Why some things cost so much.

I have determined that the Red Sea was easier to part than getting a geotechnical test hole drilled on a supposedly reclaimed EPA Superfund Site.

Although the Feds still own a good amount of the site, some of the property is still privately owned. Even though the private property owner was willing to sell RW, it still had to go through condemnation proceedings. That has chewed up the last 18 months. I foolishly thought obtaining the RW was going to be the big hurdle.

This was an ancient refinery site. Lots of benzene and trihalomethanes and all sorts of Frankenstein hydrocarbons crawling around under the bermuda. Now we need to poke some holes in the ground so the structural engineers can do their voodoo.....not so fast, now.

It's looking like any tailings or slurry (no matter how small a quantity) from any subsurface investigation is going to have to be sniffed, x-rayed, categorized and analyzed. Then placed in concrete encased drums with approved air-fresheners stapled to the labels and shipped to the next galaxy under armed escort.

No wonder things don't cost millions anymore....now they cost billions.

rant off