- 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
tom@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.
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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