Posters | May 6-7 | 11:00 - 11:30 AM

A Phase I ESA is completed to research the current and historical uses of a property as part of a real estate transaction or sometimes a commercial property refinance. The intent of the Phase I ESA process is to assess if current or historical property uses have impacted the soil or groundwater beneath the property and could pose a threat to the environment and/or human health. For this presentation, my goal is to provide an overview of the Phase I ESA process for those consultants just beginning their careers, or provide a refresher for those who haven't performed Phase I ESAs recently. I will also discuss how the Phase I ESA works within the NEPA process as a supplemental study.

Christopher George Rua, CHMM, CEA
Project Manager
Potomac-Hudson Engineering, Inc. 

Mr. Christopher Rua, CHMM, CEA, is a Project Manager at Potomac-Hudson Engineering, Inc. (PHE) with over 22 years of environmental consulting experience. He has spent his entire career at PHE. He graduated from Rutgers University in 2001 with a B.S. in Environmental Planning and Design. He later earned a master's degree in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland-University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus). He lives in New Jersey and manages PHE's Neptune, NJ office.

Description coming soon.

Kakhramonov Vokhidjon
Graduate Student
Oregon State University 

Presenter information coming soon.

Market problem: Road transport is among the fastest-growing sectors, accounting for at least 80% of the global increase in diesel consumption and nearly one-third of the global transportation sector's CO2 emissions. In the United States, the transportation sector is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, with medium- and heavy-duty vehicles used for freight among the most significant contributors. Early-stage electrification plans and proposed market solutions for essential and heavily trafficked domestic freight corridors in the United States have not been optimized around important factors.

INF and its partner ecosystem believe plans for zero-emission charging infrastructure that will meet ambitious federal and state energy goals must account for these factors to produce viable market solutions that will enable widespread adoption by producing the greatest co-benefits for road transport stakeholders. Proposed market solution - the best solution isn't always the fastest charging scenario: INF and its partner ecosystem are developing market solutions for medium and heavy-duty truck charging which optimize for current regulations that specify truck driver hours-of-service requirements i.e. when and how long drivers are allowed to drive by placing specific limits on the amount of time they drive the truck and how many total hours they can work before they are no longer permitted to drive a commercial motor vehicle. Enabling truck depots to function as microgrids by optimizing the charging rate around the driver's hours-of-service requirements carries significant co-benefits. Evergreen Charing System - a win for investors, utilities, freight industry, and the planet.

The proposed Evergreen Charging System is one emerging example that addresses the factors named above by providing an agile interconnected freight microgrid solution that: maximizes reliability and profitability of freight charging requirements; optimizes the total federal and private cost of infrastructure to build out a unified, national-level solution; and minimizes the number and complexity of permits and utility interconnections. Product ecosystem strategy and next steps: INF is a leading installer and support contractor of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and cloud infrastructure. We seek to use our deep knowledge of freight industry's real-world problems and our immense supply chain network to identify technical partners, anchor investors, and private joint venture opportunities to support validation and piloting of technologies that will support the buildout of a reliable, interoperable interstate network of truck depots. 

Matthew Kavanagh
Chief Operating Officer
INF Associates 

Matthew has been in the energy industry for over 20 years, beginning as a reliability engineer for a power utility after leaving the Navy. He has experience in large hydropower, small wind, ground source heat pumps, energy storage, solar PV (commercial and residential), and transportation energy services. He has served many roles in the Distributed Energy Resources industry from project management, procurement, program management, product development, logistics, operations, project engineering, and senior supply chain roles. He served at a national solar + energy storage company in senior operational roles including leading key projects to decarbonize the supply chain. At INF Associates as the COO he leads sales, project management, engineering, decarbonization, and business operations.

Isolation of climate and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes and their compounded effect is complicated since the two influence each other through forcing-feedback cycles. change.

