Hoping to strike it rich on the spoils of communism; local environmental firms take expansion plans abroad.

Environmental engineering firms in the Southland are aggressively gearing up expansion plans that will take them into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to fill the need for clean-up of filth and pollution caused by 40 years of communist neglect.

"There is enormous potential because of tremendous environmental problems," said Alistair Clark, assistant general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Los Angeles-based environmental engineering firm Dames & Moore.

Clark said Dames & Moore has 20 Eastern European environmental consulting projects worth $1.5 million in 1991 revenues, a figure he said represents rapid expansion for a firm which has only competed for contracts there in the last two years.

Clark said he expects the firm's revenues from Eastern Europe to double between 1991 to 1992.

Overall, he said he expects Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to present an eventual market of $200 million per year for environmental consulting services alone.

Clark said the services Eastern European countries need include wastewater engineering, soil and groundwater assessment and remediation, air pollution control and hazardous waste management.

Other local firms expanding or seriously considering expanding into Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union include Pasadena-based Parsons Corp., Long Beach-based Earth Technology Corp., James M. Montgomery Consulting Engineers Inc. of Pasadena and Irvine-based Fluor-Daniel Inc.

"What happened over the last two or three years is the setting of stringent environmental standards by the European Community, which was not the case in the past; and the breakdown of communist parties and increasing revelations of horrendous environmental problems in Eastern Europe," said Philip Storrs, vice president of Engineering-Science Environmental Engineers, a subsidiary of Parsons.

Storrs said his firm currently has a contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide consulting services for industrial waste treatment plants in Poland. He said that the firm is awaiting fundamental economic reforms in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union before expanding further into those regions.

Also positioning itself for expansion into the region but awaiting a source of funding is Montgomery.

"We've met quite a few people and are developing soft partnerships and alliances with engineering firms there (which are) developing from government structures to the private enterprise system," said Robert Uhler, director of strategic planning for the firm. "From that we have been working with several firms to set up joint ventures. We are interested in Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia."

Earth Technology was recently awarded two consulting contracts in Krakow, Poland. One was to serve as an environmental consultant to the City of Krakow and the other to serve the Krakow Regional District of Water Resources to conduct a water quality planning study for the protection of the Dunaject River Basin.

While the contracts are worth only $200,000 total, Earth Technology Chief Executive Jack Schoustra said that he believes the contracts will lead to more business and that Eastern European business may represent a significant source of income for the company in the future.

"We went to Poland because we have some very good contacts there," said Schoustra. "We currently can compete very well with the Europeans. Our fees are 30 percent lower and a little lower than the British."

While the good news is that the need for services is tremendous, the bad news is that all of the Eastern Bloc countries are short on the hard capital necessary to pay the consultants.

Dames & Moore has approached the problem by servicing and being paid by multinational firms desiring to locate in Eastern Europe.

Other firms are chasing clean-up dollars allocated by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

"There is probably more money in the public sector, but the competition is greater," Clark said.

Clark said Dames & Moore's largest project is a contract to do environmental assessments of production and exploration of oil fields in Siberia for a joint venture between two Western companies and the Russian national gas company.

Experts say the countries which offer the most opportunities for environmental engineers are Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany and the Soviet Union.

"In Poland and Czechoslovakia they are faced with 40 years of non-enforcement of any legislation regarding the environment," Clark said. "There are tremendous hazardous waste problems and air quality problems due to the high-sulfur coal they burn."

Storrs said despite the lack of hard currency, pollution problems in Poland are so debilitating that it is likely some source of funds for clean-up activities will be found. "The problems are so severe they are seen as limiting the economic development of the country," he said.

It is not only past environmental neglect that will spur environmental engineering demand, noted one environmental stock analyst. "Every new industrial process facility has a huge environmental component," said Hugh Holman, a stock analyst for Alex, Brown & Sons Inc. of Baltimore. "For each new plant, 25 cents on the dollar are spent on pollution control equipment."