MACTEC INSTRUMENTAL IN DEVELOPING NEW EPA MODEL

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, March 10, 2006 - MACTEC Engineering & Consulting (MACTEC E&C) has played a key role in developing an innovative air quality modeling program for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that is now being used by Federal and State regulatory agencies and industry nationwide. Bruce C. Coles, president of MACTEC E&C and chairman & CEO of MACTEC, Inc., the holding company (www.mactec.com) - made the announcement.

The air quality modeling program, known as AERMOD (American Meteorological Society and Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model), replaces the Industrial Source Complex (ISC3) model for air quality permitting. While AERMOD can be used immediately, ISC3 may still be accepted, at the Agency's discretion, during a one-year phase out period ending on Dec. 9, 2006.

"AERMOD represents the culmination of a 14-year effort that involved scientists from the EPA, academia, industry and MACTEC meteorologists," said Roger W. Brode, principal meteorologist for MACTEC, who is based in the firm's Research Triangle Park office. "The evaluations that we've performed for EPA have shown that AERMOD's more advanced algorithms provide more accurate, and often lower, estimates of concentration than ISC3." Brode was recently recognized by the EPA for his contributions in developing AERMOD at the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.

AERMOD is a steady-state plume model aimed at short-range (up to 50 kilometers/31miles) dispersion from stationary industrial-type sources - the same scenarios that were handled by the EPA's ISC3 model. It includes the most up-to-date algorithms for modeling plume dispersion. One of these is known as PRIME (Plume Rise Model Enhancements), an improved algorithm that models the effects of building downwash on plume dispersion.

MACTEC, based in Alpharetta, GA, is a $436 million environmental, engineering, construction management, and infrastructure services firm with 3,000 employees in over 100 offices nationwide. North Carolina offices are located in Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Wilmington.

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