This research study investigates the changes in LULC and its contribution to the change in surface temperature in the Lake Tana Basin using data obtained from remote sensing satellites, ground observation and reanalysis model. The study analyzes the relation between Land Surface Temperature (LST) distribution with LULC change over Lake Tana Basin for the period 2001-2020. The study also establishes the seasonal relationship between LST and NDVI from MODIS, Pearson correlation coefficient using monthly data for 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2020 over Lake Tana Basin. The study analyzed the rate of change in LST, OMR temperature attributed to increasing or decreasing each Land cover types in Lake Tana Basin. This study investigates the changes in LULC and its contribution to the change in surface and air temperature in the Lake Tana Basin using data obtained from MODIS remote sensing satellites, ground observation and reanalysis model. Observation minus reanalysis (OMR) method and various analysis tools are used to estimate the impact of LULC changes on temperature.

Bisrat Kifle, PhD
Ethiopian Civil Service University 

Dr. Bisrat Kifle is an assistant professor in the Department of Environment and Climate Change Management at the College of Urban Development and Engineering, Ethiopian Civil Service University. His research focuses on climate change projection and downscaling, urbanization, urban water supply and demand study, land use land cover change, remote sensing, air quality monitoring, and waste management. Dr. Bisrat earned his Ph.D. from the University of South Africa in 2017, MSc and BSc (Hons) from Sheffield Halam University UK. He has several international training certificates from Kenya, India, Germany, and USA.

Preparing permitting proposals or permitting applications quickly can be challenging for quickly reviewing all the potential constraints and permitting requirements across multiple agencies and jurisdictions. Terracon Consultants' environmental planners leverage Pivvot and ArcGIS Pro for project planning and permitting proposals. Leveraging these solution partners streamlines proposal preparation and generates site-specific permitting requirements. Additionally, project data is easily exported to ArcGIS Pro to generate report graphics and maps and to conduct deep dive analysis to support proposals' needs and the project lifecycle. This high-level overview of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) components helps planners quickly integrate requirements into proposals, estimate project costs more concisely, and identify project constraints and assumptions. These solutions help project planners and clients quickly understand the cost and timelines associated with potential projects, streamlining the proposal process, and clarifying project feasibility.Key Points: Quick turnaround, high-level review; data exports for mapping and analysis, and project cost estimation.

Katie Wilson, MS, GISP
Senior GIS Analyst
EPG LLC, a Terracon Company 

Katie is Senior GIS Analyst at EPG, based in the Phoenix office, with more than 10 years of experience in GIS and Remote Sensing and 18 years of environmental planning. She has worked on a variety of large-scale utility projects, including transmission and generation. As part of these projects, she has applied her expertise on federal, state, and local environmental projects involving compliance with the NEPA. Prior to joining EPG, she worked as a GIS consultant in support of resource extraction, recreation planning, multi-modal transportation planning, rural development, and environmental planning for public, private, and government entities.

A redevelopment housing project tasked with the construction of over 300 single-family homes found itself in need of a technology that could quickly remediate building sites impacted with chlorinated pesticides historically applied to control termites. The scope was to excavate the foundation/dripline areas and stockpile those soils for subsequent sampling. 15,612 cubic yards were excavated, and roughly 6,244 cubic yards exceeded critical PCLs, requiring treatment. Of the 6,244 cubic yards above the residential PCL, some would have passed TCLP allowing it to be taken to a nearby Class II LF, but the rest would have likely required disposal as hazardous waste. The alternative of landfilling at a facility over 200 miles distant was grossly expensive and would produce an exponential carbon footprint when considering the effluent of exhaust by heavy-duty diesel truck engines. Added complications included the fact that the remediation phase had to be completed on schedule so as not to interfere with the pace of home building. Considering the evolution of chlorinated hydrocarbon remediation at the time, excavation appeared to be the only option. However, such was not the case. Technology had been developed, proven (by field applications), and patented that caused organochlorides to immediately chemically convert to the non-toxic byproducts of carbon dioxide and chloride ion as they came in contact with the chemical reagent. In situ, while aggressively destroying the chlorinated pesticides, the reactions did not create heat and were not reactive with human skin or tissue. Thus, the safety of the technology was assured and had also been proven under field applications. This technology is referred to as Nucleophilic Substitution Or (SN). Based on the work conducted at the Site, WSP and DeepEarth Technologies, Inc. have demonstrated the effectiveness of the treatment at significantly reducing concentrations of organochlorine pesticides in soils. To date, organochlorine pesticide-impacted soils have been successfully treated in situ to below-site critical PCLs at 79 of 89 treated former residence locations. Four former residence locations were successfully re-treated to below-critical PCLs at a designated Soil Management Area and roughly 6,244 cubic yards of impacted soil excavated from a separate area have been treated to below-critical PCLs. The assessment and treatment activities at the Site have resulted in significant savings compared with excavation and disposal of impacted soils that may be classified as hazardous or Class 1 or 2 non-hazardous waste at an off-site facility. The findings from our current work will lead to a significant increase in efficiency and cost-effectiveness when WSP and DeepEarth Technologies, Inc. begin a similar scope of work for the client at an adjacent site at the beginning of 2024.

