Environmental restoration

"When we go in, there could be explosives anywhere,” MKM En­gineers president Khodi Irani told Purva Patel of the Houston Chronicle (August 17, 2004). In the midst of the Iraq war the US army called in the company to collect equipment tainted by depleted uranium. "When weapons made with depleted uranium strike solid objects like the side of an armored tank, they penetrate and break into fragments or erupt into a vapor that settles as radioactive dust,” writes Patel. Parsiana was able to access the following information thanks to Houston Zoroastrian Association librarian Aban Rustomji who posted the article on the Creatingawareness site on the net. The Stafford, Texas, based company managed a collection site during the war, hauling off damaged tanks and contaminated equip­ment. Beginning in 1991 entirely dependent on Irani’s credit card, the company hit $ 42 million revenues in 2003 which were expected to rise to $ 48 million in 2004. Their goal is to hit $ 100 million by 2008.

"MKM began with a focus on environmental engineering but ventured into multimillion dollar jobs at sites contaminated with radiological waste or unex­ploded weapons such as ammunition plants,” writes Patel. One contract required the demolition and decontamination of nearly 100 buildings in Nebraska; in Kuwait they were sifting through sand to remove depleted uranium. MKM’s contracts come from the Department of Defense, US Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protec­tion Agency.

Designated a small disadvantaged business by the Small Business Administration which allows the company to participate for nine years in its development program, it is now in its final year. With such jobs now on the decline, MKM is targeting the installation of remote camera systems for patrolling the borders under the Department of Homeland Security as well as handling seized explosives. The 2001 terrorist attacks have demonstrated the need for their kind of expertise. It helps the company’s bottom line. But there is greater satisfaction in making the country cleaner and safer.