Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Announces New Managers in Remediation Division

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has named the new managers of the five sections of the remediation division of the agency.  A few years ago, the TCEQ "reorganized" such that people in the remediation division worked on all types of projects Superfund, Petroleum Storage Tank, Voluntary Cleanup, and Corrective Action.  One of the complaints voiced by the regulated community was that the parties that knew an area well were struggling in the other areas.  In particular, I led a group of ten or more environmental attorneys and consultants to meet with the TCEQ last fall, and discuss our concerns that one of the leading Voluntary Cleanup Programs in the country was becoming less effective as a result of the reorganization. 

We thought that the parties who were working on the VCP matters were not in tune with the purpose of the program and did not understand fully the VCP Program, the Innocent Owner/Operator Program (IOP), and the Municipal Setting Designation Program. 

Fortunately, Brent Wade took over the remediation division and determined to put the programs back in specialized groups.  He recently announced the managers of those programs as follows:

PST/Dry Cleaners - Bill Shafford

 

Superfund/SSDAP - Bob Patton

 

QA/Technical Support - Pat Fontenot

 

VCP/CAS - Ashley Forbes

 

Financial Monitoring/Contract Support - Chris Drewy

 

These changes will take effect April 1.  The remediation division is working toward hiring the people who will make up the staff of each section now.

 

This is a very positive step for the TCEQ and those individuals and firms that work with the remediation division.  In addition, we believe that it will help to maintain a top voluntary cleanup program in Texas.  This will help the real estate industry in Texas that has been hit by the financial crisis as VCP and IOP applications had numerous delays and unnecessary requests from those staff who were working hard, but simply did not fully understand or appreciate the Brownfield programs.