William Lundy 

Presenter information coming soon.

Agencies and companies being nominated: Forest Service Pacific Northwest and Southwest staff, USGS Earthquake Early Warning staff, and consultant staff EMPSi, Far Western, and HRAThe US Geological Survey and Forest Service collaborated to site, permit, and construct Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) stations on National Forest System lands. This was the most effective collaboration between federal agencies that the point person for this nomination, Marcia Rickey, has seen in 13 years of NEPA work. What's more, this collaboration was done during a historic pandemic and a historic wildfire season. EMPSi, Far Western, and HRA assisted the USGS and the Forest Service with siting, NEPA and Endangered Species Act compliance, other biological analysis, cultural surveys, and construction monitoring. EEW stations rapidly detect earthquakes and then USGS's cell phone app, ShakeAlert, distributes public alerts that destructive ground shaking may be coming. However, the USGS does not own land, so landowners such as the Forest Service are critical to the USGS's ability to install EEW stations. Before installing an EEW station, the USGS and the Forest Service must comply with environmental laws. Every applicant wants their project to be finished as soon as possible. Realistically, complying with environmental laws may take longer than desired. Recognizing this, we worked together to make a priority list of stations that the USGS wanted to permit first. Prioritizing these stations made the most effective use of the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service staff's time for reviewing documents. We wrote biological assessments for the priority stations first so that the list of stations and species for review was shorter. We wrote safety plans to allow fieldwork during the summer of 2020 (early COVID-19 time, before the vaccine). Safety plans in hand, we expedited field work for cultural surveys and reporting for the priority stations. This priority approach allowed us to permit the first 13 EEW stations in only eight months. The project permitted 182 EEW stations on 14 National Forests in the Pacific Southwest, and 52 EEW stations on 12 National Forests in the Pacific Northwest. USGS is actively constructing EEW stations now. After an EEW station is built and activated, it comes online into the ShakeAlert system. With every EEW station added, the system becomes better at alerting the public.

During an earthquake, seconds matter. The ShakeAlert app, supported by the network of EEW stations we permitted and are constructing, gives the people of California, Oregon, and Washington the seconds they need to prepare. This will improve their safety by allowing them to act accordingly, for example, people can stop what they are doing and take cover. As the use of the app becomes more widespread, safety actions can be taken to cumulatively protect people; for example, preparing for power outages by opening emergency exits, shutting off power in fire-prone areas, or pausing dangerous work until shaking stops. First, we sited EEW stations with a GIS desktop exercise to screen out sensitive locations that were in wilderness, wetlands, or had many sensitive, threatened, or endangered species. Second, we analyzed the impacts to sensitive, threatened, or endangered species in biological assessments and evaluations; we surveyed the EEWs for cultural resources and reported the findings; and we reviewed the EEWs for potential environmental impacts in categorical exclusions. Finally, we used micro-siting (moving the EEW within the analyzed area but outside of an environmental constraint) and field flagging to avoid cultural resources, rare plants, or other environmental constraints.

