Damian V. Preziosi

Managing Principal, Strategic Initiatives Director

Damian V. Preziosi Managing Principal, Strategic Initiatives Director

Mr. Damian V. Preziosi is an environmental scientist and risk assessor with more than 25 years of experience in evaluating potential ecological and human health risks associated with exposures to physical, chemical, and biological hazards. He supports clients in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia for work in the energy, chemical, and mining sectors. Specializing in the assessment, communication, and management of risk, Mr. Preziosi works with clients to develop strategic and cost-effective approaches for managing their environmental liabilities. He is equally adept and experienced in the areas of environmental impact assessment, natural resource damage assessment (N...

Specializing in the assessment, communication, and management of risk, Mr. Preziosi works with clients to develop strategic and cost-effective approaches for managing their environmental liabilities. He is equally adept and experienced in the areas of environmental impact assessment, natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) and traditional risk assessment, making him a highly effective communicator and negotiator across these disciplines. His practice focuses on addressing complex environmental challenges, often involving assessment of project or release impacts to both local conditions and broader ecosystem-level scales over time. Beginning with his early career at the Library of Congress working on science and policy matters, he has gained significant policy experience related to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Environmental Policy Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Act, Superfund (CERCLA), Oil Pollution Act, and Clean Water Act.

Mr. Preziosi’s technical expertise includes risk assessment, injury assessment and causation, ecological modeling, food web analysis, weight-of-evidence analysis, and statistics. He has participated in approximately 100 ecological and human health risk assessments related to large marine ecosystems (LMEs), coastal waters, rivers, and harbors, as well as several types of upland sites, including energy generation and transmission facilities, chemical manufacturing facilities, and mines.

Damian V. Preziosi

Managing Principal, Strategic Initiatives Director

Environmental Impact Assessment

Offshore Wind Marine Mammal Acoustic Modeling and Monitoring, East Coast, United States Currently serving as principal-in-charge of underwater acoustic modeling to evaluate potential impacts to marine mammals, sea turtles, and fish. The assessments serve to support permitting associated with construction and operations of offshore wind facilities as well as to support design, planning, and execution of monitoring programs. Responsible for overall technical oversight, project performance, client interface, and engagement with regulators and other stakeholders.

Offshore Wind Benthic Baseline Studies, East Coast, United States On behalf of confidential commercial developers, served as principal-in-charge on the design and implementation of benthic community baseline surveys for lease areas located off Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island. Responsible for overall management and execution of sediment profile imaging (SPI) field activities, data interpretation, and reporting.

Offshore Wind Essential Fish Habitat, East Coast, United States On behalf of a confidential commercial developer, served as principal-in-charge on the review, metasynthesis, and reporting of extant baseline information on location and extent of essential fish habitat off the coast of southern New England. Potential impact factors were evaluated for planning, construction, operation, and conceptual decommissioning. Independent analyses were performed to examine potential overlap between fish habitat and a lease area with modeling of population-level consequences to commercially valued demersal fish. The work was performed in support of fisheries engagement, site assessment, and subsequent drafting of a construction and operations plan.

Fisheries Monitoring Programs, Global Served as principal-in-charge and principal investigator in multiyear monitoring programs for offshore and nearshore marine demersal and pelagic communities. Special emphasis placed on ecosystem-based management strategies utilizing ecosystem services, ecosystem functioning, and biodiversity. Monitoring programs have included traditional baseline studies and before-after control-impact (BACI) studies employing gradient-based, grided, probability-informed, randomized sampling and various uni- and multivariate, nonparametric statistical methods. Program locations include Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, Delaware Estuary, Georges Bank, Lower Willamette River, and Gulf of Thailand.

Fisheries Modeling to Support Platform Decommissioning, Central California Served as principal investigator to evaluate potential changes in fish community biodiversity and structure associated with various decommissioning alternatives, including removal of structure or conversion of rigs to reef structure. Modeling was performed using the internationally accepted Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) model and considered shifts in food web structure, age structure, stock recruitment and nutrient dynamics, and potential implications for regional commercial and recreational fishing.

