Shield is a full-service engineering and environmental consulting firm serving industrial, municipal, commercial, and petroleum clients in the United States and abroad. Shield currently maintains offices in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky and offers a wide range of professional engineering and consulting services including: air, soil and water site characterizations; remedial investigations and feasibility studies (RI/FS); RCRA and CERCLA investigations and corrective actions; pre-purchase Environmental Site Assessments (Phase I, II); industrial compliance consulting; petroleum (UST/AST) investigations and tank removals; and site remediation services.

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Shield traces its operating history in Kentucky back to 1983, when Dr. James D. Knauss left Dames & Moore to incorporate JDK Inc. as an environmental consulting business in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1985, Dr. Knauss merged his firm with Hatcher-Sayre, Inc., a Richmond, Virginia full service environmental consulting firm. During the same time frame, Spartan Petroleum Company, Inc. of Charlotte, North Carolina created a wholly owned subsidiary (which was eventually named Shield Environmental Associates, Inc.) to conduct environmental services associated with their petroleum retail facilities. In 1993, Shield Environmental Associates of Kentucky, Inc. was created to provide environmental consulting services in Kentucky; and in 1994 Shield and the Lexington office of Hatcher-Sayre Inc. were merged to form Shield Environmental Associates, Mid-West, Inc.

In 1998, Shield acquired T.M. Regan, Inc. a Lexington based civil engineering firm and merged the firm into the Lexington, Kentucky office. In 2001, Shield Environmental Associates Midwest, Inc. (Lexington, KY) and Shield Environmental Associates Northeast, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) merged into Shield Environmental Associates, Inc. with its principal office located in Lexington, Kentucky. In 2006, the Principals of the firm acquired 100% ownership from all.