creamer environmental Cover Story
celebrates 25 years By: zoe baldwin
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s a densely populated and heavily industrial state, New Jersey has an unfortunate toxic legacy to contend with, some of which we are only just uncovering. At the same time, younger generations are choosing to live in cities or dense suburbs which often were the home of old industrial sites that left a legacy of soil and groundwater contamination. Across the state, everyone is looking at how we can make New Jersey a safer and healthier place to live and work. That’s where Creamer Environmental (CEI) comes in. Established in June of 1994, the firm has built its stellar reputation from its leadership’s unique combination of regulatory, construction, and remediation experience, which is not often found at traditional remediation firms. Managed by President Thomas J. Cawley, P.E. and Executive Vice President Tracy Straka, CEI specializes in the implementation of complex soil, sediment, and groundwater remediation services throughout the tri-state area. Both Tom and Tracy have been with CEI since day one and both came to their positions similarly. “Fletch Creamer, Sr. knew my old boss at an environmental consulting/engineering firm,” Tracy tells me. “He and Fletch were talking one day about how JFC wanted to get into environmental construction and remediation work. I found myself nominated to come over to the Creamer organization to start a new environmental company.”
Deep excavation supported by a coffer dam
56 Utility & Transportation Contractor | december| 2019
Sheeting Installation next to an active tank farm
“We both started it up,” Tom says. “I was a Project Manager for J. Fletcher Creamer & Son. I had the most environmental experience of anyone in the company, so I was offered this new position, which was a great opportunity!” He further explained that “In the early days, the vision was that we would be a sister company to J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, Inc. (JFC) and solely support them with any environmental issues which came up on their projects. Prior to CEI, when JFC would do highway, site, or utility work, if they encountered any type of contamination, their clients would stop JFC’s work and bring in an environmental contractor who did largely the exact same type of work that JFC did, just with a little more training. JFC quickly realized this is work that they already did, so the decision to branch out into the environmental world was an easy one.” This concept only lasted a few months before we realized JFC wasn’t going to have enough work to keep CEI afloat, says Tom. So, the fledgling firm branched out, trying their hand at everything from emergency spill response to environmental consulting and engineering, but quickly decided that they were the wrong markets to pursue. “After about a year, we realized we were really best suited for the remediation construction space, and we focused on growing and becoming leaders in that market space.” It only took a year or so before the new firm was rocking and remediating. JFC clients began to take note that Creamer Environmental could do environmental remediation work, and independent projects started to come their way. As the firm grew, its expertise expanded to encompass a wide range of innovative remediation technologies including in-situ treatment of soil and groundwater; installation of capping and containment systems including the installation of water tight sheeted cut-off walls, slurry walls, vapor barriers, and caps; soil stabilization; water treatment; and much more. CEI’s client base also grew beyond