Offshore Cable Electromagnetic Field Modeling and Impacts to Marine Life, East Coast, United States Served as principal-in-charge for electromagnetic field (EMF) modeling of proposed buried transmission cables located in coastal waters of New York. Modeling of EMF was performed using the FIELDS computer program, developed by Southern California Edison for both HVDC and HVAC cables. Potential modeled exposures to EMF and thermal changes were evaluated relative to current state-of-the-science on potential threshold level impacts to demersal teleost fish, elasmobranchs, and lobster.

Impacts to Regional Ecosystem Services for Gulf of Thailand Fisheries, Asia Serving as principal-in-charge for a human health and ecological impact assessment in support of oil platform decommissioning. Assessed past process water discharges containing mercury, and transformation processes associated with methylation of mercury from sediments and overlying water into demersal and pelagic food webs. Multiple lines of evidence have been employed, using more than 20 years of research related to regional atmospheric and riverine contributions, mercury isotopic analysis, mercury and methylmercury geochemistry and biogeochemistry, mechanistic modeling of sediment resuspension during 100-year storm events, and platform and regional market fish data. The assessment separated platform risk relative to regional risk and used ecosystem service loss to the Thai fishery as the common risk metric. Presented a report of this work to Thai government officials and an international peer review panel with expertise on mercury in marine environments.

Regional Marine Impacts Associated with Oil Exploration, Arctic Sea Served as principal-in-charge for designing and managing a metasynthesis of environmental monitoring data collected during and after exploration drilling activities. Primary responsibility involved technical leadership of more than 20 independent principal investigators to align their research and reporting with the federal permitting requirements. Under an NPDES general permit, assembled multiple rounds of environmental monitoring data sets for use in the evaluation of potential impacts to the Chukchi Sea regional marine ecosystem. Collected chemical, physical, and toxicological data to address baseline and post-drilling conditions for surface water, sediment, benthic community structure, whole effluent toxicity testing, and marine mammals. Performed data synthesis using a quantitative weight-of-evidence framework, starting with hypothesis testing on individual lines. A key component of this work involved ensuring that federal and state regulators, as well as citizen stakeholder groups, were engaged in planning of the studies and in review of the findings.

Endangered Species Impact Assessment, Atlantic Sturgeon, Offshore and Coastal Mid-Atlantic Currently serving as principal-in-charge to provide third-party review and public comments on behalf of a confidential client for a proposed permit application for port construction activities in the mid-Atlantic. Potential impacts to federally endangered Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) along the New York Bight are of focus. Predicted impacts from vessel traffic, dredging, and pile construction were considered relative to life history traits and currently understood migratory pathways. Population-level risk modeling was performed across multiple life stages of sturgeon to assess potential incremental increase in threat to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recovery trajectories.

Critique of Biological Opinion (BiOp) under ESA Section 7, Salmon and Pesticides Served as principal-in-charge for an industry coalition–funded BiOp critique. Performed a critical review of the population viability analysis model used in the NMFS BiOp on the effects of pesticides on protected species of Pacific salmonids and their habitats. The population matrix model used by NMFS was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and was reconstructed to evaluate potential sources of uncertainty and unsupportable assumptions in the model. Critical assumptions related to life history characteristics, including shifts in prey preference and population density dependence, were identified as critical drivers in the model with high degrees of uncertainty. Prepared a manuscript describing an alternate matrix model and submitted it to a peer-refereed journal for publication.

Natural Resource Damage Assessment

Portland Harbor Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Portland, Oregon Currently serving as principal-in-charge on behalf of a potentially responsible party in assessment of natural resource damages at the Portland Harbor Superfund Site. Technical expert activities included review, independent analysis, and negotiation related to federal, state, and tribal trustee claims pertaining to potential benthic invertebrate and salmon injury associated with exposure to PAHs, chlorinated pesticides, and PCBs. Additional supporting activities include identification of candidate compensatory restoration project (in-place and in-kind).

Fox Point Park, Remedial Investigation and Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Delaware River, Delaware Serving as principal in charge for a concurrent remedial investigation and NRDA performed for a steel slag fill and biosolids site located along the Delaware River. Initial efforts on the project involved development of a strategic liability analysis for environmental investigation, remediation, restoration, and settlement condition costs, incorporating both transactional and alternative litigation costs. The analysis was used to optimize paths forward for client engagement with state regulators and trustees. Remedial investigation and NRDA data collection efforts were combined through a cooperative assessment agreement, with focus on data collection to support risk assessment, injury assessment, and restoration planning. Current project activities relate to finalization of global site settlement and management of restoration project planning and implementation at the site.

