Consulting
Consulting engineers are professionals experienced in applying their knowledge and experience to the bene-fit of those who have retained their services. The services to be provided by an environmental engineeringconsultant may range from studies to preliminary design, final design, construction, and operation and man-agement services. Additional major areas of service include site evaluations, environmental impact studiesand assessments, assistance in obtaining permits, and expert witness services. Consulting environmental en-gineers typically work for local, state, and regional government, the federal government, industry, and tradeand professional organizations.
Industry
The industrial sector of the economy has a substantial demand for environmental engineering professionalsdue to the requirement to comply with statutes and regulations of federal, regional, and state pollution con-trol agencies. Typically, industry may employ environmental engineers at their headquarter, division, and plant levels, as well as in liaison roles directly with legislative and executive agencies.Typical of responsibilities of environmental engineers at all levels are assistance in planning and develop-ment. For example, wetlands may exhibit environmental impacts from industrial expansion, which could slow or halt necessary construction. Other typical environmental engineering activities are preparation and negotiation of permits from regulatory agencies, responsibility for operation of and reporting associated with existing pollution control systems, and development of modifications to existing pollution control sys-tems consistent with production changes.
Government
Environmental engineers in public service provide technical expertise in all levels of government.
Local Government.
The environmental engineer’s role in local government may include such tasks as as-sistance in the development of local ordinances; administration of a pretreatment program, including inspec-tion and compliance monitoring; responsibility for the municipal or local wastewater treatment plant opera-tion; responsibility for the operation and administration of the solid waste collection and disposaloperations; administration of the local air pollution ordinances; and interfacing with state and federal offi-cials as required on environmental matters.
State Government.
Considering the current trend in government, it is reasonable to expect that the envi-ronmental engineering staff at the state level will increase, in some cases dramatically. This is due primarilyto the federal government’s stated intent to have the states perform the primary role in executing the environ-mental laws of the nation. This will increase the employment of environmental engineers in a variety of roles, including field inspectors, regional/divisional engineers, and administrative staff.A tabulation of addresses and telephone numbers for state and territorial environmental protection agen-cies is presented in Table 1.1.
Regional Government.
The role of the environmental engineer in regional agencies is similar to that of thestate’s role except that there may also be significant interactions with other states. A list of major interstateenvironmental agencies is presented in Table 1.2.
Federal Government.
The environmental engineer in the federal government is involved primarily with re-search and development, development of regulations, and enforcement of regulations. The most widelyknown agency that affects environmental engineers is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The
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