Join SCS Engineers at the Wisconsin Safety Council’s Annual Conference April 14 – 16, 2025 at Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.
We are proud to participate in Wisconsin’s industry event focused on health, safety, and human resource best practices. Now in its 83rd year, the conference features 50+ educational sessions, 200 exhibitors, and five professional development courses, offering valuable insights into workplace safety and regulatory compliance.
Connect with our experts to discuss waste management safety, environmental compliance, and innovative solutions for workplace risk reduction. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain the latest safety insights, network with industry leaders, and explore cutting-edge strategies for a safer work environment. We look forward to seeing you there – register now!
SCS Engineers welcomes Russell Wharton, PE, to SCS Engineers as our new Project Director in Nashville, Tennessee. Russ will run the office that serves the state and brings to diverse SCS clients over three decades of expertise in civil engineering design, municipal, environmental, and geotechnical engineering, architecture, alternative energy (including renewable natural gas), and consulting.
With his years of experience in civil and environmental engineering, Russ’s expertise includes construction management and quality assurance, saving clients time and money. His ability to incorporate LEED elements and sustainability procedures with minimal cost impacts brings more value when applying design elements in the field. These strategies help avoid cost overruns and project delays.
While having experience working on national accounts spanning from the West to East coasts, Russ’s work experience includes counties and cities throughout Tennessee, serving as the client contact and managing regulatory needs, including federal and state agencies and Authority Having Jurisdiction requirements for entitlements (rezoning, special use, variances, design review approvals), and permitting, including such clients as New York City, the Port Authority of NY and NJ, and various international airports.
His broad development design experience – facility siting, grading/drainage, utility (water, sewer, stormwater), pavement, erosion, and sediment control is especially helpful for many businesses and facilities facing stricter regulatory policies necessary to comply with Clean Water regulatory actions.
As a professional engineer and general contractor licensed in Tennessee, Russ earned a Vanderbilt B.E. in civil and environmental engineering. He is also an active member of Rotary International.
Please join SCS Engineers in congratulating our Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Nathan Hamm, for his new position. As CSO, Hamm will lead SCS efforts for strategic planning, identification of short-and long-term growth objectives, and new business and expansion opportunities.
Hamm will coordinate and facilitate the optimization of the marketing and business development efforts across SCS to support strategic efforts. Further, he will lead the Client Success Program, which seeks to provide the highest value to our clients. As a professional engineer, Nathan Hamm has nearly three decades of experience and an ideal blend of client-focused consulting, business acumen, and hands-on work with our strategic initiatives to draw from.
Further, his previous experience as a Client Manager, Project Manager/Director, and the leader of our Leachate and Industrial Wastewater Treatment strategic initiative provides him with a broad perspective, key relationships, and strategic insight across SCS and the industries we serve. Hamm will oversee the program strategies that keep SCS’s deep bench of professionals poised to provide sustainable, full-service solutions.
SCS Engineers CEO Doug Doerr says, “Nathan Hamm’s background as part of SCS’s executive team, his work with our talented professionals, and his legacy of success with clients are key as SCS continues evolving to serve our core and expanding industry base.”
Additional Information:
Addition of PFAS with final toxicity values
On January 3, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the automatic addition of nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory. The nine PFAS were automatically added for reporting due to EPA having finalized a toxicity value during 2024, and whose identity is not claimed as confidential business information. These nine PFAS are:
Addition of PFAS no longer claimed as confidential business information
Under NDAA section 7321(e), EPA must review CBI claims before adding a PFAS to the TRI list if the chemical identity is subject to a claim of protection from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(a). EPA previously identified Acetic acid, [(γ-ω-perfluoro-C8-10-alkyl)thio] derivs., Bu esters for addition to the TRI list based on the NDAA’s provision to include specific PFAS upon the NDAA’s enactment. Due to CBI claims related to its identity, this PFAS was not added to the TRI list at that time. The identity of this chemical was subsequently declassified in an update to the Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory in May 2024. Because its identity is no longer confidential, it was added to the TRI list.
These nine newly added PFAS, along with the previous 196 TRI-listed PFAS, are also subject to EPA’s action in October 2023 to classify all PFAS subject to TRI reporting as chemicals of special concern. Among other impacts, this removes the use of a reporting exemption that allowed facilities to avoid reporting information on PFAS when those chemicals were used in small concentrations.
