WHAT DOES AN ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIST DO?
Published: Feb 11, 2025 – The Environmental Specialist manages and delivers project consent-related activities by implementing best practices, engaging stakeholders, and addressing local community concerns effectively. This position supports and advises project teams on design and development while ensuring consent strategies align with program, cost, and reputation objectives. The specialist oversees resource allocation, financial reporting, and timely preparation of consent documentation to meet project deadlines and quality standards.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Environmental Specialist
1. Environmental Specialist General Responsibilities
- Management Information Systems (MIS): Develop and maintain the management information systems, ensuring proper data integration and reporting.
- Title V, NSR, VEEC, PBR Amendments and Alterations: Be well-versed in compliance with Title V, NSR, VEEC, and PBR amendments and alterations in environmental regulations.
- Wastewater Permit Compliance: Maintain and report on wastewater permit requirements to ensure adherence to environmental standards.
- Employee Training on Hazardous Materials: Update and deliver training programs related to hazardous materials and industrial waste management for employees.
- Chemical Inventory Management: Maintain accurate records of chemical inventories and ensure proper handling and disposal of hazardous materials.
- Complaint Investigation: Investigate complaints related to hazardous materials and industrial waste, ensuring timely resolution and compliance.
- Waste Shipment and Disposal: Oversee the shipment of hazardous and industrial wastes, ensuring proper disposal methods are followed.
- Regulatory Compliance: Keep informed of current and proposed regulations related to program areas, ensuring compliance with environmental laws.
- Waste Profile Management: Maintain all waste profiles with the waste contractor to ensure proper tracking and management of waste materials.
- Transportation and Disposal Coordination: Coordinate transportation of waste to disposal sites, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.
- Program Development for Hazardous Materials: Recommend and coordinate the development of programs to help the district comply with hazardous materials regulations.
- Regulatory Agency Coordination: Facilitate coordination with regulatory agencies regarding industrial/hazardous waste materials to ensure compliance.
- Right-to-Know, GHS, SDS Information Dissemination: Disseminate Right-to-Know, GHS, and SDS information to employees and ensure compliance with safety standards.
- SDS Database Management: Maintain and manage Safety Data Sheets (SDS) in the ShareDrive and SDS database for accessibility and compliance.
- Environmental Reporting: Ensure completion of EIQ, TRI, Tier II, SW3P, SPCC, and Annual Waste summary reports accurately and on time.
- Regulatory Updates and Communication: Stay updated on new regulations in environmental reporting and communicate changes to plant management staff.
- Reporting Tools and Spreadsheets: Use spreadsheets and other tools for reporting to improve consistency in plant operations and data accuracy.
- Audit Gap Management: Actively manage programs to close gaps identified during site audits, ensuring continuous improvement and compliance.
2. Environmental Specialist Key Accountabilities
- EPR and GHG Compliance: Ensure compliance with the site’s EPR and GHG permits and limits.
- Data Analysis for Compliance: Analyse data to develop a long-range course of action to achieve ongoing compliance.
- Environmental Alignment with Business Strategy: Ensure environmental work processes are aligned with the business strategy, ensuring activities are rooted in company values.
- Environmental Performance Measurement: Measure environmental performance by identifying key measures of progress, understanding data limits and boundaries, and encouraging continuous improvement.
- Regulatory Requirements Monitoring: Monitor current and future environmental regulatory requirements as well as company standards to ensure compliance.
- Stakeholder Communication: Keep the SLT informed of new or emerging regulatory or stakeholder-driven compliance issues and targets.
- Environmental Returns Management: Manage all monthly and annual environmental returns ensuring accuracy, consistency, and validation of plant emissions returns on time.
- Metering and Calibration Management: Ensure effective metering and calibrations are in place across plant parameters to support ongoing compliance and emissions returns.
- Environmental Awareness Training: Take responsibility for environmental awareness training of key staff members.
- External Representation: Act as the location’s representative on Environmental Councils and local environmental groups on Teesside.
- Regulator and Stakeholder Relationship Management: Develop and sustain working relationships with regulators, training providers, and other key local stakeholders.
- External Audit Coordination: Coordinate and manage external audits by regulators and other relevant authorities associated with accreditation compliance.
