Explore the “Navigating Environmental Compliance” Universe:
Tammy Endlish provides a growing suite of resources designed to support your success as an environmental compliance professional:
Exploring Environmental Compliance Careers
PREPARED: Navigating Your New Role in Environmental Compliance (coming soon)
Navigating Environmental Compliance: Self-Auditing Essentials for Environmental Professionals (2nd edition)
EnvironmentHQ: The toolbox for the environmental compliance professional.
Why?
I have been an environmental compliance consultant since 2003 and prior to that, I worked as a permit writer for Ohio EPA’s Division of Air Pollution Control. For many of my Ohio clients, I wrote their permits, conducted their inspections, reviewed their reports, and was involved in the discussions during modifications and compliance issues. After becoming a consultant, I have been able to work more deeply with these companies and have gained considerable knowledge and insight into their operations and unique needs as well as their environmental compliance history. This has been an unexpected benefit to my clients because, due to changeover through the years, I am often the most “senior” member of the team!
As a result, I am often involved in the training of my clients’ new environmental professionals– we meet and review the facility’s air, stormwater, and wastewater permits, the hazardous chemicals inventory, the stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP), and the oil spill prevention, control, and countermeasures (SPCC) plan. We discuss the facility’s hazardous waste generator status and requirements. We walk through the various inspections using the template forms. I share what projects I typically complete for the company, and we work to develop a list of responsibilities. For the projects I will be completing, we discuss what information is needed and when.
I have done long-term coaching for people with no environmental compliance background and one-time meetings for those who just need a quick debrief on the facility’s requirements. As you can imagine, this can be time-consuming. I have looked for a book or online course that would cover the basics but to no avail. Therefore, I used my training materials and 30+ years of environmental compliance experience and wrote Navigating Environmental Compliance (now 2nd edition), which serves the new environmental compliance professional who needs a jump start into determining the compliance status of a new employer or client.
Navigating Environmental Compliance is a little bit text-booky. Therefore, I am writing the book that provides more of a high-level “what to do when you’re new” view and introduces my PREPARED framework! Look for PREPARED: Navigating Your New Role in Environmental Compliance in 2026!
In addition to training new environmental compliance professionals, I also see a great need for more people to consider environmental compliance careers! I wrote Exploring Environmental Compliance Careers to provide some insight on the three main environmental compliance employers– the regulatory agencies, consulting firms, and industrial facilities. I have worked in all three areas and share the pros and cons of each. Overall, environmental compliance continues to grow and is a great and rewarding career among the many other “green” careers!