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The Georgia Chapter of the Association of Environmental Professionals (GAEP) is excited to announce its 8th Annual golf scramble to be held at the Heritage Golf Links in Tucker, Georgia, on Thursday, September 22, 2022.

The Golf Scramble is the biggest fundraising event of the year for GAEP and will provide scholarships for well-deserving undergraduate students attending a Georgia university or college who plan to seek future employment within the environmental field.

Register Here!

If you have any questions about registration or the event, please contact Karen Trujillo at karen.trujillo@aecom.com

Come join Georgia Association of Environmental Professionals and Atkins in a clean-up effort at Rottenwood Creek! In addition to picking up trash and debris within and around Rottenwood Creek, we will also be measuring dissolved oxygen, temperature, bacteria, conductivity, and pH.

Please make sure to bring sunblock, bug spray, water, food, sandals, towels, hat, and gloves. The stream should not be much deeper than a couple feet, but only go into the stream as much as you want.

Location: 296 Interstate N Cir SE, Atlanta, GA 30339

Please contact Rosco Peters (rpeters@newfields.com) or Stephen Holland (sholland@dot.ga.gov) for questions.

Subject:

Hundreds of thousands of water samples are collected on waterways across the United States each year, destined for a lonely existence as a laboratory tribute to wasted potential. Each tells a story about the waterway health and its ability to handle stress from never-ending development, agriculture, contamination, drought, flooding, and changing seasons. If those data were available to be examined comprehensively by any scientific observer, the wasted potential would become potential energy. It could provide a more accurate and complete foundation for making decisions that affect waterways and the wildlife, people, and industries that depend on them. Those decisions can be as simple as finding a good fishing hole or as complicated as preserving an entire ecosystem. Lonely sample data is fragmented, compartmentalized, or even kept completely out of reach, severely limiting our ability to understand, manage, and protect these critical elements of our natural world.

Our team of water professionals from federal, state, and local governments and nonprofits decided it was time to give the public better and easier access to sample data, starting with our Savannah and Ogeechee River basins. Using ArcGIS Hub, this cross-agency collaborative developed Know Your River, a powerful aggregation tool that collates data from more than 40 sources into one interactive, geospatial interface. Know Your River is useful, intuitive, and powerful. Although it was designed for a distinct geographic region, our team sees it as a catalyst for change. It can be scaled up or down to fit the needs of other waterways around the world and help end the scourge of lonely sample data and its wasted potential.

About Speaker:

Tonya Bonitatibus is the executive director of Savannah Riverkeeper, where she strives to protect the health and vibrancy of the Savannah River in South Carolina and Georgia..

Application must be e-mailed no later than August 12,2022 at 5pm (ET). E-mail confirmation that the application has been received will be sent to each applicant within 24 hours of receipt.

If there are any questions regarding the application process, please e-mail MaryKate.Stranix@NV5.com for clarification.

Subject:

DeepEarth Technologies, Inc. (DTI) is an environmental restoration company specializing in providing Cool-Ox® technology for cleaning up contaminated soils and groundwater. Cool-Ox® has been awarded fourteen (14) patents in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.

The Cool-Ox® process is designed to eliminate a wide variety of contaminants including petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated organics (PCP, PCB, DDT, Dioxins), nitrate explosives (TNT, DNT) and brine. It is especially effective at destroying vapor phase contaminants (HC-VOC, CVOC) impacting various types of soils including clay (ChemHydro-Infusion™).

While Cool-Ox® is tough on contaminants, it is gentle on vegetation. Because the mechanisms are different, Cool-Ox® can eliminate pollutants while actually promoting plant growth.

DTI is the industry specialist in providing Turnkey Services. Specialty equipment, proven technology and personnel know-how underpin our success. Depending on the site specifics, DTI utilizes numerous application methods to ensure Cool-Ox® delivery and communication with contaminants. These methods include Direct Push Technology (DPT), Hydro-Dart™ (hand lance), well injections, Pit-Stop™ overspray and soil blending. DTI’s field personnel are continually developing new down-hole tooling designs and working with the latest equipment available to ensure each application is as successful as possible no matter the soil type, depth or type of contaminant.

About Speaker:

After spending more than a decade as DeepEarth Technologies, Inc.’s Senior Field Application Leader, in 2018 Eric Lundy stepped into the role of Environmental Remediation Specialist, utilizing his vast technical field knowledge for site design, project management, estimating, consulting and health and safety. Mr. Lundy has implemented well over 250 soil and groundwater remedial applications on nearly every type of site (from gas stations to chemical plants, large and small) with many different contaminants (hydrocarbons, halogenated compounds, brine and coal tar) all across the states. Mr. Lundy studied Chemistry at Bemidji State University.

