Environmental Site Assessment Statement of Qualifications

W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is a global enterprise with 45 years’ experience developing innovative technologies that revolutionize markets. The corporation has annual revenues exceeding $1.8 billion and holds more than 650 patents. The GORE™ Survey team is comprised of 25 professionals, including geologists, geoscientists, chemists, statisticians and engineers. Corporate resources, including polymer physicists, contamination control experts, and microfiltration specialists, provide ongoing research and development support.

GORE™ Surveys for Site Assessment and Monitoring use a proprietary sorbent-based approach to passive vapor sampling; delivering mass data tables, optional concentration values, and color contour maps of compound distribution, with proven accurate and comprehensive results. Correlation between the GORE™ Survey data and conventional data approach 99%1,2, with sensitivity to a broader range of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds present in lower concentrations, when compared to active soil gas sampling.

The US EPA Environmental Technology Verification Program confirmed the performance of the GORE™ Survey in both soil gas and groundwater sampling. In each study, the Gore method met or outperformed the reference method. The reports are available at www.epa.gov/etv.

More than 3,000 GORE™ Surveys have been conducted worldwide, since 1992. The technology has been successfully deployed in virtually all types of geology and climates. Sites surveyed run the gamut of environmental projects, including: Brownfields, industrial, military, refineries, landfills, gas stations, dry cleaners, and residential. Typical applications of the Survey include: initial site assessment, conceptual site modeling (Triad), risk assessment, remedial optimization, remediation tracking, water quality monitoring, and vapor intrusion and indoor air analysis.

The GORE™ Survey differs from other passive vapor sampling techniques by virtue of its patented GORE™ Module sample collection device. It consists of an engineered blend of sorbents protected by a GORE-TEX® membrane. This waterproof, vapor permeable fluoropolymer sheath allows unimpeded vapor migration to the sorbents, while protecting the sample from liquid water and soil. Sample collection is successful in saturated environments as well as the vadose zone.

Modules are analyzed in Gore’s laboratory, using thermal desorption, gas chromatography, and mass selective detection, employing modified EPA methods 8260/8270. Compoundspecific data are reported for vinyl chloride through pyrene (60+ compounds), with optional concentration data. Rigorous QA/QC methods are followed throughout the process, using laboratory procedures consistent with Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and ISO Guide 253.

1 – USACE CRREL, 1996
2 – US EPA ETV, 1998, 2000
3 – General Requirements for the Competence of Calibration and Testing Laboratories, 3rd Ed., 1990