Anaheim Councilman Runs Family Firm, Eyes MTBE Cleanup
DOER’S PROFILE
THOMAS TAIT
Position:
President, Tait & Associates Inc. (parent), Tait Environmental Management Inc. (division)
Age:
42
Born:
Pasadena
Education:
Bachelor’s degree in finance, University of Wyoming; MBA/JD, Vanderbilt University
Resume:
1990-present president Tait & Associates, 1988-90 general counsel Tait & Associates; 1985-88 associate at Haight Dickson Brown & Bonesteel, Santa Monica; city councilman, Anaheim, since 1995
Home:
Anaheim
Family:
Wife Julie, homemaker; sons Trevor, 12, Colin, 6, daughters Whitney, 15, Kendall, 9
Hobbies:
Surfing, skiing, golf, youth sports
CORPORATE PROFILE
TAIT & ASSOCIATES INC.
Headquarters:
701 N. Parkcenter Drive, Santa Ana
Ownership:
Tom Tait, Rich Tait (brother), Ken Tait (father)
Employees:
180
Business:
Environmental, civil, construction engineering
2000 Revenue:
$25 million
Most people in Orange County are more likely to know Tom Tait as a combative Anaheim councilman and Republican activist rather than as the head of an engineering company with big hopes of grabbing a larger share of the environmental cleanup market.
Tait has made a name for himself as a Republican councilman in a city fronted by a Democrat mayor. Last year, he rallied behind longtime county GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes in the face of opposition from the reformist New Majority Committee. Tait also is Fuentes’ boss.
Tait is president of Tait & Associates Inc., a Santa Ana engineering company with annual billings of about $13 million and about $25 million in overall yearly revenue. Fuentes is a vice president at the company.
Tait’s five-year political career has interfered more than once with his firm’s pursuit of contracts in Anaheim, he said. Still, his firm does smaller work in Anaheim and has served on some hotel projects just over the line in Garden Grove. Tait & Associates also has done work for BP Amoco PLC, Texaco Inc., St. Joseph Hospital in Orange and others.
The firm’s roots go back to 1964 when patriarch Ken Tait started up his own consulting engineering company in Anaheim. The senior Tait still works at the firm, as does his other son, Rich Tait.
Tait & Associates has received a patent for Bubblex, a method of cleansing chemicals from groundwater and soil. Tait is hoping the technology will find a home with water agencies and others looking to get rid of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE.
The Denver-based American Water Works Association, an industry trade group, estimates the cost to water utilities nationwide of preventing contamination or cleaning MTBE from their systems will exceed $1 billion in the next few decades. Since Tait & Associates’ first sale of its Bubblex process a year ago, the firm has brought in about $1 million in revenue on five sales so far, including one to Los Angeles-based Arco, a unit of BP Amoco.
MTBE originally was put in gas to help reduce auto emissions. It had been added in relatively low concentrations to increase octane ratings in premium grade fuels since the late 1970s. More recently, MTBE has been added in higher concentrations of up to 15% to enhance gasoline combustion and reduce tailpipe exhaust.
But while MTBE has helped cut carbon monoxide and ozone levels, it was found to be carcinogenic if it leaks from gas storage tanks into soil and groundwater.
“It’s tough to remove MTBE because it’s very soluble in water,” Tait said.
Bubblex uses a vacuum pump at the surface to pull up water. As the water comes up through a pipe the MTBE is separated from the water and collected.
Despite initial sales, Bubblex has yet to find widespread acceptance. As for possible Bubblex users, Tait is looking to emergency power generators, utility companies, hospitals, high-rise buildings and technology manufacturers,any type of company or organization that stores gas to use for electricity generation.
San Clemente-based Regenesis Bioremediation Products Inc. and Long Beach-based K2M Mobile Treatment Services Inc. also make MTBE removal systems. Tait said he doesn’t see them as direct rivals.
Researchers at Spain’s Xerox Laboratory of Magnetic Research at the University of Barcelona have developed a process that competes more directly with Bubblex, according to Tait.
While cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater is a big focus, Tait & Associates also does civil engineering and construction-related work.
The firm’s past projects include the monitoring and certification of backup power generators for Pacific Bell’s switching stations throughout California and cleanup of the Canoga Park former rocket engine assembly site for Boeing Realty Corp. Tait also researched a fiber communications network for the county of Orange.
Other major projects have included an infrastructure analysis of the former El Toro Marine base for the county and development of the former Tustin Marine base reuse plan for the city of Tustin.
“The civil engineering sector is going gangbusters,” Tait said. “The environmental side is growing and we’re doing some hiring for business in that sector. There’s a lot of growth in groundwater treatment.”
Tyco International Ltd.’s Earth Tech, TetraTech Inc., TRC Environmental Corp. and CH2M Hill Inc. are among some of Tait’s chief competitors.
About two-thirds of Tait’s business takes place in Orange County. The company also has offices in Sacramento, the Bay area, San Diego, Phoenix, Reno and is just now opening offices in Las Vegas and Denver. n
