Permitting, Compliance, and Enforcement

ERG is a national leader in permitting, compliance, and enforcement support to protect human health and the environment. With expertise spanning all environmental media and every major environmental statute, we have conducted detailed compliance analyses and inspections at thousands of facilities throughout the United States, covering every major U.S. industrial and municipal sector, with a particular emphasis on environmental justice communities. We also provide federal and state agencies with a full range of permitting and litigation services, including support for complex cases involving potentially contentious settlement and litigation activities. In addition to these services, ERG develops compliance assistance tools targeted to the regulated community and regulators, as well as data integration and analysis tools to help clients identify sectors and facilities that pose the greatest threats to human health and the environment.

Permitting
  • Individual and general permit development
  • Special study reviews
  • Watershed-based permitting/trading
  • Public comment/public hearing support
  • Program assessments
  • Guidance/tool development
  • Outreach/training
Compliance Assistance
  • Data analysis and targeting tool development
  • Training programs for the regulated community and regulatory agencies
  • Compliance assistance materials development
  • Program evaluation
  • Onsite compliance assistance audits
Regulatory Enforcement
  • Development and analysis of information requests
  • Regulatory analysis
  • Inspections and investigations
  • Engineering and scientific evaluation of industrial and municipal processes and releases, pollution prevention options, and pollution control technologies
  • Laboratory analysis to characterize releases and control effectiveness
  • Analysis of economic benefits of noncompliance and ability to implement controls
  • Assessments of human health and environmental impacts of noncompliance
Litigation Support
  • Expert witness support
    • Injunctive relief/remedial measures development and assessment
    • Technical support during settlement negotiations
    • Drafting initial, rebuttal, and supplemental expert reports, affidavits, and exhibits
    • Field activities, including inspections and sampling
  • Process control and infrastructure design and analysis
  • Cost estimating for pollution prevention and control technologies
  • Hydraulic modeling
  • Environmental monitoring program development and analysis
    • Water and air quality impact assessments
    • Ambient water and air quality monitoring programs
  • Aquatic and terrestrial monitoring
Environmental Justice Analysis
  • Civil Rights Act and disparate impact analyses
  • Community monitoring
  • Human health and environmental risk analyses
  • Economic and social impact analyses
  • Demographic and geospatial analyses
Data Management and Analysis
  • Program measurement and evaluation
  • Analytics and visualization
  • Data scraping and analysis
  • Root cause analysis

Projects

storage of old tires, bins, barrels
Ensuring RCRA Compliance at Industrial and Disposal Facilities

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Aerial view of  Pentagon building in the light of the setting sun
Multimedia Environmental Compliance Assessment

U.S. Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services

Photo of DART (Data Acquisition in Real Time), a low-cost, portable, and easy-to-operate mobile monitoring system
ERG-DART Innovative Mobile VOC Monitoring System

Developed by ERG for use on EPA and other client projects

Photo shows an ariel view of people observing small wastewater and drinking water system
Helping Small Communities Improve Their SDWA and CWA Compliance

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

EJ and Civil rights in the Permitting Process screenshot
Development of e-Learning Course for EPA Permit Writers and Reviewers

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Photo of an SPod which measure total volatile organic compound (TVOC) emissions from the facility, as well as meteorological conditions
Support for EPA Investigation of a Clean Air Act Violation

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Along the coast, water flows from a pipe into ocean water breaking against a natural rockwall
NPDES Permit Writing Support

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Screenshot of ECHO's Facility Search Results webpage
Supporting EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Photo of a flare stack from a refining facility
Addressing Imminent and Substantial Endangerment under the Clean Air Act

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Photo of person standing ankle deep in ocean shore wearing latex glove collecting a water sample in a small container
Support for PFAS Enforcement and Compliance Across Multiple Statutes

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Photo of 2 construction Inspectors. One is pointing into the distance
Development of EPA Construction Inspection Training Course

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Photo of scrap cars awaiting recycling
Helping Border Communities Manage Scrap Vehicles

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Remote monitoring equipment deployed by ERG near a local elementary school to assess potential exposure
Addressing Community-Level Air Toxics in a Louisiana Parish

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

photo of homes and nearby oil tanks
Environmental Justice at the Fenceline: Reducing Toxic Air Pollutants at Petroleum Refineries

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Petroleum refinery pipes with emissions pouring into the ambient air
Clean Air Act Enforcement Support

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Example output of innovative risk-based method to identify facilities whose emissions may be exceeding permit limits. Output shows satellite view of an area overlaid with windrose showing pollution emissions from a point source.
Development of an Innovative Method to Target Likely Non-compliers

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Petrochemical plant below a blue sky with clouds
Air Quality Permitting Support

State, Local, and Tribal Permitting Agencies

Effluent flowing from two discharge pipes into a water body
Creating EPA’s DMR Pollutant Loading Tool

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency


Service Area Leads

Paul Buellesbach

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.

Paul Buellesbach

Photo of John Carter

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.

John Carter

photo of Dan Connally

I’m extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work with so many great and knowledgeable clients and coworkers throughout the country during my career. The projects we’ve worked on together have deepened my appreciation for the difficulties faced by environmental regulators and the regulated community. I continually strive to use my experience and knowledge to develop solutions that work for all parties and meet the needs and spirit of the Clean Water Act.

Dan Connally

Chuck Durham

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.

Chuck Durham

Photo of Linda Hills

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.

Linda Hills

Jason Huckaby

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!

Jason Huckaby

Photo of Daryl Hudson

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.

Daryl Hudson

Photo of Cheryl Keenan

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.

Cheryl Keenan

Sandeep Kishan

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.

Sandeep Kishan

Photo of Eva Knoth

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.

Eva Knoth

Andy Loll

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.

Andy Loll

Photo of Mike McFadden

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.

Mike McFadden

Mike Pring

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.

Mike Pring

photo of Andrew Stoeckle

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.

Andrew Stoeckle

Photo of Alex Swain

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.

Alex Swain

Joe Watson

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.

Joe Watson