- You are involved in a dispute with a
state or federal environmental agency regarding your liability, share
or cleanup plans for a Superfund, Brownfield or other 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 hazardous waste site cleanup. 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 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.
As an independent consultant for the
past several years, I have provided a number of
clients with successful outcomes to problems with USEPA regarding
Superfund sites, as well as a number of expert opinions and reports in
support of litigation.
Examples of achievements:
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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