Beth Termini, Senior Advisor with The Horinko Group, and George Wyeth, attorney with the Environmental Protection Agency, co–authored an article titled Regulating for Sustainability, published in the September/October 2014 issue of the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) Environmental Forum Journal.  The article analyzes EPA’s efforts and future ability to incorporate the principles of sustainability into its rules, guidance, permitting, and enforcement programs.  The authors set out to clarify what incorporating sustainability into regulatory programs truly means and set aside common misconceptions.  They then lay out EPA’s history in this area and suggest some first steps for the agency to fully embrace sustainability.

To read the full article, visit http://bit.ly/1ujODQO.

The Horinko Group is pleased to welcome Gordon M. Davidson to its extended team as Senior Advisor for Technology, Partnerships & Redevelopment. Gordon is an internationally recognized innovator and entrepreneur in the environmental, water, and energy arenas.

Marianne Horinko, President of The Horinko Group, notes, “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Gordon from the days when he ran EPA’s Federal Facilities Enforcement Office.  Gordon broke through bureaucratic and legal barriers to forge strong commitments from the Departments of Defense and Energy to environmental protection.  We look forward to having the benefits of his expertise in private sector finance and technology development.”

Mr. Davidson has founded or co-founded several successful companies including Capital Environmental which provided litigation support, technology commercialization, and brownfields services; IES Corporation which provided Fortune 100 clients a unique insurance coverage settlement model for contaminated sites resulting in over $3 billion in recoveries; DotRisk.com which was an internet platform for the buying and selling of insurance world-wide and was sold to a European insurer; and a new venture utilizing ground-breaking sensor technology to detect environmental pollutants and reduce energy usage.

As CEO of Micronic Technologies he led the commercialization of a new water separation and desalinization technology, as President of Davidson Energy Group LLC he was retained by the Department of Energy to provide strategy advice on its Energy Parks Initiative (EPI) designed to convert portions of its sites undergoing cleanup into clean energy parks, and as part of the Unified Energy team he brings energy efficiency and energy reduction solutions to the private sector.

Under the first Bush Administration, Gordon was appointed the first Director of EPA’s Federal Facilities Enforcement program overseeing the cleanup of military bases and DOE’s nuclear weapons production sites where he led EPA’s policy role on the cleanup and redevelopment of closing military bases (BRAC).  A seasoned negotiator, public speaker, and facilitator, Gordon brings clients a powerful set of skills for forging solutions to the most intractable environmental, water, and energy challenges.

Convened by the Sustainable Remediation Initiative and hosted and moderated by The Horinko Group, the Green & Sustainable Remediation Roundtable comprised a dynamic and experienced group of public and private sector leaders in environmental remediation, convening an informed discussion on the current process for implementing Green and Sustainable Remediation (GSR) across the federal and state cleanup programs, and how to begin improving the opportunities for the advancement of GSR concepts.

To view the proceedings, visit http://bit.ly/1s4LMg3.

The September 2014 issue of the American Water Works Association Journal featured an article co-authored by G. Tracy Mehan, III, The Horinko Group’s Senior Advisor for Water Resources Regulation & Policy.  The article, Protecting Forested Watersheds is Smart Economics for Water Utilities, examines how forested watershed management can fit into the overall strategy for addressing the nation’s drinking water infrastructure needs and can serve as an economically and environmentally promising means to complement traditional “gray” infrastructure approaches.

To read the full article, visit http://bit.ly/1unPd17.

June 18, 2014

Dr. Dick Warner provides Keynote Remarks

On June 3-5, the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units National Meeting was held at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV.

The CESU Network is a national consortium of federal agencies, tribes, academic institutions, state and local governments, NGOs, and other partners working together to support informed public trust resource stewardship.

The CESU Network, along with its 17 eco-regional units, is well positioned to support natural system platforms for research, technical assistance, education and capacity building that are responsive to long-standing and contemporary science and resource management priorities.

On June 4, Patrick McGinnis, THG Senior Advisor for Water Resources Policy & Practice, accompanied Dr. Richard Warner, Senior Scientist at the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center (NGRREC), as Dr. Warner provided keynote remarks highlighting NGRREC’s role as a leading convener, educator, and research organization located near the confluence of the Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri Rivers, as well as thumbnailing NGRREC’s participation in the Great Rivers CEDU Unit and the significant impact and opportunity the CESU Network provides for critical research deployment for universities, researchers, and other non-governmental institutions to provide technical capacity and expertise to the Federal family of resource managing agencies.

THG’s Pat McGinnis has been an ardent fan of the CESU process and Dr. Tom Fish’s leadership of the program.  “Under Tom Fish’s leadership, CESU has proven to be a very nimble, effective tool for Federal program managers, providing them access to our nation’s best research universities, labs, and field stations.  Furthermore, CESU is fostering a necessary dialogue between Federal program managers and research scientists that should prove sustainable.  CESU research products are also extending the program managers’ buying power which in turn is driving greater efficiency into the procurement of good science which promotes better decision making.”

For more information on the CESU National Network, click here: http://bit.ly/1sj4wdw.

The National Meeting Agenda can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/1oxg4IJ.

June 18, 2014

President Obama signs H.R. 3080, the Water Resources Reform & Development Act of 2014. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Obama signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) into law on June 10, 2014.  WRRDA enacts significant reforms including a review of current federal project delivery processes, an evaluation of the opportunity to successfully secure private capital investment in much needed waterway infrastructure improvements, and the formulation and launch of a Water Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership Pilot Program.