Marcia Rickey
GIS Supervisor
EMPSi-AECOM 

Marcia Rickey is a GIS specialist who has worked at EMPSi (now AECOM) for 15 years, including projects for the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Reclamation, and USGS. Her favorite projects so far were the BLM Colorado Grand Junction Resource Management Plan, Reclamation's Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System, and this USGS-Forest Service Earthquake Early Warning permitting.

Have you wondered what is like to be an environmental consultant? Environmental consulting is a career path that incorporates a wide array of multi-disciplinary fields including water quality monitoring, environmental site assessments, protected species surveys, natural resource permitting, impact mitigation planning, and wetland delineations. The field itself is so broad that sometimes one cannot be fully prepared for the learning curve that comes with being an entry-level consultant (i.e. understanding what an environmental consultant does, prioritizing multiple projects at once, managing project expectations, being efficient when budget is limited, etc). Relocating for your career may also present challenges to the adaptation process that students may encounter when starting the environmental consulting journey. There's good news, though! These challenges can be counteracted by preparing yourself with an entry-level career kit. So, strap on your waders and rubber boots and follow me through my personal experience as an entry-level environmental consultant. I will teach you how to easily adapt to an exciting, fast-paced work environment while maintaining a good work-life balance. I will also share strategies to better navigate your first wetland delineation, pre-site visit tips, post-field work best management practices, personal and professional wellness, and more.

Angie Katerine Quiroga Torres
Environmental Scientist
HDR 

Born and raised in Bogota-Colombia, Angie has developed an interest in improving urban and rural settings in her native Colombia. The need for access to clean water, water protection, reliable infrastructure, and passion for Environmental Sciences led Angie to pursue her B.S. Biology degree at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis, and later, her M.S. in Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois -Springfield. Angie is currently working as an Environmental Scientist at her dream company, HDR, which has allowed her to grow her professional career as an environmental and wetland scientist.

The management of construction and demolition (C&D) fines generated from the processing of C&D debris presents significant challenges for recyclers in terms of finding sustainable applications and addressing environmental concerns. This study investigates the potential of hydrogel, a distinctive class of three-dimensional networks formed by cross-linking hydrophilic polymer chains within a water-rich environment, to stabilize C&D fines for construction purposes. The exceptional toughness and mechanical strength of hydrogel have sparked interest in improving the ductility and dynamic loading resistance of construction materials. However, limited studies have explored the use of hydrogel in this context. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Ca-alginate hydrogel, an environmentally friendly form of hydrogel, in enhancing the ductility and mechanical behavior of C&D fines. Ca-alginate hydrogel was chosen as the stabilizing agent due to its eco-friendly properties. In this study, The study involved incorporating up to 4% (by weight) of hydrogel into C&D fines to investigate the improvement in their mechanical properties and ductility. The influence of reaction time, sodium alginate content, and curing temperature on the mechanical behaviors of hydrogel-stabilized C&D fines was investigated using unconfined compression tests, falling head permeability tests, and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the addition of sodium alginate content significantly increased the unconfined compression strength (UCS) of hydrogel-treated C&D fines, resulting in enhanced load-bearing capacity of the material. The UCS of C&D fines treated with 4% hydrogel achieved an impressive 240 kPa after 7 days of curing.

 Cescar Kangogo

Presenter information coming soon.

This session will explore the benefits of reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) now and in the future. Many cities across the country and a few states (including California and Minnesota) have statewide policies to support reducing VMT. A major part of the rationale for reducing VMT is to support meeting Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction goals. However, reducing VMT overall to date has proven elusive for the economy as a whole and mitigation to reduce VMT for new roadway capacity projects and land use projects is both challenging and costly. At the same time, there is an acceleration of market penetration and an aggressive regulatory push for electric vehicles (EVs) in the light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicle sectors, which will reduce the GHG emission reduction benefits of reducing VMT. This session will present a range of scenarios for VMT reduction, EV adoption, and electrical grid decarbonization to estimate ranges of associated GHG emission reductions. The session will also look beyond GHG emissions to other rationales for reducing VMT including air quality; support of higher occupancy vehicles, transit, and bicycling; and support for land use diversity some of which may change over time due to EV adoption and some of which may not.

