If it involves hauling waste from oil fields or mines or moving or storing liquids of any kind, Minnesota’s OSI Environmental Inc. is up to the task
While most customers are in the Midwest, employees have traveled to mines in New Mexico and Colorado and to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They clean storage tanks on land and at sea, clean up spills, provide environmental support to assist companies inspecting pipelines, and collect and dispose of a variety of waste products from oil to antifreeze to byproducts from mining processes.
“We are a full-service environmental company,” says Pat Tracey, OSI’s general manager for environmental services. “We can not only clean it up, we can transport it, and we can dispose of it. It is turnkey in a number of different areas.”
USED OIL COLLECTION
One thing most of OSI’s customers have in common is that they generate some kind of waste – most often oil. Owners Richard Byhre and Robert Rivas owned a company marketing energy such as natural gas and residual fuels before they started buying used oil collection companies, including the Eveleth business in 1987. They branched into a second company for environmental services and eventually combined the two businesses into OSI Environmental in 1993.
Now under the direction of company president, George Rosier, OSI has sites from Fargo, N.D., to the west and South Bend, Ind., to the east. Each has a fleet including vacuum trucks, used oil collection trucks and box trucks to collect waste such as oil and oil filters. Much of the oil comes from manufacturers, businesses and public collection sites.
A corporate fleet of OSI drivers picks up the waste from each branch and takes it to recycling or transportation storage and disposal, or TSD, locations where it is processed and blended to be sold as a secondary fuel. The fuel is primarily used in the asphalt and cement industry to fire kilns and dryers that prepare soil prior to laying asphalt. Some mining companies such as the Tilden Mine in Ishpeming, Mich., and energy companies, including Florida Power & Light Co., also use the fuel.
That’s just part of what OSI offers, Tracey says. As the company acquires new sites, it adds emergency response and other environmental support services for oil and gas companies and mines.
OSI employees are certified to handle a number of tasks for the energy and mining companies. For example, personnel receive confined-space entry training so they can clean tanks, including chemical, petroleum and oxygen-deficient tanks. They continually upgrade safety skills with the Mine Safety and Health Administration and engage in industry- and government-led exercises to respond to emergency spills.
AMPLE STORAGE
One key to the company’s success is adequate storage. OSI has more than 10 million gallons of storage at various locations, from 125,000 gallons in Marquette, Mich., to 3 to 4 million gallons in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Milwaukee. In addition to used oil storage, some tanks are dedicated to other spent products including antifreeze, which is processed and sold back to antifreeze manufacturers; transformer oil from power generators; contaminants from gas lines and petroleum-impacted waters and waste. OSI workers are equipped to clean up and transport hazardous waste to licensed disposal facilities.
Ample storage allows OSI to offer additional services, Tracey says. For example, when one energy company needed to inspect a tank containing 650,000 gallons of backup fuel, OSI emptied the tank and stored the fuel. After they cleaned the tanks and the inspection was completed, OSI transported the fuel back to the tank – 100 loads each way using 7,000-gallon tankers.
Another time they offered a similar service to an Iowa petroleum pipeline company required to perform a hydrotest on their lines. OSI supplied 16 trucks running round the clock for three days.
In some cases, OSI only pumps and transports to the client’s storage facilities. For example, when Enbridge Energy needs to replace a valve or do other maintenance on their crude oil pipeline, OSI sends as many as 24 trucks to pump out the oil and haul it to Enbridge Energy tanks until the work is finished.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT
With U.S. Department of Transportation-certified coded tanks, OSI can do more than just move oil.
“These are hazardous waste units so we can manage many different waste streams,” Tracey says. “We can haul placarded hazardous material. Our trucks are moving product around and pumping whether it be a maintenance issue, compliance monitoring (pigging) or a spill.”
He notes that OSI does not own or run pigging instruments to clean and inspect gas and oil pipelines, but it is one of a handful of companies that offers services to pigging companies.
“We supply the environmental support,” Tracey says. “We decontaminate the pigs when they arrive in the receivers and assist in the launching of the pigs and management of the waste that’s generated.”
Pipeline inspections are required every five years so OSI is assured of regular work. A couple of major clients have been Northern Natural Gas and Alliance Pipeline. “We boast a high insurance limit to work with these entities. Companies such as Excel Energy and Minnesota Power are comfortable working with us,” Tracey says.
That trust is important whether OSI is assisting with repair – pumping and transporting an oil line when a valve needs replacing – or cleaning up a spill.
