- You are involved in a
dispute with a state or federal environmental agency regarding your
liability, share or cleanup plans for a Brownfields or hazardous waste
site. Alternatively, you have been cited by such an agency for violating an environmental requirement. You can’t seem to make sense of the requirements or the
reasons behind them, or simply want to resolve the issue. You need someone to review the
information you have, interpret it, evaluate it, suggest alternative
positions and advise you on actions you could take to resolve the issue
and save you time and money.
- You need advice on any
type of environmental project to determine the best way to approach
some of your stakeholders, such as a federal, state or local
environmental agency, citizens
group, investors, or any interested party. You need someone with
years of experience and many contacts in the environmental community to
determine the best way to proceed to save you time and money.
- You wish to train staff
or management on the intricacies of a particular field of environmental
protection. This training needs to be at a high level and
tailored for the particular situation which is causing you concern.
- You are an environmental
consulting company with a contract (or bidding on a contract) to supply
technical or policy expertise in an area which has been described above. You need assistance to complete this
assignment.
Call or email at: 856-745-1488 or sales@voltaggioconsulting.com
Summary of experience in this area:
As the
highest career executive in the Philadelphia
regional office of USEPA, managed an annual budget of approximately
$700M and directed a staff of 900+ technical, administrative and legal employees
in the regional office to implement federal environmental programs in the Middle Atlantic states.
Instituted programs which dramatically improved relations between state
environmental agencies and regional EPA office through intensive
personal interaction. Instituted several procedures and policies which
turned distrust into trust, mainly focusing on eliminating surprises and
developing and implementing issue escalation processes. As Deputy Regional Administrator, was the senior career official responsible for ensuring compliance with federal environmental laws. Directed all federal compliance and enforcement staff and approved all actions and settlements of federal enforcement cases.
From its inception, and for over seventeen years, successfully directed the “Superfund”
hazardous waste site cleanup program of the USEPA in the Middle Atlantic states
through over 500 complete cleanups by 1997. During this time,
became a national expert and participated in legislative and regulatory
development and national program planning.
Brought about dozens of resolutions of complex environmental issues in air, water and hazardous
waste fields with major corporations, state, local and federal governments
through the use of detailed and profound knowledge of environmental programs
and a well-developed skill in “getting to yes” environmental dispute resolution.
Directed all hazardous waste programs in the six state regional office. These included the
Superfund, Brownfield, Resource Conservation and Recovery, Underground
Storage Tank, Emergency Response and Oil Pollution programs. During this time,
the Middle Atlantic region was a national leader in Superfund cleanup
implementation, and was well known as having enlightened leadership
regarding common sense solutions for difficult and complex problems.
Directed the Brownfield program from its infancy through the present.
Developed red-tape-cutting procedures to speed economic development throughout the region.
Examples of achievements:
Consultative
Framework with States – Personally developed
and instituted the “Consultative Framework”, which assured that all USEPA regional
enforcement matters were discussed with the relevant state
environmental agency prior to it becoming public, and that opportunities for issue elevation
to senior USEPA officials were insured. This framework was instituted in
1997 and has been a hallmark of State/EPA coordination to the present
time. The framework was established to combat an adversarial relationship which
was allowed to develop prior to 1997 as a result of political differences
between the administration and various state governments. By insuring
that poor communication was not the cause for friction, the framework insured
that the actual issue was the focus of discussion. Most state
environmental secretaries in the Middle Atlantic states from 1997 to the present, as
well as former Regional Administrators of the Philadelphia
EPA office, can attest to this successful effort.
Leadership
in the Hazardous Site Cleanup Program (Superfund) – In leading the
regional Superfund effort for seventeen years from 1981 through 1997, was
actively involved in day-to-day activities and policy issues which permeated
this controversial and politically-charged program. Directly led the
effort to select and complete several controversial cleanups in the region.
Fostered a culture in the region of principled negotiations with
Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) to maximize the settlement potential for
large cost, multi-PRP sites. Leadership examples are:
- The Drake Chemical site
in Lock Haven, PA, where an influential citizens group
attempted to stop this necessary cleanup. After extraordinary
efforts to understand the issues which drove the citizens group to
protest the cleanup, led an effort to explain to the citizens, local
and national elected representatives the wisdom of the cleanup plan,
supported the legal defense team’s strategy, and insured the safety of
the project by overseeing the technical elements of the cleanup.
During this process, personally briefed both
United States
Senators and the highest levels of USEPA. The result was a
successful court case, acquiescence by the political leaders and a
cleanup project which was completed safely and effectively. Other
examples of similar efforts were the Palmerton Zinc Superfund site in
Palmerton, PA and the Spring Valley site in Washington,
DC, including extensive personal involvement with citizens,
US Representatives, and senior Pentagon officials.
- Instituted the culture of
principled negotiations with corporate and Federal PRPs on all regional
Superfund settlement negotiations. Using “Getting to Yes” as the
architecture, personally inculcated this culture on the Superfund
negotiation staff. The Superfund legal bar, which had coalesced
into several groups, among them being the Information Network for
Superfund Settlements, regularly complimented the staff and leadership
of the Philadelphia
regional office in having a culture of reasonable approaches to
settlement. Have attended numerous meetings of this and other
Superfund legal groups to preach the mantra of principled
negotiations. Have personally led negotiations to insure this
culture is implemented. In sites in which the Federal Government
is the PRP, have successfully agreed upon remedies and
responsibility by personally interacting with the most senior Army and
Air Force environmental officials at the Spring Valley site in
Washington, DC and the Langley and Andrews AFB sites in Virginia and
Maryland, respectively.
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