Click either image above to buy!
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, which serves the new environmental compliance professional who needs a jump start into determining the compliance status of a new employer or client. Further, I envisioned that this book would give industrial facility managers the information that would help them better understand the needs of the environmental department.
I have since realized that Navigating Environmental Compliance contains too much information for busy managers so I am working on another book in the series– Navigating Environmental Compliance for Managers. It includes an overview of the basic environmental compliance requirements for program oversight but also discusses how to involve the environmental department in the facility’s planning and decision-making. In essence, WYNTK if you are a facility manager overseeing an environmental department.
There is a not-so-fine line between micromanaging and letting a whole department run feral.
My objective with this book is to proactively address issues to ensure managers are not first alerted to problems through regulatory violation notices and environmental staff are not surprised by operational changes that violate the facility’s permits.
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 career among the many other “green” careers!
What are other readers saying?