Federal and State Superfund Sites, Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Delaware Currently serving as principal in charge in support of potentially responsible party in the confidential examination of potential future NRDA liabilities and potential restoration opportunities for a portfolio of sites subject to remedial investigation and cleanup.

Federal Superfund Site Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Rhode Island Currently serving as principal-in-charge on behalf of a potentially responsible party in the assessment of natural resource damages at a former industrial site located along an urban and industrialized waterway. Key activities include negotiation with federal and state trustees in the formulation of a memorandum of agreement for a cooperative assessment process, data analysis and habitat equivalency assessment (HEA) modeling of injury relative to initial baseline services, and planning and negotiation on early restoration opportunities in anticipation of unquantified claims. The work is being performed in coordination with finalization of response actions for sediment and soil remediation.

Natural Resource Damage Assessment at DDT Waste Site, Alabama Provided technical review of natural resource damage studies conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) at a DDT Superfund site in Alabama. On behalf of a confidential potentially responsible party, provided third-party review and comment of studies designed to assess DDT accumulation in the aquatic and terrestrial food web and potential impacts on breeding populations of neotropical migrant bird species. Assisted in the design of a parallel study intended to prevent USFWS use of invalid and uncertain data.

Former Mill Site, Missoula, Montana Currently serving as strategic advisor on behalf of multiple response parties in the planning and assessment related to potential natural resource damages at a former mill site located along the Clark Fork River. Activities include providing support to EPA on remedial investigation and risk assessment activities, and relating these to possible defenses on natural resource damage claims associated with exposure pathways to the Clark Fork River.

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Prince William Sound, Alaska Served as project manager and technical lead for the State of Alaska, to support a technical assessment of lingering oil impacts on natural resources originally injured in the 1989 spill. Performed a metasynthesis of trustee- and Exxon-collected technical research assembled over approximately 20 years, which was the primary mechanism for determining the recovery status of previously injured resources. This work resulted in the October 2015 decision reached by the State of Alaska and federal government to end the pursuit of additional damages under a reopener clause, citing that resources such as harlequin ducks and sea otters had either recovered or recovery was no longer impeded by lingering oil.

Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Gulf of Mexico Served as project manager and technical lead for NRDA in response to the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. As technical lead for injury to fish and ecosystem service loss, served as primary point of contact with federal and state trustee scientists, academics, and stakeholders in the assessment of direct injury and potential ecosystem-level service loss. A core component of this work involved review and interpretation of emerging data on potential sub-chronic effects of PAHs to larval fish in the context of injury and attendant estimate of service loss. As project manager additionally oversaw other technical leads addressing potential injury to seabirds, shorebirds, wetland habitat, and marine mammals. An additionally significant component of this support entailed negotiation on emergency and early restoration efforts for the agreement of credits prior to formal quantification of injury.

Risk Assessment

Multi-stressor Regional Risk Assessment of Delaware Estuary Identified, analyzed, and ranked the impacts of various stressors on overall ecological health in the Delaware estuary. Served as project manager and technical lead for this regional-scale assessment. Various physical (e.g., salinity, sedimentation, wetland loss), biological (e.g., invasive species, shellfish disease), and chemical (e.g., petroleum, PCBs, mercury) stressors were evaluated. The results of this project were used to inform the need for remediation near the client’s facility and to develop targeted restoration projects, if needed, that have the potential to improve overall regional conditions in the estuary.

Regional-Scale Risk Assessment, Former Mill and Mine Sites, Illinois Principal-in-charge and technical lead for human health and ecological risk assessments of multiple historical mills and mines throughout southeastern Illinois. Evaluated residential and recreational human health risks principally associated with soil, sediment, and surface water exposures to lead, cadmium, chromium, zinc, mercury, and cyanide. Also evaluated ecological risks associated with former mill tailings and leachate ponds, encompassing several hundred acres, at a site-specific and regional level. Examined potential fate and transport and attendant risks for overland and surface water pathways reaching large river system and floodplain areas, with concentrations of lead at percent levels in sediment. A chief consideration in this work involved establishing pre-operation baseline conditions in a region with mining dating back to the early nineteenth century, with exposed deposits present. Another principal consideration was incorporation of bioavailability and bioaccessibility factors for inorganics, as significant mitigators of exposure and risk for both human health and ecological receptors.

