With 25 years of environmental engineering and consulting experience, Jonathan Waddell brings a high level of regulatory knowledge and technical experience to our team, serving as a reliable resource and seasoned advocate for our clients. Jonathan brings strong remedial conceptualization, feasibility evaluation, estimating skills, and a wide, unbiased understanding of potential remedial alternatives. Jonathan has applied this expertise while managing large projects for industrial and specialty chemical clients across North America. As a senior engineer with the remediation team, Jonathan provides engineering support, review, and certification to projects within the industrial, petroleum, and natural gas sectors. He also provides oversight for the preparation, design, and implementation of environmental site assessment work plans and directly manages remedial investigation and design efforts to address soil and/or groundwater impacts by diverse constituents of interests.
Jonathan has authored remedial action plans, construction completion reports, remedial performance monitoring reports, and No Further Action (NFA) letters. As an engineer, he has led remedial design, costing, installation, and operation and maintenance activities. Jonathan has also managed human health risk assessments, screening level ecological risk assessments, vapor intrusion evaluations, and vapor mitigation activities. He is knowledgeable in United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) regulations (RCRA, CERCLA, and TSCA), proper waste determination and management methods, and the auspices of several different state regulatory programs.
What do you find most rewarding about the work that you do?
What I enjoy most about consulting is that it is rarely routine, and I am never faced with boring or dull days. I never know what challenge will come my way, and that keeps me energized. I view consultants as the leading spear of strategy and response guidance. As an engineer and “problem solver,” this provides me with endless opportunity for learning, growth, and the chance to leverage that experience and knowledge to take on whatever comes next.
What’s particularly rewarding at EHS Support is the freedom to chart my own path and wear several hats. I can be both a project manager and engineer, work on projects or operations (or both), and even serve as a client/remediation project manager to see the remediation process from a client’s perspective.
What are you currently working on?
I’m juggling several projects at any given time. As mentioned above, I am currently serving as a contracted remediation project manager for a client where I am working closely with Cassie Johnson (remediation program manager), client staff, outside counsel, and several different performing consultant teams. In this role, I am directing work at sites across the United States in many different regulatory platforms, including RCRA, Superfund, USEPA, and state-led programs. I am constantly learning new things while also being able to inject my own knowledge and experience into site strategy and pathway to closure.
I also provide client management support, playing a key role in guiding several of the client’s projects. These projects range from active plants to historical liabilities for former wood preservation and pulp and paper plants. This has provided me with first-hand experience with a client’s struggle with managing sizeable historical liabilities, relative to competing business and financial interests and has given me a real edge in the client/remediation project manager space.
Additionally, I serve as project manager or technical advisor for several sites for a wood treating client with operations across the US and Canada. I also support our mergers & acquisitions team as an actuary, preparing detailed liability estimates that can be leveraged by clients during the acquisition or divestment process. I am involved in scoping, implementation, and reporting for quick turn, limited due diligence efforts.
How can our clients benefit from this service/particular innovation?
In my 25 years working with diverse clients, I’ve learned that not everyone is an expert in site characterization and remediation, and that’s totally fine. That is why contracting remediation project managers can be incredibly beneficial to our clients. Clients gets a seasoned environmental professional who not only has broad knowledge and experience but also has “cut their teeth” on a variety of different and challenging remediation projects. Taking advantage of this service ultimately gives clients a strong advantage with respect to project progression and driving towards regulatory closure.
What advice do you have for recent graduates?
I have three key pieces of advice for recent graduates. First, I strongly suggest pursuing advanced learning, like a master’s degree, in your field of interest. Personally, I found that my bachelor’s degree only touched the tip of the iceberg. In contrast, my master’s program was enlightening, stimulating, and illuminating.
Second, don’t stress about the field work. Yes, it can get monotonous, and travel can be exhausting, but this experience is critical to growth into project management or technical tracks. Plus, it helps you understand what field teams go through when you’re eventually managing those efforts from the office.
Finally, try to be proactive and stay on top of your work. Track your tasks, knock out action items, and prioritize work relative to regulatory timeframes or other priorities. This will help you maintain a steady schedule with considerably lower stress. And don’t forget, delegation is key!
When you were 10 years old, what did you aspire to do for a career?
As a 10-year-old, I was drawing newspaper comic strip cartoons, drawing and designing new Transformers (robots), and writing short stories. I had absolutely no thoughts on a future career at that time.
