EBI News for June 10, 2026 – EnSafe enhances PFAS capabilities with Porewater Solutions

Environmental consulting and engineering firm EnSafe (Memphis, Tenn.) announced the acquisition of Porewater Solutions (Ottawa, Canada), a provider of specialized consulting services for PFAS modeling and visualization, NAPL characterization, site remediation, mining, and litigation. Porewater’s tools include software such as the recently released Visual PFAS for PFAS site characterization and forensic analysis. “Porewater’s capabilities complement our EIS services and add unique modeling, visualization, and technology-development capabilities that strengthen our role as a trusted advisor in PFAS remediation and defense-related environmental programs,” said Don Bradford, president and CEO of EnSafe.

B&V-Stantec joint venture to lead USACE ecosystem protection project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded the Black & Veatch-Stantec joint venture a single award task order contract to provide design and engineering support for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, which is considered critical to protecting the Great Lakes ecosystem. The $85-million contract will provide professional services over eight years to modify the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Chicago and reduce the threat of invasive carp entering the Great Lakes. The joint venture will lead the design of several site improvements, including a new engineered channel, larger underwater electric and acoustic deterrents, site work on the descending bank lines, and new support facilities to house multi-deterrent systems.

AtkinsRéalis acquires environmental and planning specialist in Ireland

AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. (Montreal, Canada) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Patrick J Tobin & Co. Ltd. (Galway, Ireland), an engineering and project management consultancy. The acquisition aims to support AtkinsRéalis’ growth strategy in Ireland, strengthening its local footprint to over 700 employees and bolstering its capabilities to support Ireland’s infrastructure development program. Tobin was founded in 1952 and has approximately 200 employees across five offices in Ireland. The firm’s four key end markets are: Building & Places, Water, Transportation, and Environmental and Planning services.

AECOM joint venture appointed by Australian water utility

AECOM (Dallas) announced that Greater Western Water in Australia has appointed its Thrive joint venture with Aurecon (Melbourne, Victoria) as planning partner for the utility’s infrastructure planning and delivery program serving Melbourne’s west. The joint venture will provide strategic planning across the whole asset life cycle and support Greater Western Water’s internal planning and asset management capabilities. Infrastructure solutions will span network, treatment and dam assets, aligning with Greater Western Water’s 2030 Strategy. Aurecon is an Asia Pacific design, engineering and advisory company.

Good Springs Capital announces investment in Snyder Environmental

Good Springs Capital LP announced an investment in Snyder Environmental Services (SES, Kearneysville, W.V.). Founded in 1979, SES offers specialized environmental and infrastructure services to the stormwater and wastewater markets, including line replacement and installation; pipe inspection, maintenance, and emergency repairs; trenchless rehabilitation services; and treatment plant operations and maintenance. “We have been pursuing an investment that addresses the critical need to repair and upgrade aging U.S. water infrastructure for some time and are thrilled to partner with SES. Under the leadership of founder Lee Snyder, SES has built a strong reputation in the essential water and wastewater infrastructure market in the Mid-Atlantic region,” said David Van Geyzel, managing partner of Good Springs. “We believe SES is well positioned for continued growth.”

Student collaboration delivers oyster monitoring system

The Senior Design Class at Texas Christian University (TCU) has delivered a system that enables the environmental science team at Freese and Nichols (Fort Worth, Texas) to monitor oyster behavior and water conditions in real time. Working with Freese and Nichols mentors and a $10,000 research and development grant from the firm, students developed “Shuck Dynasty,” a system that will support environmental research and oyster restoration and help environmental scientists better understand oyster behavior and water conditions over extended periods. This is the latest project arising from an ongoing relationship between Freese and Nichols and TCU’s engineering   program.

Greenland Mines appoints WSP Denmark for rare earth project 

Greenland Mines Ltd. (Charlotte, N.C.) announced that it has engaged WSP Denmark to continue environmental work at the Sarfartoq rare earth project in southwest Greenland. The project is expected to include the second year of environmental baseline studies ahead of a future Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). WSP Denmark previously completed the first year of updated environmental baseline work at Sarfartoq in 2023 for Neo North Star Resources Inc., including terrestrial, freshwater, marine and fisheries sampling, water-flow monitoring and general ecological surveys conducted under Greenland’s mineral-sector EIA guidelines. Continuing that work in 2026 is intended to build a more complete multi-year dataset of environmental conditions in the project area. Sarfartoq is focused on the rare earth elements neodymium and praseodymium.

Vesper Energy closes $236 million financing for Nazareth Solar

Vesper Energy (Dallas) announced the closing of $236 million in financing for its 201-megawatt Nazareth Solar project in Swisher County, Texas. The project will support grid stability and deliver reliable, affordable power to ERCOT. Spanning over 2,400 acres of private land, the project will generate enough electricity to power approximately 53,000 homes annually. Building on the success of the adjacent Hornet Solar project, Nazareth Solar continues Vesper Energy’s commitment to long-term investment and partnership in the region. Funds managed by GCM Grosvenor are expected to provide most of the project’s equity capital.

Carbon-only metrics no longer sufficient for AI, UN report finds

According to a new United Nations University (UNU) report entitled Environmental Cost of AI’s Energy Use: Carbon, Water and Land Footprint, AI’s environmental cost is being systematically mismeasured. Most assessments focus on carbon emissions associated with training large models, yet every kilowatt-hour of electricity used to train or run an AI system also carries a water footprint and a land footprint. These three footprints do not move in the same direction, UNU researchers concluded. For example, switching from coal to bioenergy can, on average, cut the carbon footprint of electricity by 70% while increasing its water footprint more than 30-fold and its land footprint 100-fold. “What surprised us most is how often the choices that look greenest from a carbon perspective end up worse for water or for land,” said Dr. Miriam Aczel, a researcher at UNU’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health and lead author of the report. “If we keep judging AI sustainability by carbon alone, we might think that renewables make AI infrastructure clean but that is solving one problem while creating other problems, often in places that didn’t ask for it.”

Pomegranate peel upcycled into high-performance water purifier

Pomegranate peel could soon be used to help clean up contaminated water, according to research by the Department of Chemistry at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Existing methods for removing 4-NP such as chemical oxidation and biological treatment are often energy-intensive, costly, difficult to scale or require chemical input. The NUS approach converts waste pomegranate peel into biochar, which is then broken down into nanoparticles using ball milling and ultrasonication in water. The resulting nanobiochar has a high surface area and pore structure suitable for capturing small organic molecules like 4-NP. In laboratory tests, the nanobiochar removed more than 94% of 4-NP within 90 minutes; after three cycles, it was still able to remove 85.76%, NUS reported. The NUS team is now testing the material in real wastewater samples.

Strategic land use can yield gains for climate and nature without economic losses

In a first-of-its-kind analysis of 146 countries, an interdisciplinary research team led by the University of Minnesota found large potential gains in biodiversity, climate and economic development from improved land use and land management. Researchers integrated spatial biophysical and economic data with optimization methods to develop “sustainable landscape efficiency frontiers” for each of the countries. Analysis showed the potential overall to increase climate mitigation by over 200 billion metric tons CO2 equivalents (>20% increase) or net economic value by over $350 billion (>80% increase) without loss in other objectives important for carbon sequestration and biodiversity and the expansion of agriculture and forestry. According to the study, gains would result both from land reallocation, involving selective restoration of forestry areas in highly productive lands, and crop intensification, especially in lower-income countries with current low-yield agriculture. Findings were published in Science.