Environmental Project Manager

Background

Tellus Civic Science Corporation (Tellus) provides world-class science, engineering, research, planning, and consulting solutions focused on resource conservation and restoration, carbon reduction, and sustainability to mitigate the impacts of climate change, strengthen community resilience, preserve our environment, and create a more equitable society for all. We are a team of environmental scientists, planners, engineers, policy experts, geospatial analysts, and data scientists with a passion to improve our local, national, and global environment. We seek highly motivated professionals to join our team who share this passion

Tellus seeks an Environmental PM who will interface with USEPA and California State Water Board clients, consultants, local agencies, and UST facility owners/operators to facilitate UST leak prevention program improvements. The focus of efforts will be towards bringing out of compliance UST facilities into regulatory compliance, up to and including, removal of USTs. They will work closely with the State Water Board Division of Water Quality and Office of Enforcement to make recommendations for strategies to compel owners and operators to meet requirements. In addition to working closely with our USEPA and CA State Water Board clients, this candidate will be responsible for his/her workload and deliverables as well as oversee leak prevention efforts of a small team of UST Specialists.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities include:

• Serve as a technical resource on UST systems, UST Regulations, UST equipment, and UST Inspections
• Perform UST facility inspections. Represent the State Water Board's Office of UST Enforcement when a state UST inspector is requested to be on-site by USEPA
• Perform surveys of abandoned UST facilities to determine environmental risk factors.
• Act as liaison between local regulatory agencies, the State Water Board, the nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards, and U.S. EPA as we work together to permanently close illegally abandoned UST facilities and single-walled tank systems subject to closure on or before December 31, 2025.
• Manage the deliverables and schedules of UST Leak Prevention projects and Office of Enforcement UST Leak Prevention projects, oversee staff supporting efforts to help team stay on task and deliver high quality deliverables to our clients.
• Provide team members with continuous training and opportunities for career development. Review and edit documents generated by team members. Review team correspondence to monitor quality and efficacy and provide feedback.
• Organize and attend meetings with UST Program stakeholders to identify and address program issues and concerns.
• Work with UST Program stakeholders to develop and plan for new program initiatives and efforts to continue to further the goals of the UST Leak Prevention Program.
• Develop training materials and guidance documents on UST regulations, equipment, state financial assistance, and inspections for regulators, the regulated community, and other interested parties.
• Draft letters and notices to single-walled tank system owners and operators informing them about the deadline for permanent closure of single-walled tank systems and the State Water Board funding programs that are available to them to help permanently close (and many times replace) their single-walled UST systems.
• Perform outreach to owners of abandoned UST facilities to advise of potential financial assistance eligibility. Consult with the appropriate US EPA and State Water Board program staff. Work with the State Water Board's Office of UST Enforcement to track which abandoned UST facility owners are cooperative. Develop unique strategies for progressing each case to proper permanent closure.
• Track delivery status of letters and notices issued, as well as deadlines for owners/operators' submittals.
• Conduct online research to locate owner/operator contact information and obtain information about site status.
• Review files, Parcel Quest, Google Earth, and local regulatory agency files, to determine who can be considered a potentially responsible party (PRP) for single-walled and abandoned UST sites where the owners/operators are unknown or difficult to reach.
• Compile tracking spreadsheets and draft documents for outreach materials.
• Develop progress reports and provide regular updates on program accomplishments.
• Create process improvements and improved forms for use by staff of the RUST group within the State Water Board's Division of Financial Assistance.
• Facilitate communications between RUST staff, grant and loan applicants, and local agencies.
• Advise property owners/operators of potential financial assistance eligibility. Assist owners/operators with the preparation and submittal of funding applications. Assist with tracking of grant and loan applications and invoices as they route for review.
• Mine data from the California Environmental Protection Agency's (CalEPA's) California Environmental Reporting System (CERS) database on single-walled and abandoned UST systems and track changes in data available.
• Maintain current single-walled UST data in the State Water Board's database, GeoTracker. The GeoTracker "Single-walled UST" Site / Facility Type was created to track the progress toward permanent closure of the remaining active single-walled UST sites.
• Use GeoTracker to track correspondence and facilitate communications between local UST regulators and Cleanup Oversight Agencies regarding topics like funding applications, groundwater/soil sampling reports, UST closure letters, and new LUST cases.
• Assist local agencies with using CERS to meet state UST data reporting requirements.
• Assist owners/operators with obtaining permit records from agencies, addressing unresolved violations, updating CERS, and reviewing quotes and bids potential financial assistance applicants have received.
• Conduct public presentations on subjects relevant to leak prevention efforts.

Minimum Basic Requirements for Skills, Experience, Education and Credentials include:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, environmental science, geology, or related field.
• Knowledge of UST components, equipment, construction, monitoring requirements, fuel compatibility, and leak detection methods.
• Three to four years of experience with similar work, including regulatory interaction experience.
• Ability to manage people and complex projects in an environment of rapidly shifting priorities.
• Knowledge of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Subtitle I, and of related regulations (e.g., Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures, Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act, and RCRA enforcement and cooperative agreement authorities), policy directives, and guidance.
• Knowledge of state UST Regulations (Title 23, Division 3, Chapter 16 of the CA Code of Regulations) and statutes (Chapter 6.7 of CA Health and Safety Code).
• Knowledge and skill to evaluate and incorporate the latest developments in UST operations and compliance.
• Ability to develop strategies to correct problems, coordinating with appropriate personnel and (where appropriate) determine the need for an environmental study of the problem.
• Ability to analyze policies to determine long-term benefits for and impacts on UST Leak Prevention Program.
• Ability to develop productive working relationships with the CA State Water Resources Control Board, U.S. EPA Region 9, and local implementing agencies.
• Ability to effectively communicate policy, regulations, and technical issues with a variety of audiences both verbally and in writing.

Additional Preferred Requirements for Skills, Experience, Education and Credentials include:

• Current ICC CA UST Inspector Certification for USTs
• Current 40 hr. HAZWOPER Training
• PM training, and work towards Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

Physical demands:

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this assignment.
• While performing the duties of the job, the employee is occasionally required to: walk; sit; use hands to handle or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; balance; stoop; talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• The work is primarily sedentary in nature with about 10-15% of the time being spent in the field and the remaining time will be spent in the office.
• During the course of conducting field work employee may be required to wear personal protection equipment, including head, eyes and ear protection, work clothes, safety footwear, and gloves.
• The noise level in the work environment may vary from typical office background to noise found in working out in the field which can require hearing protection.