Subject:

In 2003, Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC) partnered with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to develop the EPRI/GTC Electric Overhead Transmission Line Siting Methodology. Our goals were to develop a methodology that was objective, quantitative, consistent, and defensible; while also creating an approach that incorporated stakeholder input and was flexible enough to produce several alternatives instead of just a computer generated "best" route. The Methodology developed uses geographic information system (GIS) model building techniques and algorithms to narrow down preferable areas with connectivity between the project’s start and end locations. It considers impacts to the natural environment, human environment, cultural resources, as well as, engineering constraints. The Methodology also incorporates expert judgment to determine constructible alternative routes, evaluate risk, and determine the most preferable solution for the project. Although GTC uses this Methodology to site new electric transmission corridors, it can be modified to site many other types of linear infrastructure.

The Methodology has served GTC well. GTC has implemented the Methodology on numerous projects totaling approximately 500 miles of electric transmission with voltages ranging from 46 kV to 500 kV. The Methodology has aided in demonstrating to the courts, regulators, and legislators that our process is thorough and the route selections are not arbitrary. We believe the Methodology has minimized the amount of transmission line siting legislation that has been passed in the State of Georgia over the past 18 years.

This presentation will give an overview of the Methodology through a step by step process. GTC developed these illustrations for public meeting overviews and for expert witness testimony during project litigations.

About Speaker:

Christopher D. Smith graduated from the University of North Alabama in 1999 with a BS in Professional Geography. He served as the technical lead during the development of the EPRI/GTC Siting Methodology. He currently leads the group that monitors the use of the Methodology at GTC, oversees enhancements, and continues to promote the Methodology in various forums.

Currently, Mr. Smith is the manager of the Environmental Services department for GTC. He manages a staff of 8 that leads location suitability studies for new electric transmission facilities and environmental permitting for transmission construction projects. His department manages ecological and cultural surveys and environmental permitting for new construction projects and facility modifications. This group also is responsible for NEPA documentation and other environmental compliance issues that are addressed on capital construction projects. Mr. Smith communicates routing and siting decisions in public forums and legal hearings. In addition, he monitors new technology, data sources, industry trends, and regulatory changes that may affect work flow, task durations, and project success.

Subject:

• Impaired waters and what that means; biological impairment in GA waters

• A little about the incredible diversity and richness of the fish and mussel communities in the Tennessee River system and a little about the amazing life cycle of mussels

• Most importantly, the resiliency of nature and some easy opportunities to protect, enhance, and restore natural areas.

About Speaker:

Currently, Christian Crow is the Aquatic Resource Manager at VHB, Inc. Mr. Crow has over 35 years experience in aquatic ecology/biology. He has a M.S. in Fisheries Science and B.S. in Zoology from LSU. Mr. Crow moved to Atlanta, GA in 1989, where he worked in an environmental consulting firm, Dames & Moore, Inc. In 1994, he started C2 Environmental, Inc., and in 1999, Mr. Crow co-founded CCR Environmental, Inc., where he served as CEO and Senior Aquatic Biologist until its acquisition by VHB, Inc. in September of 2021. Mr. Crow has designed and conducted hundreds of biological monitoring studies across the country from New York to Hawaii. Most of his work over recent years has been concentrated in GA and the surrounding states. Most of his projects involve evaluation of impacts to the environment, usually to aquatic systems, and many of the projects assess potential project impacts to threatened and endangered species. Much of his work is driven by environmental laws and regulations, such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Over the years, Mr. Crow has worked with a variety of clients from private industry to governmental and public entities. He works extensively in GA with local governments and municipalities assessing and monitoring the health of watersheds (water quality, aquatic habitat, and biological [fish and macroinvertebrate] communities) across the state. He also has conducted hundreds of protected fish and mollusk surveys for the Georgia Department of Transportation, as well as DOTs in TN, AL, SC, and FL. Mr. Crow also is a NAUI certified open-water SCUBA diver, a skill he often utilizes when conducting mollusk surveys.

This year we are very excited to bring our members a hike and luncheon at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park on Sunday March 13 at 10am. Lunch to be provided - please RSVP below!

REGISTER HERE

RSVP HERE

Kelsey Waidhas is a Sustainability Coordinator with the Atlanta Regional Commission. She leads ARC’s sustainability and climate programs, working one-on-one with cities and counties in metro Atlanta to identify their sustainability stories and to tell those stories through climate action. This includes connecting them to research and implementation resources through project-based technical assistance. Kelsey holds a Master’s in Natural Resource Management from Auburn University and a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from Georgia Tech. She lives in the City of Atlanta with her partner Perry, their dogs Smaug and Silver, and their cats Bunkie and Falkor.

To date, the Atlanta Regional Commission’s largest environmental program has been the Green Communities Program, which is a voluntary certification program for cities and counties that touches energy generation, water efficiency, waste and recycling, transportation, and more. Since 2009, over 20 cities and counties in metro Atlanta have earned certification under ARC’s program. ARC has also helped with various environmental efforts across the region and is incorporating climate mitigation and adaptation work into existing programming.

If you have any questions please contact Sarah Beeson at sbeeson@oasis-cs.com or Valerie Masutier at valerie.oxm@gmail.com

Join us this weekend for a river cleanup and sampling event at Rottenwood Creek.

Join us for a GAEP Happy Hour as we welcome our new board members!