AOC).

The sediment was primarily contaminated with PCBs, PAHs, mercury, and chromium. Here's how we worked with stakeholders to clean up the sediment and the resulting impact of our work.

Read More

Brennan Accepts 2023 Environmental Excellence Award for Innovation

Posted by Kimberly Walters on August 31, 2023

Originally published by the Western Dredging Association (WEDA).

The Western Dredging Association (WEDA) presented its 2023 Environmental Excellence Award for Innovation to the Howards Bay Navigation and Cleanup Dredging Project, which is located within the St. Louis River Area of Concern (SLRAOC) in Superior, Wisconsin, and is an integral part of the Port of Duluth-Superior. J.F. Brennan Company (Brennan) partnered with Arcadis and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to work on the Howards Bay Remediation Project using innovative methods to secure a positive outcome.

Read More

Diver-Assisted Dredging and Capping Used in the Cuyahoga River Improvement Project

Posted by Kimberly Walters on June 15, 2023

The Cuyahoga Improvement Project in Kent, OH, aims to improve future recreation experiences while protecting existing natural resources. The purpose of our work is to remove areas of petroleum-impacted soft sediments that were deposited decades ago from discontinued industrial practices upstream. 

Background on a Burning River

The Cuyahoga River has quite a history: a transportation route; a boundary; an origin for oil, rubber, and steel industries; a power source; and a dumping ground. The river was once 1 of the most polluted in the country. The Cuyahoga has caught fire at least 13 times since the 1860s.

Read More

Brennan Acquires Dredging & Dewatering Division

Posted by Kimberly Walters on February 07, 2023

February 6, 2023 — Specialty marine contractor J.F. Brennan Company, Inc. (Brennan) recently finalized the asset acquisition of the dredging and dewatering division of Infrastructure Alternatives, Inc. (IAI). The purchase brings dewatering, water treatment, and treatability testing services into the organization for the first time.

Read More

Influential Environmental Restoration: What It Looks Like [VIDEO]

Posted by Sam Crawford, Project Manager on November 29, 2022

Brennan, working under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Chicago District, executed environmental dredging, sampling, capping, and habitat restoration to remediate an Area of Concern near East Chicago, IN. While complex, the objectives were clear: remediate sediment, mitigate oil sheen, and improve the ecological habitat. Successes and lessons learned during this project will influence operations and remediation efforts for the rest of Lake George Canal. 

Read More

Brennan and UW-La Crosse Announce New Partnership

Posted by Kimberly Walters on October 19, 2022

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) and J.F. Brennan Company, Inc. (Brennan) formally announce their partnership. The agreement between Brennan and UWL will further the educational opportunities for students studying environmental science, equipping them to start on the job right after they graduate.

Brennan is partnering with UWL to support student research and curriculum, and to strengthen the talent pipeline, both locally and within the environmental services industry.

Read More