In anticipation of the new challenges and opportunities reform driven legislation presents, The Horinko Group, on behalf of the U.S. Soybean Export Council and in collaboration with the Soy Transportation Coalition, developed the recently released report, entitled Proposed Public–Private Partnership Projects for U.S. Inland Waterways Infrastructure Financing, Operations, and Governance.  The report examines the case for an alternative financing strategy to encourage greater private participation in the operations, repair, and maintenance of the inland waterway system.  THG’s effort reviews the existing financing mechanisms, funding levels, operating practices, and governance arrangement and explores practical solutions offered by public–private partnerships (P3s).  This analysis, funded by the National Soybean Checkoff program, should contribute to informing and shaping the Non-Federal Project Implementation Pilot Program provisions of WRRDA.

The report provides a regional perspective focused on a critical segment of the inland waterway system. The contribution of locks on the lower Illinois River and the Upper Mississippi River to agricultural interests, including soybean growers-exporters, is well documented and central to the report’s findings and recommendations.

To read the THG press release, visit http://bit.ly/1jRgPUc.

To read the full report, visit http://bit.ly/1x8kqHu.

The Horinko Group is pleased to welcome Beth Termini to its extended team as Senior Advisor for Sustainable Strategies & Execution.

Beth recently retired from the Environmental Protection Agency after 22 years of service, most recently as a Senior Advisor for Sustainability in the Office of Policy.  While working for the Office of Policy in the Administrator’s Office, Ms. Termini focused on the development and implementation of EPA’s sustainability strategy, recently captured in EPA’s 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, organizing outreach to stakeholders on the Agency’s sustainability planning, analyzing the range of sustainability activity across all of EPA’s regional and national program offices, organizing and facilitating cross-office collaboration efforts, serving as regional liaison for sustainability, and organizing outreach to state and local government networks.

Marianne Horinko, President of The Horinko Group, notes, “Beth’s experience with sustainability strategy and follow-through is both unique and essential in today’s world and will be a wonderful asset to The Horinko Group’s efforts. Beth has an intimate understanding of EPA both at the Headquarters and Regional levels and has done great work on collaborative initiatives with the states and the private sector.  We are looking forward to having her as a member of our extended team.”

Ms. Termini previously served as Special Assistant to the Region 1 Deputy Regional Administrator, assisting in regional strategic planning and region-wide operational support.  While part of the Regional Administrator’s office, she aided in kicking-off and leading the region’s multi-disciplinary Sustainability Committee and Green Chemistry Network, a public/private partnership promoting green chemistry principles in New England.

In addition to working on a range of pollution prevention, sustainability and permitting innovation efforts, Ms. Termini worked extensively with states across the country in the development and implementation of Environmental Results Programs (ERP), an innovative integrated regulatory program with a strong focus on performance measurement for sectors with large numbers of smaller sources.  She co-founded the States ERP Consortium, a collaboration among EPA, ECOS and states working to develop a peer-to-peer network of state programs to share tools, materials and knowledge regarding ERP.  She also worked in several capacities on grant program oversight/review, including State Innovation, Pollution Prevention and Urban Waters grants and contracts management.

Ms. Termini started with EPA as an Assistant Regional Counsel in the Region 3 office, focusing on Superfund and hazardous waste management counseling, enforcement and litigation, including RCRA Corrective Action, Superfund remediation and cost recovery.  She also served as the Project XL team-lead in the Region 3 Office of Reinvention, focusing on regulatory innovation projects in collaboration with EPA headquarters offices, states and the private sector, which included organizing and leading cross-agency project teams, developing site specific regulations, and negotiating multi-party project agreements and other legal implementation mechanisms.

Ms. Termini received a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (1984), and a JD from Temple University School of Law (1991).

On May 15, 2014 The Horinko Group presented a webinar on the rise and future of green and sustainable remediation (GSR) sponsored by Bloomberg BNA. The webinar featured presentations by Buddy Bealer, regional manager for policy and advocacy at Shell Oil Products U.S., Stephanie Fiorenza, a technology specialist for BP North America Inc.’s Remediation Engineering and Technology group in Houston, Karin Holland, senior sustainability specialist at the management consulting firm Haley & Aldrich Inc., and was facilitated by Marianne Horinko, President, The Horinko Group.

The discussion covered GSR best management practices and looked at a case study illustrating the means by which using green and sustainable remediation to clean up hazardous waste sites can maximize environmental benefits, minimize costs, and balance the goals of a community.

To read BNA’s summary of the webinar, visit bit.ly/1n4Sv4K

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Board on Natural Resources and Board on Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate, recently released a new report entitled, Science, Education and Outreach Roadmap for Natural Resources.

The report takes a holistic approach to identifying research priorities for natural resources, looking collectively at the many sub-disciplines including atmospheric, coastal, fisheries, forests, marine, rangelands, water, wildlife and others. To do so, the Roadmap examines six “Grand Challenges” in natural resources, detailing for each the background, current gaps in science, education, and outreach, research priorities, and expected outcomes. The “Grand Challenge” areas studied include sustainability, water, climate change, agriculture, energy, and education.

To read the full report, visit http://bit.ly/1l22yI6.

On May 6, 2014, the National Research Council (NRC) announced the release of a new congressionally mandated report entitled, Review of EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Process. The report finds that changes EPA has made to its IRIS process are “substantial improvements” and offers guidance and recommendations to further improve the program.

This report follows a 2011 review of EPA’s IRIS assessment for formaldehyde, which found deficiencies in the assessment and EPA’s assessment methods more broadly. Congress mandated that EPA implement the changes suggested in that report and tasked the National Research Council with reviewing those changes and suggesting additional modifications.

To read the National Academies’ press release on the report, visit http://bit.ly/1mCyXEG.
For the full report, visit http://bit.ly/1g8iLqI.