- Emergency Response Participation: Be part of the EHS Duty team responding to incidents as part of Cleveland Emergency Protocols.
- Leadership and Technical Skills Development: Develop leadership and technical skills, fostering a learning environment that encourages efficient and effective processes.
3. Environmental Specialist Roles and Details
- Environmental Data Management: Manage environmental information and data from suppliers and own production.
- Sustainable Innovation Support: Work closely with international innovation teams and Research and Development to support the development of sustainable innovations.
- Claims Development Support: Support claims development based on environmental achievements.
- Stakeholder Communication: Present results and improvement areas to key stakeholders.
- Emergency Response Management: Manage facility emergency response preparedness and training.
- Emergency Response Coordination: Coordinate emergency response and provide field response support.
- Regulatory Interface: Interface with regulatory agencies for routine reporting and inspections.
- Data and Documentation Support: Assist with reviewing and organizing data and program documentation.
- Environmental Regulation Compliance: Handle tasks associated with the Clean Water Act, MT DEQ environmental regulations, and/or other federal, state, and local environmental regulations and policies.
- Incident Investigation and Corrective Action: Participate in incident investigations and lead corrective actions for environmental issues.
- SPCC/SWPPP Management: Take responsibility for SPCC/SWPPP technical management and program implementation.
4. Environmental Specialist Essential Functions
- NPDES Permit Drafting: Review applications for and draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) operating permits for complex domestic facilities discharging wastewater.
- Nutrient Watershed Permits: Develop, draft, and prepare nutrient watershed permits.
- Nutrient Limit Compliance: Timely development of permit terms and conditions for market-based nutrient limit compliance approaches for applicable watersheds, such as nutrient trading.
- Biosolids Technical Expertise: Serve as the Water Protection Program’s (WPP) biosolids technical expert for domestic permittees.
- Biosolids Permit Management: Develop and implement any changes to the biosolids operating permit Standard Condition and conduct training for Department team members.
- Biosolids Management Expertise: Serve as an expert on biosolids management to other offices, programs, agencies, public officials, and the general public.
- National Pretreatment Program Coordination: Serve as WPP’s Operating Permit Section’s Domestic Unit Coordinator for the National Pretreatment Program.
- Facility Tracking and Communication: Maintain application forms, track domestic facilities with industrial contributions, and communicate this information to the Industrial Wastewater Unit and the WPP’s Compliance and Enforcement Section.
- Pretreatment Program Review: Coordinate with the Compliance and Enforcement Section pretreatment coordinator and review pretreatment programs incorporated into operating permits.
- Wet Weather Coordination: Serve as WPP’s Operating Permit Section’s Wet Weather Coordinator.
- Voluntary Compliance Support: Assist Operating Permit Section team members and other WPP team members on the status and compliance of permitted facilities subject to voluntary compliance agreements.
- Long-Term Control Plan Monitoring: Monitor and review reports for municipalities implementing a Long-Term Control Plan due to combined sewer systems.
- Rule Modifications: Evaluate, implement, and recommend modifications to rules that impact domestic permit writing.
5. Environmental Specialist Overview
- Construction Project Consent Management: Obtain consent for construction projects by leading and managing the delivery of project consent-related activities through the consistent implementation of best practices, processes, and guidance, and effective engagement with all relevant external stakeholders and local communities.
- Project Design and Development Support: Support, advise, and guide project teams concerning the design and development of projects.
- Project Consent Strategy Implementation: Ensure the implementation of effective project consent strategies, specifically the program, cost, and reputational impacts of making changes to the aforementioned.
- Resource Management for Project Consent: Ensure project resource requirements are identified, procured, and sufficiently embedded within the project team ahead of need and that these resources are coached and mentored to perform effectively concerning the delivery of consent-related activities.
- Project Consent Resource Management: Proactively manage the project consent resources and provide current financial information to the Project Manager.
- Business Metrics Reporting: Ensure timely reporting of agreed business metrics, ensuring value for money, and appropriate challenge to the project teams to deliver this.
- Consent Documentation Preparation: Ensure all consents, EIA consultation reports, and documents required in support of town and country planning and S37 overhead line applications are prepared to the correct level and within required project timescales.
- Project Good Practices and Lessons Learned: Ensure that project-specific good practices and lessons learned are effectively identified, properly recorded, and relayed.