Brennan Honored by Wisconsin Engineers for Broadcast Capping System

Dredging and environmental contractor J.F. Brennan Co. Inc. was one of 12 companies who received Certificates of Merit from the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers at its Wisconsin Governor’s New Products Awards (GNPA) ceremony on May 27. Brennan was honored for its Broadcast Capping System (BCS™) which places subaqueous caps and sand covers over contaminated bottom areas.

Brennan is headquartered in LaCrosse Wisconsin.

A contingent of 12 Brennan employees all working on the company’s Fox River remediation project near Green Bay where they are employing the BCS system attended the new product banquet and awards ceremony in Green Bay held as part of the WSPE’s annual Discovery continuing education conference.

Greg Smith Vic Buhr and Dustin Bauman of Brennan accepted the award from Pam Muzur P.E. WSPE president and Dale R. Swenson P.E. chair of the WSPE awards committee.

J.F. Brennan’s Capping Plant 3 working on the Fox River in Green Bay Wisconsin spreading sand in shallow water in an area of high recreational boat traffic.

The presenters read a statement about Brennan’s success in environmental remediation in rivers and about the BCS specifically saying “For over a decade Brennan has successfully completed some of the largest and most challenging environmental remediation and restorations of rivers throughout the United States. Our work on the Grand Calumet River in Indiana the Raisin River in Michigan the Ashtabula and Ottawa Rivers in Ohio and the ongoing Fox River Remediation in Wisconsin has raised the level of expectations in which success can be achieved.

“At Brennan we drive innovation to increase our efficiency and create change in our markets. An example of this is our patented Broadcast Capping System (BCS™) a system designed to place subaqueous caps and sand covers to protect benthic organisms from underlying contaminants. As the lowest members of the food chain protecting these organisms is crucial to preserve the riverine ecosystem native fish and even humans from ingesting the deadly contaminants. This system can be deployed to any river system where it uses stateof-the-art positioning and metering equipment to construct the subaqueous covers and caps in thin layers with little disturbance and intermixing of underlying sediments. Brennan has successfully deployed three of these machines and have installed sand covers and engineered caps in over 1000 acres of rivers wetlands and shorelines.”

Each of the 12 entrants received a mounted Certificate of Merit and a diamond-shaped crystal self-standing award for the outstanding development of their product and for its economic contributions to the State of Wisconsin. The certificates were signed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and by Dale R. Swenson of the WSPE.

The purpose of the New Product Awards Competition is to recognize the benefits that come from the research and engineering of new products. These include added employment economic development strengthening of the nation’s competitive position internationally and contribution to the public’s standard of living. The competition also honors the foresight of the companies whose aggressive policies bring new products to the marketplace.