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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Allegations that a company reviewing soil testing for the new Wilkes-Barre Area high school committed fraud in a San Francisco project have been emphatically denied by the company.</p><p>But it may not be a major issue in the work done for the district: The company, Tetra Tech, did not collect any soil samples here.</p><p>Bob Holden raised concerns about Tetra Tech during the state-mandated &#8220;Act 34&#8221; public hearing regarding the new high school, to be built on about 78 acres of former mine land in Plains Township. Holden read from a report in a west coast newspaper about work by a Tetra Tech subsidiary on contaminated soil at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, being converted for housing.</p><p>In that instance, Tetra Tech EC was accused of falsifying soil samples in a site that had been used as a dumping ground for radioactive material for more than two decades. The U.S. Navy initially sought re-sampling of 49 percent of the samples from one parcel and 15 percent from another, but the federal Environmental Protection Agency later deemed up to 97 percent of samples should be redone in one site and 90 percent in another.</p><p>The site is so contaminated it was designated a federal Superfund site to assist in clean up.</p><p>According to published reports, two former supervisors who oversaw that soil testing were fired from the company. Tetra Tech has repeatedly and strongly denied any wrong doing.</p><p>Tetra Tech Corporate Media and Communications Vice President Charlie MacPherson said Tuesday that Tetra Tech EC is a separate subsidiary and that &#8220;none of the people that worked on the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard project were involved in the Wilkes-Barre project.&#8221;</p><p>She noted that Tetra Tech has 17,000 employees worldwide working on more than 60,000 projects each year, and that there are more than 30 wholly-owned subsidiaries under the Tetra Tech umbrella.</p><p>MacPherson said that, when the Navy identified suspect soil sampling data in 2012, Tetra Tech EC conducted a full investigation, analyzed 70,000 sample results, identified areas for re-sampling, and did needed remediation work. She quoted from a Navy letter in 2014: &#8220;The Navy&#8217;s contractor corrected identified deficient conditions and incorporated additional QC (quality control) steps to avoid recurrence.&#8221;</p><p>Tetra Tech also offered to pay for a third-party re-sampling.</p><p><strong>No Plains samples</strong></p><p>Tetra Tech did not take any soil samples at the high schools site in Plains Township, and did not conduct any testing. It was brought in to do a &#8220;third party&#8221; review of a Phase II environmental Site Assessment prepared by Borton Lawson, one of four firms hired by the school board as the &#8220;design team&#8221; for the high school.</p><p>Borton Lawson sub-contracted Geological and Environmental Associates in Plymouth to collect samples. In it&#8217;s report, Borton Lawson also noted it reviewed state Department of Environmental Protection records to determine where bottom ash had been used as fill. The company also did field scans of the samples before they were sent to Fairway Laboratories in Altoona for analysis.</p><p>Three findings have been cited in particular by critics of the high school project, including Holden at Monday&#8217;s hearing: arsenic, cadmium and Chromium. Borton Lawson recommended capping the areas, either by building on it, paving it or covering it with sufficient top soil.</p><p>Tetra Tech was hired to review the findings reported by Borton Lawson, not to conduct any additional field tests, and came to the same conclusion the local firm proposed.</p><p>On Tuesday District Solicitor Ray Wendolowski said upon looking into the issue &#8220;nothing I&#8217;ve seen leads me to be concerned about the peer review&#8221; done by Tetra Tech.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_04-VIEW-AT-ENTRANCE-LOBBY-2018.05.23-WBASD-CONCEPTUAL-RENDERING-F.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The main entrance lobby to the planned new Wilkes-Barre Area High School is depicted in this architect&#8217;s rendition. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_04-VIEW-AT-ENTRANCE-LOBBY-2018.05.23-WBASD-CONCEPTUAL-RENDERING-F.jpg</photo0><caption0>The main entrance lobby to the planned new Wilkes-Barre Area High School is depicted in this architect&#8217;s rendition. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Fraud claim against company doing work for W-B Area rebutted