Gary P. Hill bought into Walker Hill Environmental, Inc. in 1996 because he felt enticed to do his part to clean up the planet. He believed everyone had worked hard to pollute it. He said it was a simple idea of "see a need, fulfill a need."
Gary and his son, Caleb Hill, are the owners of Walker Hill. Caleb runs the Baton Rouge office, while Gary runs the Foxworth location. Eric Meitzler is the company's vice president. It also has locations in Milton, Fla. and Tennessee and hopes to expand into Texas in 2023. The Marion County location employs 60-100 people with the numbers fluctuating.
Gary said he has always been an entrepreneur and wanted to make positive changes on the planet all the way back to his boy scout days. He believed someone was going to do this work, and Walker Hill was one of the first companies as the market began. It expands with new contaminants and new testing and treating methods all the time.
"You have to stay on the cutting edge or get left behind," Gary said. "We attend conventions and stay involved so we know what's new in the industry. Everything we do has to do with protection of ground water. It sounds like a little deal, but there's a lot involved."
The company works to determine if a water source is safe or needs to be cleaned up. Sometimes it finds the water source is unusable and cannot be cleaned. Often water sources are found to have cancer causing contaminants.
Walker Hill Environmental owns and operates drill rigs and yellow iron machines for cleanup work and soil remediation. It does work with the Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency and lots of engineering firms. The company was the first to have direct push technology in the area for soil, groundwater and soil gas samples. It also now has eight sonic drilling technology rigs.
The company would not be successful without the employees, and they consider themselves family with quite a few employees reaching more than 20 years with Walker Hill. The expansions are being done to keep people close to their homes with less out-of-state travel with work in 17 states. The thriving company pays for all out of town expenses and travel.
It might appear that such a company doesn't need to advertise locally, but Gary wants people to know they are here and wants to pull employment from the area. They do some work locally, as well.
There are many benefits to employment with Walker Hill Environmental, including the fact that it is a good, small company with long term retention. it also offers a very competitive pay scale, employee health insurance, a 401K with matching benefits and good paid time off. The owners care for the wellbeing of the employees and try to surround staff with people who care. It already has projects scheduled through 2023.
"We have a team of dedicated employees that make the day to day happen," Gary said. "People really want to be part of something with value. Without clean water, there is no life."
The company, incorporated in 1994, was originally located in Columbia and moved to Foxworth in 1998.
Walker Hill Environmental, Inc. is located at 4 S. Poplar St. in Foxworth. It can be reached at (601) 736-3500. Its office hours are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m., but it is a service company that is on call to respond to spills and other issues any time needed.
