Permitting, Compliance, and Enforcement

I enjoy bringing a practical, engineering approach to solving the complex environmental problems facing our country, from air toxics emissions to hazardous waste issues to industrial and municipal wastewater contamination.

In my experience, effective climate action requires invested leadership, multidisciplinary expertise to address all sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and equitable stakeholder engagement to guide and successfully implement new policies and strategies. I have had the pleasure of managing several climate action plan projects, guiding both municipalities and universities through the process of developing and implementing their unique plans, and I’m proud of the positive benefits those plans have brought to stem the effects of climate change.

Three decades as a regulator and contractor to regulators has convinced me of one thing. We are more likely to save and preserve our natural resources by educating everyone on the impacts they can have, both positive and negative, than by simply punishing people for past sins. That said, enforcement is sometimes a necessary tool for education.

As an environmental engineer living in Montana, I’m keenly aware of the value of preserving our nation’s natural resources and of my own part in helping to prevent the degradation of these irreplaceable assets. I work to ensure that wastewater is managed properly and that the water we drink is clean now and into the future.

I love the challenges and diversity of the air regulatory development work I do at ERG. To help clients protect human health and the environment, while also being mindful of the relevant economic and technical realities, I am continually learning new and emerging information about industrial and air pollution control processes relevant to affected industrial sectors. I enjoy discovering and applying this information to help our clients achieve their goals. I can, and often do, learn something new every day!

The synergy between my enforcement and chemical evaluation work is invaluable. Because of the overlap, I routinely apply my skills and knowledge from one field to the other. This makes my work more efficient and enables me to approach it more holistically.

Sustainability has been a central theme throughout my career. As an engineer, I particularly enjoy crafting approaches and tools to efficiently reduce chemical and energy inputs, guided by lessons learned from sustainability initiatives worldwide.

I have dedicated my career to reducing the energy and emission footprint of vehicle travel, a major source of air pollution worldwide. Thanks to inspiration from great mentors and clients, I had the opportunity to build and manage what has become a world-class team of mobile sources experts who relish the challenge of tackling complex problems. Disadvantaged communities experience a disproportional impact from vehicle-related air pollution, and I am gratified beyond measure that our work has helped improve air quality, not only across the United States but also in other countries around the world, where we have facilitated development of customized solutions based on local conditions.

I find it energizing to develop tools that help users improve their knowledge of environmental data and perform novel analyses, and I am always inspired when I see how these tools help our clients become even more effective at performing their work and solving environmental problems.

Working in compliance and enforcement, including conducting inspections, has given me an opportunity to see directly how environmental requirements affect regulated facilities—from gas stations to complex chemical plants and refineries. I enjoy providing technical solutions and regulatory assessments to help facilities understand and meet applicable requirements and, ultimately, help make our environment a healthier and safer place to work and live.

I started college in upstate New York just as acid precipitation was becoming a significant environmental concern. Through my studies of aquatic ecology in the nearby Adirondacks, I learned firsthand how devastating its effects on water quality and aquatic life could be and was determined to do something about it. That determination launched my 40+ year career as a water quality manager working to protect and preserve our nation’s precious water resources.

Through my experience operating water systems, I have come to appreciate how dedicated utility staff are to ensuring that communities have safe drinking water. Whether I’m providing technical assistance or conducting a compliance inspection that may call out an issue, I have great respect for all who strive to protect human health under whatever site-specific challenges they may be working with.

I gained an appreciation for the environment growing up in Florida, where I enjoyed spending time in the great outdoors—camping, hiking, surfing, and working on the ‘farm’ at the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. At ERG, my career has allowed me to contribute to the protection of our environment, while continually being challenged to learn new skills and become familiar with the wide variety of industrial activities that give rise to air pollution.

I love that stormwater touches so many aspects of our lives and that, when managed well, it brings numerous benefits to our communities and the environment. It has been exciting to see stormwater grow in importance at both national and local levels.

I love figuring how to take what is often a firehose flow of complex environmental data and make it simpler and easy to understand. And that’s a pretty good metaphor for our team: we are technologically sophisticated, creative, and easy to work with.

My passion for protecting the natural world stems from a childhood spent enjoying the outdoor expanses and natural beauty of Colorado. Now, I channel that passion into developing innovative approaches for collecting and analyzing large environmental datasets to help address many of the most pressing environmental challenges we face today. I am incredibly fortunate to collaborate with amazing colleagues and clients in pursuit of creative solutions for monitoring and protecting our environment.

I find that field work is the best way to understand compliance issues. By seeing process operations firsthand, we can help EPA get to the root of issues and support the agency in determining the best ways to minimize waste generation and disposal across industrial sectors.