OSI workers attend three weeks of classes annually to maintain certification. Recently, Eveleth staff participated in an industry-led exercise partnering with the U.S. Coast Guard, and a shipping and railroad company in a mock drill in Two Harbors, Minn.
MINING AND PIPELINES
“We collect a substantial amount (of waste) from mining operations generated in ore processing. They have crushing equipment and grinding equipment that requires lubrication, and the spent lubricant is what we manage for them,” Tracey says.
OSI services extend to industries related to mining and pipelines – including railroad and shipping companies, which transport processed ore (taconite). They offer regular maintenance services to railroads collecting used oils and filters. And, when locomotives recently hit head-on in northern Minnesota, OSI was there to clean up and transport hazardous material.
During the offseason when ships are parked in Duluth’s harbor, OSI is there to clean the tanks, bilges and wastewater treatment systems. It’s steady and welcome work during winter when work slows, Tracey says. It’s too cold to do maintenance work such as cleaning tanks for the oil refining industry or at paper and pulp mills – another area that keeps OSI workers employed.
“With our diversity with all the sectors, we’ve weathered any storm,” Tracey says, noting that when one type of business slumps, another picks up. Though based in the Midwest, the company works in other parts of the U.S. OSI has cleaned up mine sites in New Mexico and handles waste from a Colorado molybdenum mine.
“A thing that is very unique to us is management of open gear lubricants, which are used primarily in mining iron ore, copper and coal and cement industries,” Tracey explains. “Wherever they are running a kiln, they have a giant rotary gear. A lubricant is sprayed on, and the diluents evaporate. What drips in drums is a black tar that you can jump up and down on. It sets up hard. We collect it in drums and recycle that into a liquid fuel. That has been a niche that has brought us to the Southwest Mines.”
EQUIPPED FOR THE JOB
“With our workers, we emphasize that we are an environmental company so we need to be on top of equipment and prevent spills. We don’t want to be the source of an environmental problem,” Tracey says. “We strive to be a clean company and have good, up-to-date equipment.”
OSI purchases Peterbilt semi tractors and cab and chassis units outfitted with vacuum tanks and trailers from Presvac Systems, Cusco and Acro Trailer Co., with most pumps from Wittig (Gardner Denver). The company’s fleet of 55 commercial vehicles equipped with carbon steel and aluminum tanks range in size from 3,000 to 6,000 gallons. This enables OSI to haul most materials, along with stainless steel vacuum tankers in its fleet for hazardous and acidic materials.
Peterbilt units equipped with van bodies and lift gates from a variety of companies are used for containerized waste and recyclable materials collection. OSI offers roll-off services with Wastequip sealed containers that can hold liquids and soupy soils as well as wood chips, floor dry and absorbent pads. For emergency spill response, the company has a host of absorbing products in inventory and ACME containment booms.
For off-road support, OSI has a small fleet of Case skid-steers and backhoes to assist with containment and recovery.
Tracey notes, that because OSI has purchased several small companies that came with equipment, they use a variety of pressure washer and jetter models, including Hotsy and NLB, for industrial tank and ship cleaning, and the company recently added SystemOne and Ace Recyclers to their aqueous and solvent-based parts cleaners line to provide one more service to customers.
STAYING CERTIFIED, CONNECTED
Along with an up-to-date fleet, OSI works hard to keep staff certified for the many areas they service. That can be challenging, Tracey admits, since each entity in government and business has requirements for multiple fingerprinting, background checks and drug testing. Though frustrating to keep up with the paperwork – and astronomical cost – the certifications and membership in ISNetworld, which provides a grading system and connects customers with quality contractors, make OSI appealing to Fortune 100 clients such as Northern Natural Gas, Enbridge Energy, Inc., as well as Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
“I try to expand on our relationships,” Tracey says. “If we work with U.S. Steel here (in Eveleth), we can also work with them in Gary, Ind. By virtue of working with some of these large companies locally, we’ve expanded from the Duluth/Superior area to many other of their operations in the Midwest. When we have a blanket contract with these companies, it’s somewhat all-encompassing, so we are qualified to work with these companies wherever, if the need arises.”
With the boom in the Bakken Oil Fields, Tracey recognizes opportunities for growth in North Dakota. OSI recently started selling used oil burner fuel there, which is being used to heat water for an oil field process. As they make connections, OSI may find reputable companies to purchase in the area, which would enable growth that fits well in the coverage area. In the past, OSI has grown, in large part, by acquiring smaller used oil companies and an industrial parts washer company that expanded and enhanced its services.
“Geographically and with our type of services, we are ripe for expanding there,” Tracey says.
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