Chemical and Radiological Risk Assessment, Suffolk County, New York Performed an ecological risk assessment, as project manager and technical lead, to evaluate potential chemical and radiological exposures in fish, wildlife, and other ecological receptors inhabiting the Peconic River and adjacent floodplain environments in the vicinity of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Evaluated ecological risks principally for mercury, PAHs, PCBs, pesticides, and radiological constituents. Potential exposure conditions were based on both historical monitoring data and multitrophic-level food chain modeling. Ecological receptors evaluated in the assessment included fish, aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, and piscivorous wildlife.

McKay Bay Estuary, Florida Conducted a multipathway ecological risk assessment for metals at a public refuse-to-energy and ash management facility along McKay Bay. Chemicals of interest included mercury, arsenic, chromium, and cyanide, potentially leaching from retention ponds to adjacent surface waters of McKay Bay. Provided a detailed review of former and current incinerator practices and a detailed evaluation of the surrounding bay and the estuary’s flora and fauna. Evaluated benthic macroinvertebrate community exposures and migratory bird exposures to metals present in onsite sediments, relative to baseline conditions present in the bay. Assessed potential risks to the benthic community using multiple lines of evidence, such as sediment bulk chemistry, community metrics, and simultaneously extracted metals and acid-volatile sulfide analyses. Used both single-point and probabilistic techniques to assess exposure and risk for migratory birds. Developed performance standards and remedial alternatives for onsite sediments as part of the overall risk management approach for the site.

St. Johns River, Florida Performed an ecological risk assessment of creosote-contaminated sediments in the St. Johns River ecosystem. The area of contaminated sediments was associated with a former wood-treating facility located along the immediate shoreline. A portion of the contaminated area extended into the main shipping channel of the river. Assessed risks for the benthic community based on sediment bulk chemistry, benthic surveys, and bioassays. Developed remedial alternatives in concert with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to address in situ options and upland placement of sediments dredged as part of maintenance of the shipping channel.

Greens Bayou and Houston Ship Channel, Coastal Texas Served as technical lead and task manager for an ecological and human health risk assessment of contaminated sediments in the Greens Bayou and Houston Ship Channel. Developed an aquatic-based food web model for the bayou based on the environmental chemistry work of Gobas, and performed statistical and chemometric analyses of chemical residues in fish and sediment. This work was conducted in preparation for litigation.

Ecological Modeling

Ecological Risk Modeling for the Cotton Belt, United States Conducted a probabilistic avian risk assessment to support FIFRA registration of a newly developed insecticide/miticide for use in cotton fields in multiple south-central and eastern states throughout the U.S. cotton belt. The probabilistic model was used to evaluate the intrinsic uncertainty and variability associated with avian exposure to the product in the field, such that both the magnitude and likelihood of effects could be determined. Important exposure parameters included the likelihood that the product would be used (based upon county-, state-, and regional-level product market estimates) and the likelihood that birds will forage in areas of application. Identifying these parameters was paramount in developing and communicating potential mitigation and risk management efforts for the product during the registration process.

Pesticide Ecological Risk Modeling, European Union Serving as principal-in-charge for designing and performing ecological modeling of potential risks associated with pesticide products in support of EU registration activities. The models developed were designed to mimic traditional laboratory experiments involving single species (e.g., algae, macrophytes, larval insect species). Through a series of refinements, the models were scaled up to accommodate data from mesocosm and other field studies to characterize aquatic ecosystems under the European Food Safety Authority methodology for pesticide risk assessment. The findings of this work were included among the registration material submitted to various member state authorities. The work was additionally subject to peer review and was presented at international scientific meetings, including the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and the International Society for Ecological Modelling.

Peer Review of EPA-Developed Ecosystem Model Served as one of three national experts on ecosystem modeling to conduct a peer review of enhancements to EPA’s AQUATOX Release 3, a personal-computer-based ecosystem model that simulates the transfer of biomass and chemicals from one compartment of an ecosystem to another. AQUATOX is used to model the environmental fate and ecological effects of stressors in aquatic ecosystems. The model is currently being considered by EPA for use in various regulatory applications, including pesticide registration, Superfund risk assessment, and development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) and ambient water quality criteria.

