- Full Three Days: $295 (Savings of $255)
- One Day: $150 (Savings of 75)
LSPA’s newly-formed Sole Practitioners Group has developed a skills matrix, which lists sole practitioners along with their areas of expertise. With certain projects, you may be looking for a particular skill set or hoping to add another environmental professional to your team. This skills matrix will help you to find the best person for your team/project. The list, which is maintained by Stephen Boynton of Subsurface Environmental Solutions, LLC, chair of the Sole Practitioners Group, is available to members of that group. Please contact Steve for more information at 781.608.6119 or via mail [email protected].
Congratulations to longtime LSPA member, Dorothy (Dot) McGlincy, LSP, on her first anniversary as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC)! Dot has been an active LSPA member for decades, serving as President in 2002, and more recently co-chairing the Regulations Committee and the Legislative Committee. There is practically nothing that Dot has not done at the LSPA. The LSPA has benefited from her intelligence, creativity, and enthusiasm for years – a perfect example is her critically acclaimed spoof of SNL’s “Weekend Update” performed at the LSPA’s 2016 May Membership Meeting. Rumor has it that a video of this meeting exists somewhere…
The LSPA hopes to partner with the MACC on an event in 2019. A joint event would benefit both MACC and LSPA members, as well as the environment! We look forward to collaborating with MACC in the year ahead.
The LSP Association (LSPA) recently announced leadership changes to the Board of Directors as well as the election of two new Board members. These changes went into effect on July 1, 2018 and were announced to the membership at the LSPA monthly meeting, which was held on June 13, 2018 in Taunton, MA.
Officers for this fiscal year are:
Mark your calendars! The LSPA Membership Meeting dates and locations for 2018-2019 have been announced. The LSP Association's membership meetings take place monthly from September through June in the Greater Boston area. Click here to view the schedule for the upcoming year.
Member meetings are also held in Springfield, MA about four times a year; the schedule is announced as meeting topics become available. The first meeting is September 13, 2018 "A Fresh Look at Brownfields Challenges and Opportunities"
Last month, the LSPA offered an 8-hr field course in the greater Falmouth, Massachusetts, area entitled, “Sediment, Surface Water, and Biota Sampling Methods to Support MCP Assessments.” This is a repeat course and each time it has been offered, we have received excellent rave reviews. Here are a few comments that we received after the June 2018 course:
Since it is a field course, the course is capped at approximately 30 attendees. Seats have filled up quickly each time the course has been offered. We’ve done our best to fit as many attendees as possible but we’ve ended up with a waiting list each time. Since the course has been such a success, we are considering offering it again in the near future. If you haven’t taken this course yet, please stay tuned! Here is a link to a photo album (courtesy of Matthew Hackman) from the June 2018 course.
For the past 15 years, the LSPA Scholarship Fund has been presenting educational scholarships to individuals pursuing a degree in the field of science, environmental engineering, or other major that is consistent with becoming an LSP or environmental professional. At LSPA’s June 13th Membership Meeting in Taunton, MA, the LSPA Scholarship Fund awarded two individual scholarships.
Bill Betters and Chuck Myette from the LSPA Scholarship |
What kind of stories are told at slams? Personal narratives, tales from real life and YOUR personal experience. Think about a situation with a client, a regulator, a colleague, how you ended up working in this field, an internship, a training experience, getting lost on the job, mistakes you made, a mystery you encountered on site, a project you did/didn't get. You get the idea; almost anything goes.
Here are a few FAQs for the LSPA's STORY SLAM, along with some Storytelling Tips.
The LSP Association (LSPA) is pleased to announce that two new At-Large members were elected to the Board of Directors: David Leone, LSP, Associate Principal, GZA GeoEnvironmental, Norwood and Charles Young, LSP, Associate and Senior Environmental Project Manager, Stantec, Quincy were elected by LSPA members in early June. Their three year terms begin on July 1, 2018.
(Shown on Left: David Leone, Shown on Right: Charles Young)
The LSPA presented the following compliance tip at the June Membership Meeting at the Holiday Inn in Taunton, MA on June 13, 2018.
Conducting Public Involvement at PIP Sites
From the Waste Site Cleanup perspective, the background information on the development of the guideline will also serve as background information for Waste Site Cleanup’s soon-to-be-proposed MCP Method 1 GW-1 Standard for PFAS.
MassDEP expects to keep us up-to-date throughout the summer on the status of the proposed MCP revisions and MassDEP’s approach to PFAS.
The LSPA presented the following compliance tip at the May Membership Meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in Westborough, MA on May 17, 2018.
MassDEP recommends that at sites relying on a sub slab depressurization system (SSDS) to prevent exposure to contaminants of concern, annual checks be conducted of fan operation status and for potential differential pressure drops. These annual checks should be conducted as part of site maintenance and monitoring activities, and are recommended even after the installation of remote monitoring (telemetry).
LSPA's Emerging Professionals Committee hosted a Soils Classification event last week at GZA GeoEnvironmental. Zachary Baum, P.E., a Geotechnical Engineer at Tighe & Bond, gave a brief overview of the Modified Burmister System, focusing on different soil types and the corresponding grain sizes. Fun Fact: The numbers given to various sieve sizes are equal to the number of holes in the sieve per inch. Zach passed around small bags containing various soils, so everyone could get a “real-world” sense of the look and feel of each soil type. Participants then had the opportunity to get their hands dirty and team-up to classify four soil samples that had been lab analyzed for the “right” answer. We had great turnout of 35 people, and participants were engaged both with the subject matter and one another. Here are some photographs of the event. Thanks to GZA for hosting and to Zach for his enlightening presentation.
The LSPA presented the following compliance tip at the April Membership Meeting held at the Holiday Inn in Taunton, MA on April 24, 2018.
Remediation Waste (e.g., contaminated soil or debris excavated from a site or groundwater collected for disposal) should be removed from a site within 120 days of its initial excavation or collection. If the LSP anticipates the waste remaining on site for more than 120 days, (s)he can submit a RAM or IRA Plan or Phase IV RIP to MassDEP outlining a specific plan and schedule for dealing with the waste beyond the 120-day deadline.
Don't forget that remediation waste does not include hazardous waste, which must be removed within 90 days. 310 CMR 40.0031(7)
MassDEP’s internship application period is open now through April 30. MassDEP is seeking a student (or team of 2 or more students) that would be interested in developing articles or mini-video documentaries about the history, decline and rebirth of some of the region’s brownfields (‘Brownfield Success Stories”). This internship will expose students to researching the history of disposal sites, learning about site cleanup assessment and technologies, and understanding Massachusetts cleanup process and regulations. (This position requires the type of due diligence research and report writing that would be required of a young environmental consultant).
This internship may be a good fit for liberal arts students with a background in history or communication/journalism, as well as students in environmental science or the earth sciences. The internship is unpaid, but the hours can be part-time and flexible.