Olaf Westphalen
Olaf Westphalen is a Professional Geologist and Licensed Site Professional. He assists clients with assessing and remediating environmental issues on their sites. He also helps identify and quantify potential environmental liabilities as part of environmental due diligence for properties or portfolios and performs third-party inspections of underground storage tanks and landfills.
Expertise: Olaf has a BS in Environmental Science with a Geology focus and over 30 years of experience in hazardous waste site characterization and remediation. He holds Professional Geologist (PG) licenses in several states and a Licensed Site Professional (LSP) certification in Massachusetts. Olaf is also a certified Third Party UST Inspector and Solid Waste Third Party Inspector in Massachusetts.
Key Experience: Olaf’s extensive career includes managing environmental cleanup, assessment, and monitoring projects throughout New England for commercial, municipal, and government clients. He has completed hundreds of site investigations for environmental due diligence purposes and managed a wide variety of remediation projects, including underground tank and drum removals, soil excavation, wetlands remediation, monitored natural attenuation, enhanced bioremediation, in-situ chemical oxidation, soil vapor extraction, air sparging, and multiphase extraction. Olaf is experienced with a wide range of contaminants, including petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, coal tar, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), explosives, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and PFAS. One of his most unusual assignments involved a geophysical investigation at an Army base in Germany searching for rumored hidden vintage planes. The investigation was documented by a British film company, but no planes were ever found so the film was never released
Professional Insight: Olaf believes that one of the biggest obstacles to a better environment is finding the funds to perform the needed cleanup for existing and historically impacted sites. For PFAS in particular, he believes the next five to ten years will be critical as regulations and guidance continue to evolve.
Personal Interests: Olaf enjoys riding his motorcycle, camping, hiking, Blackstone grilling, and performing music.