DDT Bioaccumulation Modeling, Alabama Performed a third-party literature review and data analysis on the biological accumulation of DDT and its metabolites in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Prepared a database of sediment-to-organism and organism-to-organism bioaccumulation factors for multiple species across trophic levels. Compiled data to quantify DDT accumulation from abiotic and biotic media through terrestrial and aquatic food webs. Data were ultimately compiled to support stochastic (i.e., Monte Carlo) evaluation of DDT accumulation in terrestrial and aquatic food webs for use as remediation performance standards.

Site Assessment

Groundwater–Surface Water Interactions, Patrick Bayou, Texas As project manager, performed a weight of-evidence ecological evaluation of the potential interaction between Patrick Bayou surface water and sediment and the groundwater at an adjacent chemical manufacturing facility. Evaluated lines of evidence, including chemical correspondence, chemical mass loading, spatial analysis of benthic sediment toxicity, and predictive benthic invertebrate risk assessment. The overall approach was predicated on the need for a site specific groundwater dilution factor for groundwater management. A significant component of the effort involved organizing and leading technical work group meetings with state and federal regulators, which ultimately led to consensus on findings of no impact and no need for a groundwater remedy. The success of the project resulted in an approximate $10 million savings to the client.

Statistical Evaluation of Background Arsenic Levels, West Virginia Performed a multiple-phase statistical evaluation of arsenic as a background inorganic constituent in soil at a Superfund site. The initial phase of evaluation consisted of the development of a sampling plan for soils throughout onsite and offsite adjacent locations. Applied statistical techniques to determine sufficient numbers of samples required to generate reliable statistical results. Applied a variety of parametric and nonparametric techniques to soils data to test for differences between onsite and offsite arsenic concentrations. The statistical evaluation demonstrated that arsenic was a background constituent at the site. The results of the evaluation were accepted by EPA Region III, and the areal extent of remediation required was greatly reduced. Similar statistical evaluations have been successfully applied at a variety of other sites involving background analysis of metals and PAHs in terrestrial and aquatic settings.

Statistical Relationship Study Using X-Ray Fluorescence, Tennessee Conducted a statistical correlation study to determine if a relationship existed between total lead and toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) extractable lead in solid residuals at a former rail-yard site. Used X-ray fluorescence screening to select sampling locations, in an effort to obtain data across a broad range of total lead concentrations in areas of differing histories at the site. Analyzed a subset of samples for TCLP-extractable lead. Applied statistical techniques found in EPA guidance, to test the hypothetical relationship between total lead and TCLP-extractable lead. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrated that different areas across the site are statistically unique and therefore should be managed separately. This conclusion, as well as the successful use of X-ray fluorescence screening, served to greatly reduce remediation costs.

Regulatory Compliance

Baltimore Harbor TMDLs, Maryland Participated as a member of the technical stakeholder advisory group, selected by the Maryland Department of the Environment, for Baltimore Harbor TMDLs. Overall activities included development of assessment endpoints and goals for the harbor; assessment of legacy-related, nonpoint, and point sources of metals, PCBs, suspended solids, and nutrients to the harbor; critical review of the tools and models used to derive TMDLs; and evaluation of the effectiveness of proposed TMDLs relative to the stated goals for the harbor. Through technical analyses of baseline historical mass loading data and relative toxicity, it was determined that priority should be placed on legacy contaminant TMDLs and not water quality parameters, such as suspended solids, occurring within the historical baseline study area.

Select Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS), New York Bight Conducted a critical review of a proposed USACE and EPA Region II risk-based standard for PCBs. The proposed standard was developed for evaluating PCB bioaccumulation potential in dredged material considered for placement at the HARS disposal area. In developing the proposed standard, Region II and USACE made highly conservative and unsupported assumptions regarding potential exposures to PCBs in fish caught from the HARS, and the agencies did not follow standard EPA risk assessment guidance and practice. For example, the standard was based on steady-state food chain modeling that did not consider important factors such as longevity of fish species, foraging range, habitat size, and seasonal abundance. It was further demonstrated that a stochastic evaluation of exposure-driving assumptions could result in a standard an order of magnitude greater than that proposed.