Additional TRI Reporting Resources:
The annual Environmental Compliance Conference returns to North Carolina in Raleigh-Durham on January 30. Join your fellow environmental professionals in an insightful event that focuses on regulations and ways to ensure compliance. This conference dives deep into legislation and policies currently impacting the air, water, waste, and natural resource industries. Build your network of resources, register for the event today.
EPA updated its Compliance and Emissions Data Reporting Interface (CEDRI) for the electronic reporting of air emissions under the NESHAP related to MSW landfills. Three new reporting templates were added on October 15, 2024, each linked to its corresponding Excel spreadsheet template. These include the
The Semi-Annual report is the most significant because MSW landfills have 90 days to begin using the Excel template. Reports due January 13, 2025, or any time after that must include this electronic filing.
EPA’s color-coded template provides a bit of instruction.
The gray tab (Company Information) contains general information likely to be unchanged from report to report. After completing the gray tab, you may save the workbook as a site-specific template to use in subsequent reports to limit subsequent data entry.
Complete the green tabs (Certification, CMS Info, Description of Changes, Exceedances, and Number of Exceedances) as appropriate to complete the semi-annual report.
Complete the blue tabs (Deviation Detail, Deviation Summary, CMS Detail, and CMS Summary) if deviations or CMS out-of-control periods or downtime periods occur according to §63.10(e) and as defined in §63.1990.
The orange tabs (Well Expansion, Operational Statements, Site Specific Treatment, Enhanced Monitoring, Bypass CDT Not Operating, and Corrective Action Analysis) cover information required by the semi-annual report requirements of §63.1981(h); be sure to complete the requisite tabs.
Professionals at SCS Engineers will post more guidance but plan to continue preparing our clients’ semi-annual reports as we do now, and completing and submitting this spreadsheet. Please work with your air emissions specialist or project manager, or contact us for support.
Additional Resources:
Based on your feedback, SCS is excited to thank you for the 2024 CX Award. It is a pleasure and privilege to help you with your environmental needs. At SCS Engineers, we recognize that a substantial part of the value we deliver is how well we serve our clients. To that end, we have in place several long-standing programs to make it easy for you to reach us, find help, and provide feedback.
Reach Out Toll-Free +1 (800) 767-4727
Our receptionists answer calls between 8:30 am ET through 5:00 pm PT. We promptly answer voicemails and messages sent to our general email () 24/7.
Client Feedback Tool
SCS solicits feedback from clients during ongoing projects via short (2-3 minute) surveys using our electronic Client Feedback Tool (CFT). These surveys are designed to ensure we are on track to deliver project solutions to your satisfaction. Surveys are less than ten questions, and space is available for additional comments. Your Project Manager will work to establish a convenient schedule for you if you’d like to participate. This is not a marketing survey. It is a way to check in with you regularly to ensure your project is on track, in addition to regular communications with your Project Manager. Your participation is greatly appreciated.
Quality Management
SCS maintains a stringent, comprehensive Quality Management program. Quality Management ensures that SCS staff professionals, scientists, technologists, and field technicians, including administrators and subcontractors, have the necessary training, tools, and skills to employ sound, ethical processes on every environmental solution.
Our robust program includes apps built by SCS for our staff to continuously improve our services and communications. SCS staff have access to thousands of resources at the touch of a button, including libraries, compliance documents, safety information, training, and our National Experts and specialists nationwide to maintain the highest level of quality in our products and services. We make many of our resources available on our website, too.
The Website
SCS’s website is a rich resource for our clients and visitors. The site has two primary filters: one to find local staff with specific environmental experience. The second is a search filter that results after a search to help you target our resources, available on demand. Service descriptions, articles, whitepapers, blogs, events, and videos can be resources. Each page enables you to print or share the resource privately with others or on social media.
Free Environmental Educational Videos
The SCS Engineers Learning Center contains recorded open forums where participants ask questions throughout. The video recordings are available in our Learning Center to watch at your convenience. These are educational videos, not sales pitches, as we share our experience and expertise in environmental fields with individuals and businesses to enhance a clearer understanding of modern environmental solutions and technologies available.
This Air & Waste Management Association specialty conference is the perfect event to provide an important basis for future development and advancements in the air quality modeling field. It will also provide in-person opportunities for stakeholders and regulators to discuss the challenges and techniques to model ever-tightening air quality standards.
The technical program will include an opening plenary session devoted to invited presentations by EPA’s Office Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) Air Quality Modeling Group (AQMG). Multiple sessions will cover key modeling topics, and the popular Town Hall Meeting will include an interactive Q&A format with high-level regulators and stakeholders.
