Now in its 26th year of operations, Spokane environmental consulting company Fulcrum Environmental Consulting Inc. says it’s continuing to grow, despite current and potential upcoming changes in environmental regulations. 

Travis Trent, one of the company’s three co-owners, says national politicians traditionally have balanced environmental protection and economic growth or energy development. But now, with a new president and a Republican-controlled Congress, some environmental regulations might be rolled back, he says. 

“We could start to see some impact with regulatory oversight on national, state, and local levels,” Trent says. “But really, it’s less about regulations and more about regulators. With more regulations, you need more enforcement to drive compliance. In some areas, we’re seeing new regulations, but not as heavy of enforcement.” 

While he doesn’t anticipate any major changes in the near future, Trent says any future significant enforcement rollbacks might cause the company to adjust its practice area focuses or business model. 

“The regulations as they exist now don’t really drive our business a whole lot, because most of our work is based more on safety checks and compliance,” he says. “However, looking at the larger industry, federal employees might be a bit more nervous about these kinds of regulations changes, as it affects their funding more significantly.”

Founded here in 1991, Fulcrum assists its clients with investigations for environmental contamination, evaluation of chemical and physical worker exposures, and management of hazardous building materials, such as asbestos and lead paint. 

The company’s headquarters are located in a 3,000-square-foot space at 207 W. Boone, on the periphery of downtown. Trent says it employs seven people in its office here, including him, and 10 people in a Yakima branch office that it opened in 1994. 

The company’s overall billings came to about $2.4 million in 2016, he says, and he expects them to reach $2.6 million this year. He says Fulcrum usually maintains a steady rate of 8 percent to 10 percent revenue growth annually. 

“The last economic downturn was actually some of our best years, and business hasn’t slowed down much since,” Trent says. “We’re somewhat conservative, with a good client base and good staff. We don’t necessarily chase projects for their high-dollar value, but instead look for the ones that catch our interest.” 

 “In some ways, environmental consulting is like practicing law,” says Trent. “There are different sub-specialties, but basically, we offer professional services in a wide range of environmental concerns including site assessments, environmental regulation compliance, and safety.”

Trent says Fulcrum is different from other firms in that its emphasis is on industrial hygiene. It’s a category of consulting that focuses on recognition, evaluation, prevention, and control of environmental factors arising in or from the workplace that may cause impaired health or wellbeing among workers or others.

“Industrial isn’t as common of a focus,” he says. “The projects with more of an engineering focus tend to be larger, more lucrative contracts. Meanwhile, industrial hygiene projects tend to be smaller and are usually taken on by smaller specialized firms like us, or subsidiaries of larger firms.”

While its workload varies according to season, Trent says Fulcrum on average has up to 100 open, active projects going on each month. 

“We might have one client with a larger project that requires a lot of resources, or several clients with smaller projects all happening at once,” he says. “Generally, we stay pretty busy.” 

According to Trent, a majority of Fulcrum’s work, some 70 percent annually, consists of projects for repeat clients. 

“Most of the work we do originates with return clients; the remainder we pick up through direct advertising or federal procurements,” he says. “When there’s a project we’re interested in, we start with some pre-project investigation. Once we know what the project will entail, we can then create a written proposal, go do the work, and follow it up with a final report once completed.”

Trent says some of the company’s more recent projects here include assisting with the pre-renovation inspections for the former Macy’s building downtown, as well as several renovations of schools for the Central Valley School District. 

He says other projects Fulcrum has been working on include assisting with retrofit and renovation projects at Inland Northwest dams, including Grand Coulee Dam, in Grand Coulee, Wash.; Lower Monumental Dam, near, Kahlotus, Wash.; and Dworshak Dam, near Orofino, Idaho.

In the past few years, he says, much of Fulcrum’s work has been in asbestos abatement, lead-based paint removal, mold, indoor air quality, and radon gas testing. 

“Asbestos is still a big issue. We have just as many if not more workers in that area as we had back in the ’90s,” he says. “Our business in that area hasn’t really slowed down at all, although I think most people thought we’d just eventually find and remove it all within a few years.” 

He says national awareness also still is growing concerning lead exposure, particularly following the drinking water contamination issue in Flint, Mich., that started in April 2014. 

“Since the Flint water crisis, there’s been more of a discussion about lead contamination nationally, although there’s still not much funding yet,” he says. “Many residential properties nationally still have lead paint. Usually, it’s possible to just paint over it, but that’s not a long-term solution.”

Looking ahead, Trent says he’d like to see the industry invest more time and funding into public education and awareness efforts for things such as lead paint and radon gas exposure. 

“The science on lead exposure is evolving,” he says. “We already know lead exposure has been proven to lower kid’s intelligence. The trouble in Flint, Mich., has brought some attention nationally, with the CDC in the process of creating new recommendations, but how aware are parents of some of these dangers?”

Trent says radon gas has a similar issue with lack of public awareness. 

“Radon is a known carcinogen, but it’s not as immediate a concern since exposure doesn’t develop into cancer for several years,” he says. “We do some testing for it in residential homes and schools, but so far, it’s not regulated, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

Trent says an area of work that he expects to see further growth in is indoor air quality.

 “We are starting to do a lot more of those kinds of investigations now,” he says. “Workers will tell their employer they feel sick at work, but fine at home, so they’ll have us come check out the building.”

Trent says Fulcrum also might begin to start seeing more environmental consulting work with pharmacies. 

“There are regulations in place for pharmacy clean rooms, to make sure no biological hazards are present as they prepare drugs,” he says. “We may become more involved in testing those areas, as there are new regulations coming down soon.” 

Reflecting on the future of the environmental consulting industry, Trent says in addition to dealing with changing regulations, firms likely will find themselves competing for new employees.

“In the next few years, as boomers retire, firms will be looking to replace those employees with new talent,” he says. “So far, I’ve found it’s relatively easy to find talented new hires here.”

As to Fulcrum’s future, Trent says he’s not worried.

 “You see some small firms that end up joining larger firms, or die out completely. But our firm has unique qualifications and national level certifications, and we’re focused on providing those services within this region,” he says.