New Jersey–New York Harbor Sediments Performed Tier I through Tier IV evaluations under EPA and USACE for dredged sediments proposed for ocean placement (including the New York Bight HARS). Evaluations included sampling plan design, statistical evaluations of bulk sediment and water-phase sediment contaminants relative to background and reference sample data, statistical analysis of bioassay data, interpretation of and comparison to risk-based regional levels, assessment of baseline conditions, and recommendations for placement.

Probabilistic Techniques Applied to Derivation of Performance Standard, Southeastern United States Developed a probabilistic exposure analysis model within a risk-based framework to determine safe levels of the organochlorine pesticide DDT in the prey of wading birds foraging in freshwater wetlands. The approach offered the distinct advantage of incorporating the inherent variability in behavior that occurs within natural wading bird populations such that the range of theoretically possible exposures could be evaluated. The output of this model was a range of performance standards based on plausible exposure, assessed through a quantification of the inherent variability and uncertainty in biological attributes of wading birds.

Remedial Design

Development and Application of a Habitat Valuation Tool, Alabama Developed and applied a quantitative ecosystem model to evaluate competing risks from chemical residuals with those associated with invasive site remediation. The model, referred to as the adaptive ecosystem rehabilitation approach (AERA), assessed the value of an ecosystem’s functions and components such that the cost (e.g., alteration of the natural setting during remediation) and benefit (e.g., removal of chemical risk) of a remedial alternative could be selected. The results of the AERA in this case were used to develop a remedial strategy whereby invasive remediation was limited because removal of contamination was demonstrated to have greater ecological impact than in situ chemical risk.

Monitoring

River Sediment Sampling Program, Texas Designed a sediment sampling program to characterize chemical concentrations in a large tidal river. The purpose of the study was to determine if chemicals present in the river were associated with agricultural practices or other regional sources; the study design was complicated by the presence of multiple-point and nonpoint discharges throughout the watershed. Designed a statistical protocol to evaluate effects of multiple chemical sources and the influence of sediment physicochemical characteristics on concentration.

Commercial Clam Bed Assessment, Brewster, Massachusetts In conjunction with the Sea Pines Association of Brewster, conducted a feasibility assessment of a proposed commercial clam bed operation in the vicinity of two public beaches. The assessment included a habitat suitability evaluation of the proposed areas, as well as a determination of potential impacts to near-shore ecology and economy for the town’s public beaches.

Shorebird Biological Survey, Massachusetts Participated in a USFWS annual survey and census tracking of shorebird species residing within coastal marsh and estuary environments throughout Cape Cod National Seashore. Monitored reproductive habits and recorded species abundance, diversity, and richness, through visual observation and banding.

Marine Groundfish Resource Survey, North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea Under the NMFS, conducted biological surveys of benthic and pelagic fishes. Assessed abundance and distribution of species; results were applied to the creation and ultimate implementation of federal fisheries quota regulations.

Freshwater Ecosystem Survey, Pennsylvania In cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources, performed central regional stream and lake surveys of vertebrate and invertebrate assemblages over a 3-year period. Additional physicochemical aquatic system profile data were collected and analyzed. Taxonomic identification and distribution results were applied toward the creation of a dichotomous key to the freshwater fishes of central Pennsylvania.

Policy Analysis

Natural Resources Policy Analysis At the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, Environment and Natural Resources Division, provided nonpartisan, objective analysis of federal and international environmental policies to members of Congress and staff. Conducted extensive reviews and analyses of policies concerning forests, wetlands, and fisheries. Provided research, consultation, presentation, and report writing services.

Rulemaking and Policy Review, Outer Continental Shelf As principal-in-charge and technical lead, provided support for the development of technical comments for a legal-team submittal within the public comment cycle for proposed rulemaking and policy related to oil/gas exploration and production activities in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Comments were developed to improve the assessment of potential impacts to endangered or otherwise protected marine mammals, including the Pacific sea lion, gray whales, and bowhead whales, as well as subsequent potential impacts to a variety of subsistence users.

Amendments to Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Act, Essential Fish Habitat While working on behalf of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, served as science and policy consultant to members of the U.S. Congress during 1996 amendment to the Act on essential fish habitat (EFH). Responsibilities included presentation and reporting of data related to identification and conservation of EFH and potential impact to commercial fishing industry.

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