Moderated by, Opal Forbes
Opal Forbes, CPESC, QSD/QSP is an environmental protection specialist with the Federal Highway Administration Central Federal Lands Highway Division Office, otherwise known as CFL for short. She works in 14 western states doing stormwater permitting and construction support in addition to writing NEPA documents. She is the team lead for the CFL Stormwater Team that recently published a stormwater manual to be used on CFL construction projects. Opal is the President of the Mountain States Chapter of IECA.
Colorado: Al Stafford, Water Quality Control Division's Clean Water Compliance Unit
Al Stafford is a member of the Colorado Water Quality Control Division's Clean Water Compliance Unit. Al has been with the state for over eight years, beginning first with five years experience as a permit writer, where he authored the current version of the Sand and Gravel general permit. Al has been a compliance inspector for over three years, with a focus on Construction Stormwater inspections, but also completing Sand and Gravel, Industrial Stormwater, Remediation, and Construction Dewatering inspections. He has conducted over 250 state inspections, and assists in training new inspectors as they join the team. This past winter and spring, Al led the effort to train permittees and stakeholders on the permit renewal for the Construction Stormwater permit, which became effective April 1, 2019. Al and the team conducted over a dozen trainings statewide, provided multiple guidance documents on line, and answered hundreds of questions regarding the new permit requirements. Away from the field and the office, Al enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids at their home in Fort Collins.
Montana: Chris Romankiewicz, Lead Compliance Inspector
Chris Romankiewicz is the state of Montana Lead Compliance Inspector for the Compliance, Training, and Technical Assistance section of the Water Protection Bureau at Montana DEQ. He oversees the inspection team, assists with the management of the section, and promotes coordination across program boundaries. As the lead inspector, Chris assumes a leadership role that seeks to create a positive working environment for staff and customers of Montana DEQ. He has developed and revised inspection, data management, noncompliance, and formal enforcement processes and procedures. Chris works with program managers to establish section priorities, identify goals and objectives, develop and provide feedback on workplans, and continuously seeks opportunities for program improvement. Externally, his leadership role requires dedicated customer service by providing clear, consistent, and thoughtful communications and creating opportunities to build stakeholder relationships. He developed and managed the BMP and Water Quality Management training series, worked to build the training programs for storm water to include additional trainers, and organizes state-wide storm water conferences. In his time away from work, he floats the rivers of Montana looking for the one.
Utah: Jeanne Riley, Engineer
Jeanne Riley is an engineer and the manager of the Utah Division of Water Quality's storm water section. Prior to her position as a Regulator, Ms. Riley spent 15 years as an environmental consultant, where she assisted private and public sector clients comply with their permit requirements and implement water quality improvement projects. Ms. Riley holds Civil and Environmental Engineering Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the University of Massachusetts.
Wyoming: Anita Rehner, Permit Writer
Anita Rehner is currently a permit writer for the storm water program at Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, moving from the private sector in 2018. After completing BA degrees in Chemistry and Biology and an MS in Biological Sciences (with an emphasis on water quality), Ms. Rehner spent 3 years as an analytical chemist at a wastewater laboratory. She then moved to private environmental consulting firms (ENSR, AECOM, and TRE Environmental Strategies) where she gained 30 years of experience in various aspects of environmental science, with emphasis on water quality and aquatic toxicology. She served as the Quality Assurance Manager for an aquatic toxicology research and testing laboratory for 25 years and was concurrently a Project Manager (>10 years). Hands-on experience includes Quality Assurance auditing, data validation, technical writing / editing, statistical analysis, organic and inorganic analysis of soil, water, wastewater, and tissue samples; identification of estuarine phytoplankton, aquatic fieldwork, a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial toxicity test methods, and critical review of storm water permit applications and storm water pollution prevention plans.
Wyoming: Barb Sahl, Storm Water Program Coordinator
Barb has worked in the storm water quality field for over 20 years – all with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Previous positions involved working with wetlands in Minnesota and geotech work for oil and gas companies in Colorado. Her background is agronomy and hydrogeology. In her spare time she gardens and trains dogs.