Welcome to our client spotlight, where we shine a spotlight on the incredible achievements and partnerships within our community and industry. In this segment, we are thrilled to feature one of our esteemed clients, Vincent Johnson, associate and Elko manager, with Broadbent & Associates. 

Please give us an overview of what Broadbent does.

We are a full-service environmental consulting firm with a track record spanning over 35 years. Our core offerings encompass a wide range of services including environmental assessments and remediation, engineering, and water resources services. At Broadbent, our primary objective is to assist our clients in maintaining regulatory compliance, effectively managing environmental liabilities, and developing resources in an efficient and cost- effective manner. We take pride in building long-term relationships with our clients, many of which are decades long.

Broadbent has been providing services in Northern Nevada for over 30 years and recently established an office in Elko in 2020. Where are you continuing to see growth in the industries you serve in Northern Nevada?

Our Elko Office has focused on servicing the mining industry. With its location and local staff, our primary service has been field operation based. Our technical and engineering staff from our other two offices in Nevada, Reno and Las Vegas, have continued to support our mining clients. This allows Broadbent the flexibility and adaptivity that the mining industry requires. Broadbent has been able to respond quickly and efficiently with its strategic Elko location when field support is needed, which translates to lower costs for services passed onto our clients. Broadbent’s Elko staff have years of experience working directly for mines in various positions within environmental, water management, capital projects, and laboratory departments.

Can you describe how your relationship with WETLAB enhances your operations to help you better serve clients in your local community?

Broadbent values relationships, which play a critical part in effectively managing environmental projects. Broadbent was founded on 1987 in Nevada and has over 30 years of service supporting the mining industry. During this time, Broadbent has become a trusted partner and developed career long relationships with regulators, clients, suppliers, and other consultants, which includes WETLAB. WETLAB has been an instrumental partner and Broadbent and its clients have utilized WETLAB on many projects and scopes throughout the years.

What has your experience working with WETLAB been like?

Broadbent has experienced dedicated and professional services from WETLAB. Their team is motivated and actively involved when we team together on projects.

What recent projects have you worked on with WETLAB?

Recent projects working with WETLAB have involved water, wastewater, and petroleum contaminated soil analytical scopes that are awarded directly through mining clients. WETLAB also supports analytical analysis for Seeps, Springs and Creeks projects, as well as Water Pollution Control Permit required monitoring and analytical reporting.

How does Broadbent stand out from other environmental consultants serving the greater Northern Nevada area?

We are one of the largest environmental consulting companies in Nevada. We have a deep understanding of the environmental regulations and challenges and how those apply to the industries in our state. We have about 20 environmental managers that are Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) certified. With offices strategically located in Elko, Reno, and Las Vegas, we are able to reach any part of the state within a few hours. We do a fair amount of emergency response work and in those cases, quick response is crucial to our clients.

Many environmental consulting firms of similar size have chosen acquisition by larger entities or venture capitalists. Our leadership values our autonomy and the freedom it offers us to chart our own path to success. I also think there is a lot to be said about the number of employees we have that have been with the company for over 20 years. Our founder, Bob Broadbent’s vision was to build a business where the work culture would be fun, allow for a healthy work/life balance, and where employees would be developed, respected, and challenged. His model also included a mechanism to distribute ownership to key employees over time. Our employee ownership group has continued to grow the company with these values intact and it shows with the high employee retention we’ve been able to sustain.