Enviro Clean Products and Services

With the right people in place, an influx of capital investment and rapid growth underway, Enviro Clean Products and Services (Enviro Clean) is experiencing a transformation. Enviro Clean, as the hybrid environmental field services and consulting firm that it is today, is hardly recognizable as the entity that began in 1994 when founded by Ken Murphy.

Jonathan Behymer, chief marketing officer at Enviro Clean, came to the company in 2006 and has been a part of, and witness to, the incredible evolution of the business since then. “We were a small player, privately owned with only a handful of employees,” explains Behymer. “Growth took off in 2006; between 2006 and 2012 we grew 758 percent.”

Changes aside, Enviro Clean, with headquarters in Oklahoma City and additional locations throughout Oklahoma and Texas, will stay privately owned as it expands further across the Southwest.

Enviro Clean’s beginnings date back to when Murphy, a geologist by trade who owned an oil and gas production company, had a spill in the early ’90s that required a cleanup. The remediation company he brought in charged him “a ton of money” and the gears in his head started turning; there had to be a better, more cost-effective way.

“With roots in the oil and gas industry, spill cleanup remains the bread and butter of Enviro Clean’s business,” says Behymer, “Whether its remediation required due to a pipeline rupture, truck rollover or fluid release.” The company’s longstanding expertise is in quickly and safely removing hazardous and non-hazardous materials that threaten an environment and/or public health.

In clearing pasture land, streams and other environments, the company utilizes a full range of solutions for soil and groundwater remediation, including chemical oxidation, soil vapor extraction, dual-phase extraction, groundwater extraction (pump and treat) and de-watering of oil field reserve pits. The entire operation is handled in-house, unless sheer load requires the sourcing of additional trucks and equipment.

Growth on top of Expanded Services

“Growth has been steady the past eight years,” says Behymer, “We have been one of the fastest growing privately owned companies in Oklahoma and ranked consecutively in Inc. Magazine as one of the fasted in the country for five years in a row.” Inc. Magazine’s sustainers group consists of companies who have made the list at least seven times; Enviro Clean has been listed eight times in the last 10 years and is still counting.

Enviro Clean had been on a steady growth track due to diversifying its service offerings. While founded on its 24-hour emergency spill cleanup response, over time Enviro Clean introduced additional services, such as waste removal for industrial and commercial customers, and branched out into consulting, helping companies with compliance, permitting, environmental site assessments and spill prevention plans, among many other things.

Furthermore, recent growth has been rapid. Four new offices and 50 additional employees have been added to the Enviro Clean operation since May 2013 when the company was sold to a group of private investors led by Herschel Roberts and Gregory Meacham, CEO and president, respectively.

Now, the goal is to grow the service offerings and technical capabilities and depth of the company. “We plan on becoming the largest privately owned full-service environmental service and infrastructure business in this region of the country,” Behymer says. “To ensure high quality across all operations, we have been focused on building infrastructure, streamlining internal processes, establishing connectivity between offices as the new locations get up and running and have hired some senior-level safety and business operations staff.”

Behymer goes on to note that the company remains in high growth mode and plans to have a presence in southern Texas – San Antonio and/or Houston – in the near future in addition to other Texas locations, such as Midland and Arlington.

“Both sides feed each other,” Behymer says of the company’s two divisions: field services and engineering/consulting. “We’ll work for a client doing one thing and end up servicing them in other areas.”

Reputation and Recruiting the Best

In order to keep valued customers and offer a one-stop shop, Enviro Clean has brought in some of the top environmental personnel in the region. The company has significantly enhanced its air service offering and depth of personnel, now boasting one of the largest hydrogeology groups in the area. Additionally, the company has brought on an expert in the effects of hydrofracking on groundwater.

Enviro Clean’s environmental engineering department handles large projects for refiners, producers, as well as other midstream and service companies with ease. The company works seamlessly with state regulation agencies by drawing on 20 years of experience. For example, as state and federal air regulations change frequently, Enviro Clean’s air quality experts take care of permitting, doing so for some of the biggest companies in the region. “Our premiere staff can handle their needs,” says Behymer. “It’s not unusual to get a call on Monday from a company that needs 90 permits by Friday.”

What was once a small mom-and-pop shop run out of Murphy’s home is now a multilayered business with six locations and 150 employees. With investors, capital backing and the depth of staff, growth will only continue for Enviro Clean. In the next couple of years the company will pursue additional locations and acquisitions in the environmental and infrastructure markets; Behymer predicts that Enviro Clean will become twice the size it is now.

Murphy knew what was needed when he established his business in the late 20^th century. As the demand for field services has grown in the Southwest, Enviro Clean has been there with efficient and cost-effective methods. Furthermore, by capitalizing on its expertise and expanding into engineering and consulting while growing its field remediation and emergency response capabilities, Enviro Clean has positioned itself to take another piece of the market. The company is now primed to become Oklahoma’s largest environmental consulting firm. It doesn’t look like Enviro Clean Products and Services will lose its spot on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing companies anytime soon, and that’s by design.