Enviro Shield Products Inc.

Moms throughout the world are known for telling their children to clean up after themselves and to not get anything messy on the furniture. This is not to say Enviro Shield Products (ESP) Inc. acts as a mother hen to the oil and gas industry, but the company does play an important and similarly preventive role – its complete line of environmentally sound spill containment devices protect the environment from its clients’ machines, while also protecting clients’ machines from the environment.

Having patented its portable spill-prevention devices since 1995, ESP is known as a leader in this market niche, and its products are used throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. And, being based in Williston, N.D., the company has remained busy as activity in the Bakken Shale has ramped up.

“ESP’s products are needed in the most extreme usage conditions,” the company says. “Our portable spill prevention devices [PSPD] are manufactured of polyester-reinforced urethane. Sorbents to choose from include mats, pads, rolls, socks, pillows, pans, drum-top pads, booms and a wide variety of spill kits, such as oil-only, hazardous materials, universal, battery acid, acid neutralizers, base neutralizers and mercury kits.”

The company notes that its products are continually tested and reengineered to ensure “supreme effectiveness” for its customers’ operations. ESP notes that its products’ ability to withstand extreme temperatures is of utmost importance. “Our PSPDs are cold-crack-rated at 65 degrees below zero and to a thermal temperature of 220 degrees F,” it says. “This product also is rated excellent for hydrocarbon resistance [and] the foam used is a polyurethane foam, which is CFC-free. This allows it to return to exact dimensions after being run over or folded.”

Custom Configurations
Enviro Shield is dedicated to continuous improvement, understanding that its products not only help clients protect the environment, but also save them money because they are not spilling product into the ground. Enviro Shield supplies products for every phase of operations where oil and gas are produced, transported and stored. Exploration and production companies then combine these PSPDs with safety practices to ensure they are operating responsibly.

Stressing that it offers “spill containment at its best,” ESP offers a comprehensive line of products to help clients. To protect company-owned and workers’ own vehicles, ESP provides tool-box restraints, rear-seat restraints and load restraints, which are placed over a load in the truck bed to ensure the moving load stays secure. It also offers complete spill-response trailers, which can be equipped with every item a client needs to handle a spill response.

“These trailers allow our clients to quickly deploy to the spill site and have the containment equipment in a weather-proof environment,” the company explains.

ESP’s product line also includes drum covers – made of a 33-millimeter, Elvaloy-reinforced vinyl – insulated hose covers and sub-surface building liners. It offers several items to protect customers’ tanks, including insulated tarp curtains, acid-tank liners and subsurface tank farm liners.

The company’s wind walls – drill-rig wind walls and derrick board wind walls – are another form of protection, in that they help protect customers’ employees from the harsh elements. Enviro Shield notes that ESP’s wind walls are a prime example of the company’s ability to customize its products.

“We work hard to ensure that our customers get the products they need, designed to their specifications and requirements,” the company says. “Enviro Shield has been custom-designing spill prevention products for more than 10 years now. Our clients have kept us very busy with specialty-design projects throughout the United States. We have always proven that we build to fit our customers’ needs.

“As an example, H&P [Helmerich & Payne] requested that we design wind walls for their drilling rigs,” the company adds. “When our customers require special sizes of spill-prevention devices or any special products made, because we are the manufacturer we can design and deliver exactly what they need.”

Cost-Efficient Containment
Secondary containment systems are not a new idea to Enviro Shield’s customers, but new containment techniques and technologies provide industry operators with easier and more cost-effective systems than methods used in the past. Enviro Shield’s drip-pillow holders, for example, are made of KeElvaloy-reinforced vinyl and come with a webbed handle. The pillow holders support clients’ efforts in cleaning up drill piping on site and at drill rigs, and work well with rig rugs.

The company notes that all of its secondary spill-containment devices are made according to customers’ size specifications, and that is particularly true of its berms. Enviro Shield’s berms are known for providing secure containment in a cost-efficient manner, the company says, and they are versatile in that they can be used for vehicles, drums, totes, frac tanks and other containers.

“Our containments can be made from a variety of colors,” the company says. “All containments also come with the customers’ logo or company name on the product so it can easily be identified.”

Additionally, Enviro Shield offers several varieties of tank protection for its clients. Its tank protection products include insulated tarp curtains, acid tank liners and subsurface tank farm liners. The company notes that in addition to clients in the oil and gas market, it also serves North Dakota’s significant agricultural industry.

“Enviro Shield Products specializes in the design and manufacture of specialty spill containment devices for a multitude of applications, from the wheat fields to the oil fields,” the company says. “All of our products are custom-designed to meet the individual needs of our clients.”

Giving Back
Enviro Shield has been serving customers throughout the Bakken formation for several years, and its business picked up in 2008 when rock fracturing technology allowed the area’s level of production to really boom. The company’s business has remained strong as the area thrives, and Enviro Shield is dedicated to supporting not only the area’s economic strength, but also the entire community.

In spring 2011, for example, significant levels of rain and snowmelt caused much of North Dakota to have flooding problems, so Enviro Shield pitched in to help. The town of Minot, N.D., had significant flooding, so the company donated two trailers full of donations toward the flood-recovery effort. One of its main donations was its line of high-quality reusable pads that normally absorb oil, but were used to absorb water in Minot. Herman estimated that he brought enough pads for the entire town.

“It’s just part of being a North Dakotan,” he said in a statement. “The more you give, the more you get back.”

Enviro Shield, together with other members of the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) banded together to help Minot and other communities in the state because all of the water made many roadways, farmyards and neighborhoods inaccessible. According to the NDPC, Enviro Shield and several of its other members contributed monetary or in-kind donations of more than $3.5 million to these flooded communities. The council’s members also volunteered by filling sandbags, helping residents relocate personal belongings and hosting various fundraiser events.

“The oil and gas industry has a significant presence in North Dakota and our members are dedicated to positively impacting the communities where they live and work,” NDPC President Ron Ness said in a statement. “Our industry also felt the impact of the flood, but in true North Dakota spirit, industry members stepped up to the plate to help people in these communities.” EMI