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EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., a Hunt Valley-based environmental services company, said yesterday that it won a five-year contract worth as much as $75 million from the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.The average payout of $15 million a year will be the largest contract in the company's 20-year history."This is a very important milestone," said EA President Edward V. Lower. Because of the contract, the company will hire 50 people over the next year, he said.

EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., reporting a loss of $1.38 million in the second quarter, also announced a major reorganization yesterday that will change the way the company presents itself to the marketplace.The Hunt Valley-based company said the restructuring accounted for about 40 percent of the loss it posted in the quarter, which ended Feb. 28. The company's main problem has been the recession, which has reduced demand for its environmental consulting and cleanup services.

Since being formed 20 years ago, EA Engineering, Science & Technology Inc. has helped to restore thousands of properties with environmental problems. But in the last year and a half, it has embarked on its most ambitious reclamation project -- the company itself.Now, after wrenching layoffs, a sweeping reorganization and a new emphasis on government contracts, the company's earnings are moving up and its stock price is closing in on its level of seven years ago.The turnaround got a big boost last month when the Hunt Valley-based company won a five-year, $75 million contract from the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hey slugger, ready to hit the digital diamond? This year's crop of computer baseball games features two tailored to players who prefer arcade-style swat-a-thons over pure statistical simulations: "Microsoft Baseball 2001" and EA Sports' "Triple Play 2001." Microsoft is relatively new to the diamond. And "Baseball 2001" is a big improvement over last year's debut: The game is a solid if unflashy effort that offers entertainment at a bargain-bin price. It's hard to find anything terribly negative about "Baseball 2001."

EA Engineering Science & Technology Inc., a Hunt Valley-based environmental consulting firm, yesterday laid off 125 employees nationwide -- 18 percent of its staff -- as a result of a slowdown in sales and a dramatic increase in losses during the past two quarters."

Citing a former employee who booked "fictitious revenue," EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc. said yesterday that its cumulative loss for 1998 and 1999 was $901,700 more than originally reported. The Hunt Valley environmental and safety consulting firm said the bulk of the inaccuracies were recorded in 1998. Company spokeswoman Melissa L. Kunkel said the individual is "no longer employed by or associated with the company" but would not say whether that person was fired as a result of the inaccuracies.

In a struggle with the founder over the laying off of senior executives, Edward V. Lower has been removed as president and chief operating officer of the EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc.Mr. Lower, a former Union Carbide Corp. executive who helped redirect the company's efforts for four years, left the Hunt Valley environmental reclamation company Monday because of a clash with Loren D. Jensen over the need for substantial personnel cuts that included top executives.Mr. Jensen is chairman, chief executive officer and the founder.

A 26-year-old Naval Academy graduate from Howard County who realized a long-held dream of becoming a Naval aviator was killed when the jet she was piloting crashed into a field outside Spokane, Wash. Lt. j.g. Valerie Cappelaere Delaney and her two crew members died Monday morning when the EA-6B Prowler crashed during training, the Navy said Tuesday. The incident remains under investigation. Friends and family described Cappelaere Delaney as a focused, athletic and caring young woman whose career was shaped by conversations with her grandfather, a retired Air Force pilot.

EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc. of Hunt Valley has completed a stock buyback to take the company private under the control of its founder and chief executive. EA first announced in 2001 that it had teamed with the Louis Berger Group Inc. of East Orange, N.J., in a $9.3 million deal to transfer ownership to private investors. The stock buyback was completed earlier this month and the deal has been sealed, investors from both companies said yesterday. Loren D. Jensen, EA chairman and chief executive officer, and his family now own 51 percent of EA, and Louis Berger Group bought the remaining 49 percent.

EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc. said yesterday that a new audit of its 1998 and 1999 financial statements has confirmed suspected inaccuracies that will result in the Hunt Valley company reducing its earnings by a total of $1.4 million, or 14 cents a share, on a pretax basis for those years. Company spokeswoman Melissa L. Kunkel said an audit by EA's new accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, confirmed the suspected "irregularities" that an internal review of the company's books uncovered this year.