Determining actual fugitive landfill gas/methane emissions from the landfill surface is hard to quantify. Drone methane and surface emission monitoring conducted on the landfill surface can determine methane concentrations at receptor points around the landfill surface. These receptor concentrations can be used to run an air dispersion model in reverse to solve for the emission rate of the entire landfill surface. This method also allows you to determine a more accurate control efficiency of the gas collection and control system at the landfill based on landfill gas/methane flow to the combustion device. Want to know more?
Jeff Leadford, PE, of SCS Engineers, is presenting “Modeling Fugitive Methane Emissions With Drones” – a not to miss session! Jeff puts his years of experience in the air quality field, with a focus on air dispersion modeling, air permitting and GIS together with advanced drone technology and modeling techniques demonstrating the effectiveness of combining them, especially for landfill owners and operators.
Other session topics include:
A revision to AP-42 regarding Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfills was finalized on August 15, 2024. AP-42 is the Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors guidance developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate air pollution emissions from various sources. EPA drafted new emission factors for the MSW Landfill portion of AP-42 on January 12, 2024 and offered a 60-day public comment period that ended March 12, 2024.
Highlights of this final action include:
For additional information, please contact SCS Engineers, or visit the EPA Air Emissions Factors and Quantification website.
Anecdotes on stormwater design, management, and regulation by a non-engineer
The purpose of this series is to present case studies and general thoughts on stormwater. When possible, I want to share interesting examples that may offer opportunities to challenge existing paradigms and spark discussion. As an ecologist/toxicologist, I have very much enjoyed this now 20+ year foray into what is often an engineer’s wheelhouse. My hope is that I can offer a different angle on stormwater, as we seem to be increasingly affected by high storm intensities and more stringent regulations across the country.
A Little Historical Context…
Stormwater has, and continues to be, largely the purview of engineers. Engineered designs for managing stormwater have existed for thousands of years and can be seen in both the “ancient” old (Mesopotamia) and new (Mayan and Aztec) world. Designs were empirical and began out of necessity for safety and to protect land uses, such as residences and agriculture. In modern times, empirical observations have been converted into modeling tools to simplify the process greatly.
These days, stormwater issues are getting more complex. Heavy, widespread water pollution generally began in the mid-1800s with the Industrial Revolution but became a more obvious problem following World War II. The first major U.S. water quality law was enacted in 1948 and became much more prominent in 1972 as the Clean Water Act (CWA) we know today. The CWA addresses stormwater because it clearly has the potential to carry pollutants, particularly when it originates from large industrial sites.
More recently, we have become much more aware of the key role of long-term planning when it comes to stormwater. Trying to engineer your way out of a stormwater problem will likely be much more expensive than simply planning well and maintaining a properly designed system.
Although stormwater engineering was once simply about preventing stormwater from being destructive, it has now become at least as much about maintaining water quality. As pollutants become more prevalent in more confined and constrained systems, effects on human health and the environment are likely to be more pronounced, especially when existing ecosystem services are inadequate to mitigate impacts. Moreover, ecosystems expected to treat stormwater, such as wetlands and streams, are now likely protected themselves, and opportunities for “dilution being the solution to pollution,” while still a valid concept, are becoming rarer. Our ecosystems simply do not have the capacity to handle everything we are throwing at them.
That’s the context for this series: How we control and treat stormwater in the context of interesting observations and experiences. The intent is to share stories and thoughts to create conversation and reflection on stormwater played against the regulatory background.
Authors Note
I am an ecologist with a postdoctoral background in environmental toxicology and have been professionally engaged as a consultant in water quality issues since 1989. Recently I have become engaged in a number of legal discussions and disputes regarding water quality; in particular, industrial stormwater, and I continue to be interested by issues that come up during the course of a general stormwater practice.
I am a pragmatist: I have practiced long enough that I have left idealism behind. Idealistic approaches are valid as a theoretical baseline, but anything beyond that must have scientific or well-documented empirical support. Otherwise, idealism is just sort of adorable, if not misguided, and can lead to real problems.
As an ecologist, I respect our ecosystems as much as anyone. Our goal is to protect human health and the environment. Some parts of this series may appear to some that I’m “siding” with industry or other client concerns, but my intent is always to balance idealism against practical and scientific reality.
In summary: “The road to hell is often paved with good intentions.”
Let’s walk the road together and see what we can figure out.
