Jim has been working in the environmental field for over 30 years. His experiences include work in the following fields: laboratory, consulting, hazardous waste management for a Fortune 500 corporation & the USEPA. He has held certifications & licenses in wildlife biology, industrial wastewater treatment, asbestos inspection & management/planning & OSHA Health & Safety. For the past 17 years, Jim has worked for the USEPA Region I Brownfields Team as a project officer overseeing assessment, cleanup & revolving loan fund grants in all six New England states. He also serves as he Team’s Cleanup & State Program Lead.
What attracted Jim to the Brownfields program was the opportunity to use his knowledge of assessment & cleanup techniques to revitalize underutilized or abandoned sites for economic and/or greenspace reuse. Jim believes partnerships and stakeholder involvement are the keys to successful brownfields cleanup & redevelopment projects. Partnerships between all three levels of government and with the non-profit & private development sectors are incredibly important. Government often provides the seed money in the form of assessment and cleanup funds as well as certain liability protections and assurances, and other incentives (tax credits, etc.) to make the property more attractive to prospective developers. Without the above partnerships, many brownfields projects would never get off the ground. Just as important as the above scenario, no brownfields project can be brought to fruition without a comprehensive stakeholder involvement plan. Community support for the project is crucial!
In his spare time, Jim enjoys spending time with his wife MaryBeth, daughter Montana & son Zane in Franklin, Massachusetts. He also enjoys fishing and hunting and is “patched” baseball umpire officiating games from Little League through High School.