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E. Roberts Alley & Associates, Inc. (ERA&A) was founded by E. Roberts (Bob) Alley in 1974, but can trace its history back to 1968, the date of the first environmental design company founded by Bob. The original focus of ERA&A was, and continues to be, civil and environmental engineering. Many of our early clients have grown with ERA&A over the past, and our relationships continue to grow and develop. Over the next several years, the company grew into municipal and other industrial services with the addition of two principals, Mr. Nathan Young and Mr. Bill Baumgartner. From 1980 until 1990, the company operated under the name "Alley, Young & Baumgartner, Inc." to reflect the three-fold environmental focus of the principals , industrial, municipal, and civil. Even at this early time, the company was developing its cross-disciplined approach to environmental engineering , incorporating all media (wastewater, air, and solid/hazardous waste) in a holistic approach to the treatment and disposal issues of our clients. After a brief one year period operating as Pickering Alley, Inc., from 1991-1992, E. Roberts Alley & Associates, Inc., reorganized into its current form in order to better serve our clients. In the early 1990s, we set the goal to become a "full-service" civil and environmental engineering company. At that time, we organized ourselves into five departments , wastewater, remediation (land and waste disposal), air, planning/development, and municipal. We have subsequently added process engineering and Safety/Health as separate departments, and have recently added a "field services" component to all departments. In 1994, ERA&A started its first branch office in Athens (later moved to Chattanooga), Tennessee. ERA&A expanded into the greater Memphis area in 1997 with the office that is currently located in Horn Lake, Mississippi. In 1999, ERA&A added our first northern Alabama office in Huntsville (currently located in Decatur). In 2000, ERA&A focused our source testing staff in Huntsville, which became the foundation for the steady growth of that office. From our current location in Decatur, our source testing teams are able to cost effectively serve the majority of the eastern United States. In 2001, ERA&A and Summit, Inc., of Sheffield, Alabama, joined together for the second, and very complementary, ERA&A office in north Alabama. Our Sheffield (recently moved to Muscle Shoals) office provides remediation and wastewater departments for the region, and Decatur provides source testing, safety/health, and EHS outsourcing services. In 2002, ERA&A was opened an office in the Tri-Cities (Tennessee/Virginia) area to better serve the industries of upper east Tennessee, southern Virginia, and eastern North Carolina. The company has written the Air Pollution Control Handbook , published in 1998 by McGraw-Hill, and the Water Pollution Control Handbook published in 2000 by McGraw-Hill. Both books are unique that, in addition to the expected theory of pollution control, the books emphasize design and other practical considerations. (See ordering information below). In 2007, the second edition of the Water Pollution Control Handbook, authored by Bob Alley, was published jointly be McGraw-Hill Professional and WEF Press. The second edition introduces and explains new technologies, as well as updates and elaborates on information provided in the first edition. As in the first edition, the newly published Water Quality Control Handbook recommends tools to the environmental practitioner to design systems that will protect the environment on a case-by-case basis. The second edition also expands on wastewater treatment solutions, providing a tool for wastewater professionals to screen and select the optimal treatment systems for various pollutant removals. Employees of ERA&A are actively involved in teaching seminars at various graduate school programs ( Vanderbilt University ), professional development courses, and continuing engineering education courses ( George Washington University ). ERA&A encourages excellence in its employees. Approximately 40% of our employees are licensed as professional engineers, land surveyors, or geologists, in over 30 states. More than 13% of our employees have master's degrees in their field of study. Continuing education became a priority of our company well before state licensing boards began requiring it. It is our belief that we need to always be learning more in order to better serve our clients. Although today we are growing at an average annual rate of greater than 10% (and have continued to do so since 1992), we are not growing for growth's-sake. We are, instead ,growing in response to the needs and demands of our clients , to serve them better. Each year, depending upon our growth rate, 80% or more of our annual revenues come from our existing clients , a strong indication of our commitment to our relationships with our clients. Our goal is to continue to provide our clients with a very high standard of service so that we can continue to grow together.