Black Gold has worked with a number of its portfolio companies and other groups to provide proactive business solutions to environmental challenges. These have worked to provide substantial economic benefits, to make acquisitions acceptable to all parties, or to limit potential problems. Black Gold provides RESULTS based on their working with engineering and environmental experts and their work product to provide proactive business solutions and creative alternatives. They then work with the company to implement and get final approvals for the plan. This area of our experience is an example of facilitating hard benefits and solutions that were not gained by simply working with the ‘industry experts’. While the engineers are an indispensable part of the team, their approach is not always directed at results and closure. Black Gold’s plain spoken approach entails  not only ‘going to the source’, but going on the basis of being armed with facts, engineering data, and a plan. This has proven very valuable for their own companies’ operations and for others they have helped walk through the intimidating maze of environmental regulations and enforcement.

A few of these include:

1. Resolving environmental limitations that initially hindered the development potential of land in Broken Arrow for Caprock Resources, and finding a creative solution acceptable to all parties.
2. Conducting work-arounds of existing local or state regulations that ultimately provided more flexibility than initially believed possible by retained engineering consultants.  This was achieved by seeking precedent authority from the federal EPA (Black Gold Concrete Plant).
3. Expansion of Lone Star Manufacturing by the overlooked use of dischargeable particulates so as to provide a 40% increase in potential production capacity with the TDEQ  (Texas Department of Environmental Quality). This resulted in the development of new product lines with a zero net material cost, increasing the bottom line profit of the company. (www.lonestarfiberglasspools.com)
4. Working with the Department of Environment Quality (DEQ) in three states on behalf of Linen King to negotiate acceptable discharge permits which allowed us to operate on general permits rather than much more costly and report laden special permitting protocols.

5. Black Gold worked with the attorneys at KOCH industries in Wichita to find mutually acceptable solutions, along with the ODEQ to reach a compromise that would allow the development of 43 acres on a site in Jenks that had historically been an oilfield pumphouse site, and that had substantial environmental issues. Black Gold bought the site after completing the compromise.
6. Committed Water has the first ever authorization from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) to do land application of water that it processes from oil field produced water as well as frac water return following the commencement of production. Black Gold will work with other states and federal regulators to expand this capability to other jurisdictions.