Rich Walter
Vice President, Environmental Planning
ICF 

Rich Walter has 31 years of experience in environmental planning and has led environmental impact assessments, alternatives analyses, and regulatory compliance for a diversity of projects including rail, road, bike, port, residential, commercial, mixed-use, resort, restoration, mining, pipeline, vineyard, industrial park, and flood control projects. He has managed compliance with NEPA, ESA, NHPA, CWA, CAA, CZMA, RCRA, Section 4f, federal requirements concerning environmental justice and other federal requirements along with state and local mandates. Rich has also leads a climate action planning practice that has developed municipal and community climate action plans, GHG inventories for hundreds of communities, general plan policies addressing climate change, and adaptation plans.

During development of a master planning Environmental Assessment (EA) for an Army base in the Gulf Region, the FEMA-mapped floodplains indicated the entire project area would be entirely in the 100-year or 500-year floodplain. However, anecdotal evidence from discussions with Army personnel and a site visit suggested this was not the case. A project to validate the actual flood risk to the installation was initiated and the EA was paused. The purpose of this project was to identify flood hazard threats and communicate the mission impairment risk in a meaningful manner that supports mission adaptation and sustainability into the future. A three-phased planning process was executed to document data collection and analysis, conduct a vulnerability assessment, and develop mitigation actions to address flood risks. The planning process outputs included a) identification of potential flood risks, b) recommended mitigation measures to improve the installation's readiness for future flooding, and c) selection of actionable mitigation measures to communicate sustainability and resilience in response to flood hazard risks. Project-related tasks included FEMA floodplains review, vulnerability assessment of the project area, Floodplain Hazard Mitigation Plan development, and incorporating the flood mitigation into the existing master planning EA. The first step involved reviewing the latest (2016) FEMA Flood Model data, validating the floodplain limits, and confirming whether the buildings/structures were located within a floodplain area. FEMA Flood Insurance Studies (FIS) determine the 100-year and 500-year flood elevations along mapped waterways through hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analysis. The flood elevations are transposed onto the topography to develop the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS). A topographic review of FEMA-utilized topography against open-source data, as well as reported accounts and field observations, supported the conclusion that the FEMA 2016 FIS overpredicted the flood recurrence intervals and the FIRM was inaccurate. Based on the modeling conducted, Stantec developed a more accurate flood map for conditions and the Army is considering the process of a map revision via the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)'s Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) process. A LOMR is a document that allows FEMA to revise flood hazard information on an NFIP map without having to physically revise or reprint the entire map panel. Once accurate data were obtained and mapped, appropriate mitigation measures were developed and identified in the Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan. Lastly, those mitigation measures were incorporated into the master planning EA. The EA explained how the installation was able to address the Eight Step Decision Making Process in Executive Order 11988 for floodplain management through the three-phased planning process. The potential impacts were reduced to less than significant and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) as well as a Finding of No Practicable Alternative (FONPA) was issued.

John Lowenthal, Senior PWS, PWD
Senior Biologist/Senior Principal-Ecology
Stantec 

Mr. Lowenthal is a senior biologist with 38 years of experience managing environmental projects focusing on habitat restoration, climate resilience, threatened and endangered species work. water resources, wetland mitigation, and stream restoration. He currently resides on the Society of Wetland Scientist Board of Directions and the Professional Wetland Scientist Certification Program Board of Directors. Mr. Lowenthal is also currently serving a second three-year term on EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors Water Resources Sub-Committee. In recognition of his commitment to the Professional Wetland Scientist Certification Program through 20-plus years of membership and adhering to professional standards, ethics, and practice as a wetland scientist, Mr. Lowenthal has earned the designation of Senior Professional Wetland Scientist.

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